On Thursday October 28th, the Kansas City Mavericks announced the signing of goaltender Taran Kozun. The two sides agreed to terms on a standard player contract for the upcoming season. Taran, 26-years-old, is the younger brother of former Maverick, Tad Kozun.
Taran spent the last three seasons in university hockey with the Saskatchewan Huskies. Following Kozun’s signing on Wednesday, the Mavericks announced on Thursday the signing of Canadian defensemen Noah Delmas.
Kozun’s stats from Saskatchewan are extremely impressive. In 22 games last season, Kozun posted a GAA of 1.87 and a .931 save percentage. Along with five shutouts, Kozun owned a record of 17-3-2. The year before, he was 20-3-0 with a GAA of 1.81. He also had a .926 save percentage.
His impressive final season with the Huskies saw the native of Nipiwan win numerous awards. He was the U SPORTS goaltender of the year and was named to the U SPORTS All-Canadian First-Team. He was also named Player of the Year.
This will not actually be Kozun’s first foray into the ECHL. In 2015-16, he played nine games with Utah following the conclusion of his WHL career. He was also listed on Kansas City’s roster for that season, however, he never appeared in a game. In those nine games he played, Kozun owned a 4-3-0 record along with a 3.08 goals-against-average. That included a .892 save percentage.
This comes on the heels of the revelation that the AHL season will be starting on February 5th. The Stockton Heat, Kansas City’s AHL affiliate, has a goaltender playing on loan in Russia until the season begins. This means Tyler Parsons, the number five goalie on Calgary’s depth chart, will most likely be in Stockton until February.
With Kansas City’s first game of the season currently on schedule for December 11th, there will be plenty of time for both Kozun and Justin Kapelmaster to get a chance from the team to get professional playing time.
Moving onto Noah Delmas, the 24-year-old native of Newmarket has spent the last four seasons at Niagara University. While doing so, he has played for the Purple Eagles, having served as team captain in his senior season.
In his final season with Niagara, Delmas only racked up one goal along with 14 assists which made for 15 points. He did so through 34 games. In his junior year, he recorded 40 points, having scored 15 goals along with 25 assists. He achieved this in 41 games, which saw him named to the NCAA First All-Star Team.
While his numbers took a dip in his senior season, Delmas is still regarded to have lots of potential as he now joins the Mavericks. At six-feet and weighing 194 pounds, Delmas has decent size to go with his good athleticism and exceptional passing. Kansas City has continued to be active in the free agent market despite having a large number already under contract. Expect more transactions to be announced as we approach the beginning of the ECHL season.