CANTLON’S CORNER: NHL RETURN IMMINENT AND OTHER HOCKEY NEWS 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – For the first time since March, professional hockey is so close to being played for fans that you can almost reach out and touch it. With that start rapidly approaching, there’s plenty of news escalating as well, starting in Seattle with a much-anticipated announcement.

The Seattle NHL team finally has chosen a name.

General Manager, Ron Francis, the former Hartford Whalers great, announced that the team will be, the Seattle Kraken, at a press conference on Thursday.

The name, “Kraken,” is based on the fictitious sea monster from Scandinavian folklore. The team colors for their home and away jerseys will be a shade of light blue and black as shown above.

The Kraken represents, “the fiercest beast in the world,” and “instills one message in all opponents – abandon all hope.”

The primary S-shaped logo was chosen to honor the Seattle Metropolitans, who were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup and are an “eternal part” of the city’s history.

The logo features a single tentacle wrapped through the “S.” It will symbolize “the deep, dark waters of Puget Sound,” while at the same time recognizing The Giant Pacific Octopus, the largest in the world, which lives in the region’s waters.

Seattle’s secondary logo is an anchor that’s shaped at the top like the city’s iconic Space Needle.

The club also provided a sneak peek (see it HERE) of its home jersey (above).

The building’s naming rights were announced last week as Amazon gained the rights which will be called, “The Climate Pledge Arena.”

Up next, naming Kraken’s first head coach followed by finding a hockey operations staff as well as scouts that were named late last September.

ISLANDERS’ ARENA NAMED

The New York Islanders announced that the naming rights for their new arena in Belmont Park being built in Elmont, New York was purchased by a financial services company, UBS.

The new building will be called, “The UBS Arena.” Even with the shutdown for COVID-19, the building is scheduled to be ready for play for the 2021-22 season.

The Islanders’ PR Director, Kimber Auerbach, said, (via text message) the team still has no comment on the Nassau Coliseum’s decision to close its door and put the building up for sale. The Islanders were planning to use the building for two seasons until the UBS Arena was ready for occupancy.

The smaller 7,500 seat arena that has been talked about to hopefully be built in Lake Ronkonkoma has gone very silent.

The JJL Group was granted a second extension in December until the end of March so that its consultant, the former Islanders, and New York Rangers great, Pat LaFontaine, could secure commitments for main tenants to operate there. The plan is for primarily an AHL, college, or junior team.

After the pandemic hit no new news has been forthcoming about any progress.

The Long Island University Sharks, who announced in the spring the school was forming a Division I independent program starting in the fall,  would seem a likely candidate. Eventually, they will land in a conference, with the AHA (Atlantic Hockey Association) seeming to be the most logical choice.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders’ top AHL farm team, will see its original, 20-year lease with the Webster Bank Arena expire at the end of the 2020-21 season

The XL Center is still on hold.  There are no events that are still scheduled and no hockey schedule available for either the Hartford Wolf Pack or UCONN ready to be announced.

The $64-million-dollar approved bonding package to start the very long-overdue renovations, done literally a week before the pandemic hit, still has yet to be completed and was not on last week’s docket.

CRDA Executive Director, Michael W. Freimuth, said he’s not sure at this time when it will be done.

The work on the new chiller system continues at a pace that is to be expected to be completed in the fall as scheduled.

Sports fans decrying how the MLB Toronto Blue Jays could be left homeless in their truncated 60-game schedule because the Canadian government rejected their Return to Play plan at Rogers Center.

The prospect of playing the whole season on the road was real, but on Friday they finally reached a deal to play at the home of their Triple AAA affiliate in Buffalo, home of the Bisons and Sahlen Field.

There is a precedent for not playing from home from hockey.

The original Central Hockey League’s 1983-84 Tulsa Oilers, then the Rangers top affiliate after leaving New Haven the season before.

The team was owned locally went bankrupt mid-season and was taken over by the CHL and the team played the rest of the season and nine playoff games on the road and captured the last Bud Adams championship trophy with a four-game sweep of the Indianapolis Checkers. It was the Oilers’ third title and the CHL’s last title. The team even practiced in a mall rink in Denver.

