Growlers Sign Defenceman Miles Gendron

ST. JOHN’S, NL (August 27, 2020) – The Newfoundland Growlers, proud affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the club has signed defenceman Miles Gendron to a Standard Player Contract (SPC) for the upcoming 2020-21 ECHL season.

Gendron, a 24-year-old left-shooting rearguard, will be playing in his second professional season. In 2019-20, his first full season in the professional ranks, he appeared in 32 ECHL contests with Brampton, Reading and Newfoundland and scored four goals and added 11 assists for 15 total points. He also played in one game for the AHL’s Belleville Senators.

The dual citizen who calls both Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and Oakville, Ontario home, native hit his stride with the Growlers late in the 2019-20 season. He appeared in the last seven contests of the season with Newfoundland and scored two goals and added four assists for six points, to accompany his plus-seven rating.

Gendron admits he was just starting to find his game in Newfoundland at the end of last season and is excited for his first full season on the Rock.

“I’m super excited to be back with the Growlers,” Gendron said.

“I was really upset when the season ended. I felt like I was just starting to catch my stride with the Growlers (at the end of last season). It was such a great place to be. I really enjoyed it (in St. John’s). It really felt like you were in a big-time pro atmosphere. I just really loved that and watching the guys who came before me and seeing the guys who have moved up to the next level, that’s what I want to be a part of. Even when I was with road teams coming in, it was a place we always looked forward to going to. To come in and be a part of the team is even better.”

Growlers Head Coach John Snowden liked what he saw out of Gendron last season and believes his strong finish to the 2019-20 campaign could see big returns for both Gendron and the Growlers in 2020-21.

“When we got Miles last year, he was that player we were looking for,” Snowden said.

“He’s a left shot who can play the right side. He’s big. He can skate. He can move the puck. He plays the power play. He kills penalties. He was a huge boost to our team last year. If you look at when we got him last year, we took off. He was a huge piece of that puzzle. He was an AHL-contracted guy and to get him now on an ECHL-level contract speaks to his desire to come back here and to what we’re doing here as an organization.”

Prior to turning pro, the 6’2”, 185-pounder played four years of NCAA college hockey with the University of Connecticut, where he served as captain in his senior year in 2018-19. In 126 college contests from 2015 to 2019, Gendron scored ten goals and chipped in with 23 assists for 33 points with 82 penalty minutes.

The 70th overall selection in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Gendron played one year of junior in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) before attending college and went all the way with the Penticton Vees in 2014-15, winning the league championship following a 17-point season (54GP, 5G, 12A).

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