The New York Islanders are heading out for their annual fall Western road trip, and they're bringing a new toy with them.
Adam Pelech, the third-rounder selected in the Isles' "All Your Defenseman Are Belong To Us" 2012 draft, gets his first in-season recall to the NHL. Though the Isles want to carry insurance while traveling this far from home (and AHL Bridgeport), the left-sided/shooting blueliner could even make his NHL debut as early as Tuesday night in San Jose.
So it's not Pulock, but a LH D-man. Pelech could take Strait's spot tomorrow in SJ, it seems. Pelech, 21, is 2-2-4 and team-best +9 for BPT.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) November 9, 2015
Pelech has progressed a lot over the last year. As Michael Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post noted in the Soundin' Off blog, this time last year Pelech was still in and out of the AHL lineup for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Now he's a stalwart, a key penalty killer, a partner with Scott Mayfield, and adding a little more offense to his game too.
That Soundin' Off post has links to previous coverage of Pelech, including this summer feature on the now-21-year-old:
"I grew a lot as a player, and there's a lot more I can improve on. I have a lot of things to work on this summer." Pelech went from a player battling for playing time to a relied-upon defenseman over the course of the season. He and Scott Mayfield became the Sound Tigers' top penalty-kill pair.
Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson considered him the team's most-improved defenseman, and maybe player overall.
"By Christmastime, I think he made a decision that he didn't want to be the defenseman that was going to be in and out of the lineup," Thompson said. "He started to put in second and third efforts in practice, a little bit extra committed to conditioning."
Pelech is the youngest of three NHL-drafted Pelech brothers (Matt, Michael). If he makes his debut, he'll be the second of the three to play an NHL regular season game.
For those clamoring for or asking, "Why not Ryan Pulock? Why not Scott Mayfield?" the simple answer is Pelech has been right there with those two prospects in showing promise. The tactical answer is Pelech plays the left side, those two play the right...which tells you Brian Strait is more likely to be scratched than Marek Zidlicky if Pelech makes his debut. Unless an injury of some kind dictates otherwise {knocks on wood}.
Will it turn into a longer recall? Not likely, at least not now, but you never know: The Isles have been struggling and looking for a spark in a lineup that is virtually the same in personnel but not in execution as last year's. If he plays, and plays well, and the Isles get back on a winning footing...superstition calls.
With Pelech getting the call, Matt Finn has been recalled to Bridgeport from ECHL Missouri.