Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder, proud ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, announced today that they have signed defenseman Vytal Cote to a standard player contract. The Thunder have also received defenseman Matthew Spencer, who was assigned to Adirondack by the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In addition, defenseman Mathieu Brodeur has signed a PTO with Syracuse.
Cote, 22, joins the Thunder from the SPHL’s Mississippi RiverKings, where he collected six points (3-3-6) and 19 penalty minutes from 10 games played during the 2017-18 season. Cote has appeared in 60 games in his SPHL career with Mississippi, Evansville and Fayetteville, and has appeared in training camp with the Wichita Thunder in each of the past two seasons. Prior to beginning his professional career, Cote skated for three seasons in the QMJHL, where he picked up 34 points (7-27-34) and 204 penalty minutes from 159 games played with three teams.
Spencer, 20, is currently in his first full professional season and has skated in seven games between Syracuse and Adirondack. The 6-1 defenseman made his professional debut in 2016 and appeared in three games with Adirondack earlier this season, where he recorded a +1 rating. Spencer previously skated with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL for the last four seasons. A second round draft pick by the Lightning in 2016, Spencer appeared in 251 games with Peterborough during his junior career and collected 98 points (19-79-98).
Brodeur, 27, has earned his second AHL recall of the season after he previously collected an assist from seven games with the Springfield Thunderbirds in October. The 6-6 defenseman returns to Syracuse, where he collected 13 points (3-10-13) in 56 regular season contests with Syracuse last season and also appeared in all 22 of the team’s Calder Cup playoff games as the Crunch finished as Eastern Conference Champions. Brodeur picked up four playoff points (1-3-4), including the game-winning goal in Game 5 of the Calder Cup Finals against Grand Rapids.
The Thunder are in the midst of a seven-game homestand, which continues this weekend against Worcester on Friday and Brampton on Saturday. Visit ECHLThunder.com or call 518-480-3355 x1 for tickets to any of the Thunder’s ten December home games.
