Transfers in the EIHL this week.

We begin with Edinburgh Capitals. The youngest of the Staal brothers, Jared Staal, who spent last season in the ECHL with South Carolina joined the Capitals on Monday. Not to be confused with his brother, Jordan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 25 year old has played over 200 games in the AHL.

The 6ft 3” and 210lb forward is noted for playing a strong physical game, and for his skill on special plays, particularly the penalty kill. He is expected to have a huge impact for the Capitals next season.

Player-coach of the Edinburgh Capitals Michal Dobron said “When we had the chance to bring Jared to the club it was an easy decision. He brings great experience having iced in over 200 games in the AHL, and also has NHL experience. That tells you about the calibre of the player. He’s a strong forward who can play across the forward line and is another on our roster that is talented on special plays.

On the Wednesday of that week two Scottish teams, Braehead Clan and Fife Flyers entered the market.

The oldest club in Scotland, Fife extended the contract of forward Justin Fox. Scoring 25 goals for them last year he will be a welcome returnee for the Flyers.

Their near neighbours, Braehead, welcomed back power forward Alex Leavitt. He scored 66 points in his first term with them last year and will most likely centre a line with new signing Cody Carlson.

The next day saw the announcement, from conference rivals Manchester Storm, that they had secured the services of Czech forward Patrik Valcak. His size and toughness brings a quality to the Storm which the fans appear to identify with.

Friday was undoubtedly the busiest day as there were four transactions.

The first was at Dundee Stars as they announced the signing of young centre Matt White. He had spent the last two seasons with Indy Fuel in the ECHL after joining from VermontUniversity in 2013.

Head coach Marc Lefebvre concluded “Matt is a big physical centre who is an excellent skater. He adds some size that we were looking for down the middle. He is great on face offs which is a key to any team’s success. He is the type of player we have been looking for over the last couple of months. We are delighted Matt is now onboard.”

Then Cardiff Devils joined in with a double signing. They brought back Andrew Hotham for a third year and his brother Scott, also a defenceman, from Storhammer in Denmark. He has also played in Austria, Norway and Italy.

Director of Hockey, Neil Francis described the elder of the brothers as more of a two-way player than Andrew, with the 31-year-old bringing some important qualities to the Devils:

“He’s a right handed shot, which is something we wanted with Carl Hudson not coming back,” Francis said. “He reads the game really well, does everything technically very well and plays at both ends of the ice which is what you need from your D core.”

The Braehead Clan made their second signing of the week as they enticed forward Cory Cowick to come from Florida Everblades. He is 27 and played seventy one times for them last year.

Coach Ryan Finnerty said “He’ll stand up for himself and his team-mates and can play a good 200ft game.  We feel he’s an element we didn’t have last year and is a welcome addition to our line-up.”

Finally, Nottingham Panthers entered the fray with the signing of Defenceman Andy Sertich from Stavanger Oilers of the GET Ligaen in Denmark.

Drafted by Pittsburgh Penguins in 2002, the 33-year-old played along side Panthers defenceman Geoff Waugh for Medvescak Zagreb from 2011 to 2013, and again for  the Croatian national side. Coach Corey Neilson believes he will be a valuable asset to the locker room as well as being a very good two way player with great puck movement.

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