Congratulations to Andrew Hutchinson and P.A. Parenteau who were named to the AHL All-Star Team on Thursday. The honor for both players was well-deserved.
Here is the official release:
TWO WOLF PACK STALWARTS NAMED AHL ALL-STARS
* * * *
Andrew Hutchinson Earns First-Team Honors, 
P.A. Parenteau Receives Second-Team Nod
The American Hockey League announced today that two Hartford Wolf Pack veterans, defenseman Andrew Hutchinson and right-wing P.A. Parenteau, have been named 2007-08 AHL All-Stars. Hutchinson, the Wolf Pack’s captain, earned recognition as a First-Team All-Star, and Parenteau, the Pack’s leading scorer, was named to the Second Team.
Hutchinson, a sixth-year pro and a veteran of 95 career NHL games, leads all AHL defensemen in points, by a margin of 14 over his nearest competitor, and assists, and is tied for second among league blueliners in goals, with totals of 17-47-64 in 62 games. His 64 points on the season is also good for a tie for 12th overall in the AHL, and at a +28, Hutchinson stands tied for third in the league in plus/minus. The former Nashville Predator and Carolina Hurricane has already surpassed the previous Wolf Pack franchise records for points, goals and assists by a defenseman. In addition, Hutchinson this year registered the first hat trick ever by a Wolf Pack defenseman, February 8th at Providence, and the first five-point game by a Pack blueliner, February 29th at home vs. Norfolk.
Parenteau tops the Wolf Pack in goals, with a career-high 32, and points, with 78, a total that ranks him third in the AHL. The fifth-year veteran is also tied for fourth in the league in goals, and is only two points short of the career-best 80 that he notched in 73 games between Portland and Norfolk last season. In 337 career AHL contests with Cincinnati, Portland, Norfolk and the Wolf Pack, Parenteau has amassed 115 goals and 162 assists for 277 points.
Hutchinson is joined on the First All-Star Team by fellow defenseman, and ex-Wolf Pack, Lawrence Nycholat of Binghamton, along with left-wing Pascal Pelletier of Providence, center Jason Krog of Chicago, right-wing Teddy Purcell of Manchester and goaltender Michael Leighton of Albany. In addition to Parenteau, the Second Team is comprised of left-wing Brett Sterling of Chicago, center Martin St. Pierre of Rockford, defensemen Joel Kwiatkowski of Chicago and Brian Salcido of Portland, and netminder Drew MacIntyre of Manitoba.
The Wolf Pack are next in action tomorrow night, Friday, April 4th, as they travel to Providence to take on the league-leading Bruins in a 7:05 game. The Pack’s next home-ice action at the XL Center is this Sunday, April 6th vs. the Lowell Devils, with faceoff at 4:00.
—ALSO—
Northland AEG announced today that the sled hockey game prior to the Hartford Wolf Pack’s home game at the XL Center this Sunday, April 6th will include the celebrity participants’ conducting an autograph session, and a jersey auction.
The CT Sled hockey team will be facing off against a team of local celebrities, including former Hartford Whalers Russ Anderson, Yvon Corriveau, Bob Crawford, Chris Govedaris, Chris Kotsopoulos, Gerry McDonald and Garry Swain, as well as former Wolf Pack Todd Hall, and NBC-30 personalities Brad Drazen, Mark the Shark, Kevin Marsella, Bob Maxon, Jay Hendry, Yvonne Nava and Amy Parmenter. Also on the celebrity squad roster are local radio talents Damon Scott of 96.5 TIC and Kevin Johnson from MIX 93.1.
The sled hockey game faces off at 2:00 PM, and following the game, a majority of the players will be signing autographs in the XL Center atrium from 3:15-4:00. Bidding on the celebrity team’s jerseys will commence in the atrium following the sled hockey game, and will continue through the first intermission of the Wolf Pack game. The starting bid for each jersey will be $25, and the winning bids will be announced during the second period.
Doors will open at 1:30 PM for the sled hockey game, which faces off at 2:00, and a ticket to the Wolf Pack game (a 4:00 faceoff vs. the Lowell Devils) is also good for admission to the sled hockey game. Fans can purchase red-level seats, normally $23 each, for $17 apiece for this game, by going on-line to www.hartfordwolfpack.com, clicking on “Buy Tickets Now” and entering the special offer code “SLED”. $3 from each ticket purchased through this special offer code will go to support the CT Sled Hockey Team.
(Andrew Hutchinson photo courtesy of Chris Rutsch while the Sled hockey and P.A. Parenteau photos are courtesy of Rich Zacher, both via hartfordwolfpack.com)
Comments (4)
amossays:
April 4, 2008 at 9:51 AMMitch,
Last night, before I saw this, for some reason I got very excited at the possibility of Bobby Sanguinetti learning from someone like Andrew Hutchinson.
Do you think this is a reason to get pumped up? After all, he is, “dominating at the AHL level.” I know Hutchinson is an UFA at the end of the season or at least I think so.
Do you think the Rangers would consider him or Pock as a 7th d-man next yr with Malik, Rozsival, Mara and Strudwick all possibly not returning?
Mitch Becksays:
April 4, 2008 at 10:18 AMAmos,
You ask a couple of very good questions and ones that I am happy to throw my two-cents, or with the strength of today’s US Dollar, my 1.345 cents, into the mix.
I too am very excited about seeing Bobby Sanguinetti play again. He was quite good last year and you could see that this young man had NHL-caliber potential.
