Texas Stars Sign Vet Greg Rallo to AHL Deal

Rallo excited to be part of "winning tradition" in Texas
Greg Rallo (Credit: Ron Byrd/Texas Stars)
As was previously rumored and written about here yesterday, today it has been announced that the Texas Stars signed veteran forward Greg Rallo to an AHL contract for the 2014-15 season. The contract is a homecoming for Rallo, who played two seasons with Texas when the club moved to Cedar Park. He still ranks in the top ten among Texas Stars players in franchise goals, assists, points, power play goals, game-winning goals and OT goals.

"It was a crazy month of July and very stressful to figure out where I was going to go," said Rallo by phone this morning. "I'm very happy to come back and play in the organization that gave me my start in the AHL."

After three years in San Antonio, Rallo returns to Austin for the coming season. That should make for an interesting set of games against the Rampage for him.

"I knew everybody on the team when I came back three years ago. The same vice versa now. When you're on the ice, everything changes and friendships go out the window. That's the world of hockey."

I outlined yesterday why this signing is a good idea. To summarize, Rallo's veteran status helps to bolster a young bottom six. Rallo will be put in that bottom six role but has the upside to play special teams and even fill in in the top six where needed.

"I've played against this team for the last three years and it's a close knit group of guys and a fun organization to be a part of. They are building a winning tradition."

Here's the release:
The 2014 Calder Cup Champion Texas Stars, proud American Hockey League affiliate of the Dallas Stars, announced today that the club has signed forward Greg Rallo to a standard AHL contract for the 2014-15 season.

Rallo, 32, played for Texas during the team’s first two seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11. In 147 games with the Stars, he posted 98 points (45 goals, 53 assists). Rallo led the team in scoring with 54 points during the 2010-11 season. Rallo ranks 11th on the Texas Stars all-time regular season list for games played, he is sixth in goals, seventh in assists and points, fifth in both power play goals (16) and game-winning goals (10) and second in overtime goals (4).

The Gurnee, Ill., native spent the last three seasons with the Florida Panthers organization, playing in 207 games for the San Antonio Rampage. In 2013-14, he collected 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists) in 69 appearances. Rallo played 11 games with Florida, making his NHL debut on December 18, 2011, and scoring his first NHL goal on April 2, 2013.

The veteran forward enters his ninth full season of professional hockey and has tallied 237 points (111 goals, 126 assists) in 457 regular-season AHL contests. He has made two Calder Cup Finals appearances, with Texas in 2010 and Manitoba in 2009. Rallo won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup in 2007 with Idaho.

Comments

  1. Really like this signing. Welcome back Greg.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't want him back. Not sure if he remembers how to win after playing for the Panthers organization for so long. This is a different team than when he left it and I do not anticipate a successfull outing this season by number 27. Would have rather made a stronger attempt at keeping Mueller. Plus I don't know if I can go back to cheering for him after heckling him for three years.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dallas would have signed Mueller, Texas signed Rallo. You can't really compare the two. For a AHL contract Rallo is a pretty good signing, I'll admit there are some reasons to be skeptical, I personally don't like the declining production and the fact his teams the last two years were awful and he was a leader on them, but then again Morin and Max were leaders on our 2011-2012 team and look at what they just did. Besides, bringing him back will give some folks a reason to knock the dust off them old Rallo jerseys and sport them around CPC.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Was he the best AHL contract forward Texas could have signed? I don't know exactly who's out there, but it's hard for me to believe they couldn't have gotten a better player. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it seems like a move that caters to the fans more than anything. Especially with the loss of Toby Petersen.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting. Remember to keep it civil. Using a name will help us identify replies and build a Texas Stars community.