Home
News
Everblades add experience to blue line with Harstad, Graves

Everblades add experience to blue line with Harstad, Graves

Wednesday, September 11th

ESTERO, Fla. — Florida Everblades General Manager Craig Brush, along with head coach Brad Ralph, announced that the team has agreed to terms with defensemen Aaron Harstad and Jacob Graves for the 2019-20 season.

The Everblades are the ECHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League and the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League.

Harstad joins the Everblades after spending the 2018-19 season in Denmark with the Aalborg Pirates. The Stevens Point, Wisconsin, native posted 10 points (1g-9a) in 37 games with the Pirates and logged a plus-minus rating of +16.

Prior to the season in Europe, Harstad played three full seasons in the AHL and ECHL from 2015-18, logging ice time in 28 AHL contests and 115 ECHL tilts. His best season in that span was the 2016-17 campaign, one that saw him notch 25 points (5g-20a) in 53 ECHL games while earning a spot in the 2017 ECHL All-Star Classic.

The 27-yeaer-old also owns a junior hockey championship as he helped guide the Green Bay Gamblers to the Clark Cup in his first full season in the United States Hockey League in 2009-10. Harstad recorded 29 points (9g-20a) in 108 career games with the Gamblers and went on to post 30 career points (9g-21a) in 127 career games at Colorado College from 2011-15.

Graves, 24, enters his fourth season as a pro and comes to Florida after splitting last season between the Norfolk Admirals and Reading Royals. The Barrie, Ontario, native played 45 games total in the ECHL in 2018-19, suiting up in 32 for the Admirals and 13 for the Royals. He finished with nine points (4g-5a) and 84 penalty minutes.

Graves, who has played in 78 career ECHL games and 42 career AHL contests, boasts a pair of championships on his resume. Both of those titles came with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights in the 2015-16 season, his final campaign before turning pro. After starting that season with the Oshawa Generals, Graves was then acquired by London and helped lead the Knights to an OHL Championship and Memorial Cup. He played in 281 career OHL contests over five seasons and racked up three goals and 42 points.