The Alaska Aces revealed two more signings Tuesday, and by coincidence the young players announced sounded like an ideal defensive pairing: A right-handed blueliner with offensive upside and a left-hander blueliner whose forte is defending.
The ECHL club announced the impending arrival of defenseman Garrett Haar and the return of defenseman Nilan Nagy.
Those additions bring to 11 the number of players the Aces publicly say they have secured for the upcoming season. Doubtless, there are more – the Aces announce a few players each week this time of year to get a succession of publicity hits.
Anyhow, Haar is the guy with intriguing offense, and a right-handed shooter who was a Washington Capitals draft pick in 2011.
The 22-year-old was a rookie last season under contract with Hershey of the American Hockey League and played 35 games with ECHL South Carolina, earning 4-12—16 totals. In his last season of major junior hockey, for powerhouse Portland of the Western Hockey League, he delivered 7-38—45 totals in 61 games. Haar prior to that played two seasons at Western Michigan University.
"He had a good year – half a point a game,'' Aces coach Rob Murray said of Haar's rookie campaign. "He's got the offensive ability to make some plays. I'm really excited about him.''
Nagy, 23, will technically still be a rookie despite the six games he played for the Aces at the tail end of last season. Any ECHL player with fewer than 25 regular-season pro games on his resume is considered a rookie.
Nagy scored one goal in those six games last season, but his role in the upcoming season will be as a physical defenseman who likely will also kill penalties. Murray wants the 6-foot, 200-pounder to put a little more sandpaper in his game and believes Nagy should be more comfortable in the pro game after getting his bearings in it last spring.
"After having a taste of it, I've got to believe he'll have more confidence in himself,'' Murray said.
Shuffling the deck
Two guys who won the Kelly Cup with the Aces in 2014 had their ECHL rights traded for each other Tuesday.
Winger Alex Belzile's rights went to the Fort Wayne Komets and the Idaho Steelheads received the rights to defenseman James Martin. Both players flourished last season – Belzile racked 28-41—69 totals in 63 games for Idaho and Martin earned 9-32—41 totals in 60 games for Fort Wayne.
Former UAA left winger Scott Allen, who hooked up with ECHL Colorado after his Seawolves career ended last March, has signed with ECHL Missouri. The Mavericks will be in Anchorage for five games in October – two exhibition games and a three-game series to start the regular season.
Also on Missouri's roster is rookie defenseman Dax Lauwers of Anchorage. Like Allen, he played briefly for ECHL Colorado last season after his college career closed. Lauwers played three seasons at Northeastern after beginning his college career at Army.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr