Latvian hockey players Kristiāns Rubīns (pictured no. 68) and Raivis Ansons were excluded from the training camps of their National Hockey League (NHL) teams on Sunday.
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Defenseman Rubin was dismissed from the Ottawa Senators camp and went to the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL). In the summer, the 24-year-old hockey player signed a two-way contract with the Ottawa team for one season, but he will have to prove his usefulness in the farm club.
Rubin played two test games with the Senators in the pre-season, without scoring points and earning a negative efficiency coefficient of -2.
In the summer, Rubin moved to Ottawa after leaving the system of another NHL club, the Toronto Maple Leafs. In this unit, he made his debut in the world’s strongest hockey league, where so far he has remained scoreless in three matches and has a negative utility of -2.
Meanwhile, Ansons has been released from the Pittsburgh “Penguins” unit represented by another Latvian, Teodoras Blügera. He managed to participate in one tryout game, but will start this season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
Anson was selected by the “Penguins” with the 149th pick in the 2020 NHL draft, but the 20-year-old forward has not yet made his debut in the Mecca of hockey. He spent last season in the Quebec Junior League (QMJHL).
With the removal of Rubīns and Ansons, five hockey players from Latvia remain in the training camps of NHL clubs – Elvis Merzlikins (Columbus “Blue Jackets”), Artūrs Šilovs (Vancouver “Canucks”), Rūdolfs Balcers (Florida “Panthers”), Zemgus Girgensons (Buffalo “Sabres”). “) and Blügers.
The new NHL season will start on October 7.
