Stockton adds five players on AHL deals

The Stockton Heat announced, via press release, that they’ve signed Mike Angelidis, Jamie Devane, Matt Frattin, Ryan Lomberg and Roman Dyukov to American Hockey League deals. The announcement makes official several things that have been rumoured and all-but-confirmed in recent weeks.

What did the Heat add? Some youth, some size, and some leadership – all on low-risk AHL deals.

Angelidis, 31, joins the Heat and becomes the presumptive captain. The 31-year-old Ontario native comes to the Flames organization after a lengthy stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization, where he played 14 NHL contests but otherwise was an AHL stalwart with the Syracuse Crunch. He’ll likely mentor young Mark Jankowski as a fellow center.

Frattin, 28, has 135 NHL games under his belt from stops in Toronto, Los Angeles, Columbus and, most recently, Toronto again. The right-shooting right wing is originally from Edmonton. While he’s probably not an NHL-calibre player anymore, he’s probably good enough to (a) push guys like Emile Poirier and (b) provide some perspective on what it takes to stick in the NHL. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was an alternate captain for the Heat this season.

Devane, 25, joins the Heat after spending last season with the Milwaukee Admirals, the Nashville farm team. He played two NHL games with Toronto a few years back, but he’s likely to serve as a bit of muscle on the bench (particularly since it’s become trendy in the AHL’s Pacific Division to have a resident tough guy). He replaces Colton Orr for all intents and purposes. The Flames had already signed him to a PTO.

Lomberg, 21, returns for a second season on an AHL deal after splitting last year between Stockton and the Adirondack Thunder. A ball of energy and speed, he had 35 points in 43 ECHL games but didn’t translate that offense as effectively to the AHL. At worst, he’s some nice depth.

Dyukov, 20, joins the Flames organization after spending a few seasons with Yunost Misnk, Pavel Karnaukhov’s old Belorussian team. He’s a big-bodied defender and didn’t look out of place during development camp, so he gets a fairly low-risk opportunity to show he can be a useful pro on an AHL deal.

Lomberg and Dyukov are eligible to play in the Young Stars Classic later this month, as neither has played over 100 professional games.