At first, Ryan Schmelzer thought he misheard Dan MacKinnon. Two weeks earlier, when he had asked the New Jersey Devils for an NHL contract, the team seemed intent on offering him another two-year AHL deal to captain the Utica Comets.
So in April, when Schmelzer, 30, sat down for his end-of-season chat with MacKinnon, Utica’s general manager, and Kevin Dineen, his coach, he hardly expected to hear the Devils would award him his first two-way ... Read the full article