#AHLHallofFame

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HARTFORD WOLF PACK LOSE SEASON FINALE TO SPRINGFIELD THUNDERBIRDS

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings SPRINGFIELD, MA - Joel Hofer's 35-save effort at the MassMutual Center led the Springfield Thunderbirds to a 1-0 shutout win over the Hartford Wolf Pack, ending the team's eight-game winning streak. The shutout was the fourth in 12 games for the T-Birds against the Pack this season. The loss by the Wolf Pack locks them into fifth place in the Atlantic Division and guarantees the Wolf Pack will play on the road. Who they will play is still to be determined. If Springfield loses their final game against the Providence Bruins at Amica Pavilion on Sunday, the Pack will play the T-Birds in the Best-of-Three series. The Charlotte Checkers' 5-4 overtime win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and a Springfield win could make for a more difficult first-round opponent for Hartford. Should the Pack face the Checkers, Charlotte would host Hartford for all three games because of the travel issues at the Bojangles Coliseum. Hofer has been kryptonite for the Wolf Pack. As a result, the Jonny Brodzinski-less Wolf Pack saw their ability to score goals and generate offense take a serious hit, but undoubtedly not due to a lack of effort. THIRD PERIOD The Wolf Pack threw eleven shots at Hofer in the third period but were held off the scoreboard. At 2:14, Bobby Trivigno took a Springfield turnover and tried to jam it past Hofer, but he covered the short side post. A little over a minute later, Will Bitten had a net-front chance that Dylan Garand gobbled up. Then at 4:56, Matt Peca, the QU grad, was stopped, followed by a solid net front play that led to Edström's bid for his second goal in as many games at 6:39 was rejected. Peca had a golden chance at 9:45 with a rebound of a Steve Santini shot that came right to his stick, but he hit the net with the left side wide-open. Thirty seconds later, Tanner Fritz was stopped by a Hofer glove save. Seconds later, Lauri Pajuniemi saw Hofer make a blocker save. Then Hugh McGing tried to get Springfield a two-goal cushion from the slot, but Garand turned that aside. At 18:07, Wyatt Kalynuk's left point drive was repelled by Hofer, with Anton Blidh battling Tyler Tucker on his doorstep. Cullye, then Carpenter had a backhander on the left-wing side hit the side of the net. Drew Callin in the defensive zone clipped Tim Gettinger up high, but no call was made. Tucker intercepted a Carpenter feed before Hofer made a blocker save to deny Zac Jones as the Pack went with the extra attacker. SECOND PERIOD The second period was a playoff-like defensive struggle. The first shot for the Pack came at 3:15 as Pajuniemi got in position for a shot with Fritz coming down the left wing. However, he was stopped by Hofer with Blidh in front battling with ex-Pack Hunter Skinner. The team's defense limited Springfield to one shot by Matt Highmore. At 15:16, Adam Clendening fired a shot from the right point with Trivigno in front, battling the much bigger Tucker. Brandon Scanlin made an excellent recovery to avoid a Greg Printz breakaway. Then Mathias Laferriere made one of the few second-period Thunderbird shots at 18:05. Springfield's best opportunity showed up on the state sheet as Highmore was right in front and chipped the puck that went over Garand and hit the crossbar. Garland kept it out as he was able to sweep it away. FIRST PERIOD The first period was an intense skating affair, with each goalie making crucial saves, but Springfield came away with the only goal. What has become a rarity in the last month, Adam Gaudette turned a Fritz neutral zone turnover into a breakaway on the left wing. He took a pass from Scott Perunovich and went forehand-to-backhand on Garand before depositing his 27th goal of the season at 17:29. As he's done all season, the Winnipeg-born Hofer frustrated the Wolf Pack. Pajuniemi had solid scoring chances in the first. There was a one-timer at 7:01, Will Cullye at 7:55, and Pajuniemi again at 8:30 on a one-timer on the left wing. At 9:18, Clendening had a chance off a nice behind-the-back pass from Lockwood. Elson missed an open net, and Hofer's right pad stopped Trivigno at the back door. Dyland Garand had a solid period stopping Bitten and McGing in the first three minutes. LINES: Cullye-Carpenter-Elson Henriksson-Lockwood- Trivigno Fritz-Pajuniemi- Adam Sýkora Gettinger- Adam Edström-Blidh Jones-Emberson Hillman-Scanlin Clendening-Kalynuk Garand Boyko #40 SCRATCHES: Matt Rempe (healthy) Louie Roehl #4 (healthy) Brett Berard #27 (healthy) Bryce McConnell-Barker #8 (healthy) Easton Brodzinski #23 (healthy) Matt Lohin #18 (healthy) Matt Robertson (upper body, out for the first round of the playoffs) Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery). C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season) NOTES Despite being recalled on paper, Ryan Lohin never showed up in Hartford. Instead, he opted to go home. Years of injuries and being on recall earlier, where it netter him two games, might indicate that Lohin is considering hanging them up. Lohin not being in Hartford is what necessitated Jonny Brodzinski's brother Easton being recalled from Jacksonville yesterday. The Checkers had a three-goal third period and an OT winner by ex-Pack Anthony Bitetto to finish their season. The brand-new Calgary Wranglers clinched the AHL overall title with 104 points. In addition, 51 wins make them the first team since the 1992-'93 Binghamton Rangers to have a 50-plus win season. The defending Calder Cup champs, soon to be the independent Chicago Wolves, won 4-1. They had a four-goal first period against the Grand Rapids Griffins and were aided by a goal and assist by ex-Pack Malte Stromwall. The only Griffins goal was by ex-Pack Danny O'Regan. SOMMER CALLS IT A CAREER San Diego's head coach Roy Sommer, the all-time winningest coach in AHL history, announced his retirement before the Gulls at the last game of the season. One of his best traits, Sommer was one of the first true born and bred California players in the mid-1970s,  a generation before it was regular to see California on a player's address. Sommer started his hockey journey in the late 1970s (1978-79) as a member of the Pacific Hockey League (PHL) Spokane (WA) Flyers, playing against the legendary Bill "Goldie" Goldthorpe. At next year's AHL All-Star game at the Tech CU Center in San Jose, he should be inducted into the  AHL Hall of Fame for the Oakland, CA native. He teamed up with ex-Ranger-New England/Hartford Whaler Nick Fotiu as a coaching tandem with the Kentucky Thoroughbreds. NIGEL DAWES RETIRES The King is dead - metaphorically speaking. Ex-Pack Nigel Dawes, 38, has ended his playing career in Germany. 'The King' reference refers to a caustic and off-handed remark about his appearance as a guest on Wolf Pack radio broadcast years ago. He remarked in New York, you get a watch for being a guest, but in Hartford, you get Burger King coupons. He spent most of his career with Kazakhstan in the KHL, even in several international tournaments like the World Championships and Olympics representing them. With the outbreak of the water in Ukraine, he played the last two years in the German DEL with Adler Mannheim. Out with old Pack, in with new Pack. With Dawes retiring, reports in Germany state after a year off of not playing, John Gilmour may be close to signing with Adler for next season. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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CANTLON: PACK MELTS HERSHEY IN SHOOTOUT

