Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Lol...team can’t even properly fill out one AHL team roster. Unless you can clone Demko, you’d just have two even worse teams than the Comets right now.
2018-19 Utica Comets, Pt. IV: Six more years as your Vancouver Canucks affiliate
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It’s a *huge* setback.
Demko is an above-average AHL starter and the team allows nearly 1.5 goals/game less with him dressed. Kulbakov sucks. He’s a fringe backup at this level.
Having a decent AHL starter to replace Demko was huge for the team, who are in a massive fight to get to the playoffs.
If Kulbakov is starting for the next month or two, this team misses the playoffs. Period.
DiPietro will not be in Utica this year.
- Jan 23, 2010
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I still think the trade was the correct move for the organization, but unfortunately it didn't work out for Utica.
Right. The Canucks failed to recognize that some team would be interested in picking up a soon to be 36 year old career-AHL goalie with a SV% of 0.897 and GAA just under 4 this season. Besides the 10 appearances he made this season, McKenna had previously appeared in 9 NHL games over the past 9 seasons. McKenna is not an NHL goalie. Go over to the Flyers board and this waiver wire pickup is mostly laughed at and or seen as a tank move.
Billy Kvcmu
Registered User
Embarrassing of what? Losing a almost 36yrs old career ahl goalie? Not for-sighting Bachman’s season ending injury?Problem solved?
...I'm sorry but this whole goddamn situation actually made me laugh. Just embarrassing yet hilariously so.
I needed that after the ugly mess with Petey.
Feel bad for McKenna, hope we can eventually reclaim him to hopefully give him some more stability in Utica.
Oh no~what are we gonna do ? Guess with have to find an ahl back up goalie which is a hard task.
Lol..some ppl on this board
I will agree here. I’m not going to rake them over the coals for this, as it would have seemed extremely unlikely he would have been selected.
How they deal with this in the next week, though, they should be judged on.
No, we need an AHL starter which actually is a quite hard task. The team currently has 2 ECHLers on the roster in goal.
Billy Kvcmu
Registered User
ErrantShepherd
Nostalgic despite the Bad
It's a nothing loss for the NHL team, the only embarrassing part is losing a player for Utica when they could use the help.
Cmon... It's funny because it just feels like our typical "luck", Billy. Loosen up.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Maybe get some solid AHL blue liners to help mitigate that possible area of weakness. Nah.
Billy Kvcmu
Registered User
Okay, read it the wrong wayIt's a nothing loss for the NHL team, the only embarrassing part is losing a player for Utica when they could use the help.
Cmon... It's funny because it just feels like our typical "luck", Billy. Loosen up.
You can't defend the guy who should have damn well known better holding the position he does, especially after it already happened to him a couple of weeks ago with Leipsic.
There are only 2 viable excuses.
*1) He didn't care if McKenna got claimed. He got his Demko and the farm can go fish if McKenna gets claimed. He has never cared about the Comets plight and Henning made him look bad in how fast he turned a brand new franchise into a cup contender in just 2 seasons.
2) He and Weisbrod are just plain stupid at how things work below the NHL level. Having never been concerned or associated with minor league franchises they have no idea how to build a farm team that will benefit the development of prospects. Just exactly how many drafted prospects has he developed and then brought along to the Canucks? He has drafted 5 times and so far his #1 picks, as they have with most other top picking NHL teams, have gone directly to the NHL as they should have if they were the correct choices. Virtanen looks to have been the wrong choice but he is playing okay in the role he is filling and Juolevi may turn out to be a complete failure. So 3 of his first 4 choices made it and the 5th is projecting well.
Everyone else's farms come to Utica with a wealth of drafted prospects on years 1-3 of their ELCs. Jim's draft picks?
2014- Thatcher Demko and he has developed properly on the farm. There have been no others here.
2015 - Brisebois and Jasek are here now.
Brisebois maybe fills a bottom 6 role with a solid #5 to shelter him in Vancouver's current D-corps. As an actual NHL player, I have to say he wouldn't be high any NHL lists of prospects in the AHL they might want to poach.
Jasek is talented, but doesn't show any real promise to succeed in the NHL at this time.