The team leading scorer was ex-Whaler Dave Barr (assistant coach San Jose), former New Haven Nighthawk George McPhee (President Vegas Golden Knights), goalies included former Ranger great John Vanbiesbrouck (USA Hockey U-20 team GM) and former New Haven Nighthawk Ron Scott plus former Nighthawks and Rangers Robbie Ftorek, Grant Ledyard (head coach University of Buffalo ACHA Division I) and Cam Connor.

Another Ranger and Nighthawk alumnus, Rick Chartraw (traded mid-season to Edmonton), former Nighthawk, Mike Backman, the father-in-law of LA Kings and Hamden native, Jonathan Quick, and the head coach was, the late New England Whalers great, Tom Webster.

The league was down to just five teams and folded after the season was over.

The CHL lasted from (1963-1984) two of the final five teams going to the IHL who folded in 2000 with six of their team merging with the AHL. The CHL re-formed from (1992-2015) incorporating the Western Professional Hockey League (1996-2001) and then six of its last 10 teams merged with the ECHL when they went out of business.

PLAYER  & COACHING MOVEMENT

The Wolf Pack have re-signed forward Shawn McBride to a one-year AHL contract for next season.

He split last season playing for the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) because the Maine Mariners didn’t have an available roster spot for him to start the season. In 20 games with the Admirals, he had seven assists but was recalled on Boxing Day after the holiday roster freeze ended.

McBride became an integral part of the Wolf Pack’s fourth line at the end of the season where he centered Ty Ronning and Greg Chase. Before that, he was with Ryan Dmowski (Old Lyme), who was elevated to the first line. McBride tallied six points with two goals in 30 games in Hartford.

He played his college hockey in Springfield, MA for the American International College (AIC) Yellow Jackets (AHA). He was the team captain in his senior season for the regular-season-conference-playoff-champion that upset St, Cloud State in their first-ever NCAA Regional tournament appearance.

McBride joins Vincent LoVerde and Mason Geersten as the first three d-men signed for the 2020-21 Wolf Pack season.

The Lias Andersson saga has reached its likely final turn.

On Friday, the Rangers formally loaned Andersson to HV71 for the 2020-21 season, the last year of his ELC.

“I am very grateful that it was possible to solve a continuation with HV71, which I feel extremely comfortable with,” stated Andersson via a team-issued, translated, press release announcing the transaction.

“I want to thank Rangers for understanding my situation and my desire to play in HV71. I found my way back to the game I want to play at the end of last season and look forward to a sequel in HV71. During the years in HV71 and Jönköping, I have acquired many good memories and positive feelings that I will build on when we reunite at the end of July.”

The Rangers would like to find a trading partner that would bring a solid return for Andersson, which would be possible if he plays well in Sweden.

Andersson posted 12 points in 15 games for HV71 after he demanded a trade and abandoned the Wolf Pack on December 19th after returning from a road trip for a pair of games in Charlotte just before the annual holiday roster freeze.

He was initially suspended by the Rangers organization before a loan agreement was reached with HV71 on January 26th. He was offered an opportunity to come to the playoff camp for the Rangers playoff series with the Carolina Hurricanes beginning August 1st, but he declined that opportunity and likely sealed his fate of a likely trade.

Andersson was sent down to Hartford on November 17th and played just 13 games. He missed one game due to injury. He amassed just four goals and five points, three of which came in one game against the Binghamton Devils on December 7th, meaning he had just two points over the other twelve games and was scoreless in his last six with the Wolf Pack.

Over three seasons, Andersson played 74 games in Hartford adding a total of 15 goals, 24 assists (39 points).

With the Rangers, he played just 66 games registering a mere three goals and nine points. In the past two years, he had just four multi-point games in his brief tenure with the Wolf Pack.

A natural center, at times, Andersson played wing in New York, but when he was reassigned to Hartford, he was used strictly as a center.