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Ty Ronning had the shootout winner, while Keith Kinkaid made 41 saves in regulation, and stopped three more in the shootout as well as a penalty shot to lead the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 4-3 win over the visiting Hershey Bears. “I was coming down and wanted to change the angle a little bit. I had been chatting with our goalie coach Jeff Malcolm, as I haven’t been in a lot of shootouts and I learned a little bit from him. Just come in on that angle and see what was open. I like to go to my backhand to open him up and I was fortunate enough to score,” Ronning said. The Wolf Pack will play a rare Monday night game against the Utica Comets, coached by legendary former Hartford Whaler Kevin Dineen. This game is a COVID-19 rescheduled game from December. “The same story as last night,” commented Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. “We came out with a good first period, an awful second period, held up well in the third period, overtime, and the shootout to win it.” 54 seconds into overtime, Kinkaid made a big save on Brett Leason. Kinkaid was run over by Brett Leason but did not get a call, and he snapped. Despite firing his helmet and his stick in the ref’s direction after the first whistle, Kinkaid was not given a penalty. His stellar netminding all night was well appreciated by Ronning and Knoblauch. “Many of the game’s saves were phenomenal. They had a couple backdoor plays and for him to reach back and make those saves and get in front of them. He does that on a daily basis. We have to do a better defending in front of him.” THIRD PERIOD In the third period, Mark Vecchione tied it at three on a pass from Leason off an intelligent play from Alexei Protas for his 13th goal at 8:57. The Wolf Pack did not fall behind because of Kinkaid’s play, preventing Hershey from getting their franchise 3,000th AHL win at his team's expense. “He (Kinkaid) faced some Grade-A scoring chances and made some important saves for us late in the third.” “Little things are important, and sometimes we get away from that and that makes game management tough (for ourselves). It’s a big part and we're coming down to the end of the season and everything is intensified,"  remarked Ronning. SECOND PERIOD The second period was all Hershy who held a 21-4 shot advantage over the Pack, who have been outshot 50-9 in the two games in the second period. “We're an even younger team now, “Knoblauch said, “We’re an inexperienced team and a fragile team right now. When things aren’t going well, they snowball for you. Guys start to question themselves and wonder aloud.” Ronning elaborated on his coach's thoughts. “Time in the game of hockey is about momentum. It can sway from us and be a challenge. When we allow our opponent to shoot so much more (than us) overall, it’s a challenge to keep that momentum, keep things simple and let the play develop." The Wolf Pack felt pressure right off the bat in the second period. At 1:09, ex-Pack Dylan McIlrath was stopped twice by Keith Kinkaid. STRONG BETWEEN THE PIPES Hershey’s Mason Morelli was awarded a penalty shot at 6:40 when he was pulled down by Zach Guittari. The last penalty shot was on April 7, 2021. It was stopped by Tyler Wall. The Pack went up 3-0 as Anthony Greco scored his team’s best 15th goal (and 42nd point) on the power play, and back came the Bears. First Garrett Pilon got his 16th goal from Bobby Nardella. Then Morelli tallied his sixth goal at 16:26 even after Alexeev broke his stick on a point shot attempt. They smartly used the power play to their advantage as Matt Loritio clipped Cody Franson behind the net at 13:36 earning him a double-minor when Franson was bleeding on the play and that opened the door and turned the game around. Entering the game, the two teams are separated by just a .05 winning percentage point in the AHL Atlantic Division standings for fourth place and the last playoff spot. The previous five weeks of the regular season have begun with the struggling Wolf Pack losing five of their previous six. SCORING The first goal came to Hartford as they went down up top to score on their first power play. Zac Jones started the play down low, controlling the puck. He got it to Lundkvist near the blue line, then advanced it over to Matt Lorito, who in turn sent a cross-ice pass to Greco on the left-wing. Greco then put a shot on the net allowing Merkley to collect his first goal as a member of the Wolf Pack. It was his 13th of the season at 12:54, just 19 seconds into the man advantage. They went up 2-0 as Alex Whalen snared a rebound on Jarred Tinordi’s shot that went wide to the short side. Still, he had inside position on Franson, and then-rookie Cristiano DiGiacinto escaped his check and backhanded his sixth by Pheonix Copley at 14:28. Kinkaid was sharp in the first stopping Mark Vecchione and Kody Clark with 1.4 left even after losing his stick. LINES Merkley-Fritz-Lorito Ronning-Greco-Khordorenko Richards-Rueschoff-Pajuniemi DiGiacinto-Whalen-O’Leary Tinordi- Guittari Jones-Scanlin Robertson- Lundkvist Kinkaid Huska SCRATCHES Skinner Gettinger (upper-body. likely out until next Wednesday) Girduckis Reunanen Taylor NOTES Hershey’s Kody Clark is the son of ex-NHL’er Wendel Clark, and his uncle Kerry was a member of the Springfield Indians and Portland Pirates. His elder cousins are former NHL players, the former Rangers/Red Wings tough customer Joe Kocur, and ESPN college hockey analyst Barry Melrose. Hershey forward Drake Rymsha is the son of former New Haven Nighthawk Andy Rymsha. He was cut as he was caught up high by a shot by Zach Guittari late in the second period. After medical repairs, he returned as did Franson in the third. The Wolf Pack's Justin Richard saw his alma mater, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, get eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Denver University 2-1. The only goal scorer for UMD was Darian Gotz, the nephew of former Wolf Pack great player and head coach Ken Gernander. Michael O’Leary’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost 1-0 to Minnesota State in their NCAA Regional game. The Quinnipiac University Bobcats have a Sunday date with Michigan in the Allentown, PA Regional at the PPL Center, home of the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms. LACK OF HONOR FOR THE 2000 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM The organization committed an unforced error in tonight’s promotion to honor the 2000 Wolf Pack Championship team. It was wrong that even sound cost-efficient ideas were ignored and nothing was done. With the pandemic now waning, it would have been a home run to celebrate Hartford’s ONLY championship team in the city’s history. A whole generation of fans have no living memory of the 2000 Championship team, and the organization should at least honor the names of Armstrong, Smyth, Hall, Labbe, Tuzzolino, and Gernander. The Hartford Yard Goats, the city’s Double AA Eastern League baseball team, do more than the Wolf Pack do to honor the City's hockey history. They do a superb job every year with "Whaler Day." A tweet of a picture is not enough and is grossly negligent for the city's only championship team. How about retiring some numbers? How about honoring the all-time leading scorer #11 Brad Smyth (382 points), who was the team's only 50-goal scorer. That should have been done three years ago with time on a Saturday night to retire the number. He then entered the AHL Hall of Fame the following Monday. Clearly not right. #17 Derek Armstrong, the only player to crack the 100-point barrier, won a regular season and post-season MVP Awards; now his number is being worn, by a fourth-line PTO winger (Abbott Girduckis). He's likely to be released soon because of player numbers, not performance, and who's played just five games (scratched the last two). No disrespect is intended, but nobody should be wearing that number. How about Jason LaBarbera's #35? He won a regular season MVP and holds every team goaltending record and is now the Calgary Flames (NHL) goalie coach. Just Gernander’s #12, which is highly deserved; hangs in the rafters. In the league just 21 years, Grand Rapids is retiring TWO numbers shortly. Jeff Hoggan #10 and former Whaler draft choice Michel Picard’s #7, but the Pack in 25 have only Gernander's number retired. Not nearly good enough. CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the long-time ex-voice of the Wolf Pack, Bob Crawford, who has landed on his feet with the NHL Production Offices. He spent the last year as the voice of UCONN hockey on CBS Sports OnLine and for select CW20 games that air locally in the just concluded Hockey East season after spending 24 years as the voice of the Pack. Alex Thomas, the new voice of the Wolf Pack stated that Team Equipment Manager Craig Lewis recently did his 900th game. Congrats to Craig and his family. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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CHAIMOVITCH: IOWA WILD'S GERRY MAYHEW VOTED WINNER OF LES CUNNINGHAM AWARD AS AHL’S MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

BY: Jason Chaimovitch, American Hockey League SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that forward Gerry Mayhew of the Iowa Wild has been voted the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable player for the 2019-20 season. The award is voted on by coaches, players, and members of the media in each of the league’s 31 cities. Mayhew scored a league-best 39 goals – the most by an AHL skater since 2011-12 – and finished third with 61 points in 49 games, helping Iowa to the best regular-season record in franchise history. Ten of Mayhew’s goals were game-winners and he registered 11 multiple-goal outings, including a natural hat trick in a 3-0 win over San Diego on Feb. 14. Mayhew tied a franchise mark with a 10-game scoring streak from Dec. 12 to Jan. 10 and earned CCM/AHL Player of the Month honors for January after totaling 12 goals and 19 points in 11 contests. Among Mayhew’s 39 tallies were 13 power-play goals and two shorthanded markers, and he also led the Wild in plus/minus rating at plus-16. Iowa was 26-7-1-2 in games when Mayhew registered a point. Mayhew represented Iowa at the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic and was voted a Second Team AHL All-Star at left wing for 2019-20. He also made his National Hockey League debut this season, notching two goals in 13 games with Minnesota – including a goal in his first appearance on Oct. 15 in Toronto. A native of Wyandotte, Mich., Mayhew turned pro with Iowa in 2017 after four years at Ferris State University and spent his first two pro seasons on an AHL contract before signing with Minnesota on May 10, 2019. He has skated in 209 regular-season games with Iowa and has compiled 88 goals and 72 assists for 160 points; he added nine goals and two assists in 11 Calder Cup Playoff games with the Wild in 2019. The AHL’s most valuable player award honors the late Les Cunningham, a member of the AHL Hall of Fame who was a five-time league All-Star and three-time Calder Cup champion with the Cleveland Barons. Previous winners of the award include Carl Liscombe (1948, ’49), Johnny Bower (1956, ’57, ’58), Fred Glover (1960, ’62, ’64), Mike Nykoluk (1967), Gilles Villemure (1969, ’70), Doug Gibson (1975, ’77), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Tim Tookey (1987), Jody Gage (1988), John Anderson (1992), Don Biggs (1993), Derek Armstrong (2001), Jason Spezza (2005), Keith Aucoin (2010), Cory Conacher (2012), Tyler Johnson (2013), Travis Morin (2014), Chris Bourque (2016), Kenny Agostino (2017), Phil Varone (2018) and Daniel Carr (2019). In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 31 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Read the full article

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CANTLON: PACK PREPARE FOR BUSY WEEKEND

