CANTLON: PACK PREPARE FOR BUSY WEEKEND 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack will entertain the Charlotte Checkers Friday night before departing for four games on the road over the next two weeks. They will not return home until January 24th against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The Wolf Pack winning streak grew to five-games and in the process, tying their season-best mark after a 2-1 win over the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center before 10,240 on a Wednesday night.

Hartford’s leading scorer, Vinni Lettieri, has six points in his last five games. He also has scored a goal three straight scored the game-winning goal, his 14th, with 53.9 seconds left in the game. Goalie Adam Huska stopped 26 of 27 shots. The Wolf Pack was held to just 15 shots but made the two that scored led them to victory.

Boo Nieves continues his strong play and has garnered seven points in his last six gamers.

The Wolf Pack holds the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a record of 22-8-2-5 (51 points) and now are four points ahead of Hershey and six ahead of the Providence Bruins.

For Hershey, this was just their second loss in their last 15 games.

The team has undergone some serious roster changes in the past month and with the exception of a small blip of a five-game losing streak, they have maintained a strong level of consistency at home, late in games, and against key divisional rivals.

The Wolf Pack are 15-1-2-5 at home and are unbeaten with taking a lead after two periods at 14-0-1-2. They’ve won all five games thus far against Providence who they were battling for first place before being supplanted by Hershey.

LIFE WITHOUT IGOR

Goaltender Igor Shesterkin is on recall by the New York Rangers and made his NHL debut with a 5-3 victory against the Colorado Avalanche. Shesterkin got off to a tough start giving up goals on his first two shots. To be fair, all three goals he surrendered he wasn’t totally responsible for. One was a tip-in, another a breakaway from Nathan MacKinnon and a wide-open goal on the right-wing.

Shesterkin followed that up with a superb showing stopping 46 of 49 shots in a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils as ex-Wolf Pack, Tony D’Angelo piled up five points, including the first hat-trick since the Hall of Fame Brian Leetch (Cheshire) had in a playoff game in 1995. It was only the third in team history and the first two were Reijo Ruotsolainen (1982) and Dave Maloney (1980).

Shesterkin was very sharp in the third period stopping a pair of scoring chances from Avalanche defensemen Samuel Girard and Calder Trophy candidate, Cale Makar.

No doubt Shesterkin will have a long NHL career, but the Rangers also have two competent, capable NHL goalies in future Hall-of-Famer, Henrik Lundquist, and ex-Pack, Alexander Georgiev.

Carrying three goalies is difficult at any level of hockey, with one netminder always on the outside looking in, and likely unhappy.

The Rangers have been anticipating their fifth-round draft choice in 2012. He had superb KHL numbers and has finally arrived in North America.

Shesterkin’s deal to come to North America was struck in the spring when the Rangers negotiated a European (KHL) clause in his deal that kicked in at halfway mark of the AHL season. It was eclipsed by several games, and the NHL season clause has been met, and he could return to Russia without penalty.

The NHL trade deadline is February 24th, just seven weeks away. Lundqvist’s age, salary, and no-movement clause make it HIGHLY unlikely he’s going anywhere, and the market for Georgiev isn’t clear at this point.

Shesterkin is likely to see more action at the NHL level. It is possible but perhaps unlikely, that Shesterkin, who does not need to pass through waivers, will get sent to Hartford to playing time when Lundqvist and Georgiev are in the net.

There will be a lot of rumors and a lot of news coming out of New York that will effect Hartford as the deadline approaches and the Rangers decide if they should be a buyer or a seller at the deadline and how to supplement the success currently going on in the Connecticut capital.

MESSAGE FROM SWEDEN

Lias Andersson was last seen departing on a plane from Bradley International Airport after the Wolf Pack’s two-game road trip to Charlotte.

He hasn’t been seen since until the next day after he’d left the team that through his agent it became public that Andersson had requested a trade. He was suspended by the Rangers and there has been radio silence until Wednesday.

Andersson gave an interview with the Swedish sports news service, SVTP Sports (their version of ESPN/TSN).

Uffe Bodin, the Editor-In-Chief of newsme.com, tweeted this translated information.

The troubling tweet raises some serious questions and cast some serious aspersions and insinuations that could have profound impacts going forward for Andersson having any hope of returning to the Rangers or to any organization contemplating acquiring him.

Was Andersson injured toward the end of his self-imposed departure from Hartford?

What was this alleged incident that occurred that made things untenable for him to stay in Hartford?

His assertion about “feeling safe” depicts some untoward work environment in Hartford, was there any?

Is he using the team-issued suspension after leaving the team as some faux reasoning for sitting in Sweden and not practicing in Hartford or Cromwell with the Wolf Pack?

Was he handling or coping with the rigors of pro hockey and being a number seven overall draft pick very well?

Based on his play and this move the answer would be no.

Andersson could be making a fatal career mistake here.

The NHL is a very closed society. While the teams are on ice rivals and there’s a union as a league and when one seeks to overturn the order of things, they don’t like it very much.

Especially from a player in his first three years of an NHL deal that he and his agent signed off on and approved by both the NHL and the NHLPLA.

Teams are not likely to take on a player who jumps ship when he’s under-performing at the NHL and AHL level on an entry-level contract.

There is hockey graveyard littered with first-round busts and players whose ego’s got the better of them.

Andy, as he was known, was not a malcontent by several accounts, but self-imposed pressure to live up to his number seven overall status is a part of the equation that has him in Sweden and not Hartford.

One veteran NHL scout said on the condition that they not be named, about Andersson.

“I spoke to our GM about him, and he said, ‘It’s not his fault he was drafted seventh when maybe 27 or 37 was more appropriate. He has to understand that he isn’t a top-six forward, but a bottom-six forward. I think he’s a salvageable player at age 20, but he has to change his self-appraisal of his skill set.”

On what could be likely his last ever Wolf Pack goal, he was contemplating a Filip Forsberg (Nashville) move on a breakaway coming off the right-wing.

For Andersson, if he’s to have an NHL career, this walkout needs to end immediately.

NOTES:

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers made an AHL deal with the Utica Comets where they sent oft-injured forward, John Stevens Jr. to the Comets for future considerations. Stevens is the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, AHL Hall of Famer, and current Dallas Stars, Assistant Coach, John Stevens Sr.

Drake Rymsha, the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk, Andy Rynsha, was sent from Ontario (AHL) to Ft. Wayne (ECHL).

How about trading your nephew?

All-time Wolf Pack great, and head coach, John Paddock, who’s the current GM and VP of Hockey Ops for the Regina Pats (WHL) sent his nephew, Max, to the Prince Albert Raiders yesterday. That won’t be awkward at the Christmas Table

Goalie Nick Malik, the son of ex-Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik, is leaving home for North America.

He played primarily with HC Frydek-Mistek (Czech Republic Division-2) where his father is the assistant coach this season. His Czech Elite League (CEL) rights are with HC Ocelari Trinec where he played two games.

The younger Malik got in some time for the Czech Republic WJC team in the just-completed tournament but has decided to head to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) for the rest of the year.

The Greyhounds drafted him in the CHL Import last June in the first-round (50th overall). All CHL teams are involved in the draft.

He was eleventh pick (168th overall) in the NAHL Draft by the Muskegon Lumberjacks as well last year

Ethan Cardwell, the nephew of former New Haven Knights, Matt Cardwell, was traded from the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) to the Barrie Colts (OHL) as part of a five-player trade at the junior trade deadline.

Logan Stephenson, the son of former Whaler, Bob Stephenson, goes from ASC Corona Brasov (Romania-EBEL) to HKM Zloven (Slovakia-SLEL) for the rest of the season.