The Nottingham Panthers announced the signing of Tyler Biggs yesterday (July 14, 2018) through the medium of Twitter.
The name may not be familiar to many that follow hockey in the UK but for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, Biggs is a player from an era they would rather forget.
The Leafs GM at the time, Brian Burke, opted to trade his teams 30th and 39th picks for Anaheim’s 22nd in order to move up to select the American ’power’ forward in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft..
Biggs certainly fit the profile of the truculent team Burke was hell-bent on building during his tenure but the Binghamton, NY native was a bust as far as Toronto were concerned and has never suited up for a single NHL game in his career.
After just 108 games and limited success or development with Toronto’s farm team, Biggs was traded four years later in 2015 to Pittsburgh as part of the deal that saw Phil Kessel also head to the Penguins.
Biggs would only go on to play a further eleven games in the AHL (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) and has spent the last two seasons in the ECHL with Kalamazoo Wings.
The 25 year old has found his feet in the professional game during his time in Kalamazoo and is coming off the back of an eighteen goal season and 39 point haul in 55 games.
Nottingham fans will enjoy watching a fully committed player who thoroughly revels in the physical side of game -whether that’s throwing hits, dropping the gloves or causing carnage in front of the net.
His skating is arguably one of the weaker parts of Biggs’ game and it’ll be interesting to see how he adapts to the larger ice surface.
Biggs can play Centre or right side but for my money is a more effective player on the wing than down the middle. The Panthers could do worse then to use him in the crease, creating a screen and looking for redirects on the power play and he’s certainly a good candidate for penalty killing duties.
At 25 years old, Biggs is likely to be the youngest and least experienced import in the EIHL this season but Nottingham have themselves a fine addition to their roster being built by new Head Coach Rich Chernomaz.
UK Hockey Blog 