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack will entertain the Charlotte Checkers Friday night before departing for four games on the road over the next two weeks. They will not return home until January 24th against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Wolf Pack winning streak grew to five-games and in the process, tying their season-best mark after a 2-1 win over the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center before 10,240 on a Wednesday night. Hartford's leading scorer, Vinni Lettieri, has six points in his last five games. He also has scored a goal three straight scored the game-winning goal, his 14th, with 53.9 seconds left in the game. Goalie Adam Huska stopped 26 of 27 shots. The Wolf Pack was held to just 15 shots but made the two that scored led them to victory. Boo Nieves continues his strong play and has garnered seven points in his last six gamers. The Wolf Pack holds the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a record of 22-8-2-5 (51 points) and now are four points ahead of Hershey and six ahead of the Providence Bruins. For Hershey, this was just their second loss in their last 15 games. The team has undergone some serious roster changes in the past month and with the exception of a small blip of a five-game losing streak, they have maintained a strong level of consistency at home, late in games, and against key divisional rivals. The Wolf Pack are 15-1-2-5 at home and are unbeaten with taking a lead after two periods at 14-0-1-2. They've won all five games thus far against Providence who they were battling for first place before being supplanted by Hershey. LIFE WITHOUT IGOR Goaltender Igor Shesterkin is on recall by the New York Rangers and made his NHL debut with a 5-3 victory against the Colorado Avalanche. Shesterkin got off to a tough start giving up goals on his first two shots. To be fair, all three goals he surrendered he wasn't totally responsible for. One was a tip-in, another a breakaway from Nathan MacKinnon and a wide-open goal on the right-wing. Shesterkin followed that up with a superb showing stopping 46 of 49 shots in a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils as ex-Wolf Pack, Tony D’Angelo piled up five points, including the first hat-trick since the Hall of Fame Brian Leetch (Cheshire) had in a playoff game in 1995. It was only the third in team history and the first two were Reijo Ruotsolainen (1982) and Dave Maloney (1980). Shesterkin was very sharp in the third period stopping a pair of scoring chances from Avalanche defensemen Samuel Girard and Calder Trophy candidate, Cale Makar. No doubt Shesterkin will have a long NHL career, but the Rangers also have two competent, capable NHL goalies in future Hall-of-Famer, Henrik Lundquist, and ex-Pack, Alexander Georgiev. Carrying three goalies is difficult at any level of hockey, with one netminder always on the outside looking in, and likely unhappy. The Rangers have been anticipating their fifth-round draft choice in 2012. He had superb KHL numbers and has finally arrived in North America. Shesterkin’s deal to come to North America was struck in the spring when the Rangers negotiated a European (KHL) clause in his deal that kicked in at halfway mark of the AHL season. It was eclipsed by several games, and the NHL season clause has been met, and he could return to Russia without penalty. The NHL trade deadline is February 24th, just seven weeks away. Lundqvist’s age, salary, and no-movement clause make it HIGHLY unlikely he's going anywhere, and the market for Georgiev isn’t clear at this point. Shesterkin is likely to see more action at the NHL level. It is possible but perhaps unlikely, that Shesterkin, who does not need to pass through waivers, will get sent to Hartford to playing time when Lundqvist and Georgiev are in the net. There will be a lot of rumors and a lot of news coming out of New York that will effect Hartford as the deadline approaches and the Rangers decide if they should be a buyer or a seller at the deadline and how to supplement the success currently going on in the Connecticut capital. MESSAGE FROM SWEDEN Lias Andersson was last seen departing on a plane from Bradley International Airport after the Wolf Pack's two-game road trip to Charlotte. He hasn’t been seen since until the next day after he'd left the team that through his agent it became public that Andersson had requested a trade. He was suspended by the Rangers and there has been radio silence until Wednesday. Andersson gave an interview with the Swedish sports news service, SVTP Sports (their version of ESPN/TSN). Uffe Bodin, the Editor-In-Chief of newsme.com, tweeted this translated information. The troubling tweet raises some serious questions and cast some serious aspersions and insinuations that could have profound impacts going forward for Andersson having any hope of returning to the Rangers or to any organization contemplating acquiring him. Was Andersson injured toward the end of his self-imposed departure from Hartford? What was this alleged incident that occurred that made things untenable for him to stay in Hartford? His assertion about "feeling safe" depicts some untoward work environment in Hartford, was there any? Is he using the team-issued suspension after leaving the team as some faux reasoning for sitting in Sweden and not practicing in Hartford or Cromwell with the Wolf Pack? Was he handling or coping with the rigors of pro hockey and being a number seven overall draft pick very well? Based on his play and this move the answer would be no. Andersson could be making a fatal career mistake here. The NHL is a very closed society. While the teams are on ice rivals and there's a union as a league and when one seeks to overturn the order of things, they don’t like it very much. Especially from a player in his first three years of an NHL deal that he and his agent signed off on and approved by both the NHL and the NHLPLA. Teams are not likely to take on a player who jumps ship when he's under-performing at the NHL and AHL level on an entry-level contract. There is hockey graveyard littered with first-round busts and players whose ego’s got the better of them. Andy, as he was known, was not a malcontent by several accounts, but self-imposed pressure to live up to his number seven overall status is a part of the equation that has him in Sweden and not Hartford. One veteran NHL scout said on the condition that they not be named, about Andersson. “I spoke to our GM about him, and he said, ‘It’s not his fault he was drafted seventh when maybe 27 or 37 was more appropriate. He has to understand that he isn’t a top-six forward, but a bottom-six forward. I think he’s a salvageable player at age 20, but he has to change his self-appraisal of his skill set.” On what could be likely his last ever Wolf Pack goal, he was contemplating a Filip Forsberg (Nashville) move on a breakaway coming off the right-wing. For Andersson, if he's to have an NHL career, this walkout needs to end immediately. NOTES: The Bridgeport Sound Tigers made an AHL deal with the Utica Comets where they sent oft-injured forward, John Stevens Jr. to the Comets for future considerations. Stevens is the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, AHL Hall of Famer, and current Dallas Stars, Assistant Coach, John Stevens Sr. Drake Rymsha, the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk, Andy Rynsha, was sent from Ontario (AHL) to Ft. Wayne (ECHL). How about trading your nephew? All-time Wolf Pack great, and head coach, John Paddock, who's the current GM and VP of Hockey Ops for the Regina Pats (WHL) sent his nephew, Max, to the Prince Albert Raiders yesterday. That won't be awkward at the Christmas Table Goalie Nick Malik, the son of ex-Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik, is leaving home for North America. He played primarily with HC Frydek-Mistek (Czech Republic Division-2) where his father is the assistant coach this season. His Czech Elite League (CEL) rights are with HC Ocelari Trinec where he played two games. The younger Malik got in some time for the Czech Republic WJC team in the just-completed tournament but has decided to head to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) for the rest of the year. The Greyhounds drafted him in the CHL Import last June in the first-round (50th overall). All CHL teams are involved in the draft. He was eleventh pick (168th overall) in the NAHL Draft by the Muskegon Lumberjacks as well last year Ethan Cardwell, the nephew of former New Haven Knights, Matt Cardwell, was traded from the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) to the Barrie Colts (OHL) as part of a five-player trade at the junior trade deadline. Logan Stephenson, the son of former Whaler, Bob Stephenson, goes from ASC Corona Brasov (Romania-EBEL) to HKM Zloven (Slovakia-SLEL) for the rest of the season. Read the full article

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CHAIMOVICH: AHL ANNOUNCES NEW CLASS OF INDUCTEES INTO AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE HALL OF FAME

BY: Jason Chaimovich, American Hockey League SPRINGFIELD, MA - The American Hockey League today announced the four people selected for induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2020. Honored by the AHL Hall of Fame Selection Committee as the 15th group of enshrinees are Robbie Ftorek, Denis Hamel, Darren Haydar, and Fred Thurier. Full release with statistics (PDF) “Since 1936, the history of the American Hockey League has been defined by the people who have helped build upon its foundation of excellence,” said David Andrews, AHL President, and Chief Executive Officer. “Each of these four individuals performed at the highest levels throughout their careers, and the AHL Board of Governors unanimously endorses the Selection Committee’s recommendation for their induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2020.” The Class of 2020 will be honored as part of the festivities at the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Ontario International Airport, hosted by the Ontario Reign. The American Hockey League Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony is scheduled for January 27, 2020. Formed in 2006 to recognize, honor and celebrate individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in the American Hockey League, the AHL Hall of Fame is housed online at ahlhalloffame.com and is accessible to fans worldwide with the click of a mouse as part of the AHL Internet Network. Read the full article

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CANTLON: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON - Volume 9

