On Wednesday October 21st, the Kansas City Mavericks announced the signing of Canadian right-winger Anthony Collins. The two sides agreed to terms on a standard player contract for the upcoming season.
Collins had originally signed with Atlanta for the upcoming season, but was made a free agent on October 9th when the Gladiators elected to opt-out of the season.
Collins, 31-years-old, is an established ECHL veteran. He’s played in 336 games throughout the course of his pro career. Playing with Atlanta last season, Collins recorded three goals along with 11 assists which made for 14 points. He did so in 59 games.
He also had 64 penalty minutes, which is actually the lowest total he has registered in the league. In 2018-19 with the Indy Fuel, he put up 94 penalty minutes in just 31 games. As for his career thus far, Collins has racked up a staggering 720 penalty minutes.
At 6’4 and 216 pounds, the Langley native will go toe-to-toe with anybody. There are fewer and fewer enforcers in the sport nowadays, but Collins relishes that role and plays it well. This is a guy who will stick up for his teammates based on nothing other than the fact that they are sporting the same jersey.
The Mavericks are now up to 25 players, not including their second goaltender, who more than likely will be Tyler Parsons. Parsons was re-signed by the Calgary Flames in early October. With uncertainty surrounding the upcoming season, the plan in Kansas City seems to be have as many guys as possible on the roster and healthy.
This of course being the case should someone miss time due to COVID or other issues. The standard ECHL roster limit will be 21 to start 2020-21. But perhaps the team’s management has the knowledge that the league may expand the roster limit for the season.