It’s a good news, bad news scenario for the Connecticut Whale.
In fact, the good news IS the bad news.
Chad Kolarik, who has been playing some exceptional hockey of late in the American League, will now get the chance to see how much he can do against the finest hockey talent in the world in the NHL.
For Whale head coach Ken Gernander, he’s got a daunting task in front of him…
Who’s going to score?
With Kris Newbury, Dale Weise, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh and now Kolarik al with the big club that’s his top four forwards and one of his top three D-prospects all playing in NY.
The pressure is now going to fall to Tim Kennedy, Evgeny Grachev, Jeremy And Jason Williams and of course Brodie Dupont to step up their games to keep the Whale, currently third in the Atlantic Division, from falling out of contention.
Gernander will have one more day with his team to get them focused and prepared to battle the Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday and Springfield Falcons on Saturday.
If you were thinking that maybe either Weise or Newbury were headed back, you can forget that. Unless the Rangers execute a trade, and if they do one or more of them will likely be in it, Weise, Newbury and Kolarik could be there for a while.
Here’s the official release:
New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that forward Chad Kolarik has been recalled from the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Kolarik, 24, established a Connecticut franchise record with two shorthanded goals in a single period, and added two assists to tie the franchise mark for scoring in one period with four points during the opening frame of a 6-3 win vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday. His four points in the contest established a career-high, and tied the Whale’s season-high. Kolarik has registered 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points, along with 38 penalty minutes and a plus-seven rating in 39 games with Springfield and Connecticut this season. He is tied for 11th in the AHL in goals, and 18th with 125 shots on goal. In 26 games with the Whale, he has recorded 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) with 20 penalty minutes and a plus-six rating. He is tied for second on the team in goals, ranks second with a plus-six rating and fourth with 79 shots on goal since being acquired from Columbus in exchange for Dane Byers on November 11, 2010. Kolarik has registered nine multi-point performances this season, and has tallied 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his last 14 games.
The 5-11, 195-pounder has skated in 191 career AHL contests with the Connecticut Whale, Springfield Falcons, Syracuse Crunch, and San Antonio Rampage, registering 63 goals and 70 assists for 133 points, along with 140 penalty minutes. He split the 2009-10 season between San Antonio and Syracuse, recording a career-high, 26 goals and tying his career-high in scoring with 50 points in 76 games. He also appeared in two games with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, making his NHL debut on April 5, 2010 at St. Louis. In 2008-09, Kolarik established a career-high with 30 assists and 50 points in 76 games with San Antonio. He made his professional debut with San Antonio on April 16 in the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs, and notched a hat trick in his next game two days later.
The Abington, Pennsylvania native was originally selected as Phoenix’s seventh round pick, 199th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
