East Notes: Keeper, Kowalsky, Terrance
Despite signing a one-year contract with the Elite Ice Hockey League’s (EIHL) Glasgow Clan in late June, defenseman Brady Keeper won’t be playing out that contract with the team. In an announcement from the team, Keeper has decided to step away from hockey and retire at the age of 29.
A product of the NCAA’s University of Maine, Keeper signed with the Florida Panthers toward the end of the 2018-19 season as a collegiate free agent. He debuted with the Panthers during the 2018-2019 season, skating for 12:40 in a game against the Ottawa Senators on March 28, 2019. He recorded one blocked shot and two hits.
He spent the next few years moving from the Panthers to the Vancouver Canucks, before finally landing in the Montreal Canadiens organization in the 2023-24 season. Outside of an additional game with Florida, he’s only played in the AHL, finishing his career with 10 goals and 31 points in 129 games with a -2 rating and 208 PIMs. Unless he changes his mind on retirement in the next few years, his last professional hockey contest will have come with the AHL’s Laval Rocket in 2024.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Maine Mariners of the ECHL, affiliated with the NHL’s Boston Bruins, have added a lot of experience in their new head coach and General Manager. According to a team announcement, the Mariners have hired Rick Kowalsky as their next bench boss and General Manager, who was recently the head coach of the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals in the 2005-06 season and has won one coach of the year award in the AHL and another in the ECHL.
- Carey Terrance, the main asset acquired by the New York Rangers from the Anaheim Ducks for Chris Kreider, is already making positive impressions in the organization. In a recent interview with Dan Rosen of NHL.com, the Rangers’ player development coach, Jed Ortmeyer, said of Terrance, “He was like, ‘Yes, let me know. I want to be coached. You’re never going to hurt my feelings. I want to know. That was great to hear. He wants to be coached. He wants to get better and he’s hungry. He’s eager to learn and he wants to be great.“
Ducks Sign Carey Terrance To Entry-Level Contract
The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2023 second-round draft pick Carey Terrance to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2025-26 season. Terrance has spent this season captaining the OHL’s Erie Otters, who are about to take on the London Knights in the OHL Playoffs. Terrance is expected to participate in that series at some point, though he’s working his way back from a scary upper-body injury sustained on February 14th. Terrance and star 2025 NHL Draft prospect Matthew Schaefer are currently participating in Erie’s practices in no-contact jerseys ahead of round two.
Terrance seemed to have a strong step on the season prior to his injury. He had scored 20 goals and 39 points in 45 games, just shy of the scoring pace that led him to 52 points in 56 games last year. But his step back in scoring lined up with a clear improvement in his defensive game. Terrance looked far more comfortable in commanding the center role this season, and provided the safety-net and defensive-zone control needed to let aggressive offensive pieces like Sam Alfano, Malcolm Spence, and Schaefer drive down the ice. Anaheim certainly wanted to lean into those traits when they selected Terrance with the 59th-overall pick in 2023. He scored an impressive 30 goals and 47 points in 67 OHL games – and nine points in eight games with the U.S. NTDP – that season, showing clear upside as a forechecker with a snappy wrist shot.
Two seasons later, Terrance has rounded out those attributes while maintaining his strong goal-scoring. He’ll look to return hot for the Otters in a win-or-go-home playoff series against the top team in the OHL. Should the series go downhill, Terrance would be eligible to make his AHL debut without burning a year of his entry-level contract.
Pacific Notes: Kraken, Bordeleau, Terrance
Due to a disappointing 24-29-4 record this season, the Seattle Kraken have been an oft-mentioned potential seller leading up to the trade deadline. With this in mind, Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times analyzed some potential trade candidates for the Kraken.
There weren’t many surprises in her article as Shefte noted Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jaden Schwartz, and Andre Burakovsky as trade pieces for Seattle. All five players have been mentioned in trade rumors throughout the season largely due to the Kraken’s disappointing record.
Shefte did note forward Eeli Tolvanen and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who hadn’t previously been mentioned in trade rumors before. In all fairness, it doesn’t seem likely that Seattle will move either player, given Tolvanen quickly re-upped on a two-year contract with the team last offseason and Oleksiak has a 16-team no-trade clause built into his contract.
Other Pacific notes:
- Semi-regular San Jose Sharks’ forward Thomas Bordeleau is facing supplemental discipline at the AHL level. The AHL’s Player Safety Committee announced that Bordeleau is suspended for one game for cross-checking Colorado Eagles’ forward Chris Wagner on Wednesday. Due to the suspension, he’ll miss the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda game tonight.
- In a scary incident in last night’s game between the OHL’s Erie Otters and Owen Sound Attack, Otters captain and Anaheim Ducks’ prospect Carey Terrance was taken to the hospital due to an injury. Approximately 12 hours later, the Otters announced that Terrance had been discharged from the hospital and would continue with the team on their current road trip.