Phantoms Re-Assign G Nic Riopel to Juniors

The Adirondack Phantoms have sent goaltender and 2009 Flyers draft pick Nic Riopel to Moncton of the QMJHL, his junior team. Riopel sat behind Johan Backlund on the depth chart, but still had the opportunity to start in 10 games for the Phantoms this season, including their opener. He was 4-6-0 with a 3.35 GAA in those starts.

The Phantoms also sent goalie Michael-Lee Teslak to Wheeling of the ECHL. Backlund and former NHLer John Grahame are the two current goalies in Adirondack.

over 2 years ago Travis Hughes 3 comments 0 recs |

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I thought (and Tim McManus agreed) that Riopel was doing pretty well for this being his first year out of juniors. His record should have been a bit better, because if I remember correctly, the Phantoms had trouble giving him offensive support in his first number of starts.

by Ben Feldman on Dec 17, 2009 5:42 PM EST reply actions

That’s the impression I had as well. The Phantoms have been a pretty terrible offensive team all season, as I understand it, so that’s not surprising. But yeah, I think it was surprising he made the Phantoms so early, but I can understand with the acquisition of Grahame why they’d want to send him back to juniors to give him playing time.

Broad Street Hockey - SB Nation's Philadelphia Flyers Blog. Makin' it look mean since 1967.

by Travis Hughes on Dec 17, 2009 5:48 PM EST up reply actions

Tim McManus said that the decision came down from the Flyers (Holmgren is the GM of the Phantoms, still, as the Flyers still control hockey ops) and that it wasn’t performance related.

Again, they probably just wanna get him time, which he’s not going to get behind Backlund and Grahame.

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by Travis Hughes on Dec 17, 2009 8:19 PM EST reply actions