WHILE rolling into August over the weekend, July provided plenty of off-ice moves for a number of local products.
The National Hockey League featured the Montreal Canadiens securing the services of Trevor Letowski to join their staff as an assistant following a successful stint as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires.
Amongst a select group who won World Junior Hockey Championship Gold as both a player and coach for Canada, the 44-year-old Thunder Bay native also helped Windsor win a Memorial Cup in 2017 as an associate coach.
In 10 years behind the bench in the OHL, including five and a half as head coach, Letowski produced 144 victories with both Windsor and the Sarnia Sting.
As a player, he spent nine seasons in the NHL where league statistics had him tabbed as a right winger.
His 616 contests at that position are the most of any local skater in NHL history.
Those numbers put him in top spot at right wing ahead of the following others from city and region, or those who called the area home:
Jimmy Ward (528); Mike Allison (499); (Battleship) Bob Kelly (425); Benny Woit (334); Norman (Bud) Poile (311); Pentti Lund (259); David Bruce (234); Ed Kachur (96); Cameron Mann (93); Steve Wojciechowski (54); Jeff Heerema (32); Murdo MacKay (19); Ray Ceresino (12); Pete Bakovic (10); Ron Talakoski (9); Ron Busniuk (6); Albert Pudas (4); Jared Staal (2) and Danny Bois (1).
In his time, Letowski racked up 201 points in NHL career on 84 tallies and 117 assists.
Meanwhile, signing as a free agent with the Arizona Coyotes last week, Carter Hutton is gearing to make an NHL appearance for a 10th consecutive season.
Expecting to face plenty of rubber in the Arizona net in 2021-22, Hutton will look to match his numbers in 2017-18 when he led all NHL netminders in both goals-against average (2.09) and save percentage (.931) as a member of the St. Louis Blues.
Sitting six wins shy of 100 in his NHL tenure, Hutton, 35, also remains a half-dozen appearances shy of moving into fourth in all-time games played among NHL netminders from northwestern Ontario.
Presently ahead of him are:
Bruce Gamble (328); Wayne Stephenson (328); Murray Bannerman (289) and Alex Auld (237).
With Hutton (232) lodged in fifth, Ottawa Senators goalkeeper Matt Murray (226) is also in position to move up in the games played slot, among locals, in the upcoming campaign.
Hutton and Murray are also both one shutout shy of joining Stephenson for second spot all-time in career NHL blankings with 14.
CITY CONNECTION: Coming off a third-place finish in his first year as a head coach, Jason Jaspers has recruited a fellow Thunder Bay product to help his Esbjerg Energy side in the Danish Metal League.
Going 32-10-6 and finishing six points short of matching the top of the league table in his bebut, Jaspers has signed forward Kale Kerbashian to help bolster his offense in 2021-22 after finishing second in goals scored a year ago.
Having spent the past three seasons skating in Germany and Slovakia, Kerbashian boasts over 200 contests at the pro level with 113 goals and 195 helpers to his credit.
The Energy commence league play a month today as they take on the Rodovre Mighty Bulls.
SHEFFIELD BOUND: Another city resident who switched teams in July is Travis Oleksuk, who inked a deal with the Sheffield Steelers of the English Elite Hockey League.
Oleksuk, 32, has spent the past five years competing in Austria and Italy, including helping HC Bolzano win a league championship in 2018 in a 12-team loop with clubs from four different European nations.
After helping Minnesota-Duluth win a NCAA Frozen Four title in 2011, Oleksuk will be entering his 10th year in the pro ranks.
Through 521 outings, he has scored on 92 occasions and helped set-up 154 others for 246 points.
Sheffield is slated to begin play in the 10-team EIHL September 19 vs. the Nottingham Panthers.