As the Calder Cup playoffs turned toward the Conference Final round, the Wolf Pack could take some comfort in the fact that they turned out not to be the only victims of the Portland Pirates’ upset express.
The Pack’s five-game defeat at the hands of the Pirates was a bitter blow, after the Wolf Pack’s franchise-record 110-point performance during the regular year, but wasn’t quite as big a comeuppance as the regular season-champion Providence Bruins suffered in the Atlantic Division Finals. The P-Bruins had finished a full seven points ahead of the Pack, and 18 points ahead of Portland, and appeared on their way to steamrolling the Pirates after winning the first two games of their series by a combined margin of 11-1, but then, like the Wolf Pack, saw Kevin Dineen’s crew pull off four straight one-goal wins. Amazing.
And I have to admit, I thought Pirate goaltender J.S. Aubin was vulnerable against the Wolf Pack, and continued to predict that over time he would falter, but as of the end of the Division Final round, he would be my pick for MVP of the playoffs. The 11th-year pro missed the first two games of the Providence series due to injury, and the momentum of that series turned 180 degrees when he returned for Game Three.
Also significant is that the Pirates won the last three games of that series without their captain, Tyler Bouck, and key veteran defenseman Bruno St. Jacques, both of whom were injured, and sniper Jason King was out for two of the last three games. I would have told you before the playoffs that the Wolf Pack were a deeper team than the Pirates, and I would have thought nobody was as deep as Providence, but as it turned out the Pirates’ depth held sway over both of their divisional playoff opponents.
In the Western Conference, after Chicago and Toronto both won Game Sevens to advance to the Conference Finals the biggest thing that struck me about that matchup is the fact that these two markets are significantly larger than either of the combined market sizes of the two Conference Final pairings in the NHL. The attendance numbers probably won’t quite reflect that, but the fact alone would be unthinkable less than a decade ago.
Looking ahead to when the postseason concludes and the hockey-less summer takes over, it could be another interesting offseason for coaching changes in the AHL. As of mid-May, Norfolk (Steve Stirling) and Peoria (Dave Baseggio) had already announced that their head coaches would not be returning, and NHL head-coaching vacancies had surfaced in San Jose, Toronto, Florida, Atlanta and Colorado.
I’ve read more than one article saying that with the success had this year by Bruce Boudreau and John Stevens, more NHL teams are going to look to seasoned AHL coaches to fill their vacancies rather than recycle guys with previous NHL experience. Among the names that you can find on various blogs being mentioned as having a chance to move up from the AHL are Dineen, Scott Gordon (Providence), John Anderson (Chicago), Roy Sommer (Worcester), Greg Gilbert (Toronto) and Randy Cunneyworth (Rochester).
That’s all the palaver I have for right now, but as usual, our readers’ minds are active. To wit…
Tom from Farmington, CT asks, “Why do the teams from the East only play a couple of teams from the West each year? Is it a money issue, because it seems like the two conferences are different leagues in two different worlds?”
I think the biggest reason, Tom, is rivalries. Experience tells us that, especially here in our New England sector, you will draw more fans playing your close rivals eight or ten, or more, times than you will playing a more varied schedule and only seeing your neighbor teams six or so times.
There certainly is an economic element to it, though. Let’s face it, it’s a lot cheaper to make a lot of bus trips among close cities where you don’t even have to stay overnight than it is to fly out to the western side of the league, where generally the markets are bigger and the hotels are more expensive.
It sounds like the league, though, is getting a lot of fan input to the effect that the ardent fans of the league would like to see more teams, and more teams’ prospects, during the course of a season. So don’t be surprised if, in the coming years, the Pack get scheduled more against some of the teams that they have had little or no contact with in recent years.
Bob Kriwitsky of Bristol, CT writes, “I have been a season ticket holder for over eight years, and my question is, why does the Wolf Pack pass the puck so many times before finally taking the shot? Also, when you watch the majority of the opposing teams they almost always have a player screening our goalie, or in front of our net ready to deflect a shot. I believe the percentage that the Wolf Pack set up those plays is low. I’m far from a hockey expert but in my opinion the amount of passing has to be reduced. Take the shot!”
Bob, perception may be reality, but in this case, I’m not sure it is. When you look at the stats, P.A. Parenteau was tied for fifth overall in the AHL this year in shots on goal, and Thomas Pöck ranked second among league defensemen in that category. What’s more, as a team, the Pack put the third-most shots on net in the entire AHL, with 2,561, for an average of 32.01 per game, which trailed only Providence (34.04) and Grand Rapids (32.58). So the numbers do not back up the notion that the Wolf Pack do not shoot the puck enough.
