Panthers send Tippett to Steelheads
Mississauga coach had expected to start season without him
Mississauga Steelheads head coach James Richmond didn’t plan to have Peterborough native Owen Tippett in his lineup, at least not so soon.
Like the majority of Canadian Hockey League coaches, Richmond prepared to open the 201819 season without his best players because NHL training camps overlap with the start of the junior campaign.
While Tippett has been returned, more than a month earlier than the previous season, Richmond still waits on the status of forward Ryan McLeod, who made it through the latest round of cuts at Edmonton Oilers camp.
“There’s not a lot of communication between junior clubs and NHL clubs, rightfully so. They don’t want too many people knowing what they’re doing,” said Richmond. “You have to plan with what you have.
“We go in thinking we are without Tippett and McLeod.”
Tippett, Florida’s first-round pick from the 2017 NHL draft, was surprisingly returned to the Ontario Hockey League’s Steelheads from Panthers camp on Monday and had his first practice with Mississauga on Tuesday, instantly being inserted onto the team’s top line.
The Steelheads are more than pleased to have him back after dropping their first two games of the year without him and McLeod.
Last season, he stuck with the Panthers and played seven regular-season games with them before being sent back in early November.
Junior teams are ultimately left with the unknown on player availability until NHL clubs figure out their rosters, but that’s the expectation.
NOTE: Former Peterborough Pete and New York Islander Alan Quine was placed on waivers Wednesday by the Calgary Flames after signing a one-year two-way deal earlier this year and is expected to report to Calgary’s AHL affiliate the Stockton Heat in California.