All Things AHL Part V

[joshyhockey26]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet hahah Rampage play in the pacific division. Hope everyone is ready for some late games!

 

[Robb_K]

I hope that's what happens, but JR said the big guns will likely be in Chicago. I hope we load up the San Antonio roster with our best and brightest, although I could see a situation where Armstrong wants to throw them into a highly-competitive environment. There will certainly be no shortage of that in Chicago. However, without control of hockey operations, I don't doubt for a second that they'll just go right back to playing their favorites at the expense of our guys' development.

I also don't have the stats off the top of my head, but I don't think the development rule is a concern in Chicago to the extent that JR apparently does. 200 games or whatever is a lot, I don't think most players on the Wolves projected roster are anywhere close to that right now. So we shouldn't put our eggs in that basket and think it will guarantee our guys spots or anything.

JR stated that Army and George McPhee are the best of friends, and that because The Golden Knights are in charge of The Wolves' hockey operations, AND that The Golden knights want their prospects to play in a winning atmosphere, The Wolves will play the best players at each position, that can produce a winning team. And, because of that, Blues' management and fans shouldn't worry about their prospects playing for Chicago, losing needed playing time.

I don't think that The Blues having 1 goalie and 7 skaters on The Wolves, and 1 goalie and 5 skaters at San Antonio, and 1 goalie and 2 or 3 skaters with The Mavs, and maybe another 2 on other ECHL teams, will cause any problems or setbacks for The Blues' prospects' development, other than, possibly, one season less of a few prospects playing together with a player or two with whom they might have gelled earlier. I'm not worried about that, at all.

 

[joshyhockey26]

I hope that's what happens, but JR said the big guns will likely be in Chicago. I hope we load up the San Antonio roster with our best and brightest, although I could see a situation where Armstrong wants to throw them into a highly-competitive environment. There will certainly be no shortage of that in Chicago. However, without control of hockey operations, I don't doubt for a second that they'll just go right back to playing their favorites at the expense of our guys' development.

I also don't have the stats off the top of my head, but I don't think the development rule is a concern in Chicago to the extent that JR apparently does. 200 games or whatever is a lot, I don't think most players on the Wolves projected roster are anywhere close to that right now. So we shouldn't put our eggs in that basket and think it will guarantee our guys spots or anything.

It's a toss up how they're going to divide these players up. Especially when you add in the bubble players like Sanford.

 

[Robb_K]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet hahah Rampage play in the Pacific Division. Hope everyone is ready for some late games!

That should be fixed next season when Colorado is added to The Pacific, and San Antonio and Texas can be moved to The Central.

 

[MissouriMook]

That should be fixed next season when Colorado is added to The Pacific, and San Antonio and Texas can be moved to The Central.

I'm hoping that is the case. That would also allow the league to move one of Grand Rapids and Cleveland back into the Eastern Conference.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Just for the sake of laying it all out in the open, here's what the Wolves' and Rampage's lineups could potentially look like next year, and the max number of Blues players we'll need to find homes for:

Chicago Wolves
Leipsic-[C]-Hyka
Nosek-Duke-Wong
Matteau-Tynan-P. Thompson
[LW]-[C]-Kolesar

Bischoff-Hunt
Reinhart-Morrison
Vaughan-Casto

Dansk-Lagace

San Antonio Rampage
Greer-[C]-Grimaldi
Agozzino-[C]-Shaw
Nantel-Beaudin-Bourque
Vogelhuber-Girard-Petryk
Ranford

Lindholm-Meloche
Warsofsky-Boikov
Geertsen-Graham

Martin-Cannata

Blues Pro Prospects
Blais-Sanford-Thompson
MacEachern-Megan-Kostin
Selman-Musil-[RW]
[LW]-Bleackley-[RW]

Walman-Butler
Dunn-(Prosser?)
Lindbohm-Vannelli
Sergeev

Husso-Binnington-(Opilka?)

So, even with the 6/8/x split-up, it's going to be a tight squeeze.

 

[cgf]

-Ranford looked good for the rampage last year and was productive. Think he lands on a scoring line to start the year unless you send us all of your best prospects.
-I also expect Girard to be ahead of Beaudin to start the season. JCB will need plenty of time in the AHL if his offensive game is to translate to the pro level; I'm expecting at least two full AHL seasons; so easing him in & letting him work his way up the lineup seems the wiser play. Especially since Girard did a really good job after being traded to the rampage last year.
-I don't know enough about Shaw to guess where he factors in, but probably in place of Nantel in the top 9...if you send two scoring line players...with Nantel playing alongside his former Huskies team-mate Beaudin on the 4th line to start the season, Petryk eating Nachos, and Belzille continuing to be ECHL jesus until injuries hit.
-Rocco Grimaldi can play Center or Wing depending on who you send

