With Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Rasmus Kupari, Christian Wolanin, Jacob Moverare, and Jordan Spence recalled to the NHL — along with Alex Turcotte, who continues to be sidelined — Reign assistant coach Craig Johnson may be close to suiting up for some AHL game action soon.
Thankfully, Ontario isn’t quite ready for that just yet.
On Friday, 6-foot-7 center Nikita Pavlychev was recalled from ECHL Greenville. He spent quite a bit of time with the Reign earlier this season, although mostly as a healthy scratch. He’s a former Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick and played at Penn St before turning pro last year. Before heading off to the Swamp Rabbits a few weeks later, Pavlychev scored his first AHL goal back in January…
Nikita Pavlychev scores his 1st AHL goal to extend the #Reigns lead to 3-1!
Assisted by: Iverson(1), Kasastul(2) pic.twitter.com/s3TQsG7TZJ
— Eric (@kingsgifs2) January 16, 2022
A few other reinforcements were added to the Reign roster in time for Saturday’s game in San Diego when defenseman Kevin Lohan and forward Loren Ulett signed PTO (Professional Tryout) contracts. Lohan comes over from the ECHL, having played four years with the Orlando Solan Bears. Ulett is another ECHL player, spending several years now in Kansas City; recording 16 points in 32 games this year. Back in 2019-20, one of his teammates with the Mavericks may stir up some memories — right wing Matt Schmalz was there (a former Kings draft pick and ECHL Manchester legend).
Along with all of the player changes, there will be a position change, as well. The plan is to slide Gabe Vilardi over from wing and use him at center vs. the Gulls. On the season, Vilardi has 38 points in 38 games. What’s in his near future, including the possible timing of an NHL recall? We broke down the entire situation, in great detail, here.
ONTARIO REIGN PROJECTED LINEUP vs. SAN DIEGO GULLS
Burke – Tynan – Frk
Sutter – Thomas – Wagner
Tkachev – Vilardi – Fagemo
Ulett – Pavlychev – Doty
Other options include: Dudas, Madden
Unavailable: Turcotte (explained here)
Gaunce – Grans
Kasastul – Strand
Lohan – Phillips
Other options include: N/A
Villalta (starter)
Lethemon
Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm tonight and the game can be viewed on AHL TV.
RELATED CONTENT:
Lead photo via ALo Images
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