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - In spite of the fact that the prevailing news of the day centers on the precipice of a new era for the New York Rangers, as the 2019 NHL Entry Draft is about to occur in Vancouver, more news is going in professional hockey. PACK NEWS Clearly, the NHL Draft tomorrow in Vancouver (NBCSN Round 1 at 8 pm. Saturday Rounds 2-7 NHL Network 1 pm) will be important to the Wolf Pack roster for this and next year. The Rangers have nine picks second only to host Vancouver with 10 picks in the seven rounds. The Rangers had two in the first the second overall pick in which either they get Kappo Kakko or Jack Hughes they had a second one at 20th slot from Winnipeg from the Kevin Hayes deal which they dealt back to the Jets Monday night in the Jacob Trouba deal for ex-Pack Neal Pionk. Trouba, a right-handed shot like Pionk is a big sturdy two-way defenseman who will command serious playing time at age 25 is an RFA (restricted free agent). Part of the Trouba Factor is that his wife is studying to become a doctor and clearly wants to do so in the US rather than Canada so a long term deal is in the offing. The deal will be dependent on the salary cap for next year (no final figure yet) and future contracts that will expire for the Rangers, especially the slew of ELC deals they have signed the last two-three years and future ones coming after tomorrow’s draft and the unknown of a new CBA structure. GM Jeff Gorton told the media in a conference call Monday that he has a deal number in mind for Trouba which means one or two of the other four defensemen in New York making $4 million plus Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal, Brady Skeij or Brenden Smith will either be traded, brought out or buried in Hartford next season. Some of the first roster shoes dropped late Thursday night with the announcement that defenseman’s Frederick Claesson of the Rangers and the Wolf Pack’s Chris Bigras’s were not given qualifying offers to make them UFA’s. Claesson, despite his role as the seventh defenseman in NY, was very good, the current roster didn’t give him a spot, Bigras was a slight surprise he played well for most of the year and was one of the last cuts at Rangers training camp plus was Libor Hajek's primary defense partner through the 25 games or so, but had his season cut short with a severe high ankle sprain. Julius Bergman, acquired from Columbus is a UFA has already signed a two year deal with the defending Swedish Hockey League champion Frolunda HC. That leaves two other defensemen, John Gilmour and assistant captain Rob O’ Gara as Group 6 UFA’s on July 1st who will be clearly getting new addresses. Goalie Dustin Tokarski is also a UFA was reassigned to Charlotte on February 28th where he never lost a game and they captured the Calder Cup title. Tokarski won’t be offered a deal and is likely to be playing in Sweden next year. To nobody’s surprise goalie Brandon Halverson was not given a qualifying offer either. Just two Wolf Pack roster players left as RFA’s are winger Vinni Lettieri and the organization’s last goalie Chris Nell their status has not been announced yet. The rest of the draft selections look like this; in the second round, the Rangers have two picks 49th from Dallas and 59th from Tampa Bay via the Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh/JT Miller trade respectively. They have as of now then one selection in each of the remaining five rounds. In the third round 68th overall, in the 4th round they go 112th from Columbus, in the 5th round 130th, the 6th round they select 161st and in the 7th and last round 205th from Columbus. CALLAHAN TO RETIRE  In some sad and late-breaking news, last night on the Tampa Bay Lightning website former Ranger and ex-Pack Ryan Callahan announced his NHL career has come to a screeching and sudden end and is being placed on their LTI (Long Term Injury) list protecting Tampa Bay on the salary cap. He has been diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease in his back that has limited him the past three NHL seasons and now forces him to leave the game he played with so much passion. He was limited to just 52 games last season with seven goals and 17 points His trade over five years ago from the Rangers after eight years on Broadway assuming the captaincy after Chris Drury’s retirement to Tampa Bay and Martin St. Louis, was highly unpopular at the time but saw him compete in one Stanley Cup Final. His NHL career spanned 757 games with 186 goals, 200 assists, and 386 points. He was originally selected by the Rangers in the 4th round in 2004 NHL Draft (124th overall). He came off a strong four-year junior career with the Guelph Storm 249 games with 130 goals and 237 points leading them in scoring his last two seasons play under former Hartford Whaler, Dave Barr. He was named as OHL Overage Player (Leo Lalonde Trophy) of the year in his fourth and last season and won an OHL championship in 2003-04. He played for two US Olympic Teams getting the silver medal in 2010 in Vancouver. He was a member of the Wolf Pack for just 71 games scoring 42 goals and adding 28 assists for 70 points. He was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team and played in the AHL All-Star Star Game. In his last Wolf Pack game on February 1, 2008, he scored one of the prettiest breakaway goals in Wolf Pack history against the then Springfield Falcons in a 6-2 romp. He left Devan Dubnyk’s goalie equipment still hanging from the ceiling of the XL Center. PLAYERS & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-CT Whale and Ranger, Carl Hagelin signed a four year deal with Washington. Former Beast of New Haven Dallas Eakins was hired as the new head coach for Anaheim elevating him from San Diego (AHL). Former UCONN Husky (Division II era), New Haven Nighthawk and Hartford Whaler, Todd Krygier, keeps climbing another rung of the coaching ladder. After three years with Western Michigan Broncos (NCHC), three with Muskegon (USHL), and seven with Novi HS (MIPUB), he was hired by the Detroit Red Wings to be an assistant coach in Grand Rapids (AHL) starting in the fall. Columbus made Chris Clark (South Windsor) the new GM for the Cleveland Monsters plus Director of Player Development for the Blue Jackets. Clark played 175 AHL games. He won a Calder Cup with the Saint John Flames (2001) and 607 NHL games with Calgary, Washington, and Columbus.  He has been a scout and the last seven years as a development coach for Columbus and Cleveland. Cleveland also hired a very experienced new head coach in Mike Eaves 63, to guide them next season. Eaves was the head coach at Division III St. Olaf College (MIAC) the last three years after spending 14 years at his alma mater University of Wisconsin (Big 10) where he helped the Badgers to seven NCAA tournament and one national championship in 2006. He had prior AHL experience with Hershey for three years (1990-1993) and was an assistant coach for three NHL teams Calgary, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. His other coaching stints included Division III Wisconsin-Eau Claire (WIAC), Shattuck’s St. Mary’s (MNPREP), two years with the US National Development Team (USNDTP) and a season with HIFK Helsinki (Finland--FEL). He helped coach the 2004 US WJC team to a gold medal. He played eight years in the NHL with Minnesota and Calgary and while at Wisconsin won the NCAA title in 1977 making him one of the few players to coach and play to win an NCAA title. His brother Murray was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame last year. -Bridgeport’s John Stevens Jr. was the only New York Islander, or Bridgeport Sound Tiger not given a qualifying offer. That makes him a UFA as of July 1st. He is the son of former Whaler and NHL head coach, John Stevens, Sr. -Ex-Sound Tiger Andrew MacDonald has been placed on unconditional waivers by the Flyers with the intention of buying him out the last year of his contract. -Brett Sutter winner of the AHL Fred T. Hunt Award this year has re-signed for another season with Ontario. -The Wolf Pack’s second affiliate, the Maine Mariners (ECHL) signed five players for the upcoming season and two of them have CT ties. Terrence Wallin (Gunnery Prep) has 30 points in 41 games with the Mariners, but just one assist in 23 games in Hartford. Defenseman Derek Pratt, a former UCONN Husky captain, had a solid first pro season with 63 games and finished with a plus-eight and 16 assists and 18 points signed a one year deal. He got in his first AHL game with Utica on the last weekend of the regular season and was recalled to Hartford, but never played. -AHL to Europe list adds Brooks Macek leaves Chicago to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (Russia-KHL) making it 43 AHL’ers that have signed in Europe so far. -Ex-Pack captain Mat Bodie leaves Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL) to Vaxjo HC (Sweden-SEL). =Former Wolf pack Brodie Dupont goes from Dornbirner EC (Austria-ECEL) to the Herning Blue Fox (Denmark-DHL) -Ex-Sound Tiger Mark Flood leaves Ilves Tampere (Finland-FEL) to play for Vienna (Austria-EBEL). -Former Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) goalie Michael Garteig fresh off an ECHL Kelly Cup championship with the Newfoundland Growler’s has signed with Tappara (Finland-FEL) for next season. -Former New Haven Nighthawk and 1980 Rangers 4th round draft pick, Kurt Kleinendorst signs to be the head coach of Nuremberg (Germany-DEL) next year. His brother Scot was drafted by the Rangers in the 5th round that year played 53 games in New York and then five years for the Whalers before ending his career in Washington. -The two-time defending national champion University Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (NCHC) rewarded head coach Scott Sandelin with a four-year contract extension. -Goalie Max Prawdzik is a graduate transfer from Boston University (HE) to Arizona State Sun Devils (NCAA Division-1 Independent) -Five more collegians head overseas, led by former UCONN (HE) player Max Kalter who signed with HC Cergy (France Division-1), University of Nebraska-Omaha (NCHC) goalie Matej Tomek leaves and heads back to his homeland and play for HK Dukla Trencin (Slovakia-SLEL). Lucas Benedet from Division III Northland College (NCHA) signs with HC Meudon (France Division-2) and Ryker Leer from the University Alaska-Fairbanks (WCHA) signs with Visby/Roma (Sweden Division-I). The latest is Thomas Stahlhuth goes from Colby College (NESCAC) to Melbourne (Australia-AIHL). That makes 41 collegians have signed in Europe and a total of 243 have signed pro deals in North America and Europe. -Jay O’ Brien, Providence College (HE) will play at Penticton (BCHL) this year to preserve his NCAA eligibility and transferring to another school seems a strong likelihood for the Flyers draft pick. -College hockey at the University of Illinois is closer to becoming a reality and joining the Big 10, but a few issues need to get resolved before making a formal announcement. See it HERE -Zach Malik, son of ex-Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik, has left North Bay (OHL) where he was traded to last year from Sudbury. He has joined HC Plzen (Pilsener) (Czech Republic-CEL) during summer offseason workouts on a tryout basis but has not yet signed a playing deal. He was drafted by Muskegon (USHL) in April along with younger brother Nick. He is draft eligible for this week’s NHL draft in Vancouver which may determine where he plays in 2019-20 in either the OHL, USHL or CEL. SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HOCKEY While hockey in North America is put to bed shots, saves and slapshots are in full swing in Australia and New Zealand. In the Land Down Under, the Newcastle Northstars and CBR (Canberra) Brave are battling the top of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) through its first 12 games tied at 33 points and identical 11-1 records and will meet in a big clash Saturday in Newcastle at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium (5:00pm Australian local time). The Northstars second-leading scorer (4th overall in the AIHL) is Francis Drolet (Salisbury Prep) with 11 goals and 25 points in 12 games and its captain Robert “Bert” Malloy (Cheshire/Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack) is off to a strong start in 10 games 11 assists and 15 points in his ninth AIHL campaign and fourth straight as Newcastle’s captain. The Sydney Ice Dogs second-leading scorer (6th overall in the league) is ex-Pack Paul Crowder with nine goals, 18 assists and 23 points in nine games and their goaltender is former UCONN goalie Garrett Bartus is struggling with a 2-5 record and a 4.32 GAA and .889 save percentage. The Melbourne Ice leading scorer is another ex-UCONN Husky in Jesse Schwartz with 12 points in 10 games. Last weekend the AIHL All-Star Game was held in Sydney at the International Convention Centre and Malloy’s Team North triumphed over Team South 11-9. His North teammates included Drolet, Crowder (and his brother Tim) and Schwartz. As part of the two-day event, they held a skills competition on Friday evening. Over in New Zealand, the five-team short season NZIHL (New Zealand Ice Hockey League) is underway and one US player of note is Corey Morgan (Avon Old Farms) fresh from Skidmore College (NEHC) is playing for the Botany Swarm with three goals, five points, and a plus-five in the first four games. 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CANTLON: NIGHTHAWK GREAT ANDERSON ENTERS AHL HALL OF FAME

