Utica Comets Sign Goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos To PTO

The Vancouver Canucks waived the newly acquired Mike McKenna yesterday with the intention of having him finish up the season in Utica so that they could graduate Thatcher Demko to the big club.

Those plans were dashed by the Philadelphia Flyers this morning when they claimed the veteran netminder from the freebie pile.

Yes, folks, I tweeted out the word “seasrch” today…

With McKenna being claimed and Demko already on his way to Vancouver to take over the backup duties, the Comets found themselves with naught more than Ivan Kulbakov at the ready for this weekend’s schedule of games.

Finding players at a moment’s notice is nothing new to the Comets as they signed a bevy of players to PTO, (professional tryout offer) deals last season. Well, the club went back to the PTO well again, if only as a temporary measure to get through a few games until the Canucks can acquire another goaltender with an NHL contract, or sign another that they can call upon if Jacob Markstrom or Demko get injured.

Welcome to the newest Comets PTO netminder, Alex Sakellaropoulos. Sakallaropoulos has one heck of a name to type and I’d imagine that his nameplate goes nearly elbow to elbow on the back on his jersey.

Sakellaropoulos played in the NCAA for four seasons with Union College before graduating to the pro ranks last season. He was well travelled last year as well, suiting up for the Quad City Mallards, Indy Fuel, Jacksonville IceMen, Cincinnati Cyclones, and Worcester Railers in the ECHL last year, along with a brief stint with the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the SPHL.

This season, he has suited up in 18 games with the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL, posting a 2.46 goals-against average to go along with a save percentage of 0.919%.

The 24-year-old native of Tinley Park Illinois stands six-foot-three inches tall and tips the scales at 205 lbs, according to Elite Prospects. 

I would expect that we will see Sakellaropoulos backing up Kulbakov for both of this weekend’s games and possibly next week’s game on Wednesday as well while the Canucks try to find their next Mike McKenna.

The Comets are back in action on Saturday, January 5th when they hit the road to Cleveland for the first of back-to-back early games against the Monsters.