By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Hartford Wolf Pack news this week comes fast and furious as the season approaches.
The news starts in New York, where the parent Rangers and President and General Manager, Chris Drury, must face two serious roster issues with the upcoming training camp just around the corner.
According to New York Post columnist Larry Brooks, Swedish defenseman Nils Lundkvist has asked to be traded.
Despite beating out Zac Jones for the sixth spot on defense, Lundqvist’s first North American professional season was sub-par.
There could be several explanations for Lundqvist’s struggles. First, veteran Tom Nemeth was shuffled off to Arizona after being signed last year to help him with the cultural and hockey hurdles. Secondly, he barely got ice time as Braden Schneider’s strong play moved him past Lundqvist on the depth chart. Then, and most glaring, he was a part of the Pack collapse in the second half of the season as he struggled in his thirty games in the Connecticut capital.
Combine those factors with an overload of defensemen, twelve D on the roster as camp begins in two weeks, nine in New York limited by contract, and Jones getting NHL money will force a longer than usual look at training camp.
THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS?
Second, on the list of critical decisions was Friday’s signing of journeyman forward and former Ranger Jimmy Vesey to a professional try-out contract (PTO). Brooks wrote about it two weeks before it happened. If Vesey makes the team, it puts pressure on the bottom six (Dryden Hunt and Julien Gauthier in particular), especially Lauri Pajuniemi, who might be moved too.
Pajuniemi was already an unhappy camper at the end of last season, and this certainly won’t help that. He could ask for a trade.
JAIME TARDIF JOINS THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK BENCH
As expected, there are changes behind the Wolf Pack bench for the 2022-23 season.
Drury announced the club hired Jamie Tardif as the new assistant coach.
Tardif, 37, was an assistant coach with the Soo (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) Greyhounds (OHL). He started with the club before the 2018-19 campaign. During his time with the organization, the Greyhounds won 112 games and advanced to the playoffs in the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons.
Before his time on the bench with the Greyhounds, Tardif spent the 2017-18 season as a player/assistant coach with the Quad City Mallards (ECHL), where he finished his playing career.
Tardif played twelve professional seasons. His eight years in the AHL saw him dress in 487 games with the Manitoba Moose, Iowa Stars, Grand Rapids Griffins (where he got to know Hartford GM Ryan Martin), the Providence Bruins, and the Rochester Americans.
Tardif registered 267 points (142 goals and 125 assists) in his career and served as captain of the Griffins for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
In 2012-13 while with the Bruins, he was named an AHL All-Star. However, Tardif appeared in only two NHL games in his career, both with the Boston Bruins.
Tardif played three seasons overseas for Adler Mannheim in the German DEL. He helped guide the club to a DEL championship during his first year in Europe. He also won an OHL John Ross Robertson Cup championship with the Peterborough Petes and was named an ECHL All-Star in 2006-07 with the Toledo Storm.
In another coaching move, Casey Torres, 42, who spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach on the Wolf Pack staff, was relocated within the Rangers organization. Drury moved him out from behind the bench in Hartford and named him the franchise’s Player Development Assistant Coach, who will still be located in Hartford. Before joining the organization, Torres was a scout for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and Peterborough in the OHL.
PLAYER MOVEMENT PART ONE
Adam Húska relocates far from Hartford as he signs overseas with Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL). He becomes the second current ex-Wolf Pack (Nick Merkley, the other) and sixth ex-player to sign in Russia/Belarus.
With Justin Richards signing with the Cleveland Monsters for next year, just three Wolf Pack players from last season have not signed or made their intentions known. Those three are goalie Tyler Wall, forward Matt Lorito, and center Maxim Letunov (UCONN-HE), acquired at the trade deadline from the Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves.
The Russian-born, Letunov was traded for defenseman Tarmo Reunanen, who will play in Finland (Lukko Rauma) next season. Letunov’s KHL rights were traded last May from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to Traktor Chelyabinsk. He is looking to stay in North America.
Ex-Pack, Josh Nicholls, leaves Storhamer (Norway-NEL) and returns to Kunlun (China-KHL).
Former CT Whale Christian Thomas goes from SC Bern (Switzerland-LNA) to HC Bolzano Foxes (Italy-IceHL).
Former Wolf Pack/Ranger Stu Bickel was relieved as an assistant coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, who hired former AHL player Jordan Smith from Sault Ste. Marie (OHL), where he worked with Tardiff. Smith lost his eyesight in 2005-06 with the defunct Portland Pirates (now Springfield Thunderbirds), contributing to the ushering in the mandatory half-visor rule into the AHL.
Former Wolf Pack and Rangers first-round pick Bobby Sanguinetti and the youngest member of the Staal family, Jared, are named the new assistant coaches for the Charlotte Checkers (AHL).
PLAYER MOVEMENT PART TWO
After five years in Hershey with the Bears, ex-Pack Alex Westlund (Yale University) is named goaltending coach in Detroit.
Out in Colorado, ex-Pack Ryan Tobler has caught on as the associate head coach with the Blackfalds Bulldogs (AJHL).
Former Pack Sam Klassen is the new head coach of Briercrest College (ACAC) in Canadian college hockey.
Former New Haven Knights (UHL)/Springfield Falcon (AHL), Simon Olivier, after a year off, is hired as the Head Coach/GM of the Edmundston (NB) Blizzard of the Maritime Hockey League (MHL) Junior A team.
Now 95 past members of the Wolf Pack are involved as coaches in some capacity in North America and Europe.
Hershey signed Alexandre Fortin, nephew of former Whaler goalie Jean-Sébastien Giguère from the Laval Rocket.
Ex-Sound Tiger Alan Quine departs Henderson (AHL) for Ontario (AHL).
