The first of what I expect will be many roster moves over the next few weeks took place yesterday as it was announced coach Martinson had traded defenseman Greg Campbell to the Atlanta Gladiators for defenseman Cody Corbett. A six year pro, Corbett spent the last two seasons in Europe (Austria & Italy) before signing with Atlanta this season. Cody is from Minnesota and attended high school for a couple of years before heading to Canada to play junior hockey for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League (WHL). While he was in Edmonton, Corbett was part of two WHL championships (2012 & 2014) and in his last season (2014) his team won the Memorial Cup. Brett Pollock was a teammate on that Memorial Cup team.
- In his final year in Edmonton, Cody wore an "A" and set franchise records for most points (61) and goals (17) by a defenseman in a season. He finished his junior career with 129 points (30G, 99A) which was also a franchise record for a defenseman.
- In 2014 Cody signed a three year free agent NHL contract with the Colorado Avalanche. He has 95 AHL games to his credit and also 27 Kelly Cup playoff games to his credit. At the NHL trade deadline in 2016-17, Corbett was traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the Washington Capitals for goalie Joe Cannata and was assigned to the South Carolina Stingrays. That was the season the Stingrays went to the Kelly Cup finals before losing to the Colorado Eagles. Cody played in all 22 playoff games and was tied for most points by a defenseman (9) and was second on the team in plus/minus (+6).
- The scouting reports for the 6'1" 210 pound, 26 year old, left shot defenseman typically mention he is a good two way defenseman that skates well, is physical and plays good positional hockey.
- Here is an interview with Cody after the 2017 season when he was with South Carolina and they went to the Kelly Cup finals:
- While the first shoe to drop with roster changes was the Corbett trade, there will certainly be more trades before the March 5 trade deadline. A reminder that many other types of roster changes will also take place over the next few days and weeks. Players in the AHL will come to Allen but conversely players in Allen will head to the AHL. I expect coach Martinson to sign a player or two that are just wrapping up their collegiate eligibility. It all adds up to plenty of potential roster changes over the next few weeks.
- If you look at the Allen schedule it is easy to focus just on the fact the Americans play only four games in the 12 days from February 2-20. However, another way to look at the schedule is after the game in Kansas City on Saturday the Americans arrived back in Allen on Sunday. They have to leave for the 17+ hour bus trip to Rapid City today (Monday) and arrive Tuesday afternoon. Allen plays the Rush on Wednesday with a 10:35 am local start time, Friday and Saturday. They will leave Rapid City on Saturday after the game and get back to Allen Sunday evening. They play Tulsa on Tuesday (18th) and then prepare for a three games in 48 hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (21-23). In the month of February, Allen plays just six road games but takes bus trips to Kansas City and back (950 miles), Rapid City and back (2200 miles), Tulsa and back (460 miles) and Wichita and back (725 miles). Welcome to the ECHL schedule.
DID YOU KNOW: Hockey is a small world and as I was researching Cody Corbett I first noticed he is from the same town as former Allen American Phil Fox. Phil used to work summer camps with NHL hall of famer Phil Housley and I expect Cody attended some of those camps. Pretty sure Housley was Corbett's high school coach as well. Cody will see some familiar faces when he enters the Allen locker room for the first time. In addition to playing with Brett Pollock in juniors, Cody played with Olivier Archambault in South Carolina and Corey Durocher in Idaho. A few former Allen players Corbett has played with include Jamie Schaafsma, Darryl Bootland, Colton Yellow Horn, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Thomas Frazee, Matt Register, Drew Daniels and Danny Federico. Yes, hockey is a small world.
This team can't do deep in the play-offs with its current defense. Anything to improve it will help. Why is it so difficult to find great defensive players at this level? Are they all too worried about their stats??? I have no idea how this latest trade will help - we'll see...
ReplyDeleteSkates, the acquisition of Corbett was an opportunity to upgrade the depth at defense and he clearly does that. He adds experience but is not a vet, has won numerous championships and should help.
DeleteHow does he "clearly" do that? Have we kept an inferior player on the team all year long? Why is this guy better?
Delete