Now, I know when you’re watching the power play, it always seems as though the guys are overpassing, declining to take shots in search of the perfect play. It even seems that way to me…I’ll often find myself thinking while I’m calling the play, “just shoot the thing, willya?”, but I think the reality is, players these days have become so adept at getting in shooting lanes and blocking shots, there’s not a ton of value in bombing the puck away towards the net just for the sake of shooting it. Having said that, though, I think it is important to put the puck towards the net whenever possible, and I would say that one of the things the Wolf Pack were guilty of in a couple of their playoff defeats was not getting enough pucks at the net.
And to your second point, about screening the goaltender and creating traffic, that might be one of the biggest keys to offensive success the way the game is played these days. The current officiating standard does not favor defensemen keeping the front of the net clear, so if your forwards are not going to the net you are squandering an advantage. I have to say, I think the Wolf Pack by and large were strong in that area as well this year, particularly through the contributions of Dane Byers. He totaled 23 goals on the season, and I’ll bet close to 20 of them were scored from within 10 feet of the goal crease. Hugh Jessiman, too, I thought did a good job of using his considerable size in this area.
Rich from Southington, CT asks, “Why do the Pack insist on starting their home games at 7:00 instead of 7:30? Hartford is a very tough city to commute in and out of, mostly because of the lack of mass transit. Many fans who would gladly go to the games cannot possibly make it home and back to the XL Center in time for the game, and as a result say the ‘heck with it’ and not show up for the games whether weekdays or weekends. Furthermore, a large following of Ranger fans live in the Fairfield and New Haven areas. I think the team has no idea how many fans are between Hartford and New Haven who don't make the games because of the starting time. The AHL is not the NHL. As we all know it is more family-like than the NHL. People in Hartford need time to commute and get back to the rink. It is not like the old Whaler days when people stayed downtown and went to the game.”
Through the 2000-01 season, Rich, the Wolf Pack did start Friday and Saturday home games at 7:30. Market research conducted after that season, though, indicated an overwhelming preference on the part of the fan base for all night games to start at 7:00. My own assumption has always been that with the AHL being so much of a “bring the kids for a night out”-type of experience, anything that could be done reasonably to get the family home a little earlier was preferred, even if it made things a little crazy on a Friday night getting to the game (on Saturdays presumably you’re not downtown for work, so it doesn’t matter, you’re just coming from home). In terms of fans coming from southern Connecticut to watch the Ranger prospects, there certainly is a segment of folks in that grouping who have interest in checking out the Wolf Pack, but it’s my impression that those fans tend to plan ahead when coming to specific games, as opposed to being spur-of-the-moment ticket buyers, and I would think that with the distance they have to travel to get to the XL Center, they would appreciate getting out of there a little earlier as well.
Jared from Meriden, CT asks, “Do you think that Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov will be spending any time in Hartford?”
It’s possible, Jared, but I don’t know how likely it is. All reports indicate that Cherepanov has NHL skills, but it sounds like a lot of the reason why the Rangers were able to draft him where they were (17th overall) was because his Russian team had little interest in letting him come over to North America, and without a transfer agreement in place with the Russian Hockey Federation, it was going to be extremely difficult, and costly, to get him over here. My hunch is that if the Rangers jump through enough hoops, and spend enough money, to get him out of Russia, it would be with the thought of his being able to help immediately at the NHL level, not to have him develop in the AHL.
You never know, though…Artem Anisimov came over here this past year clearly being ticketed for a possible development stint with the Wolf Pack, and he was a fairly high pick too (a second-rounder in 2006).
Cliff from New City, NY asks, “In your opinion is there anyone currently on the Wolf Pack roster you would say is a sure thing to make the Rangers next year?”
Cliff, I wouldn’t label anybody a sure thing, but depending on what the Rangers do with their free agents, I think there are several prospects that have developed here who are primed and ready.
It looked to me in the Pittsburgh series as though the big club could really use some more size among their skill players, and I think Dane Byers and Greg Moore could both help out in that respect. Maybe Anisimov too, but he is still awfully young. Lauri Korpikoski certainly opened some eyes with the goal he scored in the last game against Pittsburgh, and if you’re talking defensemen, Corey Potter had a big year this year with the Wolf Pack, combining good aggressiveness with deft defensive instincts on his way to a +33, best among AHL blueliners and second overall in the league.
Eric from Northampton, PA’s question is, “Is Hugh Jessiman a bust? Because I’m waiting for him to shine in the AHL but no luck yet. Also, is Parenteau ready to be on the Rangers next year or does he have to wait maybe another year? Because he was brilliant this year--fourth overall in points in the AHL is great.”
