The Syracuse Crunch have signed defenseman Reid McNeill to an AHL contract. McNeill was selected in the sixth round, 170th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2010 NHL Draft. He has 33 career points (6g, 27a) and a plus-43 rating in 237 career AHL games. During that time, he played for both the Chicago Wolves and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. McNeill also skated in 44 career ECHL games all with the Wheeling Nailers, recording two goals and five assists.
Big physical stay-at-home type defender that played with a mean streak as a member of #WBSPens. 3G-7A in 61 AHL games last season w/ WBS/CHI
— Tony Androckitis (@TonyAndrock) July 20, 2017
McNeill is a solid get for the Crunch. Syracuse already has two vet blue line defenders in Jamie McBain and Mat Bodie, both of whom were signed on the first day of free agency this summer. McNeill, with 237 career AHL games, is not yet considered a vet, so he will not use up one of the Crunch’s slots.
Here’s a quick reminder of what the vet rule is all about from the league’s website:
Of the 18 skaters (not counting two goaltenders) that teams may dress for a game, at least 13 must be qualified as “development players.” Of those 13, 12 must have played in 260 or fewer professional games (including AHL, NHL and European elite leagues), and one must have played in 320 or fewer professional games. All calculations for development status are based on regular-season totals as of the start of the season.
Although not a veteran yet, McNeill should fill an important “in-betweener” leadership role alongside Daniel Walcott, who has 130 AHL games under his belt. Both of them should be able to also be leaders on the blue line without having the veteran tag around them. This will be so important given that the rest of the Crunch’s defensive corps is quite young. Ben Thomas and Dominik Masin each have one year of AHL experience, while Erik Cernak and Matthew Spencer are first-year AHL players expected to join Syracuse this fall.
Jason Iacona, who blogs about the WBS Penguins and has watched McNeill throughout the years, had this to share:
capable defender / PK’er. lost in the shuffle with the PIT D pipeline, traded to CHI for Danny Kristo.
— Jason Iacona (@nafsnep) July 20, 2017
With veteran Matt Taormina moving on, it’s good to see that the Crunch’s PK got a shot in the arm today, too.
With 8 defenders hanging around, Syracuse should be in good shape should the injury bug bite. However, as teams usually only dress 6-7 a night, it does make one wonder what the Crunch might do.
The Crunch is currently without an ECHL club affiliation, although that could change at any point. Coach Ben Groulx has been know to dress Walcott at forward, but that’s a curious reason to keep around an extra body. If Syracuse goes without a farm club this season, agreements can and probably will be made to put any extra individual players with an ECHL team that has space.
McNeill makes three players in the system with AHL deals. The other two are forward Kevin Lynch and goalie Nick Riopel.