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings SPRINGFIELD, MA - John Anderson's road to the AHL Hall-of-Fame is a true hockey journey. Beginning with his captaincy during his junior days with the first edition of the Toronto Marlies of the OHA (now OHL). He was a first-round pick and spent eight years with the Maple Leafs. His journey continued for a brief one year stay with the Quebec Nordiques, who had drafted him during their WHA days. Anderson then had a strong four-year run with the Hartford Whalers. While in the Connecticut capital, Anderson would score the game-winning goal that gave the Whalers their one and their only division title. After leaving the Whalers, Anderson headed for Europe, which didn’t make me him happy. “I really hated it. I wanted to come back. The following summer I had worked as hard as I could, but I got no tryouts to any training camps and I have to admit, I was angry with the game at the point. Then, I got a call from an old friend, Gabby (Bruce Boudreau) to come to Ft. Wayne. He said, 'Play with me. We'll have some fun again.' I asked him, 'I’m not much on geography where is Ft. Wayne?'” After a season with the Ft. Wayne Komets (IHL) and listening to Boudreau, it was his best hockey decision. “It was a great piece of advice that I listened to. I was worried about riding the bus everywhere and the whole nine yards. It was the best thing I ever did. It was such a close-knit group. Everybody checked their egos at the door. I appreciated those guys giving me back the love of the game. It was a very special group.” Anderson would then begin to make his AHL mark with the New Haven Nighthawks as a Player/Assistant Coach a year later. “I really have to thank the New Haven Nighthawks. They made an old hockey player feel good and resurrected. It could have been over for my career. That was a very good group of players we had that year. It made me, an old player, feel a bit young again.” Anderson captured the Les Cunningham AHL MVP Trophy that season playing with a team that was half a crew of refugees from the Quebec Nordiques. The team they assembled was one of the last two Independent AHL teams. The line he was a part of, was one of the most fearsome in league history. Anderson played on the left wing. Stan Drulia manned the right wing while Paul Willett was the center. The group compiled 277 points in 1991-92. Drulia had 102 of those points. He was one of only two players in Nighthawk history to top the century mark in total points. Willett had 80 points. Anderson had 41 goals and a team-leading 54 assists (95 points) and a plus-42, as the trio blitzed goalies in what was then, just a 15-team AHL. Putting that in perspective, it's less than half of today’s what today's AHL landscape encompasses. Interestingly though, the line almost never happened. “I was injured late in the year in Ft. Wayne and didn’t play in the playoffs, I had a bad charley-horse. In fact, they thought it was broken. It actually laid down extra calcium (similar to Cam Neely’s career-ending injury). It never really healed in the summer, I barely trained, so I walked into camp, literally walked in, as a free agent. The only other person who had a worse camp than me was Stan. I saw him play one game the season before, you noticed him. "Dougie Carpenter (the team's head coach) wasn’t going to sign him and he had like 140 points the year before (with Knoxville ECHL). I said he had something special and I really lobbied Carpenter to sign him. Drulia took a pay cut to play in New Haven. He was being offered $1,500 a week to play in the East Coast League that year. "Then there was a shooting in the mall (Chapel Square Mall) around the corner from the arena (New Haven Coliseum) during camp. His wife was like, 'What are we doing here?” said Anderson. The AHL minimum at the time was far below what it is today ($70K) and this was just before the first rise in salaries that started with the 1994 NHL work stoppage. Anderson mentored many of his teammates. One of those he taught, Trevor Stienburg, has for the past 17 years, been a head coach with the St. Mary’s University Huskies (AUAA) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Stienburg was one of the ten players on that Nighthawk roster who were Quebec Nordiques prospects assigned to the team. Another ten were an assortment of AHL free agents of which Anderson was one. “John was such a good guy and a great teammate. He is so worthy of the honor,” Stienburg said in a phone interview from Halifax. "John’s style at that time might not fit the way hockey is structured today, but it was highly effective back then. “John played hockey like some people play basketball. He would set picks for others. He was the dean of subtle obstruction. When I would have the puck in the offensive zone, he would skate to me trying not to get open, and then at the last minute he would shake his coverage with his pick and he was open for the pass or created an open lane for you to shoot. He would always say, 'Act like an object'" The seeds for the second half of Anderson’s AHL career as a head coach were planted in New Haven. “John was the MVP of the league in so many ways. He always took the time to teach guys. He was maybe one of the very first player-assistant coaches in the AHL. He and Doug (head coach Doug Carpenter) were a good team and he gave him a lot of opportunity. "I would be a veteran at the point, and to be honest I wanted to be in Halifax. So, when I went to New Haven with that group, it felt like a demotion, because it was. To be honest, I was down emotionally. As we grew as a group, it got better each day and John was a big part of that. He was open. If you didn’t understand something, he would say, 'Come over here, I’ll show you.'  He made me receptive to learning new things. That really helped me at that point in my career and down the line. "As my skating started to suffer late in my career, I always remember what John taught me and others in New Haven. I teach that to my players now just, in a bit more of a modified approach.” Anderson was an important part of the fabric for that edition of the Nighthawks. The Nordiques didn’t think they were prospects to be with the Halifax Citadels, the primary farm team for the Quebec. “He was the centerpiece of the team; a natural born leader, and he has accomplished a lot in this game. He is a Hall-of-Famer in my book,” said Stienburg. For Anderson and that team they started off quite poorly at 3-14, but his troublesome charley-horse finally began to heal and the trio started to click and collect points. They turned their record around with an inverted 14-3 run. “Stiener was one of funniest teammates I ever had, and he and all the guys made me feel so welcomed. He was the reason we turned it around had such a good year. We had so many good players in that group. Scotty Arniel, Brian Dobbin, and Lou Francheschetti were on the other line. Once, I got healthy, and guys got to know each other, we got better as the season went along. "All of the guys on that team got an NHL contract to sign except me,” Anderson said with his huge broad smile and a laugh. It was in New Haven that Anderson caught the bug for coaching which would be the other half of his sterling AHL career with the Chicago Wolves. “Doug never called me his assistant coach, he called me his little helper.  We went up to Adirondack together to watch a pre-season game there to see if we might be able to pick up a couple players for us. We were up in Lake George. It was a beautiful fall day and Doug says, 'Do you want to sit in the restaurant?' I said, 'No, let’s go on the tour boat.' Doug was kind of a staunch guy, I was a bit (adventurous), but we're symbiotic as coaches together. That year he lost his mother which was very hard for him, but he was a great coach because he let me do my thing." He remembers his last AHL game in Springfield as a player vividly. “We sit down after the Star Spangled Banner. I see guys at the end of the bench to the right are laughing. I look left the guys are laughing and our head coach, Dougie Carpenter, is behind me. He’s laughing, and so I Iook at Stan Drulia and said, 'What the heck is so funny?' He said, 'Look behind you. "A guy came down behind the bench with a huge sign the size of a bedsheet: 'Anderson: Caution Microwave In Use.', "I wish he were here today because I have a new pacemaker and its microwave proof - Ha!” Chicago is where Anderson made a tremendous mark with two of the three last IHL Turner Cups, and their first year in the AHL won the Calder Cup over Bridgeport in five games. “We had all the ingredients. Kevin Cheveldayoff (the GM) has more rings than fingers, who might get one more in Winnipeg was great and he just let me coach. The owners, Don Levin, and Buddy Myers gave me all the tools I needed. And by tools I mean money.” Anderson said chuckling. The Wolves captured two titles in the AHL and the two in the IHL for an impressive seven-year run and add in the United Hockey League title he won in Quad Cit,y Anderson’s resume had the word winner stamped on it." The team also helped Anderson with their affiliation with the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers where he eventually got his first NHL head coaching gig. Teaching others came naturally because of his strong competitive desire. “I really wanted to win that year. It was important to lead by example with such a diverse group that we had in New Haven. Being personable with players was a big thing. It doesn’t take much but finding out how a guy is doing. Bruce Boudreau and I have the same philosophy. What we always talked about was talking to every player, every day, because you don’t know what is going on. His kid might have been sick, or something else going on. It went a long way with players.” After two more years playing with San Diego, he began his hockey coaching odyssey in the Southern Hockey League in 1995, a six-team reincarnation of the mid-‘70’s version that lasted all of one year. Anderson had a tale from his Winston-Salem Mammoths days that brought the house down. “There was a lot to learn you had to do a lot yourself there wasn’t an assistant coach at the time. I even learned how to put up signs on the dasher boards. I learned a lot valuable things. "I was at the dinner table with my (unofficial) assistant coach Victor Posa, and I get a call from Walt Podubny (Ranger from the 1980s), the head coach of the Daytona Beach team. "We start discussing a trade. He wanted a guy we had on defense, and I wanted one of his offensive defenseman. We talked about 20 minutes and I ended it, 'Hey Walt, We're set. We have a deal? Yes, we do. "Next morning, he calls me and says his owner won’t let him make the deal, so the deal is off. I said, 'OK Walt if anything changes and you can call me.' "We have a game that night. We're playing great. We were down to four D as one player got sick before the game. So we're ahead in the third period, and one of my guys punches a guy in the head, the defenseman I was going to trade. So he gets tossed and we're down to three D and are shorthanded the rest of the game. "So, my youngest, Spencer, was six at the time, and he hung up things in the locker room and he goes in there and the player is throwing a fit. He’s throwing everything, gloves, helmets, and shoulder pads. "Spencer asks him, 'What’s wrong, Travis (Hulse)?' "Your father is gonna kill me if we lose this game. He’s going to be angry with me. It’s gonna be horrible.” "My son gives him a Gatorade and says, 'Don’t worry, Travis my Dad is going to trade you anyhow.' "Note to future coaches never discuss work at the dinner table.” Going to the AHL was always a place of last resort for hockey players in his day. “Everybody says I don’t want to go the American League till you get there. I look back as a player and a person how necessary and vital it was to go there to grow and develop personally. I realize just how vitally important the AHL is and it made me a better coach and a better person in being honored today says everything for me.” John Anderson has shown just how valuable the AHL is, and how valuable he has been to the modern era of the AHL as he proudly takes his place the Hall of Fame. Read the full article