Another thing to consider is that with the Avs' ECHL affiliate coming off a Kelly Cup win and likely to join the AHL next year as the Avs AHL team, it wouldn't be surprising to see the team send even more of their players down there to continue building up the local hype about the move...like Boikov, Nantel, Belzille, did during last season cup run. In a perfect world I think they want the Eagles to win another Kelly Cup, with even more Avs properties on the team this year, before coming up to the AHL level and adding Makar, Timmins, Morrison & Smirnov to the guys already playing pro.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

-Ranford looked good for the rampage last year and was productive. Think he lands on a scoring line to start the year unless you send us all of your best prospects.
-I also expect Girard to be ahead of Beaudin to start the season. JCB will need plenty of time in the AHL if his offensive game is to translate to the pro level; I'm expecting at least two full AHL seasons; so easing him in & letting him work his way up the lineup seems the wiser play. Especially since Girard did a really good job after being traded to the rampage last year.
-I don't know enough about Shaw to guess where he factors in, but probably in place of Nantel in the top 9...if you send two scoring line players...with Nantel playing alongside his former Huskies team-mate Beaudin on the 4th line to start the season, Petryk eating Nachos, and Belzille continuing to be ECHL jesus until injuries hit.
-Rocco Grimaldi can play Center or Wing depending on who you send

Another thing to consider is that with the Avs' ECHL affiliate coming off a Kelly Cup win and likely to join the AHL next year as the Avs AHL team, it wouldn't be surprising to see the team send even more of their players down there to continue building up the local hype about the move...like Boikov, Nantel, Belzille, did during last season cup run. In a perfect world I think they want the Eagles to win another Kelly Cup, with even more Avs properties on the team this year, before coming up to the AHL level and adding Makar, Timmins, Morrison & Smirnov to the guys already playing pro.

Awesome, thanks for the insight! Yeah your LW depth is pretty good with Greer and Aggz (who was fantastic for the Wolves last season... ironic that we'll be sending some of our guys to play with him again this season on an entirely different team), and now Ranford back in the fold.

For me, if we can have the 3 top 6 spots, a defense spot, and a goalie slot, that team can be looking pretty good. I'd hedge bets right now, bc our beat writer seems to think we'll be sending our top guys back to Chicago, but ideally, I'd send you guys Thompson, Sanford, Kostin, Walman, and Husso. That's all 5 of our top AHL prospects. Tying that in with your insight, it could potentially look like:

Greer-Sanford-Grimaldi
Agozzino-Thompson-Kostin
Ranford-Girard-Bourque
Nantel-Beaudin-Shaw
Petryk, Vogelhuber

Walman-Meloche
Warsofsky-Boikov
Geertsen-Graham
Lindholm

Martin-Husso

Not half bad...

 

[cgf]

I'd split Meloche, Walman and Warsofsky up to keep a PMD on the ice at all times...assuming Bigras sticks in the NHL...but yeah, if that was how it played out the SA locals might just get to enjoy some playoff hockey before we leave town.

Granted that's almost word for word what we were all saying about that team last summer, after they signed Whitney & Sislo for the Rampage. So hopefully it works out better this go around, now that Veilleux is already in place as the HC before the team is put together.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

I spent the last week in San Antonio (for the first time). I'm not sure who was claiming the river-walk is over-rated, but I didn't think so. Its beautiful, and there are plenty of middle range to fancier restaurants, several pubs, and dozens of artist galleries. There is even a neat little outdoor theater with the stage on the opposite side of the water (I guess to make it harder for the crowd to mob the stage if they bomb).

San Antonio is fairly spread out. I didn't check out the area in which the hockey arena is specifically, but I'm sure next year we'll go spend a long weekend there to catch games a couple times. If I were a player, I'd much rather enjoy spending time in San Antonio than Peoria. As for Chicago, I think it will be nice to get out from under the Blackhawks shadow.

 

[Kate]

I live in SA and love the Riverwalk. I am looking forward to seeing some Blues players, even though I'm a Hawks fan Now on to a great season! And if I am picturing that outdoor theater you're talking about, that is where part of Miss Congeniality was filmed, with Sandra Bullock.

 

[The Note in MI]

I just watched the checkers vs wolves playoff series (man I love the internet in 2017).

1. Despite husso having some pretty bad numbers and total save % for the summation of the playoffs he played really well in this series lot of big saves and frankly kept the wolves in most games because of big saves.

2. Samuel blais is a guy I really like after watching this series. Musil played pretty well also but I felt like blais was in on everything when he was on the ice.

3. Walman and Dunn are studs. Mobile and great passers. Both have a pretty solid shot too. Defensively good at moving the puck but could use some sharpening at defending in their zone. They are gonna make for a great 1/2 pp qb on the left side with parayko and pie on the right.

Moving onto their second series today.

 

[joshyhockey26]

I just watched the checkers vs wolves playoff series (man I love the internet in 2017).

1. Despite husso having some pretty bad numbers and total save % for the summation of the playoffs he played really well in this series lot of big saves and frankly kept the wolves in most games because of big saves.

