BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – For a second time in two months, the New York Rangers have placed a Russian born defenseman on unconditional waivers in order to terminate their contract.
Last month, Alexei Bereglazov was cut loose and on Thursday, after clearing waivers, it was Sergey Zbrovskiy. He wasn’t available long as he signed a two year deal with HK Sochi (Russia-KHL).
This is part of the plan the Rangers have had since announcing their rebuilding plans in February. They are starting to clear contracts and personnel space as they enter the NHL Draft this weekend and free agency period that begins on July 1st.
The moves that are happening and will be happening over the course of the next few days will alleviate the glut of defenseman as several new names will be coming on board.
Zbrovskiy played ten games with the Wolf Pack on injury recalls. He had no points, earned 10 PIM and was a plus-one. He spent most of the year with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, who were the Pack’s (ECHL) Double AA affiliate. While there, Zbrovskiy skated in 47 game amassing 17 points on 5 goals and 12 assists. He was a minus-10.
The Russian d-man is a former third round pick (79th overall) in the 2015 draft. He came to the organization after playing at Regina (WHL) for three seasons under the tutelage of former Wolf Pack coach, John Paddock.
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The AHL-to-Europe list added five more names this week.
The Sound Tigers lost goalie Kristers Gudlevskis, who heads back home to play for Dynamo Riga (Latvia-KHL). Charlotte says goodbye to Sergei Tolchinsky who signed with CSKA Moscow (Russia-KHL). Two players are heading to the KHL to play for Barys Astana (Kazakhstan). The two players are RW Patrice Cormier (Manitoba) and Curtis Valk (Springfield), who dominated the Wolf Pack over the last two years.
Another Springfield Thunderbird who split the year with Florida (ECHL), and who just played in the Kelly Cup Final, Matt MacKenzie has left to sign with HC Bolzano (Italy-AEHL).
Those moves make it 30 players and one coach to make the move East. So far, 17 AHL teams have lost at least one player.
One more collegian has left school to sign in Europe.
Landon Smith of the Quinnipiac University Bobcats (ECACHL) signed with Karlskrona HK (Sweden-Allsvenskan) making 20 collegians that have signed in Europe.
Bo Brauer of Notre Dame (Big 10) signs a contract with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) making 206 total collegians to sign pro deals in North America and Europe. Two others have transferred to Canadian colleges since the US college regular season ended.
Ex-Sound Tiger defenseman, Cole Jarrett, leaves the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland-EIHL) to play with the Braehead Clan (Scotland-EIHL).
One player thought to be heading to Europe was Utica goalie Richard Bachman, however, he decided to stay and signed a nice deal to stay with the Comets.
Vancouver signed Bachman to a two-year, two-way deal earning him $650K at the NHL and $275K if he plays in the AHL in the first year. He makes $700K in the NHL and the same $275K for playing in the American League in the second year.
Former QU Bobcat goalie, Mike Garteig, is now fifth on the Canucks goalie depth chart. He sits behind Jakob Markstrom, ex-Sound Tiger, Anders Nilsson, prized prospect, Thatcher Demko, and Bachman. Toss in the team is paying off $800K per year of Roberto Luongo’s deal until 2021. Seems like it would make sense for Gartheig to look to get a better deal where he’ll get playing time in the AHL at another organization after he was migrating between Utica, Alaska and Kalamazoo the last two years.
While hockey has ended here, the regular season is underway in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) the top team currently is the CBR (Canberra) Brave that are led by former UCONN Husky, Trevor Gerling. In eleven games of their short thirty game season, Gerling has nine goals, 16 assists (25 points) which is good for third best in the AIHL. The Brave have a record of 9-2-0-0 for 27 points.
Cheshire native, Rob Malloy, is playing in his sixth season in the AIHL. He’s only played in just nine games and has four assists. Malloy is presently on the injured list for the fourth place Newcastle North Stars (4-4-0-2-2 18 points).
In New Zealand, the NZIHL defending Birgel Cup champion, the Southern (Queenstown) Stampede are coached by Adam Blanchette (Berlin) a Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack alumni like Malloy.
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