The Rochester Americans announced today that they signed defenseman Matt Duffy to a two-way American Hockey League contract, a day before I was about to post an article asking why he hadn’t been signed yet.
“Matt came in at the end of last season and was an immediate contributor to our team,” said Gage. “We look forward to seeing him at camp and hope he can further his development at the AHL level.”
Matt Duffy was called up in March 2009 to the Rochester Americans when his season with the University of Maine was finished. He scored a point in his first game with the Amerks and went on to play in nine total games putting up two goals and four assists. Once the Amerks season was over he was sent to the Florida Everblades where he skated in two regular season games and three playoff games.
After a 4-2 win for the Amerks against the Binghamton Senators in April 2009 assistant coach Jason Cipolla said this about Duffy, “Duffy has good hockey sense which helps him. His ability to adjust to the pro game has helped by his hockey sense so he’s able to make the jump probably quicker than other people because of that.”
“Matt is a young, hard working player who showed promise in Rochester last year after completing his college career,” said Florida Panthers Assistant General Manager Randy Sexton. “He had the opportunity to compete on the professional level last season and we are confident that he will continue to develop his skill set while playing professionally this season.”
“It feels good. I like the city and the coaching staff has been great to me,” said Duffy. “I am pretty excited to go there.”
The defenseman played four seasons of college hockey at the University of Maine, where he amassed career highs in his senior season in goals (7), assists (10), points (17) and penalty minutes (64) in 39 games. A native of Windham, Maine, the blueliner posted 43 points (21+22) and 164 PIM in 135 career games for the Black Bears. The 6-foot-2, 201-pound defenseman was the Florida Panthers’ fourth-round selection (104th overall) in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
