Welcome back, Zach.
The Hershey Bears in conjunction with the Washington Capitals announced yesterday that defenseman Zach Miskovic has been signed to a one year contract. Here’s the official announcement:
05/18/2011 –
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2011
CONTACT: John Walton-HERSHEY BEARS –CAPITALS RE-SIGN DEFENSEMAN ZACH MISKOVIC TO A ONE-YEAR CONTRACT
RIVER FOREST, IL NATIVE TO RETURN FOR THIRD SEASON IN ORGANIZATION AFTER CAREER HIGH IN GOALS IN 2010-11
HERSHEY – The HERSHEY BEARS announced today in conjunction with the NHL’s Washington Capitals that defenseman Zach Miskovic has been signed to a contract for 2011-12. The announcement was made today by BEARS President/GM Doug Yingst.
Miskovic, 26, enjoyed a career-high seven goals and accumulated 16 points in 58 games this year for HERSHEY, his second pro season. A four-year letter-winner out of St. Lawrence University, Miskovic led all NCAA defensemen in goals during his senior season with the Saints. He originally signed with Washington in July of 2009, and has played in 11 career Calder Cup playoff games. His career-best seventh goal of the season came on February 6 vs. Manitoba.
The BEARS will open the 2011-12 season this October, with the AHL schedule of games due for release in early August. Season Ticket plans for 2011-12 are on sale now at (717) 508-BEAR.
I am glad to see him back. I think that he has been developing nicely as a defenseman over the last 2 years. He had a career high 7 goals last season. That’s a good thing. On the down side, his overall points dropped. In 2009-2010 he was 5G 20A for 26 point. For the 2010-2011 season he had 7G 9A totaling 16 points. In each of those years he was also a solid +18 and +12 respectively. For 2010-2011 only Brian Fahey, Sean Collins and Lawrence Nycholat were ahead of Miskovic in the +/- category. Where I think Misky needs to work is in the playoffs.
Playoff Stats
Season Team GP G A PTS +/- PIM 2011 Calder Cup Playoffs Hershey Bears 5 0 0 0 -1 8 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs Hershey Bears 6 1 1 2 -2 0 total 11 1 1 2 -3 8
It looks bad, right? Obviously the +/- rating for a defenseman in the playoffs needs to come up. In 2010 he didn’t get into too many games. The 2011 playoff race was cut short. While neither are a great excuse, there is a positive hidden in these stats. He didn’t play in too many game in the 2010 campaign, but he had 1G 1A for 2 points. Still wondering how this is good? In 2010 there were only 3 d-men on the team with a better point per game average. Two of them played full time in the NHL this year. I’m sure I didn’t need to tell you that those two are John Carlson and Karl Alzner. The third was Patrick McNeill. Pretty good company to be a part of in my opinion. The 2011 playoffs weren’t quite as kind to Zach, but he was roughly in the middle of the pack for the D-corps.
Hopefully Zach will continue on his development track, have a few less injuries and maybe get a call up or two next season. I am looking forward to seeing him back in the chocolate and white. With this being his third year here, I have a feeling that he will be called upon to become a leader on the blueline. I think that he has it in him as well as the potential to be a good quality defenseman.