The Crunch bolstered their forward depth with the acquisitions
The Syracuse Crunch have signed forwards Jujhar Khaira and Ara Nazarian to one-year deals, the team announced Friday.
The Crunch also announced that forward Joel Teasdale is joining the team on a PTO.
A product of Surrey, B.C., Khaira spent the majority of last season with the Iowa Wild but also got into one game with the Minnesota Wild. With Minnesota, he was held pointless but Khaira registered five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 22 regular season games in Iowa.
Drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the third round of the 2012 NHL Draft, Khaira has seen 337 career NHL regular season games, collecting 80 points in that span.
Hailing from Boxford, Mass., Nazarian joins the Crunch after spending the 2023-24 season with the Belfast Giants (EIHL). In 48 regular season games, he put up 18 goals and 15 assists for 33 points.
Since turning pro in 2019-20, Nazarian has spent time in the AHL (Rochester Americans), ECHL (Adirondack Thunder & Jacksonville Icemen) and the EIHL (Belfast Giants).
A product of Repentigny, Que., Teasdale heads to Syracuse after playing for the Iowa Wild last season. Teasdale had 13 points in 65 regular season games with the team.
With the signings, the Crunch added to their depth for the upcoming season. Khaira has proven to be a solid depth player at the NHL level and should be able to step in and contribute right away.
While Nazarian has only seen a short amount of time in the AHL, he proved he could produce and could be solid depth for the Crunch. The only one of the three on a PTO, Teasdale could have a great chance to earn a contract with the team. He's shown to be a difference maker (38 points in 58 games with the Laval Rocket in 2022-23) and would be a great add for the Crunch.
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