2. Samuel blais is a guy I really like after watching this series. Musil played pretty well also but I felt like blais was in on everything when he was on the ice.

3. Walman and Dunn are studs. Mobile and great passers. Both have a pretty solid shot too. Defensively good at moving the puck but could use some sharpening at defending in their zone. They are gonna make for a great 1/2 pp qb on the left side with parayko and pie on the right.

Moving onto their second series today.

Was able to watch their entire playoff run/season. Blais by far was the biggest surprise of the season imo. Going to be a great depth player.

 

[BlueDream]

Was able to watch their entire playoff run/season. Blais by far was the biggest surprise of the season imo. Going to be a great depth player.

Yup.

If Blais can turn into a decent 3rd-line filler kind of along the lines of a healthier Beau Bennett or more consistent Magnus Paajarvi, then that's excellent value for where we got him in the draft. I'm happy with what he's doing.

 

[The Note in MI]

From the vegas forum

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=135632233&styleid=2

As of now, it will more than likely only be the following players from Rookie Camp playing for the Wolves this year:

Duke
Hyka
Bischoff
Kolesar
Tuch
Wong (signed an AHL-only contract)

Ferguson, Glass, Hague, Suzuki, Leschyshyn, and Jones will all go back to Junior. Patera will either be in the Czech Republic or the USHL. Elvenes will be playing in Sweden.

These players were all invited to rookie camp and don't have contracts yet:

Thompson
Bajkov
Coghlan
Barre-Boulet
Warm
Halbgewachs
Brouillard
Osipov
Texeira

If any of them do get signed, they'd probably end up in Quad City (ECHL), since we're sharing the Wolves with St. Louis and spots might be limited.

So does this provide enough room for our expected AHLers?

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

From the vegas forum

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=135632233&styleid=2



So does this provide enough room for our expected AHLers?

The short answer is no

 

[joshyhockey26]

From the vegas forum

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=135632233&styleid=2



So does this provide enough room for our expected AHLers?

Going to be very crowded but that was always going to happen

 

[Robb_K]

Going to be very crowded but that was always going to happen

Vanelli will be stuck in The ECHL. But, he probably belongs there. Same might be true for Bleakley, whose speed probably isn't good enough for The AHL since his major injuries. Looks like his career has been derailed. All the prospects who really matter will be playing in San Antonio or with The Wolves. It's just that they won't all be playing together. Not a tragedy, as next season, The Blues will have San Antonio all to themselves.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Vanelli will be stuck in The ECHL. But, he probably belongs there. Same might be true for Bleakley, whose speed probably isn't good enough for The AHL since his major injuries. Looks like his career has been derailed. All the prospects who really matter will be playing in San Antonio or with The Wolves. It's just that they won't all be playing together. Not a tragedy, as next season, The Blues will have San Antonio all to themselves.

My main worry at this point is that Chicago and San Antonio won't be enough, and we'll end up having prospects scattered on 3+ teams. As of right now, Chicago has 19 players on their roster (not including Pulkkinen or Sbisa, Stoner, Theodore, Merrill, or any of the dozen or so invitees they have going through their camp right now). San Antonio has 28, not including Kerfoot, Mironov, Siemens, or Atkinson. San Antonio has 3 signed goalies already, and Chicago has 2. My opinion is that we have, at absolute maximum, 9 spots available on either team. But we have at least 18 players headed to the minors this year. Vannelli, Selman, Sergeev, Bleackley, and conceivably MacEachern could spend their seasons in Tulsa, but the other guys really need to be in the AHL. Somethings gotta give somewhere.

 

[Meatwagon]

I wonder if the lack of spots in the AHL forces the Blues to keep a couple of the borderline guys(Dunn,Walman,Thompson, Kostin) with the Blues until injuries start to pile up on the other teams and space is actually available? Just a thought...

 

[joshyhockey26]

I wonder if the lack of spots in the AHL forces the Blues to keep a couple of the borderline guys(Dunn,Walman,Thompson, Kostin) with the Blues until injuries start to pile up on the other teams and space is actually available? Just a thought...

The main team can't carry that many players. Not to mention them sitting in a press box isn't productive. At the end of the day what's likely to happen we will see a few players loaned out to AHL/ECHL clubs. Going to be a mess this season. Thankfully just for this year.

 

[The Note in MI]

If you’re extremely interested in watching the AHL and OHL games this season pm me.

 

[joshyhockey26]

Sergeev and Selman being sent to San Antonio. So the minor pro cuts are finally starting

 

[cgf]

Sergeev and Selman being sent to San Antonio. So the minor pro cuts are finally starting

Any word on these two for avs fans who know nothing about that tier of your prospect pool?

 

[bleedblue1223]

Any word on these two for avs fans who know nothing about that tier of your prospect pool?

They'll likely be ECHL bound and will be of no significance this season. If we were to rank our prospects, they'd be around 30 or worse.