Speculation: Minor League Affiliates (Hershey Bears, SC Stingrays) - summer 2018 to summer 2019

[Holtbyisms]

Bears going to double OT...f***ing sick watching the Ness hit, made me want to throw up. Thank god he's moving all his limbs that was potentially life threatening the way he went into the boards

Being outplayed pretty bad but Samsonov has been outstanding. Officiating has also been rough so far. Really hoping we can pull this one out, would be huge.

 

[Sam Spade]

They lost. Samsonov was insane, he made 49 saves. Bridgeport only tied it up because they had a 5 on 3 with under a minute left in regulation.

 

[hb12xchamps]

They lost. Samsonov was insane, he made 49 saves. Bridgeport only tied it up because they had a 5 on 3 with under a minute left in regulation.

Crazy that Bridgeport only gets called for two penalties the entire game compared to 8 for Hershey. That’s a big tilt in PP time.

The AHL refs this year have been pretty pathetic in general. The NHL is in real trouble if the next wave of refs come from these clowns

 

[Calicaps]

Crazy that Bridgeport only gets called for two penalties the entire game compared to 8 for Hershey. That’s a big tilt in PP time.

The AHL refs this year have been pretty pathetic in general. The NHL is in real trouble if the next wave of refs come from these clowns

The current car full of clowns is not too inspiring either.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

They said Ness was taken to the hospital for X-rays. He was moving his extremities but that is an awful hit. That St. Denis guy has been borderline dirty all season long. Closer look at the collision

Canes fans and their dumbass coach would probably say it’s not dirty because it was just a little shove and Ness was already off balance. Herp derp iZ hE suPpoSEd To JusT lEt Himm have FreE Ice?!

 

[MJF]

They lost. Samsonov was insane, he made 49 saves. Bridgeport only tied it up because they had a 5 on 3 with under a minute left in regulation.

Islanders fan coming in peace. I was at the Bridgeport-Hershey game last night. Ilya Samsonov was magnificent in net, the main reason the Sound Tigers didn’t run away with the game in regulation. Samsonov is NHL caliber right now. You have a stud in net for years to come.

Also the Aaron Ness incident was scary to watch. Sounds like he’s doing ok. Speedy recovery to him and best wishes.

 

[Sam Spade]

Islanders fan coming in peace. I was at the Bridgeport-Hershey game last night. Ilya Samsonov was magnificent in net, the main reason the Sound Tigers didn’t run away with the game in regulation. Samsonov is NHL caliber right now. You have a stud in net for years to come.

Also the Aaron Ness incident was scary to watch. Sounds like he’s doing ok. Speedy recovery to him and best wishes.

I watched on the app, and I agree, and you would know about having a stud Russian goalie prospect. You are so lucky to have Korn working with him.

I'm hoping the plan is to have Samsonov work next year under Holtby than he takes over full time in '20-'21.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Islanders fan coming in peace. I was at the Bridgeport-Hershey game last night. Ilya Samsonov was magnificent in net, the main reason the Sound Tigers didn’t run away with the game in regulation. Samsonov is NHL caliber right now. You have a stud in net for years to come.

Also the Aaron Ness incident was scary to watch. Sounds like he’s doing ok. Speedy recovery to him and best wishes.

Thanks for the report. It's weird you're saying nice things about Samsonov... posters here who have never seen him play and just looked at the first month of his AHL stats told me he sucked and was a wasted pick.

 

[MJF]

Thanks for the report. It's weird you're saying nice things about Samsonov... posters here who have never seen him play and just looked at the first month of his AHL stats told me he sucked and was a wasted pick.

I don’t usually drop in on other teams boards or the main board, but last night Samsonov really impressed me. He was under siege most of the game and made 2 or 3 saves where he was able to stretch out across the goal line and get a toe or a leg out for the save.

I usually get to 7 or 8 Bridgeport games a season. This was my first time seeing Hershey this year so I had nothing else to base my opinion on. Samsonov looks great.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I don’t usually drop in on other teams boards or the main board, but last night Samsonov really impressed me. He was under siege most of the game and made 2 or 3 saves where he was able to stretch out across the goal line and get a toe or a leg out for the save.

I usually get to 7 or 8 Bridgeport games a season. This was my first time seeing Hershey this year so I had nothing else to base my opinion on. Samsonov looks great.

That's great to hear. He's going to make the Holtby decision in two years really interesting.

Is Sorokin still the Islanders goalie of the future? I guess now that you have the wizard himself Mitch Korn turning Lehner into a stud goalie is less of an issue for you guys.

 

[MJF]

That's great to hear. He's going to make the Holtby decision in two years really interesting.

Is Sorokin still the Islanders goalie of the future? I guess now that you have the wizard himself Mitch Korn turning Lehner into a stud goalie is less of an issue for you guys.