2016 - Juolevi is the only player from that draft even still Canucks property and his progress for a #5 OA pick has not been all that good and with missing another year his future is definitely in question.
2017 - Lind, Gadjovich, and Palmu
Palmu is already back in Finland after posting 1 assist in 12GP and not showing the slightest ability to play at this level.
Gadjovich has 4 pts (1G) in 20 GP and is as raw as raw can come. No indication at this time that he will make it to the next level. Skating alone sets him out of the picture at this time.
Lind has more ice time in his 20 GP and has yet to score a goal and has 3 assists. He is not showing any signs of NHL skills. He is just starting to show a flash and a glimmer or 2 in each game that says "H-m-m-m that was good.", but the rest of the game he is a turnover machine and handles the puck in most cases like a live hand grenade.
Guys like Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Cassels, and even Carcone showed way more skills than these 3 at the same point. the first 3 were regular game night players. In a short period of time so was Carcone. Lind has been getting a lot more game time due to a shortage of players. He and Gadjovich were rotating as the only spare forward for some time.
DiPietro will be the top prospect for the Comets next season. Anyone projecting him in Utica this year has to hope the Comets go deep, because he will be playing playoff hockey with his own Jr team. Unless something miraculous occurs I don't expect to see him until next October.
Rathbone is 19 and a freshman at Harvard. Don't look for his move to the pros anytime soon.
People in Vancouver are pushing for 7th rounder Brassard and it wouldn't be out of line to see him next season in a Comets jersey. NHL chances slim to none. and you all know that.
2018 - Like the past, this draft has promising prospects. Hughes will likely go the route of the past #1s except for Juolevi. I don't see any of these other guys in Vancouver next year and will likely not play in Utica next season either. An exception might be Manukyan since he is in the KHL already playing with men and has 13 points in 47 GP. I don't know his KHL commitments either.
So let's review 2014 - 2017. Vancouver draft picks sent to the AHL for development.
2014 - Thatcher Demko > will be in Vancouver.
2015 - Guillaume Brisebois and Lukas Jasek. Might get there but unlikely to make any impact.
2016 - Olli Juolevi, lost for the season with an injury after 18 GP. I don't hold out high hopes from the little I have seen.
2017 - Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu. No one in this group is lighting any candles let alone fires this season.
Virtanen, Boeser, Gaudette, and Pettersson are the guys who were blue chip and made the cut.
Virtanen did make a 2nd year stop in Utica to workout his faults and then went back in year 3. I'm not going to count a guy playing a total of 3 of his 4 seasons in Vancouver as having developed on the farm.
Gaudette was here 4 games. He has played one more this time. If Petey is out any length of time he will be gone again. He is the first guy the Canucks will recall. I doubt he will be doing a lot of developing in Utica and I said so during the Summer.
Jim has drafted 28 guys in his first 4 drafts. 3 of his #1 picks made the Canucks. Of the other 25 guys 7 were sent to Utica to develop and 4 of those were assigned this year and none have looked all that good. Let's face it, Jim has no intentions of building a team through his draft prospects. If a guy can't make the team in his first try he is not likely to make it later. He will fill out his roster around his top picks with free agents and guys with high draft pedigrees already playing in the NHL, but not doing well with their draft teams. If he sees any purpose to the farm it's to stash NHL experienced players like Chaput, Boucher, Archibald, Megna, etc. that he can call up in times of emergency. You will note it's not his kids that he calls up to actually fill in for an injury so the kid can be assessed. If the kid is called up, it's for a game or 2 in the pressbox and then back down.
Let me ask you very seriously, do you actually believe he has plans for the prospects he has sent here beyond Demko and Gaudette. Do you think he and his cronies have penciled in Brisebois, Lind, Gadjovich, Jasek, Palmu, Brassard, or Gunnarsson on the future Canucks?
Lockwood, Rathbone, Woo, and Madden are future we'll sees to them. When they are eligible if they don't knock it out of the park they will go to Utica and that will be it as the next #1s fill in. Only players who shock and awe at this level will get further consideration.
