He's An Official BUG Now

If you're wondering, I didn't win an eBay auction or anything. The Garret Sparks bobblehead is real, though, as the Toronto Marlies honoured the former netminder with his own bobblehead back in 2018, and there could be another version made this season after it was announced that Garret Sparks signed with the ECHL's Bloomington Bison today as the ECHL team looks to improve their playoff position as the season heads into its stretch run. Sparks had been working with the Bison this season as an EBUG in late November, so he's somewhat familiar with the team and its systems already. Having him sign a contract to back up starting netminder Dryden McKay and possibly push him higher gives Bloomington one of the best tandems in the entire ECHL.

No one is expecting Sparks to come in and turn Bloomington's goaltending on its side. As we know, he's got NHL and AHL experience, but he hasn't played meaningful hockey at any level since 2023-24 and he hasn't won a professional hockey game since 2022-23. Sparks will have some work to do if he hopes to regain the same level of puck-stopping that saw him win 31 AHL games with the Toronto Marlies in 2017-18. Yes, that happened just short of a decade ago.

Bloomington is getting good goaltending right now from Dryden McKay, so having Sparks as a second option makes sense as the Bison find themselves in third-place with a 21-16-4 record and 46 points. The catch is that the Indy Fuel also have 46 points and sit in fourth-place with a game in-hand, and both teams are six points back of the second-place Fort Wayne Komets. Of the teams currently holding a playoff spot in the Central Division, the Bison have surrendered the most goals at 119 so it seems like a potential upgrade was needed.

I'm not sure Sparks is a better option than McKay and current goaltending partner Hugo Ollas. McKay is sporting a 2.18 GAA and a .929 save percentage, but he only has a 13-10-1 record on the season. Ollas seems like he's pulling his weight, but his numbers have to be better than the current 3.18 GAA, .895 save percentage, and 4-4-1 record that he sports. Even getting his GAA down below 3.00 would make a huge difference, but McKay's numbers show that the Bison need to find more scoring as well. If Sparks can outplay Ollas over the rest of the season, though, it will help the Bison's chances.

Bloomington goes on the road this weekend with a pair of games against the fifth-place Kalamazoo Wings on Saturday and Sunday before meeting up with the Fort Wayne Komets on Monday. Winning all three games would help the Bison immensely, but I doubt we'll see Sparks dressed for those games. They play the Utah Grizzlies in Salt Lake City the following weekend, so Sparks has lots of time to get himself into game shape. Assuming things go well, he could dress for the February 20 series against the Maine Mariners at home, so we'll see if #40 is ready to stampede with the Bison by that weekend.

The 32 year-old goaltender wasn't signed today to save a season or push the Bloomington Bison over some imagined hump they face. The Bison have never qualified for the playoffs in their short one-completed-season of history, so reaching the playoffs for the first time will be a big moment in their franchise's history. Where the story goes from there will be on the players and coaches, but Sparks, like the team, needs to take this one day and game at a time.

You can make it official, though: Garret Sparks is back in the ECHL!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!