Rick Kowalsky wasn't sure what he was getting when the Albany Devils signed forward Brian Gibbons to a one-year AHL contract on Oct. 4, 2016.
Kowalsky, the Devils' AHL coach, saw Gibbons' career transform from afar. When his name came up, Kowalsky and Albany Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald decided to gamble.
Gibbons went from being a talented, fast kid rising through the Pittsburgh Penguins' organization to becoming a player who bounced around the AHL for two seasons, where he seemed to lose his game and identity.
"When we talked about signing him in the summer, there was a little bit of concern about some of these older guys that have bounced around," Kowalsky told NJ Advance Media.