I have not mentioned the guys he acquired that were not drafted, but the only one of those I think they are really considering is Dahlen, but he is wearing out his welcome. MacEwen is impressing some who watch AHL TV, but he is a big question mark at the next level. IMO he is not top 6. His defensive game will not impress Green. He fails much more than he succeeds in carrying the puck. He is easy to knock off the puck in spite of his believed physicality. I see him as a valuable AHL player and those are the kind of players Benning trades.
* This is my choice.
However, I also think #2 is a reasonable assessment of their farm club backgrounds.
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Come on you shoulD know I loathe Jim....I was throwing out a possibility.
Do I think that’s more likely than Jimbrod being idiots? nope I don’t. I think they likely just made another screw up when it comes to Utica.
You guys must be getting mighty tired of getting bent over that barrel by now...and they don’t even have the decency to use lube.
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The Comets travel to Cleveland for a 1 pm start time tomorrow (Saturday) and then come back for a 3 pm start on Sunday.
The Cleveland Monsters are sitting in third place in the North Division tied with the Comets for 3rd place in the Division, but sit 3rd by virtue of having played 3 less games. Without question this is a huge 2-game set for the Comets. If they lose these 2 the Monsters go up by 4 points and still have the 3 games in had which could end up a 10 point spread.
The Toronto Marlies trail the Comets by 4 points also having 3 games in hand. This 2-game set could see the Comets falling out of the playoff spot they currently hold on shaky ground.
I just read here that a poster said the Comets will be playing with 2 ECHL goalies. That number is questionable
Ivan Kulbakov (22 yr-old, 6'0", 183 lbs) is an ECHL goalie in his 2nd pro season and has played a considerable amount for the Comets and has been pure hot and cold:
Utica - 13 GP/ 5-6-1-1 technically 5-8/ 2 3.98 GAA/ SV% .880
Kalamazoo - 8GP/ 3.41 GAA/ SV% .915
The newest Comets netminder, the 6th to strap on pads in a Comets jersey this season, is Alex Sakellaropoulos (24 yr-old, 6'3", 205 lbs) You pronounce it. LOL He is also technically in his 2nd pro season, but that's stretching it.
He played from 2013-17 at NCAA Union College. Union College is no joke program. They won the NCAA Division I Championship in the 2013-14 season. Alex was 4-2-2 that season as a freshman and did not play in the Championship series.
He did not get drafted.
He turned pro in the 2017-18 season, but not exactly sure if any stop was beyond a PTO as he played for 5 different ECHL teams and 1 SPHL team. In spite of his six locales he played in a total of 7 games!!!!
This season he is with the Adirondack Thunder. The Thunder are affiliated with the NJ Devils. The team has played 31 games.
Alex's stats:
18 GP 2.46 GAA and a .919 SV%
He sat one game as backup for the Binghamton Devils this season.
So in 2 seasons he has played a total of 25 hockey games.
This will be a real test for a group of players that are not the best defensive team and often have trouble scoring who have succeeded on the backs of their keepers all season. If the keepers surrender more than 2 goals they have lost most of the contests and it hasn't mattered which keeper was in the nets including Demko.
The Cleveland Monsters are sitting in third place in the North Division tied with the Comets for 3rd place in the Division, but sit 3rd by virtue of having played 3 less games. Without question this is a huge 2-game set for the Comets. If they lose these 2 the Monsters go up by 4 points and still have the 3 games in had which could end up a 10 point spread.
The Toronto Marlies trail the Comets by 4 points also having 3 games in hand. This 2-game set could see the Comets falling out of the playoff spot they currently hold on shaky ground.
I just read here that a poster said the Comets will be playing with 2 ECHL goalies. That number is questionable
Ivan Kulbakov (22 yr-old, 6'0", 183 lbs) is an ECHL goalie in his 2nd pro season and has played a considerable amount for the Comets and has been pure hot and cold:
Utica - 13 GP/ 5-6-1-1 technically 5-8/ 2 3.98 GAA/ SV% .880
Kalamazoo - 8GP/ 3.41 GAA/ SV% .915
The newest Comets netminder, the 6th to strap on pads in a Comets jersey this season, is Alex Sakellaropoulos (24 yr-old, 6'3", 205 lbs) You pronounce it. LOL He is also technically in his 2nd pro season, but that's stretching it.
