Gulls Name Greg Pateryn Team Captain
Dec 15, 2021The San Diego Gulls announced today that the American Hockey League (AHL) club has named defenseman Greg Pateryn team captain.
"I think he was the obvious choice for all the good reasons," Gulls head coach Joel Bouchard said. "From the players’ standpoint, from the coaches’ standpoint and the organization’s standpoint – he’s been a professional since day one of training camp. He’s been a big brother for all the young guys and I think a sounding board for of the veterans. (He’s) a guy that played a long time in the NHL and can relate to the young guys that are starting to play. I think he can tell the guys when it’s time to have a meeting and tell them that this is the direction that we should be going and this is what we need to do. So, from our standpoint (the captaincy) was well deserved."
Pateryn, 31 (6/20/90), who is in his first AHL season with San Diego, will become the fourth captain in Gulls AHL history after starting the season as an alternate captain. Pateryn has earned 29-40=69 points in 193 AHL games with the Gulls, Colorado Eagles, San Jose Barracuda, Iowa Wild, St. John’s IceCaps and Hamilton Bulldogs. He also produced 4-38=42 points in 282 career National Hockey League (NHL) games.
"It’s a huge honor and a great opportunity to have a letter like that with any team, but I’m really excited to have that here," said Greg Pateryn. "I’m able to not just talk to the guys about little changes or little improvements here and there, but just try to go out there and show how to do it every single night. That’s the biggest thing is just being a consistent player and giving the coaching staff and management a consistent thing every night, something that they can rely on."
Signed by Anaheim as a free agent on July 29, 2021, Pateryn has earned 1-4=5 points with 16 penalty minutes (PIM) in 18 games this season with San Diego, ranking third among club defensemen in goals and fifth in scoring. Originally selected by Toronto in the fifth round (128th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft, the 6-2, 212-pound defenseman has also appeared in two games with the Anaheim Ducks, earning a +1 rating with four PIM.
A native of Sterling Heights, Mich., Pateryn also played four seasons at the University of Michigan of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (2008-2012), earning 6-37=43 points with 145 PIM and a +44 rating in 142 games and helping the Wolverines to a CCHA conference tournament championship in 2010 and a CCHA regular season championship in 2011.