BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The NHL Draft is set for July 23-24, with the Buffalo Sabres holding the first overall pick. The expansion Seattle Kraken, with their General Manager being the former Hartford Whaler great, Ron Francis, picking from the number two spot in Wednesday’s NHL Lottery drawing.
The New York Rangers, who had the first overall pick last season, will select 15th this year.
The Rangers inked the highly-touted and regarded defenseman Nils Lundkvist to a standard NHL three-year entry-level deal of $925K-NHL/$70K-AHL.
Lundkvist played last year with Lulea HF (Sweden-SHL) and played in 52 games registering 14 goals and 18 assists (32 points) won the Borje Salming award as the league’s best defenseman. He will get a very long look by the Blueshirts in training camp for a top-six position. Should he be ready for that, he will play in Hartford with the Wolf Pack.
HARTFORD SCHEDULING
The Wolf Pack secured five home dates for the 2021-22 season. They will start on Friday, October 15th, and end on April 24, 2022, the latest the AHL regular season has ever ended.
The team announced on Twitter other dates, Friday, December 17th, Saturday, January 29th, Saturday, February 12th, Saturday, February 19th, and Saturday, March 29th. Other dates, starting times, and opponents will be announced in July when the league releases the 2021-22 schedule.
As reported by Cantlon’s Corner, a unified 72 game schedule has been agreed to but will start with the 2022-23 season when the league’s 32nd team, Palm Springs, debuts.
The yet-to-be-named team has trademarked six names: Firebirds, Dragons, Sun, Eagles, Hawks, and Falcons.
This season’s Atlantic Division will comprise Hartford, the recently renamed Bridgeport Islanders, the Charlotte Checkers, and the Providence Bruins. They will play a 72 game schedule.
76 GAMERS
The remainder of the division will play a 76 game schedule. Those teams are the Hershey Bears, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Springfield Thunderbirds, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
76 games will be played by the Chicago Wolves, Cleveland Monsters, Grand Rapids Griffins, Milwaukee Admirals, Rochester Americans, and the Syracuse Crunch.
The other teams playing 72 games will be the Belleville Senators, Laval Rocket, Manitoba Moose, Rockford, Texas, Toronto, and the new Utica Comets affiliated with New Jersey.
The teams playing 68 games in 2021-22 all in the Pacific Division are Abbotsford (no name yet) returning to the AHL as the Vancouver Canucks affiliate, Bakersfield, Colorado, Henderson, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose, Stockton, Tucson.
The Wolf Pack has hired two new front office people out of nearby Springfield College, the new marketing Manager is Emily Vance, and the new Ticket Manager is Brendan Halloran.
USHL DRAFT
Phase I of the Draft is ten rounds of “Futures” age players only, U-17 players for next year’s season (2005 birth year players only for the 2021 Draft).
Phase II of the Draft is open to players of all ages eligible to play junior hockey and are not currently protected by another USHL team.
Teams will fill their roster to a total of 45 players on this date; this includes players that were previously on a team’s Affiliate List.
The total number of players that a team will draft will vary depending on the number of Affiliate players a team may have.
All veteran roster players from the 2020-21 season are automatically protected by their current team, separate from 45 players.
This year it was 21 rounds.
The following are the CT connected draftees;
PHASE 1
Lucas St. Louis (Riverside/Brunswick School) went in the second round (20th overall) by the Dubuque (IA) Fighting Saints. He is the youngest son of former Ranger and NHL Hall-of-Famer, Marty St. Louis.
Ben Poitras (Salisbury School) went in the ninth round (121st overall) by the Youngstown (OH) Phantoms. He was also drafted in the fifth round (95th overall) by the Saginaw Spirit (OHL) in the OHL Priority Draft.
Brendan Giles (Ridgefield/ Mid-Fairfield U-16) went in the ninth round (134th overall) to the Madison (WI) Capitols.
PHASE II
Liam Lesakowski (Salisbury School) went in the fourth round (60th overall) Cedar Rapids (IA) Roughriders,
Dean Bauchiero (Southington/Salisbury School), who also played at Cheshire High two years ago, was taken by the Sioux City (IA) Musketeers. He is a Brown University (ECACHL) commit for 2022-23. He was taken 23rd by the Wichita Falls (TX) Warriors in the NAHL Supplemental Draft.
Goalie Gibson Homer was the first selection of the sixth round (77th overall), and he is the son of former New Haven Knights Kenzie Homer. He was taken by the Chicago Steel and is a commit to Miami (OH) for 2022-23.
Taken first in the seventh round (93rd overall) was another goalie with Connecticut lineage on Sutter Muzzatti, the son of ex-Whaler and Wolf Pack, and current Carolina Hurricanes goalie coach Jason Muzzatti.
