K-WINGS SIGN FORWARD DARBY LLEWELLYN, TWO PLAYERS ACCEPT PTO CONTRACTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 20, 2022

K-WINGS SIGN FORWARD DARBY LLEWELLYN, TWO PLAYERS ACCEPT PTO CONTRACTS

Kalamazoo brings home Llewellyn from Europe, expects strong showing from Ann Arbor native. 

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings, proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets, announced Tuesday the signing of forward Darby Llewellyn.

The K-Wings have also signed forward Zachary Currie and goaltender Hunter Vorva to PTO contracts.

Llewellyn, 26, enters his fourth professional season, and appeared in 31 games in Europe last season, scoring 22 goals with 26 assists with both Narvik (Norway) and Halmstad (Sweden) combined. 

“Darby is a versatile winger who plays with a ton of grit,” said Joel Martin, Kalamazoo Wings director of hockey operations and head coach. “He can play on any line and has the ability to chip in offensively.” 

Kalamazoo is Llewellyn’s fourth ECHL stop, lacing up for Atlanta (2016-17), Rapid City (2018-19) and Tulsa (2020-21). In his three previous ECHL seasons, the versatile lefty scored 25 goals and 35 assists with 164 penalty minutes in 155 games played. 

“Being able to come home and play for Kalamazoo is something special to me, being from Michigan and coming up through the HoneyBaked program,” Llewellyn said. “I’m excited to come back to Wings Event Center wearing a K-Wings jersey. It’s a first class building that has an old barn atmosphere to it. The fans are loud and right on top of you the whole game. It’s honestly what you dream about as a kid.” 

The 6-foot, 190-pound, Ann Arbor, Michigan native played five seasons (2012-2017) in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers before turning pro in 2017-18. For the Rangers, the forward scored 95 goals and 76 assists with 174 penalty minutes in 301 games played. 

Kalamazoo’s two PTO signings hail from Michigan as well. Currie, 23, is from Grand Rapids, has yet to play professionally and scored 50 points (28G, 22A) for Davenport University in 2021-22. Vorva, 26, is a Kalamazoo native, played his rookie year for the Huntsville Havoc (SPHL) in 2021-22 and sported a 1.93 goals against average with a .934 save percentage in 32 games played. 

Stay tuned to future releases and social media announcements, as the K-Wings continue filling their roster up until the start of Training Camp on Oct. 7. 

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The Kalamazoo Wings are a professional hockey team located in southwest Michigan that has been a staple in the Kalamazoo, MI professional sports landscape since 1974. The K-Wings compete in the ECHL and are the AA affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets and American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters. Kalamazoo plays their 36 regular season home games at Wings Event Center from October through April.

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