Ken Appleby has been released by the New Jersey Devils, the NHL club announced on Monday making him an unrestricted free agent.
The North Bay native played his first three games with the Devils in early 2018 when the Devils were suffering from goaltending injuries to their tandem of Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider.
See related: NHL dream comes true for North Bay's Ken Appleby
The former North Bay AAA Trappers goaltender made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 20, 2018, taking over after starting goaltender Keith Kinkaid was injured and making 24 saves in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
He appeared in three games for New Jersey, going 0-1-0 with a 1.45 goals-against average and .945 save percentage and spent the rest of the season with Adirondack of the ECHL and Albany of the American Hockey League.
However, after the Devils signed NCAA free agent goaltender Cam Johnson from North Dakota, that may have put Appleby’s future in question.
The 23-year-old attended Devils training camp on an amateur tryout in 2015 after attending their development camp and was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract on Oct. 5, 2015. He split the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons between Adirondack of the ECHL and Albany of the American Hockey League.
In 2014-15, Appleby led the Ontario Hockey League with a 2.08 goals-against average, .924 save percentage, was tied for first with six shutouts, and finished second with 38 wins to help Oshawa to the OHL and Memorial Cup championships. En route to the Memorial Cup, Appleby went 16-5 with a 2.44 GAA, .922 save percentage and two shutouts in 21 OHL playoff games.
The last North Bay native to dress for a regular season NHL game was Craig Rivet with the Columbus Blue Jackets back during the 2010-11 season.
However, North Bay is well represented in the NHL coaching fraternity as Mike Yeo is the head coach of the St. Louis Blues.
North Bay native Paul Castron is the Devils Director of Amateur Scouting.