He is an RPI (ECACHL) commit for 2022-23 and played this year for the Austin (MN) Bruins (NAHL). He went in the eighth round (113th overall). Brendan Holahan (New Canaan/Brunswick School) and selected by the Des Moines (IA) Buccaneers.
Staying in the eighth round, five picks later, goalie Austin McNicholas (Salisbury School) was taken by the Green Bay (WI) Gamblers.
MORE PICKS
In the ninth round (131st overall), forward Chase Dafoe, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk and NHL’er Byron Dafoe, was taken by the Omaha (NE) Lancers and skated last year for Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL).
In the 11th round (195th overall), the oft-drafted Jason Marsella (Stamford) was taken by the Chicago Steel for the second year in a row. Marsella is a Yale University (ECACHL) commit scheduled for this fall that could be pushed back a year. He was drafted by Kansas City Scouts (NAHL) (formerly Topeka Scarecrows) last year and by the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads in 2018.
He was the first overall selection by the expansion El Paso (TX) Rhinos in the NAHL Supplemental Draft.
Ryan Sanborn (Brookfield/Mid-Fairfield U-15) was taken in the sixteenth round (225th overall) by the Youngstown Phantoms.
Then in the sixteenth round (232nd overall), Gabe Dombrowski Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NAHL) was taken by Dubuque (IA) Fighting Saints.
In the 18th round, 263rd Chase Ramsay (Avon Old Farms/Mid-Fairfield U-18) was selected by Des Moines.
EVEN MORE PICKS
In the NAHL Supplemental Draft, he was selected 50th by Wichita Falls (TX) Warriors.
The 18th round (264th overall) saw Mikael Petersen (Stamford/CT Jr. Rangers-NCDC) selected by the Muskegon (MI) Lumberjacks.
When the 21st round (314th overall) came around, Joe Connor (Avon Old Farms) was taken by Muskegon.
One of the last three players in the entire draft was Luke Drury (Brunswick School-CTPREP), taken in the 22nd round (323rd overall) by Des Moines. He is the son of current Rangers President/GM, Hartford GM, Chris Drury (Trumbull/Fairfield Prep).
Other selections in the NAHL Supplemental Draft include two picks by the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks 12th overall Roberts Anderson from HS Riga (Latvia-LHL) and 53rd Fredrik Schlyter from Sollentuna HC (Sweden HockeyEttan Division-1) and AIK J-20 (Sweden J-20 League).
Going 62nd was John “J.P.” Turner from Avon Old Farms (CTPREP) by the New Jersey Titans.
The 77th pick by the Corpus Christi (TX) IceRays, who return to play, took Springfield, MA native Kennedy O’Connor from Loomis Chaffe School (Windsor), who played last year for Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL). He was drafted by two other NAHL teams, the Minnesota Magicians (Richfield, MN), in 2020, now coached by ex-Wolf Pack/Ranger, Stu Bickel, and in 2019 by the Shreveport (LA) Mudbugs. He is committed to national champion UMASS-Amherst (HE) for the fall.
NAHL
The NAHL Draft will be held the week before the NHL Draft, on July 14th.
The WHL announced their draft order, which won‘t be held until December 9th, with their US player draft coming the next day.
The OHL Priority Draft will be held on June 4th with rounds 1-thru-3. On Saturday, June 5 will see rounds 4-thru-15.
The QMJHL has set June 25-26, with its US player selections on the 27th.
The Q did release their final Central Scouting List, and a few CT players made a list and are eligible to be drafted.
Charles Andriole-(Branford/Loomis Chaffe School)
Ryan Bradley-Darien
John Burdett-(Greenwich/Brunswick School)
Nick Capasso-(Northford/Avon Old Farms)
Ben Carfora-(West Haven HS)
Tanner Duncan-Ridgefield
Sloan Farmer-(Greenwich/Brunswick School)
Brandon Giles-(Ridgefield/Mid-Fairfield U-16)
Kurt Gurkan-Darien
Brendan Hill-Woodstock Academy (CT)
Nicholas LeClaire-Colchester
Noah Melanson-(West Simsbury/Danbury-NAHL)
Patrick (P.J.) Neal-(Fairfield/Avon Old Farms)
Ronan O’ Donnell-Fairfield
Alex Pelletier-Manchester
William Richards-(Stamford/Deerfield Academy)
Ryan Sanborn-(Brookfield/Mid-Fairfield U-16)
Hunter Spiess-(Old Greenwich/Brunswick School/Mid-Fairfield U-15)
Lucas St. Louis-(Riverside/Brunswick School)
Wesley Zolin-Greenwich
PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT
The Vegas Golden Knights have evened their series with Colorado in the Stanley Cup playoffs because of some important CT connections.
In-Game 4, former CT Whale Jonathan-Audy Marchessault recorded his first playoff hat trick in a 5-1 win. The game’s first goal was scored was tallied by Max Pacioretty (New Canaan/Taft Prep).
