CANTLON’S CORNER: DEADLINE DAY 2018 

CANTLON’S CORNER: DEADLINE DAY 2018

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – As of today, the Hartford Wolf Pack roster remains mostly intact heading into the final six weeks of the AHL regular season, but for training camp next fall, fans will see a whole host of new faces.

As promised, today the New York Rangers broke their team apart and have stockpiled ten draft picks in the first three rounds as well as young players who are about to graduate from Canadian major junior hockey to US college hockey.

The last trade of the day did directly affect the Wolf Pack. Defenseman Ryan Graves was dealt to the Colorado Avalanche for a fellow defenseman, Chris Bigras.

It was no great shock that the 6’5 Graves was dealt. There were four different scouts over the last three weeks who made it clear that Graves was one of the reasons for their scouting mission. Graves was in the third and final year of his entry-level contract and wasn’t recalled in his entire run in Hartford. Meanwhile, both Neal Pionk and John Gilmour were both recalled two weeks ago. Not being recalled was a clear sign that the Rangers wouldn’t be offering him a new deal after the season.

In Graves two-plus years in Hartford, he played in 207 games scoring 21 goals and a total of 62 points and 188 PIM. In his first season, he represented the team at the AHL All-Star game. In his 57 games this season, Graves had four goals and 11 points and 66 PIM.

Graves was dealt for Bigras who’s played in fifteen games this year with the Colorado Avalanche where he posted an assist and 20 PIM. He skated in 20 games with San Antonio where he had a goal and a total of six points. Bigras played his junior hockey with Owen Sound (OHL) and has a total of 46 NHL games to his credit. He’s tallied a goal and three assists over the first three seasons of his pro career. Bigras is a left-handed shooter and stands 6-1 while weighing in at 195 pounds.

Graves will be assigned to the San Antonio Rampage, the current AHL farm team of the Avalanche. They will move their top farm to Ft. Collins, Colorado next year when the Colorado Eagles are upgraded from the ECHL to the AHL.

Meanwhile, up in New York, the Rangers were making perhaps the biggest trade moves of the day. They made a monster deal with the Tampa Bay Lighting. The trade included former two former Wolf Pack players, defenseman, Ryan McDonagh and (also a CT Whale) forward, J.T. Miller. Both players head to Florida to the Lightning. The Rangers added another 2018 first round pick to their war chest as well as a conditional 2019 second round pick (which becomes another first if Tampa Bay wins the Cup). They also received a fourth-year junior player in Brett Howden of Moose Jaw (WHL) 38-22-58-36. To date, Howden has 237 WHL games, all with the same team, contributing 107 goals and 250 points.

Howden, a center and a 2016 first-round pick (27^th overall) is 6’2, 195 lbs. and is the current captain of the Warriors.

They also increased their depth on defense when they picked up the Czech Republic-born, Libor Hajak. A left-handed shot, Hajak currently skates with Regina (WHL) where he is being coached by ex-Pack coach, John Paddock. In 19 games Hajak has three goals and seven assists and is a plus-two. He was acquired from Saskatoon (WHL) 33-8-17-25 where he was a minus-10.

Hajak is a 6’2, 203 pounder who was a second-round pick last year (37^th overall). He played for the Czech Republic World Junior team with current Wolf Pack, Filip Chytil.

The Rangers also get a Top 6 forward n Vladimir Namestnikov, the son of former Wolf Pack, Evgeni “John” Namestnikov.

On Sunday, the Rangers dealt forward Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins for a 2018 first-round pick. The Rangers now have three picks in the first-round in the upcoming draft. This is noteworthy because they have dealt away so many of their first-round picks and haven’t had one in several years. The Bruins also parted with a 2018 second-round pick.

The Rangers also got a young defenseman from the University of Minnesota program in Ryan Lindgren. At 6’0 and 200 pounds, Lindgren is the assistant captain for the Big 10 Golden Gophers. In 33 games, he has two goals and seven points and 49 PIM. Lindgren is also a left-handed shooter.

The Rangers now have ten picks in the first three rounds of this summer’s NHL Draft in Dallas June 22-23.

The Rangers did reassign goaltender, Alexander Georgiev, and forward, Vinni Lettieri, back to the Wolf Pack. Expect then either Chris Nell or Brandon Halverson will be reassigned to the ECHL in the coming days.

With Brendan Smith and Matt Beleskey, the Wolf Pack will be carrying $6.25 milion dollars of NHL money on their roster as they start a three-in-three on Friday with a contest in Springfield and then they’ll host a pair of 3 pm weekend games on Saturday against Providence, and Sunday with Charlotte.

Beleskey played Sunday for the Wolf Pack after just walking down the hallway at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.

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