Four of the Newfoundland Growlers’ top scorers, including leading point-getter and St. John’s native Zach O’Brien, have been re-signed by the Toronto Marlies, the Growlers’ American Hockey League affiliate.
Joining O’Brien in getting new AHL deals are forwards Matt Bradley, Brady Ferguson and Scott Pooley, as well as defenceman Kristians Rubins.
The five operated under AHL deals last season, but they all spent the majority of the season with ECHL Growlers, helping the expansion team to a Kelly Cup championship in its first year of operation.
Except for O’Brien, all were professional rookies in 2018-19.
The 26-year-old O’Brien had a team-topping 68 points (28 goals, 40 assists) through 53 regular-season games with Newfoundland and was named the team’s most valuable player. He carried that into the playoffs, where O’Brien led all ECHL players in post-season scoring with 29 points (16G, 13A) in 23 games and was the choice as Kelly Cup MVP.
O’Brien was one of fours Newfoundlanders who played as regulars with the Growlers last season. The others are defenceman and captain James Melindy of St. John’s, rearguard Adam Pardy of Bonavista and rookie forward Marcus Power of St. John’s, the team’s third-leading scorer. All three were signed to ECHL contracts last season, and like every other player on the Kelly Cup winners, all became free agents earlier this week, although Pardy has already announced he is retiring.
Ferguson finished second to O’Brien in regular-season with 58 points (30 goals, 28 assists) in 49 games and was second on the Growlers in assists. The 24 year-old Texan followed that up with 24 points, including a league-leading 17 helpers in the playoffs.
Pooley led Newfoundland with 31 goals in 60 games, totalling 52 points in all. The 25-year-old from Grander, Indiana, added 17 points (9 G, 8A) in the playoffs.
The 22-year-old Bradley is the only one of the re-signed players who was an NHL draft pick; he was taken 131st overall in the 2015 Entry Draft by Montreal, but didn’t reach a contract deal with Montreal after finishing up his junior career in the Western Hockey League.
Bradley had 45 points (15G, 30A) in 66 games with the Growler and seven points (4G, 3A) in the playoffs.
At 21, Rubins is the youngest of the five returning players. The Latvian rearguard had 18 points (2G, 16A) in the regular season and three more in the playoffs.
Rubins also got into 15 games with the Marlies last season, the most of the the five returning players. Ferguson (8G), Pooley (6) and O’Brien (3) also spent time in the AHL in 2018-19, but Bradley spent the entire campaign with Newfoundland.
Wednesday’s announcements of the signings comes just a couple days after a pair of Growlers forwards from last season signed new AHL deals with other organizations, with JJ Piccinich inking a contract with the San Antonio Rampage and Josh Kestner hooking on with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Twitter: @telysports