Brett Sutter, the 12th member of the Sutter clan to play pro hockey, signed another one-year deal with the Ontario Reign. He has been the team’s captain for the last four years. He’s played 838 AHL games in nine seasons.

Matt Abt of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins signs a free-agent deal with the Colorado Eagles.

Former UCONN Husky defenseman, Joe Masonius, signs with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL) for next season.

Ryan Cook Niagara University (AHA) signs with the Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL).

Philip Beaulieu, of Northern Michigan University (WCHA), signs with the Iowa Wild (AHL). Ian Scheid of the Minnesota State-Mankato (WCHA) signs with Colorado (AHL).

Ray Brice Michigan Tech (WCHA) signed with the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL) and Jarod Hilderman of Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA) signing with the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL).

These signings raise the number to 117 Division-I college players to sign pro contracts. 202 Division I and II athletes have signed pro deals in the US and Europe.

By conference, Hockey East (26), NCHC (23), Big 10 (20), WCHA (18), ECACHL (16), AHA (13). NCAA D1 Independent, Arizona State, has two.

Goalie, Will McEwan, (North Branford/Xavier HS) leaves Northland College (NCHA) early (first one in Division III) and signs with the Mentor (OH) Ice Breakers (FPHL).

Two players from Post University in Waterbury (Northeast-10) sign pro deals Tyler Hackett (Branford) with the Danbury Hat Tricks (FPHL) and teammate Noah Wild with the Delaware Thunder (FPHL).

Andrew Romano of SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC) signs with Maine (ECHL). Then a pair of Adrian College (NCHA) players, Dean Balsamo and Joey Colatarci, both signed with the Tulsa Oilers (ECHL).

The number of Division III players signing pro deals stands at 50.

Evan Weinger, a swift skating winger, according to ex-Pack, Derek Armstrong, who’s skated with him, was loaned to TPS Turku (Finland-FEL) by the San Jose Barracuda. It’s only the third time he has been out of California to play hockey.  He played Canadian major junior hockey with the Portland (OR) Winter Hawks and the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL). The Los Angeles native played his youth hockey for the LA Junior Kings AAA program and now of course in San Jose the last two years.

Julian Melchiori of Binghamton signs with Neftekhmik (Russia-KHL).

Jordan Szwarz leaves the Belleville Senators for Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL).

The Wolf Pack’s, Danny O’Regan is in camp with the Rangers. He’s reportedly in discussions with the Fischtown Penguins (Germany-DEL) for the 2020-21 season. He will be Group 6 free agent under the CBA making him an unrestricted free agent once the 2019-20 season is formally ended.

Ex-Pack/Ranger, Dale Weise, who split last season with the Laval Rocket and Montreal Canadians, is with Les Habs playoff camp in Brossard, QC, but is making his plans for the 2020-21 season. He has had preliminary conversations with teams in Switzerland and Germany.

That makes for 44 players from the AHL to sign in Europe.

The Wolf Pack has two other group 6 free agents. Nick Ebert already signed with Orebro HK (Sweden-SHL) for two years, Vinni Lettieri, once the playoffs end, will be on the market. The same is the case with team captain, Steven Fogarty, who will be a UFA.

Landon Ferraro, the son of former Hartford Whaler great, Ray Ferraro, who’s now a TSN analyst, signs with Eisbaren Berlin (Germany-DEL) for another year.

Another son of an ex-Whaler, Philip Samuelsson, the eldest son of Ulf Samuelsson, the former Whalers great and Rangers player, and assistant coach with the Rangers, Wolf Pack, and Avon Old Farms, has signed with IF Oskarshamn (Sweden-SHL). Ulf is still the head coach of Leksands IF (Sweden-SHL) and a scout for the Seattle Kraken (NHL).

Brandon Salerno of Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA) signs with HC Cholet (France-FFFG Division-2).

Goalie, Roman Bengert, becomes just the fifth college player to transfer to Canadian college hockey. Bengert played just five games in three years and leaves as an underclassman at the age of 24 from the Lake Superior State Lakers (WCHA). He will play for the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (AUAA). He is a native of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, but was born in Kyoto, Japan moving at age seven.

