Meet the Heat – Kenny Agostino
Kenny Agostino made his NHL debut after completing his senior season winning the NCAA Championship.
While the roster is far from set, we’re running a new feature giving you, the fans, an opportunity to get to know players that we could see suiting up for Stockton this season or in future seasons.
Our focus today is on forward Kenny “Kenneth is my Father” Agostino.
If you followed the Adirondack Flames at all after the January 29 announcement of the team moving west to Stockton, you undoubtedly heard the name “Kenny Agostino” in some variation on the broadcasts. That’s because he was Adirondack’s top playmaker and one of the most consistent players in the lineup every night.
The Morristown, New Jersey native led the Flames in points (43) and assists (28), while finishing fourth on the team with 67 games played.
Agostino was a two-way threat on the penalty kill as well, finishing the 2014-15 season tied for second in the AHL with 3 shorthanded goals.
Not too shabby for a rookie season, eh?
Kenny Agostino, drafted in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins, would be sent to the Flames in the blockbuster trade that sent former captain Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh.
Originally a fifth-round selection of the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2010, Agostino joined the Calgary Flames organization in somewhat of a unique way.
On March 27, 2013, Calgary announced a deal that sent arguably the greatest Flame of all-time, Jarome Iginla, to the Penguins in exchange for that year’s first-round pick (Morgan Klimchuk) and two unsigned prospects (Ben Hanowski and Kenny Agostino).
The deal surprised the hockey community, seeing as Iginla had spent his entire 17-year career to that point in Calgary, and it placed high expectations on the three players that joined the Flames as a result.
Agostino, though, has lived up to, if not exceeded those expectations.
He graduated from Yale University (yeah, that Yale) with two NCAA All-Ivy League Second Team selections and an NCAA Championship from 2012-13 under his belt. In the four games during the 2013 Frozen Four, Agostino averaged a point-per-game with 2 goals and 2 assists en route to hoisting the trophy.
Through four seasons at Yale, the 6’1”, 200lb. winger amassed 132 points (56 goals, 76 assists) in 134 games and never finished a season with less
Agostino notched 2 goals and added two helpers during Yale’s 2013 NCAA Championship.
than a plus-9 rating.
Once he left Yale, Calgary gave him the call up to the big club. He made his NHL debut on March 21, 2014 vs. Nashville at the Saddledome in Calgary.
Just four games later, Agostino netted his first NHL goal in a road tilt with Florida and he finished his first NHL stint with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 8 games.
Agostino will look to continue his upward trend within the Calgary organization as he enters the second year as a pro.
Whether it’s in Calgary or Stockton, Agostino will look to make an impact as an offensive playmaker and solid penalty killer.
Read the other Meet the Heat’s:
Jon Gillies – Goaltender
Hunter Smith – Forward
Bill Arnold – Forward
Brett Kulak – Defenseman
Morgan Klimchuk – Forward
