A steady stream of announcements of Newfoundland Growlers signing new contracts continued Thursday with the ECHL champions revealing defenceman Evan Neugold has agreed to a new one-year contract with the club.
Neugold, a 26-year-old from Goshen, Conn., appeared in 62 regular-season games with Newfoundland last season, scoring four goals, adding 12 assists and picking up 30 penalty minutes. Neugold, who was converted to defence from forward less than two years ago, also got into seven games with the Growers in the Kelly Cup playoffs.
He’s the third returning Growlers rearguard signed to an ECHL deal in the last week, joining captain James Melindy and Garrett Johnston. Eight other members of last year’s Newfoundland roster have been signed to contracts by the Toronto Marlies, the Growlers’ American Hockey League affiliate, for next season.
Staying with the Marlies, a defenceman who once played for the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps was signed by that team on Thursday.
Ryan Johnston, who was with the IceCaps when they were the farm club of the Montreal Canadiens, joins the Marlies after spending the past two seasons in Sweden.
Johnston, a 27-year-old native of Sudbury, played a combined 87 games for the IceCaps in 2015-16 and 2016-17. He also got into 10 games with Montreal during that time.
