Graham Mink Leaves for Hershey

Graham Mink will not return to Peoria next season as he has signed a new one-year contract with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, as reported by Lou Korac. The 32-year-old is making his third return to the Bears following two previous stints during the 2005-06 and the 2008-09 seasons.

Many Blues fans are likely unaware of who Graham Mink is as he was one of seemingly few members of the Peoria Rivermen that didn’t spend any time on the NHL roster during the injury-plagued 2010-11 season. Back on March 14th, I dove into a quick profile of Graham Mink, exploring what type of skater he was and what his future might hold. I soon found that Mink had plenty of comparisons to Crash Davis in the baseball movie Bull Durham.

Despite over 600 games at the AHL level, Mink has seen just seven games of NHL duty, all of which came with the Washington Capitals. His experience “in the show” has been extremely brief, yet he continues to plug along and string together what has been a very solid career in the AHL.

Given his age, Mink is no longer a prospect and now serves as more of a mentor for the youngsters passing through the AHL ranks. He can contribute and be a reliable, gritty forward, but we all can assume that his talent ceiling has been reached.

For more information on Mink joining the Hershey Bears, check out an article from the team’s site.