I wrote a little while ago how the NHL signing period works. Typically the top flight talent goes, then, people to protect the top flight talent get signed. That’s where we are now, and the Springfield Falcons added a big protector in Kip Brennan yesterday.
Kip was a Lowell Lockmonster back when he still had junior eligibility many moons ago. During his rookie year, he got some advice and returned to the Sudbury Wolves after racking up 117 PIM in 23 contests with Lowell. I was shocked in kind of a lost puppy kind of a way when h returned to Sudbury. Shocked, because I thought he was one of the best up and coming enforcers in the AHL at the time, and sad in a lost puppy kind of a way, because we wouldn’t get to see him anymore. Over the next almost 10 years, we have seen Kip come in the Tsongas with many a different AHL team, and he’s also managed to rack up 222 PIM in 61 NHL contests with a few different clubs along the way.
I always liked Kip Brennan. He’ll give you an honest go, and I’m hoping a little rivalry grows between him and Lowell’s newest tough guy, Louis Robitaille. There are still some big names out there, most curiously, Trevor Gillies. Gillies remains unsigned at the moment which I find surprising. He was the last cut from the Carolina Hurricanes last season, but hasn’t played since December 20th when he sustained a concussion in an altercation with Paul Bissonnette. Perhaps teams are afraid of signing him, only to see him go down again. I had heard Trevor was close to a deal with Portland, which would make a lovely little New England rivalry between Brennan, Robitaille, and Gillies, and perhaps make life worth living for fight fans in the region, but that deal seems stalled. Either way, we are two weeks away from camp, and I need my math book for travel anywhere outside this house. I can almost smell the glove warmer!