CANTLON’S CORNER: ANDERSSON BOLTS WOLF PACK 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Saturday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and ironically the potential day that one of the shortest Hartford Wolf Pack careers comes to an apparent end.

The New York Post reported that forward, Lias Andersson had requested a trade from the New York Rangers. They then confirmed that he is no longer part of the organization.

Andersson has hardly posted Hall-of-Fame numbers either at the NHL or AHL levels.

Since being sent down to Hartford on November 17th, Andersson has played just 13 games and missed one due to injury. In that span he amassed just four goals and a total of five points. Three of those points came in a single game on December 7th against the Binghamton Devils. That leaves just two points over 12 games and he went scoreless in his last six.

Andersson played 74 games in Hartford totaling 15 goals, 24 assists (39 points) over parts of three seasons. While with the Rangers, he played in just 66 games contributing a mere three goals and nine points.

His last game with the Rangers was against Florida where he played 3:43 in the game. His career best time on ice is 16:09

In the past two years, he has amassed just four multiple point games in Hartford. Prior to the Binghamton game the last one was against Providence last season when he was recalled where he managed just six points in 42 games with the Rangers.

A natural center Andersson played wing at times, but since he was reassigned to Hartford he has been strictly at center.

Where he will go to play is a big issue if indeed he wants a trade and won’t return.

Andersson could play in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) back home or in Russia with the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League), but only if the Rangers loan him to a prospective team.

Presently, he is under a current NHL contract with one year left on his Entry Level Contract (ELC) and a European exit clause option according to a knowledgeable NHL source.

With all that said, this could be just a timeout for Andersson or it will cause the Rangers to make him sit in purgatory while they find a trading partner.

From a variety of sources it’s possible to piece together a preliminary sketch of the last few days.

Andersson had a bad last game in Charlotte where he was a minus-3 with just one shot on goal. It was a game in which the entire team stunk. He flew back with the team on Thursday and between then and Friday morning his decision was made.

Andersson’s agent called the Rangers and informed them of the trade request on Friday morning.

Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch was informed prior to practice with the team that he had left.

Knoblauch was very cautious in his answer not stating the 20-year-old was under a team suspension, but there is no doubt he is.

“Technically, I don’t know what his status is. The Rangers will make an announcement in the next few days. He isn’t here and he has asked for a trade. He contacted the organization and I have reached out to him. He texted me back. We wished each other well in the future. Whatever that is. He is a good hockey player and sometimes when you have a guy here who doesn’t want to be here, he can have a bad attitude, but that wasn’t the case with him at all,” Knoblauch said.

He didn’t know Andersson was feeling this way. “It was a complete surprise. He was a good team player. He was obviously frustrated with his lack of points, but since he came back he did what was asked of him.”

Andersson was not a locker room hazard, but a solid teammate, but after three seasons, he’s clearly feeling the pressure of not living up to being the seventh overall pick in the draft.

This could just be a young person’s immature and irrational reaction to a tough stretch.

There’s precedence of doing impetuous things including after losing in the Gold Medal game of the WJC two years ago, of taking his silver medal and tossing it into the crowd. It earned him and two other players IIHF suspensions.

Add to the questionable behavior his leaving with just one game left before the Christmas break that includes a roster freeze, except for emergency situations, so he won’t be going anywhere until afterward.

Rangers GM, Jeff Gorton, will have little to no leverage in trying to move a disgruntled player who sports considerably less than glowing numbers.

This move was ill-advised. Regardless of how it was initiated, it says a lot to his Wolf Pack teammates and to the Rangers organization.

The Wolf Pack have been battling for first place and have seen a series of moves over the past ten days are not unrelated.

First, veteran Ville Meskanen’s sudden departure following the unexpected return of Vitali Kravtsov, who will get significant quality minutes that will cut into others.

Former second-round pick, Ryan Gropp, finally reported to the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners, after initially refusing to report. He was then recalled to Hartford.

Now comes Andersson’s surprising exit. Hopefully it will not alter the chemistry that has been built as the team heads to the midway point of the season.

Team President, John Davidson and Gorton will need to sit down and ponder what to do with this situation.