In-game 3, they scored two goals 45 seconds apart late in the game, first by Marchessault and the game-winner by Pacioretty.
The winner will likely face the Montreal Canadiens up amazingly 3-0 on the Winnipeg Jets. The best in-season hire was former Whaler Marc Bergevin, the Canadiens GM making his Western pro scout his goalie coach in former teammate Sean Burke who has revitalized goalie Carey Price.
PACK RELATED
Expected incoming Wolf Pack defenseman Braden Schneider, who played the first two games with the Wolf Pack and went back to the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL), was named to the East Division All-Star team. He is now eligible to be in the mix for the WHL Defenseman of the Year Award.
Ex-Pack Adam Cracknell, a UFA this year, has signed a one-year AHL deal with the Bakersfield Condors for the 2021-22 season. His deal last year was to be $350K-AHL.
Former UCONN Husky captain of two years ago, Wyatt Newpower, signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Detroit Red Wings ($800K-NHL/$70K-AHL).
The AHL’s 32nd team is underway. After a tumultuous two years, Palm Springs broke ground on their $250 million nearly 10,000 seat Coachella Valley Arena scheduled to open in October 2022.
The team will likely now start to be a part of the AHL league affairs, beginning with the BOG and then assembling a staff. Then get sponsorships and starting a season-ticket drive to coincide with an unveiling of the team’s name and colors for the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken.
Read a superb piece from the Palm Springs Desert Sun about all that has transpired to bring the arena and team to life.
BRIDGEPORT
Bridgeport sent goalie C.J. Motte back to the Allen Americans (ECHL) to get some playoff time in. Joining him from the Iowa Wild is Tyler Sheehy.
Ken Agostino (Yale University) leaves the Toronto Marlies and signs with Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL).
Ex-Sound Tiger and QU Bobcat, Travis St. Denis, leaves Binghamton (AHL) for EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL).
Now 15 AHL players have signed for Europe for next season.
Ex-Pack, Vinny Saponari, gets an upgrade going from EC Kassel (Germany DEL-2) to Augsburger (Germany-DEL).
Now former Wolf Pack defenseman Yegor Rykov, as expected, will stay in Russia. He departs CSKA Moscow (Russia-KHL) to Severstal Cherepovets for next season.
Former UCONN Husky, Max Kalter, retires after playing with HC Cergy-Pontoise (France-FREL) for the last two years.
MORE MOVES
In the college ranks, two more grad transfers. Cory Thomas Vermont (HE) heads to Canisius College (AHA), and Christopher Berger graduates from Brown University (ECACHL) and heads to the Michigan State Spartans (Big 10), making 49 college grad transfers this offseason.
Nick Gravina, Castleton College (NEHC), signs with HC Reims (France FFHG Division-2) for the fall. He is the 12th college player to sign overseas, and 89 college players total Division-I and Division-III have signed North American and European deals for next season.
Forward Sasha Teleguine of the Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL) has committed to UCONN (HE) for 2022-23.
IIHF CHAMPIONSHIP
In the IIHF World Championship, Canada captured gold with a 3-2 overtime win over Finland.
It was their third title in five years, but easily the most improbable. They lost their first three games and scored just two goals. They then lost a fourth in overtime but won seven of their last eight games to become the first team to win gold with four losses.
The US captured the bronze medal with a 6-1 over Germany. Tage Thompson (Milford/UCONN) had three assists aiding Connor Garland, who had a goal and two assists.
Ryan Donato, the son of former Wolf Pack/Sound Tiger, Ted Donato, had a goal and an assist.
DRURY
Jack Drury, the son of former Whaler Ted Drury and the nephew of current Hartford GM, the Rangers President/GM, Chirs Drury, the Team USA GM, scored a nifty backhander in a three-goal second period for the US.
Drury was originally a Carolina Hurricanes draft choice. He was low-balled by the team when he left Harvard and went to Sweden. His Växjö Lakers HC team won the LeMat trophy as champions. He could become a free agent, so don’t be surprised his uncle offers him a deal or makes a deal a la Adam Fox when he was a Carolina prospect. Fox played with Drury at Harvard.
Brady Shaw, the son of former Whaler, Brad Shaw, departs Esbjerg (Denmark-DHL) and signs with Fehérvár AV19 (Hungary-IceHL).
Logan Roe (Kent School), a Florida native, played for the Florida Everblades (ECHL) signs with Västerås IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan).
Derek Army (Hotchkiss Prep) was upgraded from interim to the new head coach for the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL).
Ex-Pack Matt Register (Allen-ECHL) was named to the ECHL Second team All-Star team.
NEWS APLENTY
Former Wolf Pack Jeff Toms’ son, Connor, signed his junior tender contract with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) and joining him is another offspring of Wolf Pack, Tyler Savard, the son of Marc Savard.