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CANTLON: BRAD

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings SPRINGFIELD, MA - Shooter is where he deserves to be - The AHL Hall of Fame. For Brad “Shooter” Smyth, with his family and friends on hand, got to bask in the glow of the game he has loved so much. “It feels awesome to go to the Hall of Fame with all of these talented gentlemen, and especially to be recognized so early in my retirement. I’m just five years removed from my last game, and to get this honor so early into it, is very, very special for me, and for my family to enjoy it with me,” Smyth stated. His brother Greg Smyth, flew in from Hong Kong for the event. His wife Jackie was also in attendance. He called her his ultimate teammate when he paid her with a warm, sincere moment of thanks toward the end of his acceptance speech. “I love you very much. You stuck with me all these years bouncing around from place to place, I was kind of a human suitcase. Your positivity and sense of humor made it all worthwhile. I love you.” Smyth, known for his ebullience, confidence, and swagger, had his moments of doubt while he was with the Birmingham Bulls of the ECHL during the infancy of his career in pro hockey back in the early 90s. “Everyone has doubts as you strive to get to that next level. At the time, the Coast (ECHL) wasn’t comparable to the American Hockey League. A place like Birmingham was where you worked hard to earn that promotion to the next level and work on all aspects of your game. Once I got to the AHL, I never looked back.” In his first three AHL games in Springfield with the Falcons, a Connecticut connection helped him start his path to the top of the AHL mountain. The assistant coach with the Falcons that year was a former Hartford Whaler and a 50 goal scorer in the NHL twice, Blaine “Stash” Stoughton. “It was brief, but I really learned from him about the importance of the release of a shot, as well as, the strength of a shot.” He got his first big AHL break, with the expansion in Greensboro, NC of the Carolina Monarchs in 1995. That signing turned out to be a very sound decision. “I had a very good coach in Rich Kromm, and he knew my skill set and put me on a line with a super-skilled Gilbert Dionne and a great passer in Brett Harkins. I benefitted playing with those guys as a right-handed shot. I just loved standing in the slot. Our powerplay was lethal that year.” Smyth would score 68 goals in 68 games. He's the only player ever to have come so close to challenging the AHL record for goals in a season that is held by Stephan Lebeau when he scored 70 back in 1988-89 with the Sherbrooke Canadiens. Smyth is arguably the greatest Wolf Pack player ever, with a team-best 182 goals and 365 points through three tours of duty in Hartford. His time here made him grow fonder of the team, the players and the city. “I played a little in Hartford,“ Smyth said with a deadpanned, warm, wry smile, “We were a very close group and back then you spent more time with teammates as there wasn’t nearly the movement we have today. Then, you got to know people on-and-off the ice and the on-ice factor you got to know a person’s characteristics. We were a team that was built to win. Many guys like myself were signed to come to Hartford for that (express) purpose. To put all those pieces together, we had not a good coach - a great coach - in John Paddock. He knew how to push us and use all our skills combined to make a solid team. That’s why we won a title." Paddock was someone he truly admired. “John always knew the way to motivate players and teams. One way was that he would cut your ice time,” Smyth said with some levity in his voice. “It was because he was demanding of you in order to get results, and in the same way, he gave you room to be yourself and created that all within a team framework. He was a tremendous coach and its an honor to be with him here as part of the AHL Hall of Fame.” Smyth regaled the crowd with a Paddock story whom he followed to Binghamton and eventually got to play for in his hometown with the Ottawa Senators. “The veteran guys there some weren’t so happy with our ice time, and I was one of them. So, we're in Newfoundland and the other veterans said, 'You played with him for a few years, you go ask him.' So, John is scouting the morning skate. He's writing down line combinations and never took his eyes from what he was doing. So, I said to him, 'John, I want to ask you about something.' So, I let him know a few of the guys understand it’s a younger development team, but we're hoping we could get a few more minutes (of ice time).' John goes, 'I’m glad you brought that up.' Well, the first player was our tough guy. He says he's taking too many selfish penalties lately. The second guy we picked up on a PTO deal, and he had one goal and one assist in 18 games. Since you got back from Ottawa, you're not scoring at the same clip you were before, so does that answer any of your questions? We're done here.'" The packed house roared with laughter, but Shooter was not done yet. “So, I run out into the cold of Newfoundland, and the guys ask me, 'How did it go?' So, I told them. I said, 'The next time you want to ask him something, do it yourselves!' That was vintage John, he held every player accountable. There was no hiding in the lineup. That’s the way it ought to be.” Smyth gave a warm tribute to the Wolf Pack teams he played on. “We had the undeniable skill of Marc Savard, the leadership of Ken Gernander, and the competitiveness of Brent Thompson. We had all the elements, the fans, and the electricity (in Hartford). It was tough (for the fans) when the Whalers left, but we tried to provide the energy for the fans.” Two players from the Calder Cup team stood out for him. The first was goalie J.F. Labbe, who was the first of the four members of that Wolf Pack championship team to be enshrined in the AHL Hall of Fame. “I believe he was the driving force that led us to the 2000 Calder Cup championship. He was the definition of a big game goalie. I loved playing with him. Thanks, JF.” Smyth then paid homage to his lifelong friend, Derek Armstrong, who's now 3,000 miles away in LA. The pair started out as two high school age kids who were playing hockey in Ontario - their on-and-off ice chemistry was as genuine as you can find in pro sports. It was a true give-and-take friendship. “Derek Armstrong was special. The reason I got to talk about him is if I didn’t, he wouldn’t talk to me (anymore),” Smyth said with a laugh. “We're pretty tight on-and-off the ice. I loved playing with Army. His puck carrying skills, and savvy were second to none. The passion for the game, which I shared with him, was infectious.” Smyth ended it with a simple refrain, “Thanks for passing me the puck, Army.” You could almost hear Armstrong’s trademark gravely, voice saying, “Ha” as it bounced off the hills of Los Angeles making it's way to Springfield. Smyth ended his career playing for Armstrong, who was then the head coach for the now defunct Central Hockey League's Denver Cutthroats, The two were a coaching tandem there the following season before the team and league ceased operations. Smyth thanked his parents for all their dedication of driving him to every rink as a kid and helping him develop as a human being. He also thanked his brother Greg, who he attributes him as the kid-brother who got him started playing hockey. After the crowd had left, after he was signing some of the last autograph seekers at the Aria ballroom at the MGM Springfield, Shooter still had one more funny story to tell. “My brother Greg's name is the same spelling as a guy I played against. We're in St. John’s playing the Maple Leafs and Greg Smyth, who had a few penalty minutes in his career (1,970 to be exact) and he was nearing the end of his run there. We're on the ice at a faceoff and he looks over at me, skates past me and says, 'Good thing you spell your last name right, or I’d knock your head off.' I looked at him and was totally stunned. Nobody before or since had ever said that to me.“ Smyth was on the road well-traveled. From his days in London, Ontario, to Greensboro, NC, to Binghamton, NY, to Manchester, NH and Hartford with NHL stops in Florida, in New York with the Rangers and then in Ottawa. Brad Smyth has become an important piece of a quilt that has been knitted in the AHL fabric, and it now has a nice swatch with the name Shooter forever emblazoned on it for all to see. Photo by Gerry Cantlon Read the full article

