BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – It’s the time of year that moving companies love when it comes to the hockey industry. Coaches and players are both moving all over the place.
Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack/New York Ranger Sylvain Lefebvre. After being hired as an assistant coach for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, he leaves the San Diego Gulls.
Lefebvre is the second assistant coach to leave former Hartford Whalers’ great, Kevin Dineen’s staff. Ex-Pack, David Urquhart, returned to Montreal to be the head coach at McGill University (OUAAA).
Alex Tanguay, an Iowa Wild assistant coach signs with the Detroit Red Wings.
KRAKEN AND CHECKERS WORKING TOGETHER
The expansion Seattle Kraken announced they would have a dual affiliation arrangement with the Charlotte Checkers for their first season in 2021-22 while building a new facility in Palm Springs that’s currently under construction.
The irony is that current Seattle General Manager and Whaler great, Ron Francis, had a six-year relationship with Charlotte while he was with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Checkers were the Hurricane’s AHL affiliates up until last season. They and are now in Chicago with the Wolves.
The Kraken will likely send 8 players, but that number could climb to as many as 12 players to the Checkers. Francis has been operating at his North Carolina home since the COVID pandemic started.
The team will supply the Checkers with an assistant coach who will likely become the first head coach of the Kraken’s Palm Springs (CA) affiliate when they come on board in their brand new 10,000 seat arena in 2022-23.
It will be the second straight year that the Florida Panthers will have a dual affiliation. Last season the defending Stanley Cup champions and current finalist, Tampa Bay Lightning, shared the Syracuse Crunch.
NHL DRAFT
The Seattle Expansion Draft is set for Wednesday, July 21 at 8 pm and broadcast on ESPN2 in Seattle.
The entire NHL Draft is held and broadcast over two days, with the first round covered across the US by NBCSN. For the second year in a row, the draft will be done remotely. On Saturday, the NHL Network will broadcast rounds 2-7.
NBCSN is going to be closing shop soon. The draft broadcast team will be composed of members of their staff and ESPN/Turner Sports, where hockey coverage is going to be moving forward, as well as TSN in Canada talent.
KARMANOS NO LONGER AN NHL OWNER
The NHL announced Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon completed his acquisition of the remaining minority ownership stake of Peter Karmanos. As a result, Dundon is now the sole owner of the team.
The transaction formally ends Karmanos’ relationship with the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers that began in 1994.
AHL NEWS
The AHL Board Of Governors (BOG) approved and announced the sale of the Rockford IceHogs to the Chicago Blackhawks. Read more about that HERE.
The AHL BOG then announced that the City of Abbotsford and the Vancouver Canucks had finalized the lease for the AHL team and that the Aquillini Investment Group (AIG) arena management portion of the deal. AIG is the parent company of the Vancouver Canucks.
The Abbotsford Centre is a multi-purpose entertainment and sports facility. Aquilini Investment Group will manage staffing, event bookings, ticketing, and food and beverage management. More on that deal HERE.
Revenue sharing is also included in the contract. The city benefits from enhanced financial gains by sharing profits if there are an average of 5,000 tickets sold per regular season game.
MOVEMENT
Ex-Pack Brian Gibbons (Salisbury Prep) leaves Lausanne HC (Switzerland-LNA) to play for Linköping HC (Sweden-SHL) next season.
Adam Musil, the nephew of former Whaler and Ranger Bobby Holik, switches teams in the Czech Republic, going from HC Liberec to HC Dynamo Pardubice.
Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger (now Islanders) goalie Kevin Poulin leaves IF Bjorkloven (Sweden-Allsvenskan) and signs a one-year AHL deal with the Laval Rocket.
The UCONN Huskies will be getting defensive depth next season in Jarrod Gourley, a grad transfer defenseman from NCAA Divison-1 independent Arizona State University (ASU). He is the 51st NCAA grad transfer in the hectic college hockey off-season that has seen 108 players switch schools via school or grad transfers.
Gourley is a left-handed shooter who hails from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He will be in Storrs in a few months. The 22-year-old is undrafted, and his younger brother, Connor Gourley, is currently playing with Camrose (AJHL) and will be at ASU next year.
Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) added veteran coach Mike Corbett as the new assistant coach for the Bobcats. Corbett coached Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA) for the last seven years.
GUITE AND OTHER MOVES
Ex-Sound Tiger Ben Guité, who has been with his alma mater an assistant and associate head coach with the Maine Black Bears (HE) for eight years, did not have his contract renewed.
Guite was named the interim head coach in May after the sudden passing of one-time Yale assistant Dennis “Red” Gendron. UMASS assistant coach Bill Barr was hired in early June as the new head coach.