He played from 2013-17 at NCAA Union College. Union College is no joke program. They won the NCAA Division I Championship in the 2013-14 season. Alex was 4-2-2 that season as a freshman and did not play in the Championship series.
He did not get drafted.
He turned pro in the 2017-18 season, but not exactly sure if any stop was beyond a PTO as he played for 5 different ECHL teams and 1 SPHL team. In spite of his six locales he played in a total of 7 games!!!!
This season he is with the Adirondack Thunder. The Thunder are affiliated with the NJ Devils. The team has played 31 games.
Alex's stats:
18 GP 2.46 GAA and a .919 SV%
He sat one game as backup for the Binghamton Devils this season.
So in 2 seasons he has played a total of 25 hockey games.
This will be a real test for a group of players that are not the best defensive team and often have trouble scoring who have succeeded on the backs of their keepers all season. If the keepers surrender more than 2 goals they have lost most of the contests and it hasn't mattered which keeper was in the nets including Demko.
Most of the AHL teams either have a vet and a prospect or two prospects at various levels of development. They don't have ECHL backups as #2 let alone #1.
Perhaps there's serendipity here. Judging only by Hockeydb
Sakellaropoulos has an intriguing track record. He might be a jewel in the rough.
Sakellaropoulos has an intriguing track record. He might be a jewel in the rough.
He may be a 'diamond in the rough' but for the sake of the poor Comets radio announcer, he needs a nickname. But the time he gets that name out on the airwaves, the guy will have faced three or more shots.
All the Canucks had to do is keep McKenna in Vancouver till the all star break. As usual the Canucks management can not see the big picture... no reason that trade couldn't wait a couple weeks.....
This will not go well, unless these ECHL goalies stand on their heads.
Canucks will be forced to trade for a decent goalie.... I can also see the flyers trading McKenna eventually to the leafs....... Canucks will be too cheap and stupid to reclaim him since they will already have a body.....
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1/5/19
Utica Comets at Cleveland Monsters
Forwards:
Bancks/Hamilton/MacEwen
Dahlen/Gaudette/Pyatt
Boucher/Kero/Gaunce
Arseneau/Darcy/Lind
D-Pairs:
Sifers/McEneny
Brisebois/Graham
Wyszomirski/Saucerman
Scratches:
Dirk
Gadjovich
Jasek
Sakellaropoulos
INJURED:
Juolevi
Sautner
Chatfield
Woods
MacMaster
Blujus
Bachman
Utica Comets at Cleveland Monsters
Forwards:
Bancks/Hamilton/MacEwen
Dahlen/Gaudette/Pyatt
Boucher/Kero/Gaunce
Arseneau/Darcy/Lind
D-Pairs:
Sifers/McEneny
Brisebois/Graham
Wyszomirski/Saucerman
Scratches:
Dirk
Gadjovich
Jasek
Sakellaropoulos
INJURED:
Juolevi
Sautner
Chatfield
Woods
MacMaster
Blujus
Bachman
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TV TO 13:40
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Comets D is less than impressive on paper.including 2 PTOs paired together.
Interesting how MacEwen has been moved off the 2 top lines and is paired up with the Comets perennial checkers Hamilton and Bancks. Pyatt is in his place on the 2nd line.
Pyatt playing first AHL game since 2009-2010 with Hamilton.
0-0
Comets D is less than impressive on paper.including 2 PTOs paired together.
Interesting how MacEwen has been moved off the 2 top lines and is paired up with the Comets perennial checkers Hamilton and Bancks. Pyatt is in his place on the 2nd line.
Pyatt playing first AHL game since 2009-2010 with Hamilton.
Comets to the PK. Hamitlon off for high sticking. He had been good about the cheap stick penalties in his fist 2 games back.
This is his first.
2 good stops by Ivan
This is his first.
2 good stops by Ivan
Ivan's crouch is so low while looking for the puck that the entire top foot and a half of the net is open.
Lind a decent move on the fly to carry the puck through the neutral zone and into the o-zone, but nothing comes of it.
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