Taylor Pyatt perseveres after family tragedy

The phone call came in the wee hours of the morning of April 2, 2009, after 27-year-old Taylor Pyatt and the Vancouver Canucks had played the Anaheim Ducks. The news was horrifying. His high-school sweetheart and fiancee, Carly Bragnalo, had been killed in a taxi accident while vacationing with her parents in Jamaica. They were due to be married that summer.

Shocked and distraught, Pyatt went home to Thunder Bay, Ontario, was surrounded by his family, made funeral arrangements and stayed away from the game for weeks. He returned a month later for the third game of the second round of the playoffs against Chicago, but his heart was elsewhere. He was mourning and needed to get away, needed time to heal.

In Phoenix, general manager Don Maloney took a chance on Pyatt, an unrestricted free agent, and signed him to a one-year deal.

"We're always looking for value, and he had scored 20 goals [23 in 2006-07]," Maloney recalled last week. "He had a little knee issue and so we got him on a good contract [$600,000]. But he was still shaken. After Vancouver, with all the media attention, we were a nice respite for him to take a step back, sort his life out."

The 6-4 left wing, who was a first-round draft choice (eighth overall) of the Islanders in 1999, had 12 goals and 23 points and earned a two-year extension from the Coyotes. Last season, he had four goals and six points for the Coyotes in the postseason. "He was one of our top three forwards. We would've liked to have kept him," said Maloney, who is still under some financial restraints in the desert.

Instead, Pyatt opted for a two-year, $3.1-million deal with the Rangers, who had drafted his younger brother, Tom, now with Tampa, in 2005. "It was a good time in my career to be in Phoenix," Pyatt said Saturday. "I enjoyed it."

He's made a smooth adjustment, with three goals in his first four games, and has earned praise from coach John Tortorella.

Maloney is not surprised. "He's a quiet guy, good soldier, good hockey sense, attention to detail, good hands around the net. You're not looking for him to run someone over and fight, but he finishes checks."

On the personal side, Pyatt is engaged again.

"Some blows are tougher than others," Maloney said. "Give him credit. He's a great guy to root for."