Prospect Info: Hershey Bears/South Carolina Stingrays 2020-2021 Vol. 1

[DWGie26]

I don’t think the list is bad. I just think that a prior Hershey/Washington connection isn’t exactly needed IMO. Just hire the best candidate. Carbery never played for Hershey. He played a year and a half for SC and eventually was their coach for a few years but he also left SC to pursue other opportunities prior to joining the Bears. Bruce was another coach who didn’t have a connection to Hershey when he was hired.

Wellar has never been a head coach at any level. I would just find it hard to elevate him to the HC of the most prestigious AHL club without any HC experience. It would be a lot of pressure, especially since he has played in Hershey on some of their best teams of all time. The die hards and STHs in Hershey can turn on a coach very quickly if they have a bad year.

That is fair. I read the comments above as more that Weller wasn’t liked or not a good coach.

But Weller has been an assistant for the Bears for 4 years. At some point he needs to get a shot. Question is, is this the right time. So if you backstop him with someone else who could then step in if needed. i don’t think Knuble takes a AC job. But Ben Boudreau (HC in ECHL) or Hartley would fit that bill. So you get someone in Weller who knows the team and system and a rising coach as an assistant (who isn’t overqualified) that could then take a team over with knowledge if necessary in a year, two, or three.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

 

[hb12xchamps]

Todd Nelson would be a solid hire. Won the Calder Cup as the head coach in Grand Rapids. Coached Nick Jensen, Dylan McIlrath and Anthony Mantha during that season. Also one of only three coaches to have won the Calder Cup as a player, assistant coach and head coach. The other two are Mike Stothers and Bob Woods and both played and coached in Hershey as well.

 

[hockeykicker]

That's a really good hire. And if some reason they decide to axe lavy they have a good AHL coach to replace him

 

[Langway]

Hershey Bears power play connection reunites as Nelson joins Montgomery on Stars staff

New Stars coach Jim Montgomery turned to a long-ago teammate as he continues to round out his staff in Dallas.

theathletic.com

Should be good for the prospects having such an experienced hand. They should pick his brain in training camp about PP tactics as well since he was tasked with that in Dallas. He seems like a good communicator, smart and flexible to the point where if not in DC he should be on the radar elsewhere for NHL HC spots going forward.

 

[John Price]

 

[Ridley Simon]

Meh. I’m over HC’s named Todd.

 

[DWGie26]

Going for a proven veteran is an interesting move. We have had young coaches looking to get to NHL so tenures have been short. Nelson has had long (3-5 year) stints at AHL level and won championships. This will give us some stability. And if Forsyth ever gets run out, we have a PP guy.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Going for a proven veteran is an interesting move. We have had young coaches looking to get to NHL so tenures have been short. Nelson has had long (3-5 year) stints at AHL level and won championships. This will give us some stability. And if Forsyth ever gets run out, we have a PP guy.

With Nelson as the Hershey Coach, I'm interested to see who they hire as the Goalie Coach to develop Fucale, Stevenson and Hunter.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Fucale is 27 and Shepherd turns 27 in a few months. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of developing in the cards for those two.

The development should focus on Stevenson and Bjorklund, wherever they end up landing between Hershey and South Carolina. They also have Mitchell Gibson if he chooses to leave college after this season.

 

[DWGie26]

Fucale is 27 and Shepherd turns 27 in a few months. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of developing in the cards for those two.

The development should focus on Stevenson and Bjorklund, wherever they end up landing between Hershey and South Carolina. They also have Mitchell Gibson if he chooses to leave college after this season.

Develop… help elevate their game. Basically the same Thing. But no doubt we need a strong goalie coach In Hershey.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Develop… help elevate their game. Basically the same Thing. But no doubt we need a strong goalie coach In Hershey.

I’m not as high on Fucale as some. I personally think his few NHL shutouts were an outlier compared to the rest of his career. He had a solid COVID year, but it was only 11 starts total and it was versus the same few teams over and over again. His Hershey stats last year were pretty average at best. Copley outplayed him at the AHL level.

Don’t get me wrong he’s probably a top AHL starter at this point, but I don’t think he’s going to be a full time NHL guy. It will be interesting to see if he elevates him game back to the level it was at during the COVID year or if he continues to be average at best while taking on the starters workload.

 

[pman25]

I wonder about Fucale making it through waivers at start of the year. Montembault and Wedgewood were claimed in the early goings last year. Some team might take a chance if they have injuries in training camp.

 

[Holtbyisms]

I wonder about Fucale making it through waivers at start of the year. Montembault and Wedgewood were claimed in the early goings last year. Some team might take a chance if they have injuries in training camp.

Maybe not the worst thing in the world... Shepherd has outgrown the ECHL but we need to move Stevenson along if he's got a shot at being a NHLer, he's already 23. That would also give Bjorklund a hefty amount of ECHL starts.

 

[DWGie26]

Maybe not the worst thing in the world... Shepherd has outgrown the ECHL but we need to move Stevenson along if he's got a shot at being a NHLer, he's already 23. That would also give Bjorklund a hefty amount of ECHL starts.

Agree. Two 27 year olds isn’t great. Forcing Clay at 23 to compete for AHL with Bjorklund isn’t a bad thing. competion is always a good thing when done right.

 

[Langway]

Chris Bourque joining the coaching staff?

Edit: May just be a number retirement.

Indeed:

 

[hb12xchamps]

Definitely deserved for Bourque. A number hasn’t been retired in Hershey in a long, long time

 

[DWGie26]

Saw an interview with Chris Bourque… seems like he was genuinely pumped about this. Glad to see Hershey recognizing him!

 

[hb12xchamps]

 

[Tomppav]

With Nelson as the Hershey Coach, I'm interested to see who they hire as the Goalie Coach to develop Fucale, Stevenson and Hunter.

They hired Finnish (yeah, isn't it crazy???) goalie coach Juha Lehtola. Lehtola's contract is two-year contract with one-year-option after that. Caps interviewed him also 2017, but he lost the job to Alex Westlund. Lehtola is at the moment in Edmonton with Finland's U20 WJC team.

Lehtola, 37, joins the Bears from his native Finland, where he worked with in the country’s top league, Liiga, for HPK Hameenlinna as goaltending coach and video coach since 2016. He was part of HPK’s 2018-19 club that won the league championship, and the former netminder was a product of HPK’s junior program during his playing days.

The native of Hameenlinna, Finland was selected as the goaltending coach for Finland in the 2021 and 2022 World Junior Championships. From 2011-13, Lehtola worked alongside Washington Capitals goalie coach Scott Murray with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves. He served as Murray’s assistant goaltending coach and also held the video coach title during the 2012-13 campaign.

 

[Langway]

Sam Anas signing by the looks of it.

 

[Tomppav]

Sam Anas signing by the looks of it.

Bears Sign Former AHL Scoring Champion Sam Anas | NEWS | Hershey Bears Hockey

www.hersheybears.com

 

[hb12xchamps]

Anas is a huge addition

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Interesting…..so career AHLer at this point who can produce lots of offense. What’s not to like?

 

[Strawberry Fields]

I was really hoping they'd sign him. Once the dust settled the first two days of free agency he was one of the biggest names left, plus I wondered if him being from MD might lure him towards the Caps' affiliate.

Maybe he can coax his Tbirds teammate Neal to come with him