Daine Todd knew he had to be flexible if he wanted to make the Portland Pirates’ final roster.

He abandoned his familiar position on the front end and adapted to defense, looking to earn a role as an offensive blueliner who could help with the team’s goal production by distributing the puck and running point on the power play.

“We knew in camp we had someone there we thought could do that job,” Edwards said. “I think he’s getting a little bit more comfortable in that role, and he’s done a nice job here lately.”

Nice, to the tune of 10 points in 18 games.

“He plays top power play minutes, and those guys should be producing,” Edwards said. “It’s funny about Daine, we played him at forward last weekend, and we’ll play him there again (Friday). He played forward most of his career, and he can play both. He played really nicely up front for us last weekend, so we have him in an offensive role as a winger (Friday), and if we need to throw him on the back end, we will, and he’ll also play the point on the power play for us.”

Not bad for a player who had played two games’ worth of pro hockey prior to this season, and had spent his previous few seasons with the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. It did, however, take Todd a little while to settle in.

“No matter your age or whatever, when you come into a new group or a new system, a new coach and a new league, there’s a learning curve,” Edwards said. “Even for a guy who’s a little nit more mature, you fight the confidence bug and you want to get used to your teammates and the way we play.

“I think he understands what we’re looking for, and he definitely has the ability to do it,” Edwards added. “We’re just trying to put him in the right situations to succeed.”

Todd moving to forward this weekend and the Phoenix Coyotes’ call-up of defenseman Rostislav Klesla clear the way for James Melindy to return to the lineup. Melindy played in two games to begin the season, was injured and has struggled to return.

“He got hurt in the second game of the season, early in the game, and then he tried to come back about five weeks later and again, first shift reinjured it,” Edwards said. “It’s been a tough start for him, so really, his season is just starting. Hopefully we can get him up to speed quickly.”

The Pirates have found a bit of a scoring touch in recent games, led by speedster Andy Miele.

“The offense works when we work hard,” Edwards said. “They offense went shy there for a few games because we weren’t doing the little things to create it. You have to be simple. We have enough players who are skilled enough to create, but if the skill doesn’t work, it’s pretty tough.

“You look at Andy’s game, that game was possible because of Andy’s work ethic and his tenacity,” Edwards added. “He was a hard player, he skated, he was hard to the puck, and when you do those things, you can create offense.”

It helps both Miele and the Pirates’ game in general that forward Chris Brown is also starting to heat back up.

“The thing about Chris, we’ve been focusing on different things with him,” Edwards said. “There are certain parts of his game, at the NHL level, that they were specific about him working on here at the AHL level, an the offense wasn’t really part of it. It was more his board work, and his work without the puck. So we’ve been focusing a little bit more on that stuff with him. But now that’s he’s doing more of that, the offense has benefited from it.”

The Pirates play on the road at Manchester on Friday night, and will face Providence for the fourth time in six games at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Ugly sweaters

Saturday’s game is being sponsored by Tim Horton’s, and has been dubbed “Ugly Sweater Night.” Fans can visit any participating central and southern Maine Tim Hortons on Dec. 21 wearing an “ugly holiday sweater” and receive a free medium coffee and two tickets to the Saturday game.

“Partnering with the Portland Pirates on a fun event like their ‘Ugly Sweater’ Night gives us a great way to have some fun and thank our guests this holiday season,” Jillian Carter, a local Tim Horton’s owner, said in a release.

Copy the Story Link