Steve Bergin was hired as the new assistant coach for Sacred Heart University Pioneers (AHA) to replace Paul Kirtland who went to Yale University (ECACHL). He was voted ECHL Coach of the Year last year with the South Carolina Stingrays.

Washington renewed its affiliation with South Carolina for another three years. They will continue to be the secondary farm team of the Hershey Bears. Ryan Blair was moved from Assistant Coach to be the new head coach.

Former Ranger, Daniel Lacroix, was named the new head coach with the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL).

Celeste Brown, former Connecticut Whale (NWHL) and Connecticut College (NESCAC-W) assistant coach is named the new head coach at her alma mater R.I.T. (AHA-W)

Four Division III conferences the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) featuring Trinity College (Hartford), Connecticut College (New London) and Wesleyan University (Middletown), Northeast-10, CCC (Coastal Commonwealth conference) and SUNYAC (State University New York Athletic Conference) announced they are canceling all fall sports programs and hockey is to start on January 1st.

The Tier I USA junior league the USHL has announced it will start its season on time in October and two Canadian major junior leagues, the QMJHL (October 1st) and the WHL (October 2nd) are starting a month later, but the OHL with two teams in Michigan (Flint & Saginaw) and one in PA (Erie) have not made the call when the season will start.

With the exception of the ECACHL none of the other Division I conferences (HE, NCHC, WCHA, AHA, and Big 10) have not made an official announcement on the 2020-21 schedule, but in the next two weeks as campuses begin to open expect an announcement will be forthcoming.

The Friendship Four Tourney to Belfast, Northern Ireland has been postponed this year.

A NEW ECHL TEAM

The brand new $60 million (Canadian) Le Colisee de Trois-Rivieres is nearing completion, but like everything else had been affected by COVID-19 and will be completed by December not September as originally planned.

The ECHL will likely have a team in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec for the 2021-22 season as Deacon Sports and Entertainment (DSE) has concluded an initial five-year lease arrangement with two five years options with the city and the mayor Jean Lamarche two weeks ago, to play in the brand new 4,000 plus seat (initially 4,390 seats) Coliseum.

The new building will have 18 all-important corporate loge seats, two loge areas with universal access, and two VIP lounges according to Le Nouvelliste Trois Rivieres.

The new building will be replacing the aging Trois-Rivieres Coliseum which was built in 1938 and holds only 2,700 spectators and was home to the QMJHL Trois Rivieres Ducs (1969-1974) and the Draveurs (1974-1992), several LNAH named teams from the Caron and Guay, Vikings, Blizzard and Draveurs (2003-2017) and the Canadian college team, the University Trois-Rivieres Patriots (1970-2020).

Deacon Sports and Entertainment (DSE) and its principal owners are Glenn Stanford and Dean MacDonald, also own the ECHL Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers.

It will be the third ECHL team in Canada. Currently, there are the Brampton (Ontario) Beast, and the aforementioned Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers. The league had a fourth in the Victoria  (B.C.) Salmon Kings (2003-2011).

Among the architects are former NHL’er and Trois-Rivieres native Marc-Andre Bergeron, and Michael Weightman, a former long time CFL Montreal Alouettes executive and a Laval Rocket President for a period of time.

Weightman helped finalize the deal after being brought in as a consultant. He is fluently bilingual and with COVID-19 travel restrictions from Newfoundland to Quebec, he also brings a strong sports management background.

The team will likely have an affiliation with the Montreal Canadiens and the Laval Rocket (AHL).

The answer in Laval is quiet at the moment.

“We know the city (Trois-Rivieres) has reached an agreement in principle with a group (DSE). As far as an affiliation, we don’t have any real comment at this point,” said Laval PR Director, Charles-Saindon Courtois.

The lease will now go to the ECHL Board of Governors for approval review before an affiliation is announced along with the team name and colors.

The city will be demolishing the old Jean-Guy Talbot Arena named for the one-time Rangers coach and long-time Montreal Canadiens defenseman who played for 10 years from 1955-1967 and over 1,000 NHL games that were used for local minor hockey.