As far as Andrew Hutchinson is concerned, I think he has a real chance, at very least, of getting serious consideration for MVP, not just for the Wolf Pack MVP, that’s a given, but for the entire AHL. Incidentally, I would also consider him to be the most improved player on the Pack as well.
When Hutch started the season he couldn’t defend a traffic cone. People went around him like Bill Richardson around Hillary Clinton…totally unaware. He has worked extremely hard with the coaching staff and has improved to the point that he’s on the ice in key defensive situations. He’s currently plus-28 putting him in the Top 10 in that category. His defensive partner for much of the season, Corey Potter, no relation to Harry, is working up his own magic at second in the AHL at plus-32. Hutch has been a godsend offensively. He is a tremendous power play quarterback. He has great vision on the ice and is a smooth passer and has a bazooka of a shot from the point.
Now to your questions. I don’t think that Hutch is a 7th D-Man at all in the NHL. I think he is a bona-fide Top 4 guy and hope upon hope that the Rangers sign him to a long term deal (3-5 years) and let him play in NY next season. He is a tremendous leader both on and off the ice and would be a great mentor for all of the young guys.
As for Tommy Pock, you’d have a hard time locating someone who’s a bigger supporter of Tommy than I am. I think he can flat out play this game and should be on the Rangers next season. The problem is though, where do you play him? I think the Rangers will at least try and resign Michael Rozsival but don’t think they will resign Malik or Mara and might take a minimum runner on Strudwick as a depth guy. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Sanguinetti is good enough, as Staal was, to make the team out of training camp. That give you these pairings…
Rozsival – Staal
Hutchinson – Tyutin
Girardi – Sanguinetti
Strudwick in the press box.
Where do you play Pock? For that matter where do you play Corey Potter, who’s also looking like he’s ready to take that next step?
Personally, I’d advocate NOT to resign Rozsival and do one of two things. A) Go with ALL young guys and recognize that you’re going to need to have the forwards play back and do much like the Islanders did in last night’s game and try and play in a manner to protect the inexperienced guys with your style of play. OR B) The team goes out and gets a top D-Man like a Jay Bouwmeester from Florida who’s a restricted free-agent, sign him long term and then build around that person.
No matter how you’re looking at it it’s going to be fascinating. Like I said though, I’m VERY hopeful that the Rangers will resign Hutch and that the team will be all the better for it.
Thanks for your question and your contribution to HOWLINGS…
amossays:
April 4, 2008 at 11:26 AMWow, thanks for the quick response and insight.
I think there is a definite good chance that Hutch will be with the Rangers organization next year. A lot depends on the re-signing of their UFA’s.
As far as Thomas Pock goes I liked him a lot with the big club last year. I was among the many pissed off when he was benched in favor Karel Rachunek who wasn’t playing all that well to begin with. Realistically, given his lack of respect from the Rangers I would be sad but not shocked if he was traded in the off-season; just extrapolating on his inexplicable fall from a two year extension to be subjected to waivers.
Rozsival is a mystery to me. I honestly think with Jagr not trusting his shot, or at least being somewhat less effective this year, he has not figured out how to stop deferring to Jagr. We’ll see how that changes after his two PPG last night. But to be fair, Straka is having the same problem. I think the answer is getting Rozy and Straka off the same PP unit as Jagr. Although I’d be just as happy seeing them use the regular lines just as they did last night.
Mara is probably gone. I think they will probably re-sign either Jagr or Rozsival because Rozsival has played his way to a big raise. You know the Rangers wouldn’t dare allow the PR nightmare of showing up to play in Prague without the country’s hero, Jagr. Someone will make Rozsival a better offer, much like Nylander was offered last off season.
I don’t know if the Rangers will re-sign Strudwick for a few reasons. Mainly, the acquisition of Freddie Sjostrom is a sign that the Rangers would like a 4th line with more offensive potential. The signing of prospect Justin Soryal also makes me thinking they’re grooming an Enforcer with scoring hands to play on the right side of Betts one day. Perhaps it’s a backup plan if Jessiman can’t learn to fill a role for the sake of contract from a team that desperately doesn’t want to give up on him. I also think they’ll call up Greg Moore, who may earn a spot out of camp centering the third line. Strudwick would lose his spot on the roster. Drury would then move up to the first line to replace a retiring Straka. (He’ll be in Prague as an ambassador to the team and surely will drop a ceremonial puck) Malik will find a home elsewhere leaving us with the as of yet unmentioned Christian Backman who’s overpaid $3.4mm salary will replace our overpaying Malik and Mara’s $3mm a piece next season.
So here we go finally into for you and I would probably agree to be a reasonable compromise for us both, the 2008 09 rangers…
Drury-Gomez-Dawes
Avery-Dubinsky-Jagr
Callahan-Moore-Prucha
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr
Tyutin-Girardi (yes, I think they’re ready for first line duty ha, ha)
Backman-Staal
Hutchinson-Potter
Trust me, I’d rather have Malik re-signed than deal with Backman assisting opponent’s goals rather than Ranger goals. Even better, jettison Malik and Backman and shell out a rather deserved $4mm over 3 yrs for Rosy for a more reliable first pair of Rozsival-Staal
Whaddayathink?
Thoughts on Hugh Jessiman’s expiring entry contract would be great as well…
amossays:
April 4, 2008 at 11:29 AMBTW, I’m with Jess in that I think Bobby Sanguinetti would be best served starting the season with the Pack…ha, ha