I’m not sure there is a person I enjoyed talking about hockey more with than Mr. New Yorker himself, Anthony Bitetto. There is rarely a time when the 26-year old defenseman isn’t smiling or ready to make the people around him laugh. And, as great of a locker room presence as he is for a team, his on-ice ability is one that consistently improves each and every season that he plays.

It’s sad then that Bitetto’s real chance to have a breakout season this year was hindered by two injuries that sat him out for extended periods of time. It felt like he would be working the bottom defensive pairing for an already stacked Nashville Predators defensive group. That hasn’t worked out due to injury and seeing Matt Irwin rise back into the NHL scene after his 2016-17 campaign started in the AHL has pushed Bitetto down the pecking order somewhat.

It’s been rough luck for Bitetto this season. Not many other ways to look at how bad knocks have happened to stall what could have been a great opportunity to play for the Predators. Still, the chance to learn and benefit from the time in the NHL, healthy scratched or not, still exists. He played 23 games with the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL. He has 186 career games of AHL experience as a member of the Admirals which has put him in a position to have played 53 games in the NHL. There is still plenty more for Predators fans to see of Bitetto. His time will come.

Cheers to the Nashville Predators and Anthony Bitetto for providing me the time to hear from our ol’ Milwaukee Admirals player all grown up! To listen to every single installment of “Catching Up” you can listen to the entire playlist on SoundCloud.

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