EDINBURGH Capitals will be boosted by the signing of a new defenceman when they square up to Belfast Giants in this weekend's double-header at Murrayfield.
Sean Perkins is expected to arrive from Detroit on Saturday morning after an overnight flight.
And Doug Christiansen, Capitals' playcaller, admitted: "We've been tracking Sean for some time."
The 22-year-old's work permit came through late yest
erday and Christiansen wasted no time in arranging a flight.
The Michigan-born blue-liner has only played four games for Cincinnati Cyclones this season, scoring a goal and recording an assist, because of a shoulder injury. But he iced in 44 games last season when Cincinnati won the East Coast Hockey League title. He scored four goals and assisted in seven others.
And Christiansen is confident the well-recommended player can do a job for the Elite League combine.
It's likely that Perkins will slot into defence alongside Great Britain international Kyle Horne.
And that will allow versatile Adam Stefishen to revert to his more natural position up front to be possibly paired with Iain Bowie and trialist Roman Nesrsta.
Christiansen said: "Sean has had a shoulder injury but it is now fully healed.
"He has only played a handful of games this season but he has been keeping fit. He'll arrive on Saturday but adrenalin will kick in. His timing might be a little off but I'm sure he will do a great job for us.
"His arrival will give us the flexibility we need and give us more depth defensively and will allow Adam to move up front.
"Adam is a capable defenceman but it will allow us to have a more physical style of play in the forwards.
"The defencemen have been logging a lot of ice time and this increases the risk of injury.
"Taylor Christie, Joe Dustin and Kyle Horne have been bearing the brunt of the workload and with Sean and Craig Mitchell we can rotate five defencemen."
Christiansen added: "I selected Sean for a number of reasons. He's a north American and speaks our language and he can fit into the locker room.
"He has good speed and skill and he will need that to handle the puck around our big ice arena.
"I wanted Sean in here for this weekend as Belfast are a difficult team.
"We play them three times around Christmas and have a big game against Basingstoke Bison here on December 30 and we're looking for points."
The full article contains 420 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
