HARTFORD WOLF PACK TEAM BUILDING CONTINUES
By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The always difficult off-season of team preparation work for the entire New York Rangers organization, including the Hartford Wolf Pack, continues.
The Rangers signed undrafted left-winger Sahil Panwar on Monday. The 6’0, 195-pounder was inked to a one-year AHL standard player contract and will start training camp in Hart City.
Sahil, in the Hindu dialect, means “leader.” He is the second South Asian background player the Wolf Paack have had on their roster. The first is now the assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Manny Malhotra.
Panwar, 21, just finished his junior career in the OHL. He played in 68 OHL games last season. He appeared in his first 34 games with the Peterborough Petes, registering 17 points with 10 goals, and was future Wolf Pack Brennan Othmann’s teammate.
Then, following a trade to the Hamilton Bulldogs, a former AHL city (just relocated to Brantford because of arena renovations next season), Panwar skated in 34 games and registered 52 points with 21 goals. He was named OHL Player of the Week twice. The first came from January 23rd through the 29th and then again from March 6th through the 12th.
In 199 career OHL games between the Bulldogs, Petes, Flint (MI) Firebirds, and London Knights, Panwar amassed 124 points with 54 goals with 70 assists.
The native of Mississauga, Ontario, migrated all over North America because of his father’s job.
Panwar first was in Montreal, then San Jose, and then headed to Southern California. While there, he played in the LA Jr. Kings U-14/U-16 teams under the guidance of former Wolf Pack great Derek Armstrong. He played with Quinn and Blake Emerson, the twin sons of ex-Hartford Whaler Nelson Emerson.
The Henderson Silver Knights, Brendan Bisson, skated with Panwar, who has a younger brother Jordan, an incoming freshman at Colorado College (NCHC). Both are sons of NHL player agent Pat Bisson, a coach, and founder of organized hockey in Southern California. Calgary Wranglers (AHL) goalie Dustin Wolf, last year’s regular season Les Cunningham MVP, was with them as well.
Panwar had just three points with two goals in four OHL playoff games with the Bulldogs. A year ago, he had 19 playoff games with the Firebirds with seven points, his only other junior playoff experience.
He also recently attended the New York Rangers 2023 Development Camp as a free-agent invitee.
Panwar was a depth signee who will likely be sent to the Rangers’ organizations’ newly announced Double AA affiliate, the Cincinnati (OH) Cyclones. As of now, the team has 24 roster spots allocated.
Three more players have signed overseas, making it a total of 48.
Sam Anas, formerly of Quinnipiac University (ECACHL), the defending national collegiate champions from the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, signs with Dynamo Minsk (Belarus-KHL). Andy Andreoff and his 37 goals leave the Bridgeport Islanders to sign with Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia-KHL).
Three of the last four AHL European signees were with Russian-based KHL teams. The ongoing war of unprovoked aggression/invasion of Ukraine, human rights violations galore and state-sanctioned kidnapping and mysterious deaths occur, was supposed to be off-limits by the NHL and, by extension, the AHL, but evidently, not so much.
Another signee to Belarus is ex-Pack Kodie Curran, who leaves Metallurg Magnitgorsk (Russia-KHL) signs with Dynamo Minsk. Zach Fucale was another member of the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, joining recent signee ex-Pack/Ranger Vitali Kravtsov and goalie ex-Pack Adam Húska, who Torpedo Novgorod just re-signed.
Ex-Pack Ryan Sproul re-signs for a fifth year with Kunlun Red Star (China-KHL) and will likely play for their national team at the World Championship.
Rearguard Logan Day, a very solid performer in Hershey’s championship Calder Cup run, is talking with AHL and KHL teams but will very likely re-sign with the Bears.
One Bridgeport Islander forward is likely to play with the independent Chicago Wolves. Chis Terry, as well as another ex-Pack captain, and UCONN Husky (AHA) Cole Schneider, who was also last year’s captain in Milwaukee with the Admirals, heads down I-70.
At its recent annual league meeting, the ECHL mandated a 32-team league to meet the NHL (long sought-after) equilibrium of 32 teams at the NHL, AHL, and ECHL levels. They were looking at Athens, GA, and another unnamed market.
The league announced its 29th franchise with majority owners of Tim Tebow, the former football and baseball player, and Hodges Management Group, LLC., CEO David Hodges. They will play in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, beginning in the 2024-25 season.
The yet unnamed team will play at the brand-new Blue Event Center in the South Lake Tahoe District and will help ECHL teams in the Mountain Division, Idaho (Boise), Utah (Salt Lake City), Allen (TX), Kansas City (MO), Wichita (KS), Rapid City (SD) and Tulsa (OK).
The NHL affiliation will be announced in February 2024.
Tebow has been involved with ECHL as a minority owner with the Jacksonville Icemen, the former Double AA affiliate of the Rangers/Wolf Pack, and the Savannah (GA) Ghost Pirates under the aegis of Zawyer Sports and Entertainment, the operating company for all three entities.
Tebow’s athletic history dates back to high school when he won the Florida HS Class 4A title in 2005. He went on to Florida to play Division I football, where as a sophomore, he won the Heisman Trophy in 2007. He won National titles in 2006 and 2008 and was voted into the College Football Hall-of-Fame in January.
Despite being a first-round draft choice, he had a short NFL career, and he never fit the scout’s pre-conceived parameters. All he did was throw touchdowns.
His pro career highlight came as a Denver Bronco. It was the first play in the OT win over Pittsburgh when he completed an 80-yard pass play-and-catch-plays to Demaryius Thomas for a 29-23 win on January 8, 2012.
Tebow had unsuccessful tryouts with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets.
Like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson before him, he tried his hand at baseball. His inability to hit a curveball derailed his attempt to play in the major leagues. His minor pro ball career lasted five years. He played in the Mets’ system, making it as high as their Double AA Eastern League team in Binghamton, and played against the Hartford Yard Goats. He ended his career at the Triple AAA level in Syracuse in 2021.
He is one of the owners of the USL (United Soccer League) Jacksonville franchise.
