Sharks sign Kinch and Westgarth

Posted: Thu Jul 17 2:06 PM

San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - The San Jose Sharks signed free agent defensemen Matt Kinch and Brett Westgarth to one-year deals on Thursday. As per club policy, terms of the deals were not made public.

The 28-year-old Kinch totaled 25 points and 73 penalty minutes in 73 games last season with Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

Westgarth split last season between Iowa of the AHL and Flint of the IHL. In 37 games with Iowa, he posted two goals and three assists with 89 penalty minutes. In 27 games with Flint, the 26-year-old totaled two goals and 10 assists with 39 penalty minutes.

Kinch, the Red Deer, Alberta product, was originally selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round (146th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. Kinch also played in Europe from 2004-07 with Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Prior to his professional career, Kinch also spent five seasons with Calgary of the WHL.

Westgarth went undrafted after four years of playing college hockey at Princeton, signing a free agent deal with Syracuse of the AHL after his senior season in 2006-07.