I would hesitate to call Hugh a bust, Eric, especially after the improvement he showed this year. He more than doubled his previous AHL career highs in points and goals, and continued to expand the impact he can make with his physical play. He is going to have to continue on that upward curve to have a chance to compete at the NHL level, but I think this season he showed some real flashes of fulfilling at least some of the promise that saw him attain the status of first-round draft prospect.
Parenteau, in my opinion, is ready to play in the NHL, and probably has been the last year-and-a-half or so, but like so many skilled players in the AHL, needs to find a niche in which he can succeed. If he remains with the Ranger organization, his challenge will be either to beat out one of the parent club’s top six forwards or to show enough of a well-rounded game that he can play something other than an offensive role in the NHL.
Steve Taylor from Charlotte, NC asks, “Is this the last year for Chris Holt under contract to the Rangers? I know it is way too early to talk about next year, but whom do you see the Rangers sending to Charlotte in the way of goalies? Also, are the Rangers/Hartford going to resign Ryan Constant to the organization? We really enjoyed Ryan in Charlotte--he hits hard and plays hard every shift.”
Steve, to the best of my knowledge Holt is a restricted free agent. I believe David LeNeveu is as well, so I would imagine whether the Rangers sign him would impact how much interest they would have in re-signing Holt. Miika Wiikman has been inked to an NHL deal, and I think Matt Zaba’s contract was only a one-year deal, plus Steve Valiquette is an unrestricted free agent, so it would seem that the goaltending situation is a little up in the air right now, behind Henrik Lundqvist. Antoine Lafleur, a second-round pick last summer, turns 20 in December, too, so he could also be in the mix.
I haven’t heard any inside info on where Ryan Constant stands, but I agree that he is a guy who brings some grit and jam to the table. I would hope that if he is re-signed, that the organization will give him at least half a season to show whether or not he can cut it in the AHL as a top-six guy. He has shown flashes of being able to do that, but has never been able to make enough of an impression to stay at that level on the depth chart.
Also, like the goaltending spot, the Rangers’ blueline is an area in which they will have to make some decisions. Michal Rozsival, Paul Mara, Marek Malik and Jason Strudwick are all at the ends of their contracts, and obviously how many, or how few, of those guys are brought back, and whatever free agents from other teams are targeted, will affect whom the organization looks at for depth at the AHL level.
Chris from West Hartford, CT writes, “Just out of curiosity, was there a reason why Ken Gernander didn't start David LeNeveu in Game Five? I thought he had been playing great. I'm a season ticket holder and went to Games One and Two and I watched Three and Four on B2 Networks, and thought was LeNeveu very sharp. I couldn't come to Game Five, and when I saw the box score I was shocked to see Wiikman (nothing against Miika!)."
I think it was simply a case, Chris, of Gernander wanting to give Wiikman a chance to show what he could do, and maybe change the momentum in the series. I agree with your assessment on LeNeveu, and I don’t think the coaches felt any differently, but at that point the team had lost three straight games, and Wiikman had a great regular season and put up a number of big wins for the club, so I think Kenny felt it was the time to see if a change in net could turn things in a different direction. It was worth a shot, right?
And finally, Jeff Garrigan of Bradenton, FL says, “I have a very hard time understanding the age limit rule in the AHL. I think it's absurd and has probably retarded the progress of many players (for example, Sanguinetti had no business in the OHL). If the rule is to keep from depleting the Junior ranks, I'm sorry, but haven't college football and basketball survived quite nicely with players leaving early?”
Jeff, the reasoning behind the rule that prevents an “underage” Junior player (a guy who is still under 20 as of December 31st of the particular season) from playing in the AHL while his Junior team is still playing is simply to protect the Junior teams from losing their stars, if it is not to the NHL. The feeling is that the Major Junior leagues have for years provided what amounts to a (nearly) cost-free developing ground for the NHL, and that it is too big of a hit to ask them to take to lose their marquee players to the minor pros at 18 or 19. Don’t forget, when you compare it to college basketball and football, those teams make millions of dollars from NCAA television contracts, whereas Canadian Junior teams, while they do have some broadcast revenue, rely largely on gate receipts, in generally some pretty small markets, to survive.
Having said that, I think your point is well-taken in regards to a player like Sanguinetti. When a guy like him, or like a Bobby Ryan, to cite another one, comes up to the AHL at the end of a Junior season and proves he can make an impact at the pro level, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t hurt his development to require him to go back to Junior the next year if he can’t stick in the NHL. Maybe the rule could be amended to say something like the Junior team can have the guy back for the one season after his draft year, and then after that the NHL club would have the option of sending him back to Junior or to the AHL. That way, a prime prospect like Sanguinetti would have been available back to his OHL club for the 2006-07 season, but then would have been able to spend this past year with the Pack.
Thanks for the questions and I’ll continue to poke my pen into this space whenever I can put together enough material!