Ex-Sound Tigers Brett Gallant and Steve Olesky have re-signed with Cleveland (AHL) and Orlando (ECHL), respectively, for another year.
Former Sound Tiger Yannick Turcotte signs with Adirondack (ECHL) for next season.
Ex-Sound Tiger captain Josh Holmstrom becomes the Director of Hockey of Operations for the Air Force (AHA).
Bridgeport head coach and ex-Pack, Brent Thompson saw his eldest son, Tage (Milford/UCONN-HE), who comes off his best season to date with 38 goals, sign a whopping seven-year $50 million-dollar deal to stay with Buffalo.
PLAYER MOVEMENT PART THREE
Odeen Tufto (Quinnipiac University) heads from Orlando (ECHL) to Tucson.
The list of AHL’ers headed to Europe has grown to 92. That list now includes Chad Krys (Ridgefield/CT Oilers-EJEPL), who began the year in Rockford and departed Toronto for Vienna (Austria-IceHL). Also, ex-Pack Kodie Curran heads from Providence/San Diego to Mettallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia-KHL).
Russia has added 19 players. Sweden adds 17, while Finland signs 13. Those three nations lead the Pack.
Collegiate North American pro signees have seen Hockey East contribute 54, NCHC-38, CCHA, and the Big Ten-32, ECACHL-26, AHA-23, and NCAA Division I Independents-13.
Jake Witkowski, a graduate of Avon Old Farms, signed with the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL) out of Canisius College (AHA), where ex-Pack, Daniel Paille is the Associate Head Coach.
Among three players who signed with the Worcester Railers (ECHL) is a former UCONN Husky, Brian Rigali, of nearby AIC-American International College (AHA). He finished his NCAA career at the Springfield, MA school.
Michael Brodzinski, who played three games with the Pack, re-signs with Orlando (ECHL).
Division-III has just 17 players gone pro in North America. Three others are going to Canadian colleges, and two head to Canadian major junior and Junior A.
Jack St. Ivany, formerly of Yale, goes the free agent route and signs with Pittsburgh out of BC.
PLAYER MOVEMENT PART FOUR
The newest additions to the transfer list include the Fusco brothers, John and Matt, the sons of ex-Hartford Whaler Scott Fusco. They have both transferred from Harvard University (ECACHL) to Dartmouth College (ECACHL), a true rarity to have an intra-Ivy school transfer.
Before even skating a single game at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Yale University freshmen Phillip Tresca transfers from the Bulldogs to rival Harvard University.
222 college transfers in total, with 113 undergrad and grad transfers at 109.
The total number of North American signees is 250. Therefore, North America plus Europe is at 289.
UCONN has quietly shipped Sasha Teleguine back to Junior A, even with one year of eligibility. He played in just 20 games last year. Teleguine heads back to the Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL). However, they did gain a new commitment for 2024-25 in Ethan Gardula. He heads to the Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) next year from Cushing Academy.
According to several sources, expect the Sacred Heart University Pioneers (AHA), who are moving into a beautiful brand-new 4,000-plus seat arena, will announce a new multi-year agreement to broadcast their games on a regional tri-state TV network to coincide with their new digs.
Former Quinnipiac Bobcat goalie Michael Garteig has had the Goaltender of the Year award in the BCHL named after him. He is still playing with ERC Ingolstadt (Germany-DEL) this year.
Ex-Whaler Kelly Chase was inducted into the SJHL Hall of Fame.
RILEY AT ARMY
The Albertus Magnus Falcons (NCAA Division-III independent) sends its first coach up the ladder. Last year’s Assistant Coach, Jack Riley, becomes the Director of Hockey Operations at Army (AHA). The Riley name at Army is legendary and is familiar to hockey. His grandfather John P. “Jack,” his namesake, started the program and coached in 1951. He was followed by his son Rob in 1983, who also coached the Springfield Falcons for two years.
He coached for 18 years there, and in 2003, Brian came in, his great-uncle.
The coaching bug is in the Riley DNA and extends to his cousins Brett, an assistant at LIU-Post, and Brendan at AIC.
AHL NEWS
The AHL is leaping into the 21st century as it opens two, brand new state-of-the-art arenas this year.
The first just had its grand opening. The new Tech CU Arena is in San Jose and is part of a multi-faceted ice complex.
The arena will serve as the home to the Barracuda, and their brand-new San Jose Shark color schemed home and away jerseys.
The building has been ten years in the making and was built on time and on budget even with the pandemic. It is an environmentally friendly, 21st-century building. It’s a modern version of the Glen Falls Civic Center, including an electric Zamboni.
It is the new permanent home of the Barracuda and will host the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic, USA hockey U-16, and U-18 events next month. In addition, it will be available for future NCAA events and could be a likely home for a West Coast NCAA team for a myriad of colleges in the area, such as current ACHA Division 2 San Jose State.
An NCAA West Coast-based conference is coming. It’s not a matter anymore if it is going to happen. It’s now more a matter of when.
The complex will help figure skating and local youth hockey. Had it been there, it could have saved current Wolf Pack Patrick Khordorenko, who grew up in the area, from having to travel to Southern Cali for ice years ago.
The facility abuts the home of the California League Single A, San Jose Giants.
In December, the $300 million palace in the California desert, the Acrisure Arena (9,918), will be unveiled. The building, on the outskirts of Palm Springs, will be the home for the top farm team of the Seattle Kraken, the expansion Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The two buildings cement the AHL Pacific Division’s presence even though Tucson, with new coach Steve Potvin, will play in a larger structure (6,791) this year than their parent team, the Arizona Coyotes (and will likely outdraw them). This hopscotch into ultra-modern facilities highlights the ineptitude surrounding the XL Center.
