The Utica Comets announced this afternoon that they’d recalled MacKenze Stewart from the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings ahead of their Wednesday night match against the Toronto Marlies.

Stewart, 22, has played forward and defence since the Canucks drafted him in the seventh-round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. With the Wings this season, he’s played primarily on their blue line, per a discussion we had on Nation Network Radio with CanucksArmy’s resident Kalamazoo Wings expert Sie Morley. In 11 games with the Wings this season, Stewart has three points, all of them assists, and 32 penalty minutes.

The last time Stewart played for the Comets was at the tail end of his draft-plus-one season in 2016. Stewart played in four games for the Comets and was held off the scoresheet, save for his 17 penalty minutes. He’s in the final year of an entry-level contract that the Canucks, somewhat curiously, signed him to in his first year in the organization.

This is a good chance for Stewart to try and establish himself at the AHL level. The prospect of an NHL career is all but a non-starter at this stage, but it would still be great if he could carve out a professional career in the AHL.

Stewart stands at 6’4″ and isn’t shy about imposing himself on the opposition physically. Perhaps there’s room for him in the AHL as a pugilist, at some point.

The Comets play the Marlies at 7 PM Pacific on Wednesday. As always, Cory Hergott will have a full recap of the game’s events.