Bellows Earns First NHL Recall
Feb 3, 2020
The New York Islanders announced Monday that Kieffer Bellows has been recalled from the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League for the first time in his career.
Bellows, 21, led the Sound Tigers with 16 goals and 24 points in 45 games this season. Ten of those goals came in 11 December games and helped Bellows earned CCM/AHL Player of the Month honors for the first time in his career. He scored his first professional hat trick on Dec. 28 against the Springfield Thunderbirds and eight of Bellows’ 10 goals in December either tied the game or gave Bridgeport a lead.
A native of Edina, Minn., Bellows has 43 points (28 goals, 15 assists) in 118 AHL games. He scored once in his professional debut on Oct. 6, 2019 at Lehigh Valley. Bellows also collected three points (two goals, one assist) in five Calder Cup playoff games last season, including the game-winning goal in double overtime against the Hershey Bears.
Selected in the first round, 19th overall, of the 2016 NHL Draft, Bellows scored 14 had (seven goals, seven assists) in 34 games during his only season at Boston University in 2016-17. The 6'0, 201-pound forward also had 74 points (41 goals, 33 assists) in 56 games with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 2017-18.
On the international stage, Bellows won gold with Team USA at the 2017 Under-20 World Junior Championships in Montreal - Toronto. He scored two goals in the gold medal game against Canada. He also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Under-18 World Junior Championships and another bronze medal at the 2017 Under-20 World Junior Championships, in which he set a Team USA record for goals in the tournament (nine goals in seven games).
Bellows scored 81 points (50 goals, 31 assists) in 62 games while with the United States National Team Development Program in 2015-16. He finished second on the club in scoring and became just the fourth player to score 50 goals in a season with the U.S. Under-18 team, joining Auston Matthews, Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel.
Prior to joining the USNTDP, Bellows helped Edina High School secure its second straight Minnesota Class 2A state championship in 2014.