Dundee Stars have boosted their defensive options for next season with the signing of no-nonsense Canadian Kyle Haas.
Haas (27) was the ECHL’s (formerly East Coast Hockey League) most penalised player in the 2019/20 season, when he spent 164 minutes in the sin bin while featuring for the Fort Wayne Komets.
The 6’2″ D-man’s fearsome displays earned him the nickname “The Sheriff” in Fort Wayne, where he was voted most improved player during his last campaign.
And the powerful left-hander revealed he spent last year – having decided to take a season out from hockey during the Covid-19 pandemic – honing his boxing skills.
Haas said: “I was ecstatic that the Stars organisation was interested in me and believed I could play a vital role in bringing Dundee a championship.
“All in all, I was pretty quick to asking where I sign?”
He continued: “I like to consider myself an ultra-competitive person and since I did not play hockey this year, I needed a place to take out my competitive frustration which led me back to another passion of mine; boxing.
“I actually trained a heavy schedule this past year under my boxing coach Dave Furneaux, who is from the UK.
“I was planning on taking my first fight this summer but Covid made it very complicated to get a promotion to hold an event in Atlantic Canada.
“I can thank boxing for keeping me in great shape and the Fredericton Boxing Club for being tough on me and preparing me for this upcoming season.
“And who knows, maybe I can have my first fight in Scotland during the off-season next year?”
Stars general manager and head coach Omar Pacha revealed his excitement over Haas’ arrival – and the prospect of having such a physical player at his disposal.
“Through this whole process I really wanted to get a shutdown defenseman, a really tough blueliner and we found that in Kyle,” said Pacha.
“I thought in the last few years, we have really been missing a bit of toughness at the back, so I really wanted to make sure we got that this year and as you can see that is what we are going for from the signings so far.
“You always need a few of those guys on your team and I really like the fact that (Kyle) is tough and hard to play against and he is not afraid to mix it up.”