2018-19 AHL Affiliate San Diego Gulls

[HansH]

I just read the transactions -- swapping Sustr for Welinski and Mahura on the blue line may help a bit - we'll just have to see. Also, maybe not having Coreau behind him (and not being called up himself) might give Boyle a tap on the side of the head to get whatever he has going on with the mental side of his game worked out.

 

[Opak]

I posted this in the trade thread:

Last season, Cracknell was the second best goal scorer in Laval (54GP, 27 G 48 PTS). That team's head coach was current San Diego assistant Sylvain Lefebvre, so I imagine the coaching staff has a pretty good idea of what Cracknell brings to the team.

The Sustr recall and Oleksy trade open up two veteran spots for the Gulls, one of which will now be Cracknell. They could now try and waive Street to the AHL to further boost the offense.

The loss of Oleksy stings a bit, but Mahura and Welinski should be huge additions. What was previously this:

Benoit - Sustr
Megna - Schenn
Thompson - Oleksy

Is now something like this:

Megna - Welinski
Mahura - Schenn
Benoit - Thompson

Would like to add that I was totally wrong about Welinski's waiver eligiblity, and that it makes my previous post take a turn for the ironical. I will admit that I was off on that one, but in my defense that makes the Welinski situation even more incomprehensible -- if he's actually still waiver exempt, why on earth would you sit him as the 7th defenseman in Anaheim for that long?

Nevertheless, what's done is done, and ultimately some much needed changes were made to the roster. The Gulls are scheduled to play next on Friday at Bakersfield, will be interesting to see the new lineup.

 

[MMC]

I posted this in the trade thread:



Would like to add that I was totally wrong about Welinski's waiver eligiblity, and that it makes my previous post take a turn for the ironical. I will admit that I was off on that one, but in my defense that makes the Welinski situation even more incomprehensible -- if he's actually still waiver exempt, why on earth would you sit him as the 7th defenseman in Anaheim for that long?

Nevertheless, what's done is done, and ultimately some much needed changes were made to the roster. The Gulls are scheduled to play next on Friday at Bakersfield, will be interesting to see the new lineup.

Mahura is now up with the team, so I'm assuming we see

Megna-Welinski
Benoit-Schenn
???-Thompson

I really don't know who else we have

 

[HansH]

Mahura is now up with the team, so I'm assuming we see

Megna-Welinski
Benoit-Schenn
???-Thompson

I really don't know who else we have

The only other D-man on the Gulls' current roster is Chris Forney

 

[HansH]

San Diego Fox 5 TV game tonight, hosting the 15-3-3 San Jose Barracuda, who hold 1st place in the Pacific. The Gulls come in in dead last in the division at 8-11-3, having lost in Bakersfield in the shootout exhibition last night. I'm not hopeful for a good showing tonight.

 

[MMC]

Gulls lose 4-3 in the shootout with goals from Fiore, Tropp, and Kossila.

 

[HansH]

Gulls lose 4-3 in the shootout with goals from Fiore, Tropp, and Kossila.

That was Friday in Bakersfield.

Tonight, in San Diego, the Gulls managed a come-from-behind 4-3 shootout victory over the team with the league's best winning percentage. I was very surprised, especially after the Gulls fell behind less than three minutes into the game, and down 2-0 in the first period. Jones potted two to tie it up, including a 2nd goal that was off a VERY fortunate bounce from a Barracuda clearing attempt. The Gulls fell behind again in the third off a dead snipe from the point, but Carrick tied it up on a deflection on a Gulls PP later in the period. Jones was badly targeted by the 'Cuda after his 2nd goal, leading to two different fights, one including Carrick just having had enough and not letting a post-whistle scrum just die, the other featuring Schenn and Martin.

OT saw some egregious non-calls, but no scoring for either team. The shootout went to a fifth round before newcomer Cracknell managed to make the 'Cuda goalie bite on a deke, giving plenty of room to go around and behind him for the game-winner.

Tonight saw the pairing of Chase DeLeo and Matt Berry on a line, which seemed to benefit them both -- they were both very visible as disruptors and puck-stealers all night long. Berry was very much playing like he wanted this first trip back to the AHL (after two full seasons in the ECHL) to last as long as he could make it. If he keeps this level of result up, he should be rewarded with that, IMO.

 

[Opak]

This week(end) in San Diego: the shootout edition

12/14 - Gulls get their first point in December after losing to the Condors 3-4 after shootout. Highlights here.
12/15 - Gulls snap their 5-game skid, defeat Barracuda 3-4.

3 out of 4 points is a good haul for the week, but the Gulls still dwell in the basement of the AHL Pacific, about 10 or so points outside of the playoff picture.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Terry has one goal in his last 10 games after that hot start. He also finally picked up his first penalty, in his 20th game. 2 PIMs now.

 

[Static]

Terry has one goal in his last 10 games after that hot start. He also finally picked up his first penalty, in his 20th game. 2 PIMs now.

He always seemed to be more of a playmaker in college.

Also Max Jones Jeep's producing, great to see.

 

[HansH]

Terry has one goal in his last 10 games after that hot start. He also finally picked up his first penalty, in his 20th game. 2 PIMs now.

