Missiaen Signs AHL Contract With NYR Affiliate

Jason Missiaen of Chatham

Chatham’s Jason Missiaen has signed an American Hockey League contract with the Connnecticut Whale, the affiliate for the NHL’s New York Rangers.

This past weekend, Missiaen’s Major Junior hockey career ended as his Baie-Comeau Drakker failed to make the QMJHL playoffs. He finished the season with a 3.33 GAA and 0.893 Save Percentage with the weak Drakker. Missiaen was able to sign with Connecticut as a free agent after failing to reach a contract agreement with the Montreal Canadiens who drafted him in the 4th round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Connecticut has struggled to find consistent goaltending this season as they’ve tried out Chad Johnson, Dov Grumet-Morris, Cameron Talbot, and Pier Olivier-Pelletier. Johnson, who played the majority of the season (40 games) for the Whale, is no longer with the team.

Missiaen formerly played in the Chatham-Kent Cyclones organization, as well as for the Dresden Junior Kings before being drafted by and advancing to the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, and this season to Baie-Comeau after his Petes were without a spot for the 20-year-old overager.

Jason Missiaen joins Dresden native TJ Brodie in the American Hockey League as Chatham-Kent hockey players who have advanced to North America’s second best hockey league.

Missiaen will also get to meet and learn from former NHLers including Wade Redden, Kris Newbury, and Jeremy Williams, who all play for the Connecticut Whale.

Connecticut currently sits third in the AHL’s Atlantic Division and are battling for playoff positioning with only a handful of games left in the AHL regular season. The team has a busy weekend, in which Missiaen is likely to see his first professional action as the Whale play Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The time with the Connecticut Whale will give Jason Missiaen an opportunity to audition for NHL clubs, in particular, the parent New York Rangers.