Providence Profile: Garnet Exelby

 

Exelby back in his Atlanta Days (Credit:Flickr/ Teka England)

Back in July, I wrote about this week’s Providence Profile Garnet Exelby. In the summer he was signed to a two-way contract with the Boston Bruins worth $600,000 at the NHL level and $130,000 at the AHL level over the course of the deal. Obviously since there is no NHL right now, Exelby has been spending his time in the AHL with the P-Bruins.

In 8 games this season, Exelby already has one goal that he tallied on the 20th of October against the Springfield Falcons. The 30-year-old defenseman was drafted back in 1999 by the Atlanta Thrashers. From Atlanta, he had stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Rockford Icehogs (Chicago Blackhawks AHL affiliate), and Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate). And now his current team is obviously the Boston Bruins.

Exelby is known for being aggressive and having a mean body check. Don’t believe me? Check out this video of him checking Boston’s own Shawn Thornton during his time with Toronto.

Or this video of three straight hits against Colorado players back in ’07 when he played for the Atlanta Thrashers.

Needless to say Exelby would be an asset to the Bruins defensive lines if we had an NHL season. But for now at least Exelby can get in some practice shots at the AHL teams.

 

Bruins Build Some Depth

MacDermid is sticking around Boston for at least another year (Credit:Flickr/Sarah Connors)

More signings came out of Boston today as Garnet Exelby and Lane MacDermid were signed to one-year, two-way contracts through the 2012-2013 season. Exelby’s contract is worth $600,000 at the NHL level and $130,000 at the AHL level over the course of the deal. MacDermid’s contract is worth $600,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level.

MacDermid is familiar to Boston fans as this past season he appeared in five games and made his NHL debut on March 4th against the New York Rangers where he got his first fighting major. But for most of the season, the 22-year-old played for the Providence Bruins where he recorded four goals, 12 assists and 121 penalty minutes in 69 AHL games.

He was selected  by Boston in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and has spent two seasons with the Providence Bruins. I think MacDermid has great potential for the Bruins and it’s great to see that he will spend at least another year in the system.

Meanwhile we here at A Cup A Bruin would like to officially welcome Garnet Exelby to the black and gold. The a 6’1”, 215-pound defenseman spent the past season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins after signing with the Detroit Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent in July of 2011. In 75 games, he recorded AHL career highs with seven goals, 14 assists and 21 points, and collected 177 penalty minutes with a plus-eight rating.

30-year-old Exelby is a veteran of the NHL playing in 408 career games with the Atlanta Thrashers and Toronto Maple Leafs, tallying seven goals and 43 assists for 50 points, along with 584 penalty minutes. Exelby last played in the NHL for Toronto during the 2009-10 season.

Here’s a small look at what Exelby is capable of:

These two signings to me are a great way to increase the depth on our team. Chiarelli definitely know what he’s doing when it comes to signing tough guys and in past it has proven very successful.