I thought the 3rd goal was going to be credited to Terry when I saw it real-time - I still didn’t see the Carrick deflection even on the in-arena replay, but there was a lot of muddle, so I’ll take the scorer’s word for it. Still, Terry was certainly creating a lot last night, either way.

And not only did Jones score two, but he also drew three different power plays, one of which resulted in the game-tying-goal - he did have quite the game.

 

[HansH]

Gulls host the Barracuda again tonight at the newly-renamed Pechanga Arena San Diego - I would not be surprised if the 'Cuda come in with a chip on their shoulder after Saturday's shootout loss to the worst team in the division, especially as chippy as play got late in Saturday's game. Honestly, it feels like a dice roll as to which Gulls team will show up tonight - the one that held on and scrapped back against a team with a better record on Saturday, or the one that has been showing lifeless slumps prior to that performance. Lundestrom was announced today as being loaned to the Swedish National team for the World Juniors - I would anticipate that would mean he would not be in tonight's lineup.

 

[dracom]

For those watching the Gulls...how has steel been? I still have high hopes for him but I feel like I haven’t heard much from him since he went to SD.

 

[HansH]

For those watching the Gulls...how has steel been? I still have high hopes for him but I feel like I haven’t heard much from him since he went to SD.

He looks like a talented rookie with potential who needs some more time to figure out how to excel in the pro game. He gets flashes here and there, and hasn't been a liability. I'm predicting he'll benefit next year from playing regular minutes down here.

 

[HansH]

Blandisi is in the lineup for the first time in several games, taking the spot vacated by Lundestrom.

 

[Static]

Blandisi is in the lineup for the first time in several games, taking the spot vacated by Lundestrom.

Has he been a healthy scratch?

 

[HansH]

Has he been a healthy scratch?

I think he's been out injured, but you know how secret those AHL injury statuses are...

 

[Sean Garrity]

Has he been a healthy scratch?

I think he's been out injured, but you know how secret those AHL injury statuses are...

Isn't he at the world juniors?

 

[HansH]

Isn't he at the world juniors?

Lundestrom is at world juniors, but I took the "healthy scratch" question to refer to Blandisi, as he had missed the prior 5 games. I did hear on the radio tonight that it was indeed an injury for Blandisi, but he came back big tonight, scoring two goals on a line with Tropp and Kosilla in the Gulls' surprising 6-1 trouncing of the team with the league's best winning percentage, handing the Barracuda only their fourth regulation loss in 24 games.

 

[Sean Garrity]

Lundestrom is at world juniors, but I took the "healthy scratch" question to refer to Blandisi, as he had missed the prior 5 games. I did hear on the radio tonight that it was indeed an injury for Blandisi, but he came back big tonight, scoring two goals on a line with Tropp and Kosilla in the Gulls' surprising 6-1 trouncing of the team with the league's best winning percentage, handing the Barracuda only their fourth regulation loss in 24 games.

Got it, and as always I think everyone here appreciates your updates!

 

[Sean Garrity]

He always seemed to be more of a playmaker in college.

Also Max Jones Jeep's producing, great to see.

It's an important attribute to have unless you have elite goalscoring ability, otherwise teams will just pressure you knowing that you're not going to make the right play.

 

[AngelDuck]

I was able to watch the game tonight, first gulls game I've seen in a while. Jones was held pointless but stood out to me in a good way. Guy has serious physical tools. Maybe he can be a Michael Ferland type?

Steel and Terry need to work on their acceleration and their strength for puck battles. Steel is an interesting case. Guy is a pretty good skater but he gets caught on the back check frequently because his first step isn't great. They will both be very good if they can hone that in. Both of them have great hockey sense

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I was able to watch the game tonight, first gulls game I've seen in a while. Jones was held pointless but stood out to me in a good way. Guy has serious physical tools. Maybe he can be a Michael Ferland type?

Steel and Terry need to work on their acceleration and their strength for puck battles. Steel is an interesting case. Guy is a pretty good skater but he gets caught on the back check frequently because his first step isn't great. They will both be very good if they can hone that in. Both of them have great hockey sense

Our left wingers should be pretty tough to play against down the line

Rakell - Comtois- Ritchie - Jones

 

[Kalv]

Our left wingers should be pretty tough to play against down the line

Rakell - Comtois- Ritchie - Jones

And Kase, Terry, Sprong, Aberg on the other side

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

And Kase, Terry, Sprong, Aberg on the other side

Honestly our young forward group isn't that bad at all... if we go Henrique and under we got

L: Rakell Comtois Ritchie Jones
C: Henrique Steel Lundestrum Kossila/Morand
R: Kase Terry Sprong Aberg

Our defense is still young with
LD: Fowler Lindholm Larsson Mahura
RD: Manson Montour Dotchin

Even goalie were looking solid
Gibson - Ericksson-Ek - Durney Dostal

Really our big needs are Right handed dmen, and top line center(I think Steel will be a solid 2c, and I think Lundestrum will be a 2/3 hybrid center... I cant see either being a legit 1c. I do wish we would have traded up in round 2 to grab Veleno when he dropped to late 1st... wouldn't have minded trading up for Woo in the early 2nd round either. But adding Aberg/sprong/dotchin to our young player core for the price of basically pettersson has really made our depth look awesome in the near future.

I imagine well move Silf and possibly cogs this season and pick up more prospects/picks... Id like to see San diego have a couple nice playoff runs in the near future.