Sadly, the WCHA Men’s Hockey conference is shutting down after 70 years. They lost seven schools to the new CCHA and saw the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the University of Alaska-Anchorage went dark this year.
The University of Alaska-Fairbanks will play as a Division-1 independent next season.
It’s possible that in the next couple of years that the WCHA will return as a true Western-based US college conference.
The WCHA women’s conference will continue as is.
PLAYERS CALLING MOVING VANS
Nic Pierog (Canterbury Prep/Sound Tigers) leaves the Indy Fuel (ECHL) and signs with HKM Zloven (Slovakia-SLEL) for next season.
Leaving HKM, the defending Slovak league champion is ex-Pack, Allan MacPherson who departs for HC Kosice (Slovakia).
Ex-Sound Tiger, Jesse Graham, leaves KalPa Kuopio (Finland-FEL) and signs with Augsburger (Germany-DEL).
On his new team and also switching clubs is Marek Bartunas. He is the cousin to Matej Baca, the nephew of former Whaler Jergus Baca. The younger Baca is returning to HK 32 Liptovsky (Slovakia-SLEL) after being traded last year in mid-season.
Ex-Sound Tiger Tomas Malec, who nears the end of his career at age 39, drops down from the Czech Elite League HC Brno to HC Brno-B (Division-3).
Former UCONN Husky, Spencer Naas, departs Tranås AIF (Sweden HockeyEttan Division-1) for HC Amiens (France-FREL).
US WORLD JUNIOR TEAM NEWS
The 44-player tryout camp for the United States World Junior Team is set to play July 24-31 in the World Junior Summer Showcase at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
Included on the roster for defense is Scott Morrow (Darien). He will head to the defending national champion, UMASS-Amherst (HE), in the fall. Morrow, has played for the Shattuck’s St. Mary’s program for the last three years.
A WJC returnee from the Bronze medal-winning squad from last year is Jake Sanderson, the son of former Whaler great Geoff Sanderson. He skates for North Dakota (NCHC).
Another returnee, but at forward, is Rangers draft pick Brett Berard of Providence College (HE). He is the son of former UCONN head coach David Berard, now the Director of Administration at PC. The elder Berard played as an undergrad, graduated from PC, and was an assistant coach for twelve years. He is no relation to former NHL’er Bryan Berard.
There is also Matthew “Mackie” Samoskevitch (Newtown). He is heading to the University of Michigan (Big 10) in the fall and is NHL Draft eligible this year.
Lastly, a sophomore from Quinnipiac University (ECACHL), Ty Smilanic, a draft pick of the Florida Panthers last year.
The WJC tournament will run from December 26th through January 5th in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.
USA Hockey named its roster and coaches for 2021 Hlinka Cup in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia. There is just one local name associated with the team, Assistant Coach Jared Walman, from Hamden, Connecticut.
CHL DRAFT NEWS
The 30th annual CHL (Canadian Hockey League) Import Draft that involves the three Canadian major junior leagues was held early this year. Normally it’s held a week after the NHL Draft.
85 players were selected, including 52 forwards, 26 defensemen, and seven goalies were chosen by 57 teams compromised of the OHL, QMJHL, and the WHL.
The top three countries to have players selected were Russia with 16, the Czech Republic with 15, and Belarus taking 11.
Just two players had Connecticut connections.
UCONN defenseman Yan Kuznetsov, who left school two years early after signing an entry-level deal with the Calgary Flames, played six games with the AHL Stockton Heat, who, because of Covid-19, played their games in Calgary last season.
Kuznetsov was taken in the first round (22nd overall) by the QMJHL Saint John (NB) Sea Dogs. Kuznetsov is 6’4 and 225 lbs. He will not be turning 20-years-of-age until March 2022. He is still Russia WJC eligible, so he could wind up in the Q getting valuable playing minutes depending on the organizational depth in Stockton.
6′ tall defenseman David Spacek is the other player selected with a connection to Connecticut. He was taken in the second round (67th overall), is a right-hander, and was selected by the QMJHL Sherbrooke Phoenix. Spacek 18, is the son of former Beast of New Haven defenseman Jaroslav Spacek.
He played last year for HC Litomerice (Czech Republic Division-2). He is signed to play for HC Plzen (Pilsner) in the Czech U-20 league this year and is WJC eligible. His father is the national team assistant coach and is also an assistant with HC Plzen with the Czech Elite League (CEL) team.
He could play in the Q get playing time like Kuznetsov, but the NHL Draft in three weeks will likely play a factor in where he goes if he is drafted.
