ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Whether he plays in the American Hockey League would seem to mainly up to him, but Marcus Power took a step towards a boost in professional levels Thursday with the announcement that the 25-year-old forward from St. John’s has been signed to an AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies, the top minor-league affiliate in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ system.
Power spent the entirety of his first professional season on an ECHL contract with the Newfoundland Growlers, finishing third in regular-season scoring on the eventual Kelly Cup champions with 57 points (23G, 34A) in 58 games.
In 21 playoff games, Power added 15 points (4G, 11A).
Whether he can do it in the AHL remains to be seen — he has yet to play a game in the league — but Power has been a scorer wherever he’s played. He had 194 points in 204 games, including a 109-point 2013-14 season with the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and 107 points in 110 contests with the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers before his impressive rookie pro campaign.
Power was one of three players signed to Marlies contracts Thursday.
The others were two Europeans who played at the junior level last season.
One is Belarussian defenceman Sergei Sapego, who is coming off a 43-point season with the Western Hockey League champion Prince Alert Raiders. The other is Russian goaltender Maksim Zhukov who split the 2018-19 season between the Barrie Colts (OHL) and the Green Bay Gamblers (USHL).
Zhukov posted a 3.43 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage in 19 games with the Colts. Through 31 games with Green Bay, he had a 2.25 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
A native of Kaliningrad, Russia, Zhukov was named top goalie in the 2017-18 world under-18 championship. He was selected in the fourth round (96th overall) by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, but was never signed by the Knights.
Zhukov and Sapego are 19, but both will turn 20 before the end of this calendar year, making them eligible to play professionally, perhaps even with the Growlers, the Maple Leafs’ ECHL affiliate.
Last season, more than a dozen players who were on AHL contracts with the Marlies played regularly with Newfoundland. Five of those players were re-signed to AHL deals by Toronto earlier this week, including Growlers’ leading scorer Zach O’Brien, the team and Kelly Cup MVP. The others were forwards Brady Ferguson, Scott Pooley and Matt Bradley and defenceman Kristians Rubins.
All those contract announcements were made by the Marlies. The Growlers are expected to reveal one or more signings to ECHL contracts in the coming days. Besides Power, other Newfoundlanders on ECHL deals with the team last season included captain James Melindy and veteran rearguard Adam Pardy, who retired immediately after Newfoundland won the ECHL championship.
Twitter: @telybrendan
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