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CHAIMOVICH: ROSTER CHANGES ANNOUNCED FOR 2019 AHL ALL-STAR CLASSIC

BY: Jason Chaimovich, AHL SPRINGFIELD, CT - The American Hockey League announced today several changes to the playing rosters for the 2019 Lexus AHL All-Star Classic presented by MGM Springfield, to be held January 27-28 in Springfield, Mass. Charlotte Checkers forward Andrew Poturalski has been added to the Atlantic Division roster; and Manitoba Moose forward Logan Shaw, Milwaukee Admirals goaltender Troy Grosenick, and Texas Stars forward Joel L’Esperance have been added to the Central Division roster for next week’s event. In addition, Charlotte’s Janne Kuokkanen, Manitoba’s Mason Appleton, Rockford’s Collin Delia, and Chicago’s Brandon Pirri will be unavailable for the event. Poturalski is currently tied for third in the AHL in scoring with 42 points (17g, 25a) in 42 games for the Checkers. Shaw has 26 points in 32 AHL games this season, including 21 points in 25 games with the Moose. Grosenick ranks third in the league with a .921 save percentage and eighth with a 2.46 goals-against average in 22 appearances for the Admirals. L’Esperance ranks first among AHL rookies and second overall with 22 goals for the Stars this season. A limited number of tickets for the 2019 Lexus AHL All-Star Classic presented by MGM Springfield are still available at springfieldthunderbirds.com/allstar. Priced at $39, $49, $59 and $99, tickets include admission to both the Skills Competition on Jan. 27 (7 p.m.) and the All-Star Challenge on Jan. 28 (7 p.m.). The All-Star Classic also includes the AHL Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, to be held at MGM Springfield on Jan. 28 (11 a.m.). The ceremony will feature the induction of John Anderson, Don Cherry, Murray Eaves and Brad Smyth as the AHL Hall of Fame Class of 2019, and will celebrate the careers of honorary All-Star Classic captains Shawn Thornton and Rob Murray. Read the full article

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CHAIMOVICH: EAGLES' TYNAN VOTED AHL MVP

BY: Jason Chaimovich,  AHL SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that forward T.J. Tynan of the Colorado Eagles was voted the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable player for the 2020-21 season. The award was voted on by coaches, players, and media members in each of the league’s 28 active cities. Tynan recorded 35 points in 27 contests for the Eagles in 2020-21, good for a 1.30 points-per-game average that ranked first among all AHL skaters who played at least half of their teams’ games. Tynan finished second in the league with 27 assists – his third straight top-3 finish – and recorded assists in eight straight games from Mar. 12 to Apr. 11 and nine straight from Apr. 14 to May 9, the two longest such streaks in the league this season. Tynan, who was named team captain before the Eagles’ home opener on Feb. 24, added one goal and two assists in two postseason games for Colorado. A native of Orland Park, Ill., Tynan has played 436 AHL games over seven pro seasons and has totaled 71 goals and 277 assists for 348 points, tied for the most in the league since the start of the 2014-15 season. The three-time AHL All-Star won a Calder Cup championship with Lake Erie in 2016, reached the Finals with Chicago in 2019, and amassed 24 points in 44 AHL playoff games. Tynan was a third-round selection by Columbus in the 2011 NHL Draft and has skated in 19 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche, posting one assist. The AHL’s most valuable player award honors the late Les Cunningham, a member of the AHL Hall of Fame who was a five-time league All-Star and three-time Calder Cup champion with the Cleveland Barons. Previous winners of the award include Carl Liscombe (1948, ’49), Johnny Bower (1956, ’57, ’58), Fred Glover (1960, ’62, ’64), Mike Nykoluk (1967), Gilles Villemure (1969, ’70), Doug Gibson (1975, ’77), Pelle Lindbergh (1981), Paul Gardner (1985, ’86), Tim Tookey (1987), Jody Gage (1988), John Anderson (1992), Don Biggs (1993), Derek Armstrong (2001), Jason Spezza (2005), Keith Aucoin (2010), Cory Conacher (2012), Tyler Johnson (2013), Travis Morin (2014), Chris Bourque (2016), Kenny Agostino (2017), Phil Varone (2018), Daniel Carr (2019) and Gerry Mayhew (2020). Since 1936, the American Hockey League continues to serve as the top development league for all 31 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of all players competing in the NHL are AHL graduates, and through the years the American Hockey League has been home to more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. THE AHL HOME Read the full article

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CHAIMOVICH: AHL ANNOUNCES NEW INDUCTEES INTO AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE HALL OF FAME

Click here for complete release including inductee statistics (PDF) BY: Jason Chaimovich, AHL SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today announced the four people selected for induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2019. Honored by the AHL Hall of Fame Selection Committee as the 14th group of enshrinees are John Anderson, Don Cherry, Murray Eaves, and Brad Smyth. “For more than 80 years, the American Hockey League has been built upon a foundation of excellence,” said David Andrews, AHL President, and Chief Executive Officer. “The AHL Board of Governors is proud to unanimously endorse the Selection Committee’s recommendation for the induction of these four individuals into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2019.” The Class of 2019 will be honored as part of the festivities at the 2019 Lexus AHL All-Star Classic presented by MGM Springfield, hosted by the Springfield Thunderbirds. The American Hockey League Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony is scheduled for January 28, 2019. Formed in 2006 to recognize, honor and celebrate individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions in the American Hockey League, the AHL Hall of Fame is housed online at ahlhalloffame.com and is accessible to fans worldwide with the click of a mouse as part of the AHL Internet Network. In operation since 1936, the American Hockey League serves as the top development league for the players, coaches, managers, executives, broadcasters, and staff of all 31 National Hockey League teams. More than 87 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers. In 2017-18, over 6 million fans attended AHL regular-season and playoff games across North America for the 17th year in a row. CLASS OF 2019: JOHN ANDERSON John Anderson spent most of his 17-year playing career in the National Hockey League, but he made his mark coaching with the Chicago Wolves. A Toronto native, Anderson was drafted by his hometown Maple Leafs in the first round in 1977 and went on to skate in more than 800 games in the NHL with Toronto, Quebec, and Hartford. As his playing days wound down, Anderson made a brief debut appearance in the AHL with the Binghamton Whalers in 1989-90 before spending a memorable 1991-92 campaign as a player/assistant coach in New Haven. With the Nighthawks that year, Anderson scored 41 goals and collected 54 assists, finishing with 95 points and a plus-42 rating in just 68 games. He was voted a First Team AHL All-Star at left wing, the winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the league’s most valuable player, and the recipient of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for sportsmanship, determination, and dedication to hockey. Anderson joined the coaching ranks full-time in 1995 and was hired by the Chicago Wolves in 1997. He led the Wolves to two Turner Cup championships before the franchise joined the American Hockey League, and won a third championship in the Wolves’ inaugural AHL season by becoming the first – and still only – team to win five playoff series en route to the Calder Cup. Anderson and the Wolves returned to the Finals in 2005 and followed a 111-point regular season by winning the franchise’s second Calder Cup and fourth league title in 2008. Following stints as head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers and assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes, Anderson came back to the Wolves in 2013 and spent three more seasons in Chicago, capturing another division crown in 2013-14. He returned to the NHL in 2016 and served for two seasons as an assistant with the Minnesota Wild. Anderson ranks fifth in league history with 424 victories and seventh with 788 games over 10 seasons as a head coach in the AHL. He won three division titles and had seven 40-win seasons and four 100-point campaigns, and was behind the bench for two AHL All-Star Classics as well. CLASS OF 2019: DON CHERRY One of the most recognizable personalities in all of Canada, Don Cherry was a standout defenseman and award-winning coach in the American Hockey League before he ever sat behind the Coach’s Corner desk. Cherry’s prolific career as a defenseman included 767 games in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, the Springfield Indians, and the Rochester Americans, collecting 259 points and racking up more than 1,000 penalty minutes. The Kingston, Ontario, native signed his first professional contract with the Bears in 1954 and played 63 games as a rookie – plus one playoff contest with the Boston Bruins, in what would be the only NHL appearance of his career. Cherry joined owner Eddie Shore’s Springfield club in 1957 and helped the Indians reach their first Calder Cup Finals in 1958, and then secure their first championship in 1960. Cherry brought his rock-’em, sock-’em style of play to Rochester in 1963 and the Amerks were soon the class of the league, reaching four consecutive Calder Cup Finals and winning championships in 1965, 1966 and 1968. He settled in western New York after retiring in 1969, and after two years away from hockey, he rejoined the Amerks as a player-coach in January of 1972. Rochester finished strong in 1972, qualified for the playoffs in 1973 and then posted the best record in the league in 1974, earning Cherry the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL’s coach of the year. Cherry went on to coach the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies in the National Hockey League, and since 1980 has been an iconic commentator on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada. CLASS OF 2019: MURRAY EAVES Forward Murray Eaves was one the American Hockey League’s premier scorers during a career that spanned 15 professional seasons. Selected by Winnipeg in the 1980 NHL Draft after a record-setting season at the University of Michigan, Eaves made his debut in the AHL with the Sherbrooke Jets in 1982 and was a shining star despite playing on consecutive last-place teams. Eaves collected 174 points in 118 contests over his first two AHL seasons, including a 115-point campaign and First Team AHL All-Star honors in 1983-84. Fortunes turned in 1984-85 when the Montreal Canadiens joined the Jets to form a dual affiliation in Sherbrooke. Eaves notched 68 points in 47 regular-season games and added 18 points in the playoffs as Sherbrooke captured the 1985 Calder Cup championship. Following a 73-point campaign in 1985-86, Eaves was acquired by the Edmonton Oilers and spent a season in Nova Scotia before signing with Detroit. Eaves would continue to be a dominant offensive force with the AHL’s Adirondack Red Wings, leading them in scoring in each of his three seasons with the team. In 1988-89, Eaves finished second in the entire AHL with 118 points to earn a Second Team AHL All-Star nod and then tacked on 13 goals and 25 points in the playoffs as Adirondack captured the Calder Cup. One of only two players in league history to record at least 115 points in a season twice, Eaves finished his AHL career with eight 20-goal seasons, three 40-goal campaigns and 680 points in 536 contests, making him the AHL’s all-time leader in points per game (1.27) among players with at least 400 games played. He was also a two-time winner of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for sportsmanship, determination, and dedication to hockey (1989, 1990). CLASS OF 2019: BRAD SMYTH Brad Smyth was one of the most dangerous goal-scorers in American Hockey League history, showing an incredible knack for finding the net during an era when goaltenders were becoming more dominant. "Shooter" began his pro career in the Florida Panthers organization and made his AHL debut in a three-game stint with the Springfield Falcons in January of 1995. He joined the Carolina Monarchs for his first full AHL campaign in 1995-96 and scored twice on opening night, the beginning of a historic season that saw Smyth put up 68 goals in 68 games for the Monarchs. He added 58 assists for 126 points to run away with the AHL scoring title and earn league MVP honors. After getting a taste of the National Hockey League in Florida and Los Angeles, Smyth was acquired by the New York Rangers in 1997 and helped the Hartford Wolf Pack reach the conference finals, notching 62 points in 57 regular-season games and a team-high 12 goals in the playoffs. Smyth split the following season between the Rangers and Nashville Predators organizations, then helped Hartford to a Calder Cup championship in 2000, leading the Wolf Pack with 39 goals in the regular season and 13 more in the playoffs. In 2000-01, Smyth scored 50 again, reaching the milestone on the final weekend of the season and earning a First Team AHL All-Star nod – an honor he would receive again the following year. Smyth was reunited with head coach John Paddock with the Binghamton Senators in 2002 and helped the first-year club reach the conference finals. He spent the 2004-05 season with the Manchester Monarchs and returned for a third stint in Hartford in 2006, completing his final AHL season with 34 goals and 86 points for his fifth career top-10 finish in the scoring race. Ranking 12th in league history with 326 career goals, Smyth registered 667 points in 610 regular-season games over his AHL career. He is one of six AHL players ever to hit the 50-goal mark twice and one of seven players ever to lead the league in goals on two separate occasions and is also ranked sixth all-time with 46 career postseason goals. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER:

