The Brampton Beast entered their second season as an affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens with a reshuffled roster. They failed to qualify for the playoffs in the first two seasons of the franchise’s existence. So far this year they have enjoyed tremendous success, eclipsing their previous seasons’ performance.
One of the key reasons is the performance of two newcomers on the team: David Pacan and David Vallorani.
David Pacan joined the Brampton Beast in the off-season after a career year the previous season with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL. He has essentially been a career-long ECHL player, having 275 games experience at that level, and only 20 games in the AHL.
He was invited to the Montreal Canadiens training camp this year, however an injury prevented him from attending. Pacan is on track to shatter his career high of 20 goals, having already scored 17 goals in 23 games. Standing 6’3” Pacan is second in goals scored in the ECHL, and has 29 points total.
Right behind him with 15 goals, and fifth in League scoring, is David Vallorani. He’s another newcomer to the team who is also blazing the path for the Beast’s newfound success, putting up 30 points in 23 games. He’s currently riding a streak of points in 13 in the last 14 Beast games.
Vallorani returned to North America after two seasons spent playing hockey in Europe in Italy and Germany. Prior to that he played two seasons in the ECHL as an undrafted NCAA graduate.
Hitting 20 goals per season is the norm for Vallorani, but this season he is poised to break his personal best of 31 goals.
At 5’8” Vallorani was perhaps overlooked in the draft due to his size, however he has become an indispensable part of the Beast’s offence.
With a rash of call-ups to the Montreal Canadiens and injuries in their ranks, the St. John’s IceCaps should take a serious look at these two difference makers for the Beast, and potentially extend them a PTO to help with their limping offence. Last season the IceCaps reached out to the Beast signing Luc-Olivier Blain to a PTO for brief stay.
With two regular Beast forwards signed to AHL contracts, Yannick Veilleux and Mathieu Corderre-Gagnon, already called up to the IceCaps due to the injuries and call-ups draining the forward ranks, the IceCaps could do worse than trying the same thing this season by offering a PTO to either David Pacan or David Vallorani.
