BARRACUDA SIGN FORWARD VIEL AND DEFENSEMAN GREGOIRE

Jul 10, 2018

SAN JOSE - The San Jose Barracuda (@SJBarracuda), proud American Hockey League (@TheAHL) affiliate of the NHL's San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks), and General Manager Joe Will announced today that the club has signed Forward Jeffrey Viel (VEE-el) and Defensman Thomas Grégoire (TOM-es GREG-wah) (@tomgreg02) to multi-year AHL contracts. Per club policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
 
"Viel is a combination power and skill and he's displayed great leadership as the captain of Acadie-Bathurst over the last two seasons," said Will. "He's had tremendous success in the playoffs and was a huge part of the Titan's Memorial Cup run."
 
In 2017-18, Viel, 21, recorded 62 points (39 goals, 23 assists), 127 penalty minutes, and a plus-29 rating in 58 regular season games with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (@QMJHL). He ranked first on the Titan in goals and penalty minutes and finished the regular season T-ninth in the league in goals. In addition, in 20 playoff games he paced the Titan in goals (14) and points (23).
 
A captain the last two seasons, the 6-foot-1, 202-pound native of Rimouski, Quebec, Canada, skated in 259 QMJHL games over a four-year span with Acadie-Bathurst and the Sherbrooke Phoenix. During the four seasons, he totaled 196 points (115 goals, 81 assists), 499 penalty minutes, and a plus-12 rating.

"Grégoire is a puck moving defenseman who's put up a lot of points during his time in the QMJHL," said Will. "With his skill set, we're excited to have him and see what he can do."
 
Grégoire, 19, skated in one game for the Barracuda during the Calder Cup Playoffs after the conclusion of his junior season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL. In 2017-18, for the second consecutive season, Grégoire led the Phoenix in points (69) and assists (57), finishing T-third in the league in defensive scoring, T-first in assists and fourth in power-play assists (26), while appearing in 67 games.
 
Over his four-year junior career in the QMJHL, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, appeared in 244 games, recording 158 points (25 goals, 133 assists), 126 penalty minutes, and a minus-19 rating.

Both Viel and Gregoire were at the Sharks Development Camp last week.

 
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