2021 Offseason: Comings and Goings

Free Agency has begun!

Below is a time line of the departures and arrivals as well as a line-up that will be continually updated as news comes to hand.

The New Guys

Brogan Rafferty

I’ll admit my first exposure to this player was seeing him signing with the Canucks out of college and chuckling softly at his name because I am a very silly immature person. With that out of the way – the Ducks and Gulls grabbed a good mobile defender here. He grew sour with Vancouver after being promised opportunity and NHL ice time which evidently did not eventuate. Right away I am thinking, have you met Kodie Curran? Are you sure you came to the right place? But then I remembered that the Ducks just lost the only good thing to happen to their third pairing in over five years. So Rafferty is probably betting on/has been promised that the vacancy left by Fleury is his to lose. His signing now gives the Ducks four (Shattenkirk, Drysdale, Manson, Rafferty) right shooting defenders while the left still has six with three on the bubble (Lindholm, Fowler, Larsson, Mahura, Curran, Benoit). Does this spell the eventual trade of Manson? Or is it more likely injury cover for the right side which could have either the aging Manson or Shattenkirk missing time as a very real possibility. Due to the Pandemic and border issue it appears the Canucks elected to keep Rafferty on their taxi squad for most of the season without seeing much game time – understandably I would be pretty peeved too. He finished third in the AHL for scoring by defenders in 2019-2020 with 45 points in 57 games. This isn’t just some “random” signing, Rafferty has a real shot of making the NHL roster.

Danny O’Regan

Former fifth round pick for the Sharks in 2012, O’Regan has spent the majority of his career thus far in the AHL. Slightly undersized at 5’10” and 185lbs it hasn’t stopped him but up good numbers in the AHL year on year. Last season he lead the Silver Knights (AKA Daft Punk Tribute Band) in scoring with 37 points in 37 games and had 6 points in 5 “playoff” games. I’ll need to look over some game footage again to see how often he was used at Center but here is hoping he slots into that role for the Gulls for now – given they don’t have enough.

Greg Pateryn

Right shooting veteran no nonsense defender – I guess this spells the end for Keegan Lowe. He has had brief NHL stints across multiple teams and is likely a Bouchard-influenced signing given he was with the Canadiens from 2013 to 2017. He saw the most time with the Colorado Eagles last season where I for one; remember being impressed by his monster slap-shot.

Buddy Robinson

An undrafted College signing originally for the Senators, Robinson has slowly moved his way west as his career progressed. Gulls fans will be more familiar with his time with the Stockton Heat – he had 32 and 42 point seasons for them between 2018 and 2020. Last year – like Rafferty, he mostly sat on the Taxi Squad for the Flames – a victim of the Pandemic border closure. He will provide veteran scoring depth but is hardly a replacement for Poturalski should he depart… UPDATE: Poturalski has signed back in Carolina so yep – Robinson is the scoring depth replacement for him. Which isn’t great.

Player List

Again like last off-season, its colour coded by who is under contract, who is not and who is departed.

Forwards

Defense

Goaltending

Line Up

And the lines look like this so far

As of now this line-up for-fills the requirements of no more than 5 veterans and 1 wild-card vet with room for one more veteran should the Gulls choose.