Colorado Signs Plymouth Whalers Center Mitchell Heard to Entry-Level NHL Deal

Here's a mid-week compilation about three Plymouth Whalers in different stages of their careers:

MITCHELL HEARD SIGNS WITH AVS: Plymouth Whalers center Mitchell Heard joins an impressive list of current teammates who have signed National Hockey League contracts.

Heard, 20, signed an entry-level contract with the Colorado Avalanche. 

Here's the release from Colorado Avalanche:

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has signed forward Mitchell Heard to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Heard, 20, was Colorado’s first pick (second round, 41st overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He averaged a point-per-game with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers in 2011-12, collecting 57 points (29 goals, 28 assists) with 111 penalty minutes in 57 games.

“We are pleased to have Mitchell under contract,” said Avalanche General Manager/Executive Vice President Greg Sherman. “He is coming off a strong season in the OHL and we are excited to see him at training camp.”

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound center finished third on the Whalers in goals, was sixth in points and ranked second in PIM.  Heard also finished second on Plymouth in power-play goals with 10.  The Bowmanville, Ontario native added 11 points (4g/7a) in 13 playoff contests.

The Denver Post also has a story.

Heard joins Stefan Noesen (Ottawa), Rickard Rakell (Anaheim), Tom Wilson (Washington), JT Miller (NY Rangers) and Ludvig Bystrom (Dallas) as Whalers on the current roster who have signed NHL contracts.

TOM WILSON PLAYS FOR CANADA:  The Whalers' Tom Wilson and Team Canada completed their four-game series with Russia in the 2012 Canad-Russia Challenge Tuesday night with Canada winning the series on a Ryan Strome goal at 3:20 of overtime.

Canada won Game Four, 4-2, in regulation to earn a split in the series.  The team then played overtime to determine a winner in the series.

In four games, Wilson scored no points and picked up six minutes in PIM's.

MATT MISTELE GEARS UP FOR YEAR TWO: On a Whalers roster filled with National Hockey League drafts, second-year forward Matt Mistele stands out. He hasn't been drafted by an NHL team.  Yet, Mistele - who turns 17-years-old in October - started to make an impact over the second half of last season and looks to continue on the upswing this season.

Matt Mackinder of MiHockeyNow.com has the story:

It’s rare when a 16-year-old rookie makes an immediate impact in the Ontario Hockey League and Plymouth Whalers’ rookie Matt Mistele wasn’t one to buck that trend last season.

Mistele was in and out of the line-up, but the complaints never came. Not once. Instead, he showed a mature sense of reality all while playing as the youngest player on the Whalers and one of the youngest in all of the OHL.

“I think my first year went well,” said Mistele. “Obviously, I was one of the younger guys on a team with a bunch of big-name players, so I just worked hard in practice and off the ice and tried to take advantage of the time I got and by the end of the year, I think I really came around and improved under the wing of some of the older guys and my coaches.”

Drafted in the second round of the 2011 OHL Draft out of the Whitby Wildcats organization, Mistele ventured south of the border with an open mind – another sign of his maturity level.

See the rest of the story.