EVERETT – Riley Armstrong departed for San Jose, Calif., last week in pursuit of a dream.
Wednesday Armstrong took a big step towards making that dream come true.
The Everett Silvertips center reached an agreement on a contract with the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks on Wednesday and will be moving onto the professional ranks.
Armstrong spent the previous week at the Sharks’ rookie camp in San Jose and made a strong impression, earning a two-way NHL contract, which allows him to play in the minor leagues. He will report to the Sharks’ American Hockey League affiliate in Cleveland for the upcoming season.
Financial terms of the contract were not available. Armstrong, who was still in San Jose, was not available for comment.
“We’re very happy for Riley, if that’s what he wants to do as a 20-year-old,” Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said. “Obviously he went down there and impressed them and that’s why we’re here, to develop hockey players and give them the opportunity to fulfill their dreams. Obviously his dream was to play in the NHL and sign an NHL contract, which he did, so we’re happy for him.”
Armstrong is the first Silvertip player to sign an NHL contract. He also gets the opportunity to play against his older brother, Colby, who played last season for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ AHL affiliate.
“This is something that’s very positive for our organization, that a young man has come out of nowhere and earned a contract,” Soetaert said. “A year ago when we selected him in the expansion draft he had 16 points. He turned himself into a pretty good hockey player and that says something about our organization and the way we affect these young men.
While it may be good news for Armstrong, it’s bad news for the Silvertips. Armstrong was one of Everett’s top players last season, tying for the team lead in points with 44 (18 goals, 26 assists) and causing all kinds of mischief with his pestering style of play. The Silvertips were counting on Armstrong being a team leader this season and his presence will be sorely missed.
“Bittersweet would be the word,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said about the news of Armstrong’s signing. “The sweet part is that’s what we’re trying to do, help guys get NHL contracts, and we’re unbelievably excited for him. The bitter part is it’s going to be a huge loss for our team. You know you have to deal with that and you know it’s coming, but you sit and dream about your seasons and when we thought about this one, Riley was in the middle and was a big part of our team. There’s going to be a day or two where we’re just going to lament a little bit that our team took a major blow.”
There is a small possibility that Armstrong could eventually return to the team, but the Silvertips are proceeding as if he’s gone for good. Armstrong’s departure leaves a major void at center, a void Constantine isn’t sure how he’ll fill.
“Pray. Ask for volunteers. Hold a tryout,” Constantine quipped. “I don’t know yet. We could take and move some experience from the wing to the middle. The positive of that would be experience, the negative would be taking a guy out of a position he’s pretty good at. The other option is putting younger kids in there and the negative of that is we’d be putting inexperience at the most important forward position, but at least everyone’s playing their natural position. We’ll probably try a little of each of those to start the year.”
However, Armstrong’s departure does free the coaching staff from making one difficult decision. Without Armstrong, Everett is left with the league-mandated number of three overage players: forwards Tyler Dietrich and Barry Horman and defenseman Mitch Love.
“We had four overage guys and I’ll tell you, the last decision I wanted to make was a decision about those overage kids because they’re a part of our family,” Constantine said.
“There wasn’t a lot of difference between the production of Riley, Dietrich and Horman in terms of our overage forwards,” Constantine added. “Riley was a center and that’s maybe why it was a little more significant a loss, because the center position is a little more critical and we didn’t have the depth at center that we have at wing. But as far as production, the other guys are very capable guys. That should make the loss less than it would appear.”
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