The conversation about Sorokin is always whether he will be able to get out of his KHL contract and when. Maybe with Lou Lamoriello as President/GM and his history dealing with Russian players things will work out. He’s on our radar. Hoping we’ll be seeing him in North America really soon.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Pinho scratched tonight. Top pair LuJo as well. Bears up 2-0 with Sgarbossa and Barber with the goals

 

[hb12xchamps]

Big win to even up the series and a nice shutout for Vitek with 39 saves

 

[Hivemind]

Sounds like both goalies are popping off in this series. Good problem to have

 

[Langway]

Bobby Brink added to the USA U18 team. They play Russia at 9:30am. Not sure if he'll play just yet but that's another first round candidate.

Edit: Brink will play.

 

[Thrasymachus]

What an awful no goal call

 

[Prntscrn]

 

[Sam Spade]

Bears up 2-1, can clinch Thursday in Hershey.

Samsonov did not face 50 shots again but man he made some ten bellers. I don't care if I'm drinking the kool-aid but I really think this kid is gonna be a good one.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Samsonov had an absolute gem of a game to give Hershey the series lead. Made some spectacular saves on breakaways and odd man rushes that saved Hershey’s ass. The Gersich-Pilon-Pinho line was sneaky good tonight too. Didn’t get a ton of shifts but they made the most of each one they got and were a real pest on the forecheck. Malenstyn eventually moved up the lineup as the game progressed. He was very physical all game long.

D pairings started as
LuJo-Lewington
Leach-Sproul
Geisser-Hobbs

They changed on the fly down the stretch and Lewington played a ton of minutes against Bridgeport’s best players. LuJo had himself a great 1st but had multiple turnovers in the 2nd and 3rd when trying to make some tough passes. The D as a whole was solid for about 90% of the game. My only gripe would be the amount of odd man rushes and breakaways they gave up.

I think the Bears can close it out Thursday if they play like they did tonight. They outshot Bridgeport 18-4 in the first period and dominated puck possession but had a few mental lapses that led to the Bridgeport goal. I have a feeling that Thursday’s game will be very physical after watching tonight’s game

 

[WanderingCapsFan]

Sweet. Let's go Bears!

 

[Holtbyisms]

Sammy is a f***ing god, not going to have the ability to go see any games live this year as of right now unless my work schedule changes but definitely watching them all on ahltv. So impressed with the boys tonight. They got f***ing heart. The Capitals are gonna benefit so much from these guys moving up cause this team knows what it takes to lay it all on the line when it counts. #proud

 

[hb12xchamps]

Awesome job by Megna and his wife, who is the daughter of legendary Team USA goaltender Jim Craig

 

[Langway]

USA/FIN about to go down in the U18 quarterfinals. Russia also taking on Belarus.

So the 25th pick it is for the Caps. At this stage I'd narrow it down to at least one of the following still being available: Leason, Brink, Tracey, Poulin, Tomasino or Dorofeyev. Many other options could be in play whether it's someone falling or them liking more of a leftfield option but to me that's the best of the forwards in the third tier group ending the first round.

 

[BiPolar Caps]

What's at Hershey that we see making a strong push to make the parent club next season?

Would like to see Vanecek compete for the back up against Copley. Let Samsonov have a second season in Hershey.

Orpik possibly retiring and Kempny not being available till December/January, will mean at least one d from Hershey getting a chance as of now.

Fourth line may have some spots with no DSP/Jaskin I would think.

 

[hb12xchamps]

What's at Hershey that we see making a strong push to make the parent club next season?

Would like to see Vanecek compete for the back up against Copley. Let Samsonov have a second season in Hershey.

Orpik possibly retiring and Kempny not being available till December/January, will mean at least one d from Hershey getting a chance as of now.

Fourth line may have some spots with no DSP/Jaskin I would think.

Wouldn’t surprise me to see one of Vanecek/Samsonov supplant Copley next season. Both have been solid. Vitek probably is more likely a trade candidate if they don’t think he has a shot at the backup spot. He has earned an NHL shot somewhere at this point IMO but I don’t know where that is exactly.

On D I think Siegenthaler has pretty much guaranteed a spot in Washington to start next season unless he has a dog shit training camp. The other D who could compete that are currently in Hershey is a pretty short list. I’d say the two that could make the team are LuJo at LD and Lewington at RD as the 7th guy, especially if Orpik moves on. Lewy has an Orpik-esque game to him and has been the Bears best defender (talking actual defense not all around) for the past 2-3 seasons now. The other guys who have an outside chance are AA and Fehervary but they have yet to play a pro game in NA and I’d suspect they start in Hershey.

The forwards get super interesting. Liam O’Brien is the only real RFA in the forward ranks that could get passed over and not qualified due to reaching veteran status in the AHL. Nate Walker and Riley Barber are both going to be UFA and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see either player walk to find a better opportunity. Barber is an interesting case though. I could see him coming back if the Caps don’t re-sign Connolly. Could be a Matthew Peca/ Austin Czarnik situation all over again this offseason. In terms of prospects who will be around next year, the only two I could see pushing for a spot are Beck Malenstyn and Shane Gersich. Both are highly capable of playing a bottom 6 role and can use their speed. Beck has developed into an elite PKer at the AHL level and provides a physical presence when he’s on the ice. I would probably have them both get another year in the AHL under their belt though and not rush anything.

In all, there’s not much there forward wise that’s going to replace Connolly. Barber is the only one IMO and he will hit UFA status so who knows.