Luke Adam (19), shown playing for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack against the Portland Pirates last season, has signed a one-year deal with Adler Mannheim of the German elite league and expects to play his first game with his new team on Friday.
“In July, to be honest, this wasn’t my first choice, but now that I’m here, I am extremely happy,” said Adam Tuesday after he arrived in Germany, where he will play for Adler Mannheim (Mannheim Eagles) of the German elite league (DEL).
“You can clearly see what the market has become (in the National Hockey League). I think there was something like 60 players on PTOs in training camps and hardly any of them ended up with contracts.”
Adam was one of those tryout players, having been invited to the Calgary Flames’ training camp, only to be released after about a week.
“They told me it was a numbers thing,” said Adam, who then moved on to the camp of the Flames’ AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat.
“I was glad for the chance to keep skating (with Stockton), but the truth is, I really wasn’t that interested in signing an AHL (only) deal.
“My goal is still to get back to the NHL, so to play a whole season with a grueling schedule for an (AHL) contract that meant you had no chance of being called up no matter how well you played … for a player in my position, at my age, it wasn’t for me.”
That’s when Adam instructed his agent to re-investigate the European option.
It was a big decision made even bigger by the fact Adam wasn’t making it only for himself — he had been married in July.
However, with the help of his wife Hannah, as well as his parents Russ and Paula, he was able to narrow down what — fortuitously — were a number of options to just one.
“We looked at other leagues, the KHL and Czech (Extraliga) as well as other teams in Germany, but this always seemed like the best fit,” said Adam, who signed a one-year deal with Mannheim.
It helped he was able to get positive reviews on the city and the organization from Eagles forward Jamie Tardif, a one-time teammate on the AHL’s Rochester Americans, and Jochen Hecht, the German who had played with Adam in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres. Hecht had retired as a player with Mannheim last season to become the team’s development coach.
“In all our conversations, everything was positive,” said Adam, “and in all the talks I had with Teal (general manager Teal Fowler) and Shawn Simpson (Mannheim’s head coach), I really came away with the feeling they wanted me, that they saw me as someone who could be really important piece for their team.
“Let’s face it, after what was a pretty stressful summer, that was a good feeling to have.”
A second-round draft pick of Buffalo in 2009, Adam turned pro with the Sabres organization two years later. He was the 2010-11 AHL rookie of the year with the Portland Pirates, and the following season, got into 52 NHL games with Buffalo, scoring 10 goals and 10 assists. But after that, his big-league time dwindled, and he suited up in just 19 more NHL contests with Buffalo and the Columbus over three years. Last season was spent entirely in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the farm team of the New York Rangers, who chose not to retain his rights with a qualifying offer.
“It’s all been eye-opening, for sure,” said Adam. “I never was worried that I wasn’t going to play, just about where I was going to play.
“Now that I know, I feel good. I haven’t even skated with Mannheim, but I already feel great about coming here.
“I can honestly say that it’s been a long time since I have been this excited to start a season.”
