Hayton could debut Thursday
Tippett, Stillman assigned to AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds
Peterborough native Barrett Hayton was named Tuesday to the opening day roster of the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes.
The centre, who captained the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds last season, could make his regular season NHL debut Thursday night when the Coyotes visit the Anaheim Ducks. The new coach of the Ducks is former Peterborough Petes captain Dallas Eakins.
Hayton was signed by the Coyotes after being drafted in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2018 NHL entry draft. That was the highest a Peterborough native has ever gone in the NHL draft.
Hayton was also named to Arizona’s opening day roster last season but did not see any action before being released to the Hounds.
In 165 regular-season games over three seasons with the Hounds, Hayton had 56 goals and 97 assists for 153 points, plus 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points in 44 playoff games. He was also at Canada’s world junior team camp over the summer.
Despite scoring three pre-season goals, Peterborough native Owen Tippett was left off the opening day roster of the NHL’s Florida Panthers.
The former Saginaw Spirit and Mississauga Steelheads forward, who played last season for Canada’s world junior team, was among four players assigned by the Panthers on Sunday to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, as the Panthers trimmed their training camp roster down to 22 players.
Peterborough native Riley Stillman, a former Oshawa Generals and Hamilton Bulldogs defenceman, was also assigned to Springfield on Sunday, along with Anthony Greco and Dominic Toninato.
“We tell the guys that the American League is a heck of a league,” new Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville told reporters Sunday.
“Be respectful of it and play your game. Keep it simple, but don’t try to do anything that’s outside your realm of expectations ... It’s nice having some tough decisions when it’s time for a recall.”
Stillman, 21, played 59 games with the Thunderbirds last season and had four goals and 13 assists for 17 points, with a plus/ minus rating of plus-8 and 52 penalty minutes. He also appeared in one Panthers game last season.
Stillman was signed by the Panthers after being drafted in the fourth round, 114th overall, of the 2016 draft.
Tippett, 20, was on the Panthers roster for the first seven games of the 2017-18 season as an 18-year-old, scoring a goal. After the Steelheads were eliminated from the playoffs that season, he appeared in five games with the Thunderbirds, with one goal and an assist and a plus-2 rating.
Tippett was signed by the Panthers after being drafted in the first round, 10th overall, of the 2017 draft.
After having two goals and two assists at the world junior championship and then being traded to Saginaw mid-season, Tippett helped lead the Spirit to the OHL Western Conference final, where they were eliminated by the eventual OHL champions, the Guelph Storm. NOTES: Peterborough native
Mitchell Stephens, who played four seasons with the Spirit and was drafted in the second round, 33rd overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2015 NHL draft, was assigned Sept. 22 to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch for a third season after seeing some action with the Lightning in exhibition play. Former Peterborough Petes defencemen Matthew Spencer and Dominik Masin, who signed a one-year, two-way contract extension over the summer, were also assigned to the Crunch for another season ... Riley Stillman’s 16-year-old brother Chase Stillman, a Peterborough minor hockey product who was born in St. Louis, has a goal and an assist in his first five games as a forward with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.