Goaltender Lukas Hafner and forward Kenny Babinski joined the Alaska Aces late last hockey season after closing their college careers, and both evidently showed head coach Rob Murray enough to rate a return.
The ECHL club Wednesday announced the signings of Hafner and Babinski for the upcoming season, raising to five the number of player signings revealed. All five players are returners.
After finishing his career at Western Michigan University, Hafner appeared in five games for the Aces, going 2-2-0 with a 2.96 goals-against average, .897 save percentage and one shutout. He stopped 34 shots in a 2-0 home win over Colorado in the penultimate game of the season.
In his four seasons with the Broncos, Hafner went 25-37-10 with a 2.76, .909 and four shutouts.
Murray said he appreciated Hafner's passion and self-awareness.
"He's accountable to himself," Murray said. "In our end-of-the-season meeting, he basically said, 'I wasn't as good as I needed to be on this night, or that night.' He was great the night he had the shutout, but in that meeting he was hard on himself, which is great to hear."
Babinski hooked up with the Aces after four seasons at Ferris State (Michigan). He skated in five games for Alaska, furnishing two assists.
In four years with the Bulldogs, Babinski delivered 29-23—52 totals.
Several players like Hafnter and Babinski joined the Aces late last season, after most North American college teams were finished for the season. With the playoffs out of the picture, Murray looked for players who were possibilities for the upcoming season. Babinski did enough to merit a return.
"It was hard to make assessments, but they all left me intrigued," Murray said. "There's something there. They showed me something in little glimpses."
Both Hafner, 24, and Babinski, 23, will still be considered rookies in the ECHL.
The Aces are aiming to resurrect their winning ways — they won three Kelly Cups in their first 11 ECHL campaigns, but have missed the playoffs two seasons running — and hope their recent affiliation with the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and American Hockey League's Utica Comets will deliver players who boost their lineup.
In affiliation relationships, clubs higher up the North American hockey ladder generally furnish an ECHL club with several young players. Such additions were instrumental to the Aces in 2014, when they were affiliated with the Calgary Flames. Several players who were contracted to the Flames or their AHL affiliate at the time, the Abbotsford Heat, made significant contributions in the Aces' run to the third Kelly Cup in franchise history.
Alaska previously announced the signing of first-line winger Peter Sivak, a linchpin on that 2014 team. He returned to the Aces in a trade early last season and led them in scoring. The other previously announced signings were defensemen Nick Cecere and Brandon Marshall.