The Syracuse Crunch have signed goalie Allen York to a two-way AHL contract. York will presumably be the organization’s 5th goalie, a hole that desperately needed to be filled. York will probably land with the Crunch’s ECHL affiliate in Florida.
Here is the official release from the Crunch:
Crunch sign Allen York to AHL contract
Syracuse, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch have signed goaltender Allen York to a two-way AHL contract, Crunch general manager Julien BriseBois announced today.
York, 25, spent the 2013-14 season with four AHL clubs (Charlotte, Texas, Rockford and Syracuse) and two ECHL teams (Evansville and South Carolina). The 6-foot-3, 194-pound goaltender from Wetaskiwin, Alberta, started in four games for the Crunch and posted a 1-2-1 record including a 39-save shutout of Hershey Feb. 22, 2014.
York has appeared in 40 career AHL games for Springfield, Charlotte, Texas, Rockford and Syracuse compiling a 21-12-3 record, 2.57 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. He has also played 36 ECHL games with Chicago, Evansville and South Carolina amassing a record of 18-12-4 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.
York was drafted by the Columbus in the sixth round, 158th overall, at the 2007 NHL Draft. He reached the NHL during the 2011-12 season and went 3-2-0 in 11 games for Columbus Blue Jackets.
Going on the assumption that Ben Bishop and Evgeni Nabokov will be holding down the fort in Tampa Bay while Kristers Gudlevskis and Andrei Vasilevski do their tour of duty in the AHL, one can see that the only spot left in the organization for a netminder was for a 5th goalie. Tampa Bay does have two other goalie prospects in Clay Witt and Adam Wilcox, but both are returning to school this fall and will be unavailable.
York should be slated in as a depth signing who will get minutes with a Syracuse affiliate until needed by the Crunch. York has a rather small sample size in the AHL, but was capable as a stop-gap last season when the Crunch needed him. Should Vasilevski do as well or better than anticipated and get called up before the end of the AHL season, York could then be called on to be the back up behind Gudlevskis in Syracuse. Tampa Bay must have been impressed enough with what they have seen to place York in that potential position.
York has clearly had a career where he’s bounced around quite a bit and experienced many different league and game situations. This contract should provide some stability for the netminder, and that kind of stability will only benefit Syracuse should York be called upon for any reason. This is great news for Crunch fans, especially considering the, uh, interesting situation Syracuse found itself in this past season when it came to finding a stopgap goalie to backup York at the last minute during his first tenure with the Crunch.
