The American Hockey League doesn’t have the same rules as the National Hockey League does when it comes to roster size. NHL teams merely have to be at or under the 50 contract limit with 23 players max on the NHL roster.
So with that said, here is the official Ontario Reign roster for the upcoming season.
Forwards:
#9 Adrian Kempe
#11 Kris Newbury
#12 Jonny Brodzinski
#15 Paul Bissonnette
#16 Sean Backman
#21 Andrew Crescenzi
#24 Ryan Horvat
#25 Scott Sabourin
#26 Nic Dowd
#27 Michael Mersch
#28 Joel Lowry
#39 Justin Auger
Defensemen:
#4 Kevin Gravel
#5 Vincent LoVerde (C)
#6 Jamie McBain
#23 Nick Ebert
#33 Kevin Raine
Goaltenders:
#29 Michael Houser
#30 Patrick Bartosak
#31 Peter Budaj
In addition to the Opening Night roster, the Ontario Reign announced that forward Jordan Samuels-Thomas and defenseman Alex Lintuniemi have been assigned to the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL. He will join Alex Roach and Max Kitsyn who were assigned to ECHL-Manchester a few days ago.
It’s interesting to note that the 60th overall pick from the 2014 draft apparently had such a bad training camp, that both MacDermid and Raine made the team over Lintuniemi. Personally, I thought Lintuniemi was one of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal Kings rookie showcase and also appreciated his skills during the Reign’s loss to the Gulls in their first preseason game of the year at the beginning of the month.
With the additions of Budaj and Samuels-Thomas, the Kings are now at their 50 contract limit. (For those wondering, Budaj received an NHL contract due to the injury to Patrik Bartosak and the mandate that states that all NHL teams must have three goaltenders on Standard Player Contracts included in the 50 contract limit).
The Reign will begin defense of their Calder CUp title on the road at Bakersfield this Saturday, Oct. 10 and will return for their home opener on Friday, Oct. 23.