Lake Erie inks four to AHL contracts

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Lake Erie Monsters have announced today that veteran forward Ryan Craig has signed a two-year American Hockey League contract. In addition, Ohio native and forward Trent Vogelhuber, forward Seth Ambroz, and defenseman Oleg Yevenko have signed one-year AHL contracts.

Each of the four players played in the AHL last season, with all but Yevenko playing for the Blue Jackets former affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.

Craig, 33, has spent the last three seasons in the Blue Jackets organization, playing primarily for Springfield. He has totaled 55 goals in the AHL over the last three seasons, and has served as the captain for the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate in each of the last three seasons. Craig tied for Springfield’s team-lead in goals last season with 17, and his 35 points placed him second on the club. The 6’2”, 215-pound winger has skated in 580 AHL contests during his 12-year professional career. Craig has also played in 198 NHL regular season games and 11 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vogelhuber, a Dublin, Ohio native, is set to enter his fifth full professional season in 2015-16. The 26-year old forward has played exclusively for Springfield in the AHL during each of the past three seasons. Vogelhuber played collegiately at Miami (Ohio) and set AHL career highs last season with 64 games played, eight goals and 16 points.

Ambroz, 22, skated in four games for Springfield last season after finishing a four-year collegiate career at the University of Minnesota. The 6’3”, 215-pound forward was selected in the fifth round, 128th overall, by Columbus in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Minnesota native appeared in at least 38 games during each of his four NCAA seasons with the Golden Gophers.

Yevenko, 24, recorded five assists with 51 penalty minutes in 36 games and served as an alternate captain at UMass-Amherst (Hockey East) as a senior in 2014-15. The 6’7”, 230-pound defenseman finished second in the conference and 11th among NCAA Division I skaters with 89 blocked shots. He also posted 14 penalty minutes in four AHL appearances with the Adirondack Flames. The native of Minsk, Belarus represented his country at the 2014 and 2015 IIHF World Championships and also skated in the 2009 IIHF U18 World Junior Championships.