Cramarossa Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 "Mike Zalewski will play for a new team next season. The 24-year-old will also be playing in a different country. Zalewski, a former New York State Player of the Year at New Hartford High School, has signed to the play for the Straubing Tigers, his agent Brian Bartlett confirmed in an email to the Observer-Dispatch on Monday morning. Straubing, which announced Zalewski’s signing on its website, is a team based in Germany and plays in the country’s top hockey league, the DEL. The move comes after Zalewski, a forward who is known for his aggressive and determined style on both sides of the ice, played the majority of the last four seasons not far from where he grew up with the Utica Comets. Zalewski was a restricted free agent after the 2016-17 season, but did not receive a qualifying offer from the Vancouver Canucks, giving him the opportunity to sign with another team and continue his career. The move overseas also reunites him with 30-year-old brother, Steven, who is set to return to Straubing for a third consecutive season. Steven Zalewski has played in 102 regular-season games with Straubing. On their website, the team cited Steven Zalewski as helping join the Tigers. “He is excited to play with his brother next year,” Mike Zalewski’s agent said in the email. In three seasons, Mike Zalewski played a total of 167 regular-season games with the Comets accumulating 24 goals and 39 assists. Zalewski also played a key role on Utica’s special teams, including the Comets’ penalty kill unit the last few seasons. Mike Zalewski also played in 27 postseason games for the Comets." http://www.uticaod.com/news/20170717/new-hartfords-mike-zalewski-signs-to-play-in-germany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Neilsons Towel Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 It's a shame that he's leaving the Comets. Showed quite a bit of promise as a 3rd or 4th line shutdown centre. However it seemed he just couldn't make the jump to the NHL. Best of luck on your career in Germany! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JM_ Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 thats great, its nice to see these guys get chances to play when the qualifying offers don't work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancaster Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Good for Mike. A chance to play overseas for more money and to play alongside your brother. He's still young enough that he could make a return back to North American hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodycanuckleheads Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Quote but did not receive a qualifying offer from the Vancouver Canucks, giving him the opportunity to sign with another team and continue his career. Ooh boy, what an opportunity! I wish I had the 'opportunity' to get fired!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Not a bad move for him, he was quickly dropping down our depth charts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 1 hour ago, VegasCanuck said: Not a bad move for him, he was quickly dropping down our depth charts. This must be the reason he wasn't qualified. He looked good when called up and I thought he had a chance. Good for him that he gets to continue playing pro hockey alongside his brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossi Vaananen Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 He was capable at the AHL level. Usually guys that can play in NA tend to stay, or go to a EU league like the SEL, NLA, or KHL. The German league is actually a move down. Maybe he puts up the points to make himself marketable? Seems like the wrong choice to me, that is of course assuming that he wasn't offered another contract with the Comets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantum Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 1 hour ago, Ossi Vaananen said: He was capable at the AHL level. Usually guys that can play in NA tend to stay, or go to a EU league like the SEL, NLA, or KHL. The German league is actually a move down. Maybe he puts up the points to make himself marketable? Seems like the wrong choice to me, that is of course assuming that he wasn't offered another contract with the Comets. That's quite possible, though Zalewski seemed to regress this past season after putting up some very promising numbers in the year prior. The article states that he's reuniting with his brother to play with the Straubing Tigers which likely factored into his decision to go to Germany instead of another AHL team/higher level Euro league. I wonder if he was holding out to sign another AHL deal with the Comets but when the offer never came, that's when he decided to go to Germany? With the influx of young talent coming to the Comets this season, I assume Zalewski (much like Valk) was pushed out (for better or worse)?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfgang Durst Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Straubing is a nice spot for him for several reasons: - fantastic atmosphere in the building, the crowd is very passionate and cheers a lot for their team, noise level is quite high. Crowd of ~ 5.800 people fit in the building. - Straubing is a lovely small town in southern bavaria, nothing around this town just acres. Straubing is around 2 hours car drive away from Munich. I expect the Zalewskis to visit the Oktoberfest in late September, beginning of October and have some excellent bavarian beer, not in small glasses of course. # We drink beer from large pitchers - Expect the team as bottom feeder, they probably end up in the range of 10-14 (it's a 14 team league, with 54 games in the season). - Straubing Tigers have one of the lowest budgets in the league. Top teams like Munich (sponsored by Red Bull -/Energy Drink), and Mannheim (sponsored by SAP / Business Software) have a budget two to three times bigger than Straubing's budget. - It's a small team which plays a speed game with a lot of small forwards, who really can skate and are very shifty. Battle level is always higher than the battle level of the top teams. - It's a high scoring team. like ANA in the NHL. Towards the end of the season when every point counts to earn a pre-playoff berth they tend to play a defensive first game Wille Desjardins style . Results of 1:0, 2:1 are quite common in this stage of the season. - I think it will be a great experience for him to learn about the German Culture and of course the traditions - Unfortunately the team lost his head coach, Larry Mitchell in this off-season to a rival (ingolstadt). Mitchell was key for the teams success with his excellent connections to North America. He has an excellent eye for AHL players who turn out to be cornerstone players in the German League (like Darin Olver and Connor James). - Straubings GM Jason Dunham is pretty happy to land a young and promising player like Mike Zalewski, especially considering the low budget. I think it was good luck that his brother Steven is on the team. That helped a lot in landing him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue_Jays_Canucks Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 He got worse every year in the AHL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250Integra Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 I bet he's secretly going to University. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iinatcc Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 On 7/17/2017 at 8:25 PM, Ossi Vaananen said: He was capable at the AHL level. Usually guys that can play in NA tend to stay, or go to a EU league like the SEL, NLA, or KHL. The German league is actually a move down. Maybe he puts up the points to make himself marketable? Seems like the wrong choice to me, that is of course assuming that he wasn't offered another contract with the Comets. Maybe he wants to be in Germany for a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Best of luck to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfgang Durst Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 On 18.7.2017 at 7:59 PM, 250Integra said: I bet he's secretly going to University. There is no university in Straubing. No way he is going to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Zepp Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 On 7/17/2017 at 11:25 AM, Ossi Vaananen said: He was capable at the AHL level. Usually guys that can play in NA tend to stay, or go to a EU league like the SEL, NLA, or KHL. The German league is actually a move down. Maybe he puts up the points to make himself marketable? Seems like the wrong choice to me, that is of course assuming that he wasn't offered another contract with the Comets. German league is better than you might think. Top six on each team and top pairing D would all fit into AHL most likely without problem. Not sure why it doesn't get the respect in North America but it is a good league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.