Monday, September 15, 2014

Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 15)

The New Jersey Devils have been among the busiest teams in the last few weeks, getting their training camp all set up and creating quite the competition for jobs and spots on the roster. On Monday, they released their training camp roster and there was yet another major NHL invite on the list, as defenseman Mike Komisarek joined the group on paper and soon on ice.

Last season with the Hurricanes, Komisarek had 4 assists in 32 games with the club, dealing with one minor injury that cost him five games and being a healthy scratch that kept him out of the line-up for the remainder of the games lost.  The 32-year old will get another shot with Jersey, but it will be a tough slog with Tomas Kaberle and Adam Larsson competing for one spot on the blueline.

The Toronto Maple Leafs added a bit of depth to their crease for training camp, inviting 25-year old Cal Heeter to camp. Heeter saw a brief moment in net for the Philadelphia Flyers last season, but that's all that was worth mentioning.  Heeter will provide a bit more of a veteran presence in between the two likely starters with the big club and the three kids they already have in their system, possibly may even work out to a minor-league job for the coming season.

Monday afternoon saw the release of the Dallas Stars training camp roster, where defenseman Derek Meech was added on as a camp invite.  Meech was last seen in the NHL in the 2013 season, playing for the Winnipeg Jets, where he appeared in 16 games and picked up a single assist.  The 30-year old defender played in the KHL last season with Dynamo Minsk, before signing on with the Stars' AHL team midway through the season.  His numbers in the AHL were decent and are certainly worth a look in camp, but the Stars are rocking quite a bit of quality youth on the back end, so it could be an uphill battle to make the NHL again.

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