It’s no secret the Canadiens are looking to extend their brand throughout Quebec, and have all their hockey operations in the province of Quebec. Appeal to the francophone fanbase is solid for an affiliation arrangement.

With their practice rink in Brossard, on the South Shore of Montreal, and their AHL team in Laval on the North Shore at Place Bell, extending it so close to Quebec City (129 kilometers/80 miles) with a population of 135,000 it would stamp the CH further north.

The one hitch is they don’t want ECHL Newfoundland Growlers owner Dean MacDonald involved, who helped run their two AHL affiliates, the Hamilton Bulldogs and St. John’s IceCaps.

“The Canadiens are willing to commit to becoming the principal associate for an ECHL team franchise,” said Montreal VP of Hockey Ops and Legal Affairs, John Sedgwick in a letter to the Trois-Rivieres Mayor Jean Lamarche that was published in the French language Le Nouvelliste Trois-Rivieres on January 16th.

In the same piece, France-Margaret Belanger, Executive VP of Commercial Affairs for the Canadiens, made remarks according to Mayor Lamarche, that the Canadiens wanted to be involved, but the team wanted no affiliation with MacDonald, was with Glenn Stanford when Montreal was in St. John’s before they moved their AHL team to Laval.

Marc-Andre Bergeron is the current owner of the local independent Frontier League (formerly the Can-AM league) minor league baseball team, the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (Eagles), and is a part NASCAR owner. He was hired by MacDonald’s group to work with the city to become the main tenant.

The group is intending however to submit an application for an expansion franchise.

Lamarche also wants the local college team at UQTR (the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres) Patriotes to play in the building, but the 14-game home Canadian college hockey home games won’t be a suitable enough of a schedule, so a major hockey tenant is needed.

The QMJHL is available, but the league has said it’s not interested in expanding. The arena is located 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from another nearby QMJHL team the, Shawinigan Cataractes.

That Cataractes currently are coached by former Wolf Pack and Ranger Gordie Dwyer, had a great rivalry with the former Q team in the city, the Draveurs (Loggers) who in their first four years were called the Duc (Duke) from (1969-1992) would need to be paid a territorial compensation fee, if they went the junior route.

The QMJHL Commissioner of 30-plus-years Gilles Courteau is an avid proponent of the ECHL team in Trois-Rivieres. Courteau believes as it will allow a first pro step in Quebec for Q players and for those who want to take the collegiate route after juniors, they would have UQTR there to use their Q collegiate scholarship program as well remarked Courteau to the Le Nouvelliste Trois-Rivieres on January 26th.

The city of Montreal is 140 kilometers (87 miles) away from Trois-Rivieres and it makes perfects sense to have a team close enough for Laval for movement of several Canadiens prospects and for injury recalls.

Finding several regional owners for an ECHL team in Trois- Rivieres to help share the burden of operations and business expenses, primarily player salaries should be fairly easy. In the COVID-19 business climate, however, nothing is simple anymore.

The hope is the Canadiens with their vast fortune might be amenable to chipping in to make up the difference for say maybe minority ownership rights.

IN MEMORIAM

Former Hartford Whaler Jack McIllhargey 68, who ended his playing career as a Whaler playing 98 games with two goals and 13 points and 202 PM passed away over the weekend in Vancouver after a lengthy battle with cancer.

He was a player, a coach plus a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks. He played 393 NHL games total with 1,102 PM with 11 goals and 47 points and one of the toughest players in his era.

He played a little over two years in the AHL with the Richmond Robins after that with the original Jersey Devils in the old Eastern Hockey League’s last year started his pro career and literally battled his way to play in the NHL.

In his post-playing-career, he was an assistant coach in Vancouver a total of 14 years on two different occasions and a pro scout for one year. He was the head coach for the Canucks minor league affiliates in Milwaukee (then in the old IHL), and AHL with the Hamilton Canucks and Syracuse Crunch for eight years.

He was with the Flyers for the last 12 years as an assistant coach for three years and his last nine as an amateur scout.