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The AHL Hall of Fame Class of 2019 was announced late Thursday and Connecticut can raise it's collective glasses to two new AHL Hall of Famers who had their finest seasons in Connecticut. Brad “Shooter” Smyth, the Hartford Wolf Pack's all-time leading goal scorer (184) and all-time leading points leader (365), and was among the heroes of the 2000 Calder Cup championship run was announced to be one of those enshrined in the AHL Hall Of Fame. “I’m so very honored to be named and to be in a class with a guy like Don Cherry, a Canadian icon, John Anderson who had a fine NHL and AHL career, and Murray Eaves, a family with a great history in hockey. It’s a very great honor and humbling all at the same time,” Smyth said in an exclusive Cantlon's Corner phone interview. In 99'-00, Smyth led the Pack with 39 goals in the regular season and chipped in another 13 in the postseason. The following season he scored 50 goals, the only Wolf Pack player to ever accomplish that feat. He became just the sixth person in AHL history to score 50 or more goals with two different teams (68 in '95-'96 with the Carolina Monarchs). Smyth is the seventh player to lead the goal scoring department on two separate occasions and two separate teams. He reunited with Wolf Pack championship head coach John Paddock with the Binghamton Senators and went to the conference finals in 2002. Smyth played with the Manchester Monarchs before returning to the Wolf Pack for his third tour of duty. That season he registered 34 goals, and 86 points recording another Top 10 scoring spot for the fifth time in his career. His AHL totals are impressive with 667 points in 610 games, good for the 12th spot on the all-time leading scorer in AHL history. Smyth also ranks sixth on the post-season goal scoring list with 46 goals. John Anderson is presently an Assistant Coach with the Minnesota Wild with his lifelong friend, and fellow AHL Hall of Famer, Bruce Boudreau. Anderson is a former Hartford Whaler who played for the organization for four seasons. His career wound down when he played with the Binghamton Whalers and then had a superb season with the New Haven Nighthawks with a league-leading 41 goals and 95 points. He was a plus-42 in just 68 games and had a knee injury end his season prematurely. Anderson was named the AHL MVP and Fred T. Hunt Award winner for dedication to hockey, the only player to ever do so in the same season. Congrats to ex-Wolf Pack, Vinni Lettieri, and goalie, Alexander Georgiev, who after strong training camps, made the Rangers opening night roster against Nashville. The Rangers new goalie consultant is former Pack netminder, and Yale grad, Jeff Malcolm. He will be handling the goalie prospects in Maine, do some scouting, and handle other duties. Eric Raymond remains the Wolf Pack goalie coach. “Vinni did a great job for us last year. He worked in all situations and had a great camp in New York. So did Alex, who was such a big part of the turn-around when we picked up 18 out of 20 points before we lost him (to injury recall to the Rangers)." The Wolf Pack record in season home openers is 6-7-1 and overall 10-10-1. In 22 years, seven of the teams they played in those openers are no longer in the league. They are New Haven, Philadelphia, Albany, Manchester, Adirondack, St. John’s, and Quebec. The first ever Wolf Pack goal scored was from Pascal Rheaume, who is now the head coach of the Val D’Or Foreurs (QMJHL). PJ Stock scored the first one at XL Center. The highest attended home opener was in the team's first year against Portland. That attendance was 12, 934. The lowest attended was last year against Charlotte where 6,035 took in the contest. On Sunday, the Pack host the Laval Rocket at 3 pm coached by ex-Pack and Sound Tiger Joel Bouchard. The team is completely revamped from last year when they finished miserably in their first season in the suburbs of Montreal. The team features some local flavor such as former Yale Bulldog, Kenny Agostino, Hayden Verbeek, the nephew of former Whaler great and NY Ranger, Pat Verbeek, and ex-Springfield Falcon, Michael Chaput. The NHL is one step closer to a 32nd team in the Pacific Northwest after Tuesday’s immediate two thumbs up from the NHL Executive committee who are forwarding the Seattle application for a full vote by the NHL BOG on December 3-4 in Georgia. Seattle will have a nice early Christmas tree present nicely wrapped in two months time. This will also see the AHL expand to 32 teams and add one new Pacific Division member and likely a second. Vancouver will then likely leave Utica in two years and Abbotsford will likely be coming back to the AHL. The AHL will do all it can to keep Utica in the AHL, but they would likely migrate to the ECHL. A pair of ex-Pack players, Ryan Potulny, and Stu Bickel have both retired and become graduate assistant coaches with their alma mater, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. However, both must complete their undergraduate degrees to become paid assistants. Potulny left after his junior year and Bickel after his freshmen campaign. Now, 87 ex-Wolf Pack players are coaching at various levels in the US, Canada, and Europe. Some last camp cuts include a pair of ex-Pack; Dylan McIlrath (Grand Rapids), Chris Mueller and Adam Cracknell (Toronto), and Alex Krushelnyski from Lehigh Valley to Reading (ECHL) plus Al Montoya heads for Bakersfield after being cut from Edmonton. Former QU Bobcat, Devon Toews, was assigned by the Islanders to Bridgeport and ex-Sound Tiger Matt Finn is with Grand Rapids. Goalie Jon Gillies is sent to Stockton and Philip Samuelsson, the eldest son of ex-Whaler and Ranger, Ulf Samuelsson, signs with Lehigh Valley. Sam Gagner, the son of ex-Nighthawk Dave Gagner, was cut by Vancouver, but a deal was cut with Toronto to loan him to the AHL Toronto Marlies for him to be closer to his family in Ontario. Dominik Turgeon, the nephew of former Whaler Sylvain Turgeon, is with Grand Rapids. Johnny Austin (UCONN-HE) was assigned to Wheeling (ECHL) from Wilkes Barre/Scranton and fellow Husky, Spencer Naas, has been assigned to Idaho (ECHL) by Texas. Parker Milner (Avon Old Farms) was sent to South Carolina (ECHL) by Hershey and Josh Wesley, the son of ex-Whaler Glen Wesley, was assigned to Florida (ECHL). Ex-Pack goalie Charles Williams has re-signed with Manchester (ECHL), Brady Shaw, the son of ex-Whaler Brad Shaw, is with Orlando (ECHL) while Charlie Millen, the son of former Whaler Greg Millen, is in goal with Worcester (ECHL). Mark Zengerle of Lehigh Valley signs with Fischtown (Germany-DEL) making 79 AHL’ers from 27 AHL teams from last season who have signed with European or Southeast Asian teams. Alex Summers (no relation to ex-Pack, Chris Summers) goes from Clarkson University (ECACHL) to Adirondack (ECHL) making 208 Division I players to sign pro deals in North America and 272  total North America and Europe. Ex-Sound Tiger, Masi Marjamaki, who split last year between Jokerit Helsinki (Finland-KHL) and Almtuna IS (Sweden-Allsvenskan) signs with HC Chomutov (Czech Republic-CEL). Milan Mazanec, the older brother of the Pack's Marek Mazanec, plays with the Sheffield Steelers (England-EIHL). Eric Linell, a UCONN commit for next season who has played for Choate and the CT Wolf Pack U-18 team, was traded from the Surrey Eagles (BCHL), despite 11 points in nine games. to  the Penticton Vees as a part of a three team deal with the Nanaimo Clippers, whose President, Co-Owner and goalie coach is ex-Pack, David LeNeveau. UCONN gets another commit for next season from Carter Berger from the Victoria Royals (BCHL). Read the full article