BILOXI, Miss. � Rob Skrlac became the eighth former Mississippi Sea Wolves player to advance to the National Hockey League when he made his debut with New Jersey on Saturday.
Skrlac played one shift in the Devils� 2-0 win at Philadelphia. Prior to being called up to New Jersey, the 27-year-old Skrlac had 51 penalty minutes in 10 games with Albany of the American Hockey League.
Drafted in the ninth round (224th overall) by Buffalo in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, the 6-5 and 245-pound Skrlac scored four points (1g-3a) and had 161 penalty minutes in 29 games with Mississippi in 2001-02. He also played in the AHL in 2001-02, scoring three points (0g-3a) with 87 penalty minutes in 33 games with Portland and he had 22 penalty minutes in two games with Albany. In 2002-03 with Albany, Skrlac scored five points (2g-3a) and had 165 penalty minutes in 42 games.
Skrlac joins Jason Morgan (Los Angeles), Jan Nemecek (Los Angeles), Travis Scott (Los Angeles), Dan Focht (Phoenix), Chris Schmidt (Los Angeles), Francois Beauchemin (Montreal) and Michael Ryder (Montreal) as Sea Wolves alumni that have advanced to the NHL.
Skrlac becomes the 15th ECHL player to make his NHL debut in 2003-04 joining Johnathan Aitken (Chicago on November 26), Darryl Bootland (Detroit on November 8), Travis Brigley (Colorado on October 26), Garrett Burnett (Anaheim on October 8), Andrew Hutchinson (Nashville on October 18), Boyd Kane (Philadelphia on October 16), Patrick Leahy (Boston on December 6), Jason MacDonald (New York Rangers on December 12), Pat Rissmiller (San Jose on November 13), Nathan Robinson (Detroit on November 28), Michael Ryder (Montreal on October 9), Dany Sabourin (Calgary on October 29), Rastislav Stana (Washington on November 14), and Mike Stuart (St. Louis on October 24).
There were 20 ECHL players that made their NHL debut in 2002-03. There have been 72 former ECHL players that have played in the NHL in 2003-04. There were 53 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters, surpassing the record of 50 players set in 2002-03, and there has been an ECHL player on each of the 30 NHL teams in 2003-04.
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