By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack continues to prepare for their upcoming road trip against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins or the Cleveland Monsters. They are practicing minus Riley Nash and Matej Pekar. Neither will make the trip as both are being evaluated for lower body injuries and timetables for their return.
In their absence, Cristiano Di Giacinto was recalled and practiced on Monday.
Rangers are shopping the market for forwards with their eyes on possible short-term or long-term options.
In the short term, there is undrafted, 25-year-old free agent Maxim (Max) Tsyplakov in Russia right now. He is having a career season so far and is the third leading KHL scorer with 29 goals and 41 points with Spartak Moscow.
Whether he could come over or not, given the war situation with Russia and Ukraine and the NHL, is sketchy at best.
Scouring the waiver wire is always possible; making a trade and using Zac Jones, who has not played much as an asset in such a move for a necessary forward, is also an option.
In a long-term option, draftee Gabe Perreault. He would not be available until whenever Boston College’s (HE) season ends. He would then have to decide to turn pro. Perreault displayed his strong skating and finishing touch in BC’s 6-2 win over Merrimack. Perreault wouldn’t be an option until April should the Eagles go to the national championship. The Eagles #2 meet rival BU #1 in the Beanpot opener. If these rankings hold up, this will be the first time ever.
The Pack’s Matt Robertson returned from his weekend with the Rangers in California. He didn’t play but collected his NHL salary. His bank account certainly was pleased with the trip.
Defenseman Bryan Yoon, who performed so well in his absence this past weekend, is still around, which will force interim head coach Steve Smith to make some difficult decisions.
Goalie Alex Lyon, a former Yale Bulldog, was a very sound technical netminder on the New Haven campus and never got a complete shot in Philly. He wound up in Carolina and then in Florida, which had even more problems, but Lyon stuck it out and made it work.
In Carolina, with Chicago (AHL) as its farm team two years ago, he played despite his coach Ryan Warsofsky being threatened with being fired if he played Lyon over prospect Pyotr Kochetkov that year in the Wolves Calder Cup run. He defied them, and they won in seven games and copping a title in Springfield.
Lyon let the management know how he felt with a double-fingered universal hello sign at center ice in the team championship photo – you couldn’t miss it. The AHL noticed it, too, and issued him a one-game suspension.
Following through on their threat, Carolina fired Warsofsky, now an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks.
Lyon then migrated to Florida last season, and a late-season run with Sergei Bobrovsky stumbling then, and Spencer Knight (Darien/AOF) unexpectedly had to enter the NHL Player Assistance program.
Last year, Lyon was summoned from Charlotte and went on a late-season tear that allowed the Panthers to become the last team to make the NHL playoffs in the last week of the season. The Panthers had a magical ride to the Stanley Cup Final, upending last year’s NHL best team, the Boston Bruins, along the way, and his play made it happen.
This year, he was signed to tutor young prodigy Sebastien Cossa.
A funny thing happened along the way; he played well enough in training camp to stay in Detroit.
Lyon has been one of the reasons they are playing above their pay grade and just might make the NHL playoffs. He helped them recently beat a good Tampa Bay team. When the chips are down, the house money is on Alex Lyon.
Teams have discounted certain players, like current Wolf Pack goalie coach Jeff Malcom.
Every scout said he wasn’t technically sound despite leading Yale to an improbable Division I NCAA title over ten years ago.
When asked, a scout at the time lamented Malcolm’s lack of technical skills. No analytics were needed; could he stop the puck?
The trade deadline is six weeks away, a few NHL teams need a goalie. If they can wrangle Lyon away from Detroit in a deal, they should.
The Edmonton Oilers, under Kris Knoblauch, have reached unseen heights in team history with a three-goal third, breaking a 1-1 tie with a pesky Columbus Blue Jackets team in Edmonton for their 14th win in a row, 4-1.
PLAYER MOVEMENT
Returned from the NHL Brogan Rafferty (Quinnipiac University) from Detroit to Grand Rapids, Ken Appleby by the Islanders to Bridgeport,
Ex-Pack Josh Wesley Colorado to Utah (ECHL),
Florida recalled Mackie Samoskevitch (Sandy Hook) from Charlotte.
Alexandre Fortin, the nephew of former Whaler Jean-Sébastien Giguère, goes from Orlando (ECHL) to HKM Zvolen (Slovakia-SLEL) for the rest of the year. He was in training camp with the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Phil Kemp (Yale University) is sent back to Bakersfield by Edmonton.
D Adam Karashik (Ridgefield/ UCONN/AOF)is sent to Reading (ECHL) on a conditioning assignment, and ex-Pack emergency goalie Parker Gahagen is recalled.
Daniel “Diamond Hands” Amesbury had 1,007 PM in 128 Jr A games in the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL). After eight years away from hockey, Amesbury went to the Danbury Hat Tricks (FPHL). After just 46 career games, he amassed 423 PIMs in Danbury and was tossed out of the FPHL for two blind side hits, one of which caused a seizure, in the last month. With a long history of fighters, the Ft. Wayne Komets (ECHL) have naturally signed him.
To date, he has 1,171 PIMs in just 182 lower minor pro games in three leagues, for a 6.43 per-game average.
Some of those names in Ft. Wayne history include Steve “The Animal” Fletcher, Kevin “Killer” Kaminski, Robin Bawa, Chris McRae, former New Haven Nighthawk Kevin McDonald, Andy Bezeau, ex-Pack/Springfield Falcon Sean Gagnon, and Cody Sol.
He has a link to ex-Pack greats Derek Armstrong and Brad Smyth. He played half a season in the last season of the new Central Hockey League in Denver, where Armstrong and Smyth were a coaching tandem with the Cutthroats.
The ECHL announced an expansion team for Bloomington, Illinois, next season, along with the recently named Lake Tahoe Knight Monsters at Blue Event Center.
Coaching staff, NHL/AHL affiliation, and unveiling of the team-styled jerseys to come shortly.
The ECHL is now inching closer to having a compatible number of teams equal to the NHL and AHL. The preferred model is 32-NHL, 32-AHL, and 32-ECHL.
The two new teams next year will bring the total to 30. Hallett Sports & Entertainment will own the team, which already owns the ECHL Indy Fuel.
The last professional team was the Bloomington Thunder, which played in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2014.
The city has seen the United Hockey League, the new IHL, and the Central Hockey League call it home in the past.
The last team was at the American Junior A level, with the Central Illinois Flying Aces of the United States Hockey League (USHL).
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