The Winnipeg Jets could have a few more faces in training camp later this month.
The Jets have offered professional tryout offers to goaltender David Leggio and Thomas Raffl, with Leggio reportedly accepting the offer.
Raffl is the older brother of Michael, who had the fourth-most goals on the Philadelphia Flyers last season with 21. Thomas is a bit bigger than his younger brother and last season he was over a point per game with European powerhouse EC Red Bull Salzburg. He also served as captain of Austria at the World Championships, recoridng three points in seven games.
Puck Prose
There is room for the 29-year-old Raffl in the Jets bottom-six should he show well in camp and the Jets are hoping as Philly did two years ago, that they’ve found a diamond in the rough. Raffl was never drafted in the National Hockey League and his only experience in North America came in 2005-06 when he played 37 games with the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers and the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets and Swift Current Broncos.
Leggio is also an interesting one, namely because of the Jets depth in goal. Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson will be the 1-2 in some order to start the season with the Jets, barring injury. And in the American Hockey League, there are no starts really available between Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie.
The 31-year-old Leggio was carving out a nice minor league career and was perhaps an injury away from making his NHL debut after posting some nice numbers with the AHL Rochester Americans for two seasons beginning in 2011. His best year was in 2012-13 when he went 38-24-1 with a 2.56 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
He had a hiccup last year however playing with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders. In 23 games, he posted a save percentage of .861. It’s hard seeing Leggio being anything more than camp insurance should anything happen to the previously mentioned four goaltenders with the Jets.
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