Caps Sign and Recall Steve Oleksy
Posted on March 04, 2013Washington has signed defenseman Steve Oleksy to an NHL
contract and recalled him from AHL Hershey. Oleksy is expected to join the Caps
for Tuesday morning’s skate and to be available for Tuesday’s game against the
Boston Bruins. He will be issued sweater No. 61, and would become the first
Caps player ever to sport that number for an NHL game.
A 6-foot-0, 195-pound, right-handed defenseman, Oleksy
didn’t take the traditional route to the NHL. The Chesterfield, Mich. native
played three seasons at Lake Superior State U., turning pro at the end of his third
season to play a couple of games with Las Vegas of the ECHL in 2008-09.
The following season, Oleksy played for Toledo and Idaho of
the ECHL and for Port Huron of the IHL. In 2010-11, Oleksy finally got his
first taste of AHL hockey with Lake Erie, playing 17 games with the Monsters
after 121 career games at the ECHL and IHL levels to that point.
By the start of the 2011-12 season, Oleksy was back in the
ECHL, toiling for the Steelheads in Idaho. After 14 games there, the blueliner
was loaned to AHL Bridgeport. He finished last season there, totaling a goal
and 15 points along with 98 penalty minutes in 50 games.
Oleksy signed a free-agent deal with Hershey for the 2012-13
season on July 2, 2012.
The 27-year-old Oleksy has two goals, 14 points and 151
penalty minutes while playing in 55 of 57 games with the Bears this season.
Tougher and bigger than his size would indicate, Oleksy
leads the Bears in penalty minutes and is 13th in the league in that
department. He leads all Hershey defensemen in games played and is tied for
third in scoring among Bears’ blueliners.
He has engaged in 51 pro fights, 25 of them in the AHl, 22
in the ECHL and four in the IHL. Oleksy has dropped the gloves 11 times for the
Bears this season to lead Hershey in that department.
