The Hershey Bears today announced the signings of Darren Reid and Tommy Maxwell for the upcoming season.
Darren Reid comes to Hershey after playing the last 2 seasons with the Philadelphia Phantoms where he totaled 24 goals and 27 assists in 84 games the past 2 seasons. He also totaled 3 points in 9 playoff games last season for Philly.
Tommy Maxwell was with Hershey last season but only played in 9 games due to an injury. But in those 9 games he totaled 44 penalty minutes. And he added 28 penalty minutes in 9 games with South Carolina, giving him 72 penalty minutes in 18 games last season. He is healthy and is expected to help fill the enforcer role for Hershey this season.
I think both signings are good. Darren shows some scoring potential but hasn't managed to get on the ice for a full season as of yet. In 06-07 he totaled 16 goals and 14 assists in 43 games, which is his best season as a pro. He does bring with him 21 games of NHL experience though. He has been around the league for a few seasons now but still isn't a veteran due to his short seasons.
Maxwell is going to combine with a few other guys to replace Louis Robitaille as the main enforcer on the team. I like having a forward enforcer so that if he gets tossed it doesn't hurt the team as much as a defenseman getting tossed would. Grant McNeill is the other main enforcer and if he gets tossed out of a game then they have to skate with 5 defensemen. So this is a really good signing for the Bears.
And as I mentioned Louis Robitaille will not play for the Bears this season. He has signed with Cortina, a team in Italy according to their website hockeycortina.org. Louis was a very good player for Hershey the past couple seasons and played his role perfectly. There are a lot of people on the Bears forum on PennLive that don't seem to like Louis but I am not one of them. I think he served his purpose for the team and set the tone in many games. He may have taken some dumb penalties or avoided some fights but he still played his role well, coaxing other players into the penalty box with him. And he even managed to score a few goals last season.
Good Luck Louis! Hope to at least see you back in the Hershey community in the future!
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