New Jersey Devils‘ 2nd year undrafted goaltender Ken Appleby(31) is off to a hot start on double reassignment down to affiliate Adirondack Thunder, where he spent the majority of his rookie season.
In 4 ECHL games he has a 3-0-0-1 record with a fantastic 1.71 GAA and .919 SV% and 1 shutout.
The extra large 6’4″ 205 lbs. net minder appeared in 29 contests through his first year posting a 17-9-1-1 mark, then carried his team through 12 Kelly Cup playoff games bowing out in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
He’s had one AHL start in 2016/2017 with Albany Devils, a winning effort in overtime with a stellar 1.85 GAA and .929 SV%.
In his previous campaign, he played 8 games in the higher league and did pretty well, but there’s a big of a log jam in the prospect system, so to give him more playing time was sent back down.
The 21-year old old 2015 Memorial Cup and OHL Champion with Oshawa Generals is still carving out his spot but signed to a three year entry deal through 2017/2018 there’s time for the parent club to take notice.
It’s possible he could be one of those rare players to play minutes in three different leagues in one season.