The Quad City Mallards have signed forward/defenseman Mike Leone to a standard player contract and have signed goaltender Kent Patterson to a professional tryout agreement, the Mallards announced today. The Mallards also announced the team has released forwards Kenny Brooks and Joe Kalisz.

Leone, who missed last season due to injury, scored seven goals and added nine assists for 16 points in 62 games with the Toledo Walleye in 2015-16.

“Mike is a versatile player who is anxious to get back on the ice after not playing last season,” said Mallards coach Phil Axtell. “With his experience and ability to play both up front and on defense, he could be a very good addition to our roster.”

Leone, 29, spent two seasons in Toledo before being sidelined last year. He helped the Walleye to the Brabham Cup regular season title in 2004-15 and to the North Division crown the following year. Leone arrived in northern Ohio after playing in France with Villard-de-Lans as a rookie in 2013-14. The 5-foot-10, 189-pound Detroit native got his first taste of professional hockey late in the 2012-13 season when he played three games for the Kalamazoo Wings fresh from Western Michigan University.

In all, Leone has registered 17 goals, 22 assists and 39 points in 127 career regular season games across two continents. Leone’s next ECHL game will be his one hundredth in the league. He has scored ten times and pocketed 18 assists to total 28 points in his first 99 ECHL outings.

Leone rang up 14 goals, 26 assists and 40 points in three years at Western Michigan. In his first season, he won the team’s Most Improved Player Award as the Broncos reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in 15 years. The following year, Leone and his teammates won the first Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament title in school history and made a second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance for the first time in the program’s history.

Leone moved up to Division I with the Broncos after skating in Division III in 2008-09 for both Adrian College and Utica College and then playing club hockey for Lindenwood University in 2009-10. Leone finished his lone Division III campaign tied for ninth in the nation in assists (29). He totaled 14 goals and 43 points and arrived at Adrian in time to join the Bulldogs’ march to the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association regular season and tournament championships. A year later, Leone found yet more success when Lindenwood won the American Collegiate Hockey Association national title.

Three seasons in the junior ranks preceded Leone’s college journey. He played for the North American Hockey League’s Texarkana Bandits in 2005-06 and stuck with Bandits for two more years after the franchise moved to St. Louis prior to the start of the 2006-07 season.

Patterson, 28, returns to the Quad Cities after joining the Mallards for a six-day stint last November during which he did not see any game action. The 6-foot-1, 197-pound Plymouth, Minnesota native did hit the ice for the Rapid City Rush, Atlanta Gladiators and Wichita Thunder last season. Patterson went 6-6-2 in 18 games while posting a 4.24 goals against average, a .879 save percentage and one shutout.

“Kent’s an experienced goaltender who has had a lot of success at this level and has also played in the American League,” said Axtell. “We’re glad to have him back with the Flock and we’re looking forward to seeing him in action.”

In five professional seasons Patterson has gone 68-62-23 with a 3.09 goals against average, a .907 save percentage and six shutouts in 167 games.

Last season was Patterson’s third in the ECHL. He first appeared in the league for the Orlando Solar Bears in 2014-15. He also tended goal for the Gwinnett/Atlanta Gladiators during both that campaign as well as the one that followed. Patterson spent the bulk of his first two seasons with the Central Hockey League’s Denver Cutthroats. In 2013-14, he led the CHL in save percentage (.922), finished fourth in goals against average (2.71) and backstopped the Cutthroats to the CHL President’s Cup finals.

Patterson also went 2-3-1 in seven American Hockey League games with the Lake Erie Monsters between 2012 and 2014.

Before turning pro, Patterson played for the University of Minnesota for four seasons. As a senior in 2011-12 he was named to the All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association First Team after helping the Golden Gophers to the WCHA regular season title and a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four. He had first earned all-conference honors when he was named to the 2010-11 All-WCHA Second Team. Patterson arrived at Minnesota after two seasons in the junior ranks with the United States Hockey League’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

Brooks and Kalisz will now not be among those taking the ice when the Mallards open their 2017 training camp Sunday at the River’s Edge in Davenport.

The Mallards will open their twenty-first season- and their fourth in the ECHL- on Friday, October 13 against the Toledo Walleye at TaxSlayer Center. Mallards 2017-18 season tickets are now available. Season ticket holders enjoy significant savings off the walk-up ticket price and receive a host of exclusive benefits. For more season ticket information, fans can contact the Mallards at 309-277-1364 or info@myqcmallards.net. Single game tickets are also now on sale at the TaxSlayer Center box office, Ticketmaster toll free charge-by-phone (1-800-745-3000) and ticketmaster.com.