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Lightning Sign Jay Leach and David Schneider
Tuesday, Jul. 3rd, 2007
The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed defensemen Jay Leach and David Schneider to one-year, two-way contracts, Executive Vice President and General Manager Jay Feaster announced today.
Leach, 6-foot-5, 219 pounds, played 73 games with the Providence Bruins last season. He netted two goals and recorded seven assists while leading the team with 128 penalty minutes. Leach, 27, finished the season with a plus-1 rating and scored one power-play goal. He played in 13 Calder Cup Playoff games and recorded four points and 13 penalty minutes.
"Jay Leach is a big, experienced defenseman with great size and strength, Feaster said. He has a very good, hard shot and can play the point on the power play. He is an honest, hard-working player who competes every shift, and at the AHL level he is a real leader. We have a lot of young defensive prospects in the minors and we sorely lack a veteran leader to help mentor them. Jay will be given every opportunity to make our team; however, we are confident that either way we have again improved the depth in our organization.
Schneider, a 5-9, 190-pound native of Melrose Park, Illinois, spent the 2006-07 season with HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish Elite League. He played in 53 games with HPK and scored eight goals with 25 points and a plus-12 rating. The 27-year-old also played in nine postseason games with three goals and five points.
"Our chief scout in Europe, Kari Kettunen, has been watching Schneider play for the past four seasons now and reporting on him to us for at least the past two, Feaster continued. He is confident that given Schneider's mobility, vision and puck skills he will upgrade our blue line at the AHL level and provide us with much needed organizational depth. While he will be given a chance to make the NHL team out of camp, we believe he brings an offensive component to our organizational depth chart that has been lacking in recent years. We are excited that he has chosen to return to play in North America with our organization.
Leach, 6-foot-5, 219 pounds, played 73 games with the Providence Bruins last season. He netted two goals and recorded seven assists while leading the team with 128 penalty minutes. Leach, 27, finished the season with a plus-1 rating and scored one power-play goal. He played in 13 Calder Cup Playoff games and recorded four points and 13 penalty minutes.
"Jay Leach is a big, experienced defenseman with great size and strength, Feaster said. He has a very good, hard shot and can play the point on the power play. He is an honest, hard-working player who competes every shift, and at the AHL level he is a real leader. We have a lot of young defensive prospects in the minors and we sorely lack a veteran leader to help mentor them. Jay will be given every opportunity to make our team; however, we are confident that either way we have again improved the depth in our organization.
Schneider, a 5-9, 190-pound native of Melrose Park, Illinois, spent the 2006-07 season with HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish Elite League. He played in 53 games with HPK and scored eight goals with 25 points and a plus-12 rating. The 27-year-old also played in nine postseason games with three goals and five points.
"Our chief scout in Europe, Kari Kettunen, has been watching Schneider play for the past four seasons now and reporting on him to us for at least the past two, Feaster continued. He is confident that given Schneider's mobility, vision and puck skills he will upgrade our blue line at the AHL level and provide us with much needed organizational depth. While he will be given a chance to make the NHL team out of camp, we believe he brings an offensive component to our organizational depth chart that has been lacking in recent years. We are excited that he has chosen to return to play in North America with our organization.
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