Danny Biega Plays Prominent Role in Rookie Season

With four years of college hockey under his belt, there was always a chance that Danny Biega could transition to the pro game faster than most other rookies. The Checkers were thankful that turned out to be the case.

Biega, a 22-year-old defenseman out of Harvard University, spent most of his first full professional season playing big minutes on the Checkers’ top pairing alongside mainstay Michal Jordan. Though his power-play time was more limited than in college, where he turned into one of the top-scoring defensemen in the country, he played a steady, all-around game with a similar workload.

His ability to adapt quickly wasn’t lost on coach Jeff Daniels, who has the luxury of knowing Biega has two years remaining on his entry-level deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.

“Danny Biega stepped in and played in the top two, and where would we have been if he wasn’t able to do that?” asked Daniels. “You don’t know what you have just because you haven’t seen him a whole lot, and over time he had some chemistry with Michal Jordan to the point where we played them in any situation.”

Virtually the only time that Biega and Jordan played with other partners was when they took turns missing a handful of games due to injury in the first half. Other than that, it was a good match between Jordan, the former AHL All-Star in his fourth professional season, and Biega, who was going through the rigors of a pro schedule for the first time. It’s tempting to call it something of a mentor/mentee relationship, even though Jordan is just over a year older.

“I was fortunate to play with MJ because he’s an unbelievable player,” said Biega. “I learned so much from him. For a first year I think I learned a lot and Geordie (Kinnear, the Checkers’ assistant coach in charge of the defense) has been great with that and teaching me so many things in the defensive zone.”

With only two of the six Checkers defensemen who spent the bulk of last season in Charlotte under contract for next season (Biega and Keegan Lowe), there’s a great chance Biega will continue to play a prominent role, even if some of those players return, others are brought in via free agency or new rookies emerge. Now that he has a full season under his belt, as opposed to the four-game tryout he completed late in the 2012-13 season, Biega, and the Checkers, at least have a good idea of what to expect.

It’s possible that he’ll play an even bigger role if the opening should present itself on the power play, allowing him to add to the 18 points (3g, 15a) he scored in 65 games. He could do that either way, with 14 of those points coming since Jan. 1, suggesting an increased comfort level as the season progressed.

At any rate, it seems that the Hurricanes’ third-round choice in 2010 is turning into the all-around contributor they envisioned on draft day and later saw at Harvard, where he scored 35 points in 34 games while earning the conference's Best Defensive Defenseman award in his junior season.

“In college I was used to playing 30-35 minutes a night, so coming here I was hoping to get a lot and thankfully I did. The only difference is that I didn’t really play power play here, but I loved my role here playing shutdown and PK.”