Which way did they go?
Keeping track of last season’s IceCaps who have floated away
It’s all part of the give and take of roster management in pro hockey. If a player is added, another is usually subtracted.
During the season, that subtraction can take on many forms, with a number resulting in the player’s being retained by the organization in question, whether it’s through demotion, promotion or placement on the injury list.
In the off-season, it’s different. Once they’re gone, it’s almost always a case of them not coming back.
So it is with the St. John’s IceCaps, who will enter the 201617 American Hockey League season with at least half-dozen brand new faces, a few more who made brief appearances at the tail-end of last season and perhaps one — Zach Redmond — who would be the rare exception to the “gone, never to return” theory, having played here in when the IceCaps were the farm team of the Winnipeg Jets.
But what off those who have left?
Many of the departing players — almost all of them 2015-16 mainstays for St. John’s — left as free agents on or just after the July 1 NHL deadline for such matters. That group included captain Gabriel Dumont and fellow forward Michael Bournival, who both signed with Tampa Bay, goaltender Eddie Pasquale to Detroit, and four defencemen — Morgan Ellis to St. Louis, Darren Dietz to Washington, Victor Bartley to Minnesota and Mac Bennett to the Rochester Americans on an AHL deal.
Leading scorer Bud Holloway had already scooted to Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League in June.
A couple of players who were part-time members of the IceCaps last season are also heading to Europe having signed deals there in the last couple of weeks. Goaltender Ben Scrivens is joining Holloway in the KHL after agreeing to a contract with Dinamo Minsk, while forward Andrew Yogan, who proved useful in 15 games for St. John’s after being brought in from the ECHL, is going to Italy to join HC Bolzano, which actually plays in the Austrian first division.
There are still a dozen or so players who saw time with St. John’s last season who haven’t officially hooked on with someone for 2016-17.
They include forwards Angelo Miceli, Brandon McNally and Markus Eisenschmid , and defenceman Travis Brown, a quartet signed to AHL contracts with St. John’s last season, although it would seem Eisenschmid is in line to return since he was a participant in the parent Montreal Canadiens’ prospects development camp earlier this month.
Defenceman Simon Bourque and Jeremiah Addison both joined the IceCaps in the spring after the conclusion of their major junior seasons. Bourque, who still 19, will definitely start this upcoming campaign in the QMJHL. Addison, meanwhile is eligible to turn pro, but there is an overage spot waiting for him with Ottawa of the OHL if the Canadiens don’t sign him in the coming weeks,
Alexandre Ranger, Shane Bakker, Evan Rankin, Cory Ward, Luc-Olivier Blain and Chris Joyeaux had all been brought in at some point of the 2015-16 schedule on tryouts of some type and, at last word, were still looking for somewhere to play next season. It should be noted that the IceCaps are at least maintaining their Blain quota, since defenceman Jeremie Blain, Luc-Olivier’s brother, has been signed to an AHL contract with St. John’s.
One of last year’s PTOs, forward Luc Pither, will return to the ECHL’s Brampton Beast in the fall.
Forward Lucas Lessio, who played 18 games with St. John’s and a dozen with Montreal after coming over in an earlyseason trade that sent Christian Thomas to the Arizona Coyotes, became an unrestricted free agent after the Canadiens declined to make him a qualifying offer. But unquestionably, the best-known of the jettisoned IceCaps is big forward John Scott, who may be pointed towards a new off-ice career after appearing as a guest analyst during TSN’s free-agent coverage.
Finally, there are five players who were with St. John’s at — or near the start — of the 2015-16 schedule, who were traded or released during the season.
Goalie Dustin Tokarski, dealt to Anaheim for forward Max Friberg, has a year left in his contract with the Ducks; Thomas signed as a free agent with Washington; forward Stefan Fournier, who went to Arizona as part of the trade that brought Scott to the Canadiens, has re-signed with the Coyotes; defenceman Jarred Tinordi, also dealt to Arizona, is also remaining with the Coyotes, and forward Eric Neilson, whose St. John’s stay was brief — he appeared in just six games — but quote-filled, has been brought in by the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs as a player-assistant coach.