The New York Islanders announced a flurry of minor moves over the past couple of days, notably the recall of David Ullstrom from Bridgeport and the signing of Long Island native Joey Diamond to a two-way NHL contract for 2013-14.
In addition to Diamond, something of a feel-good story after finishing his NCAA career at Maine and succeeding on an ATO, the franchise announced AHL deals for Riley Wetmore of UMass-Lowell, Greg Miller of Cornell, and Mike Dalhuisen of Quinnipiac (which was reported earlier this week).
All told, that's a healthy influx of experienced college players -- and throw Anders Lee into that mix if he doesn't make the NHL roster out of camp next season. A bit about the new arrivals:
Joey Diamond
Diamond, 23, of Long Beach, has already picked up 27 PIM to go with five points since joining the Sound Tigers on an ATO 10 games ago. He's a left-shooting forward who, not surprisingly given his 5'8" size, has taken the long route to an NHL deal, going undrafted, playing in the USHL with Omaha, and completing four years at Garth Snow's alma mater, the University of Maine.
As David Hanssen noted when we Communist LHH moderators discussed this, Diamond managed to log well over 400 PIM in his college career, which seems almost impossible given the NCAA's sanctions on fights and major penalties.
Greg Miller
As Mike Fornabaio noted, Miller, 23, is the first player to lead Cornell in scoring three times since ... some Matt Moulson guy, a fellow Ontario native. Miller checks in at 5'11" and, in contrast to Diamond, keeps his PIM in single digits.
Riley Wetmore
A right shooter with a lovely name, Wetmore, 23, is a scorer listed at 6'0" and 195 lbs. He averaged about 15 goals per year the last three seasons in Hockey East at UMass-Lowell. He's making his Bridgeport debut tonight on an ATO as a center in tonight's game in Portland.
Mike Dalhuisen
Finally, we talked some about the Dutch-born Dalhuisen earlier in the week. He's the only defenseman among this group and he's the oldest at age 24. Earlier in the week it wasn't clear the status of his deal, but it's an AHL deal too. Diamond is the only one in this series of announcements who gets an NHL contract for 2013-14.
Now...back to playoff talk.