2021-22 Utica Comets and ECHL thread - part V
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Final SOG 38-37 Laval
13-6 Rocket in the third
13-6 Rocket in the third
Three Stars: 1. LAV - J. Dea 2. LAV - R. Harvey-Pinard 3. LAV - N. Schnarr |
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And therefore why was he signed in the first place? He and Laberge were signed preseason as depth for the team. Laberge proved to be an adequate 4th line depth player. He was the only one. No AHL team has an opening day roster of 14 contracted forwards considered the team for the season with talent the level of Laberge and McGrath as the depth for the season. A couple callups (Thompson, Holtz, and Boqvist) and an injury or 2 (Flynn) and the team is scratching their butts for the lowest of AHL quality players. Those 2 did not meet those standards.
Then when the team was down to 12 forwards or less we often saw no players even recalled from Adirondack. Dineen knew they wouldn't help and was satisfied to go with just the 12 or even 11 with 7 D. We also saw him go with 11 forwards and the only 6 D he had healthy. When a forward was injured in game he went with the 10 remaining forwards. This was just plain ludicrous.
Now with 3 guys in NJ and Gauthier hurt, the team is playing with only 6 D. The only backup forward is McGrath while Tyler Irvine, Sam Laberge and Brian Halonen are regulars.
The Comets have been on the cusp of qualifying for the playoffs for a couple weeks or more, but because they can't win enough games to qualify on their own their magic number has been decreasing as the result of teams behind them losing not by them winning in order to accomplish it. That is just pitiful for a team that was so promising for the 1st half of the season.
Like tonight, they have been proving game after game that they do not know how to lock down a game. They have jumped out early game after game only to give all the goals back and lose time after time by squandering leads. Tonight it was 3-0 Utica in the first 10 minutes. After 20 it was 3-3. They didn't score again in the next 50 minutes and lost it 5-3.
Dineen has not done a God blessed thing to teach this valuable art. Yet, teams way behind them in the standing have been doing just that in many games of late. Last night e.g. Belleville jumped out by 4 goals in the first 8 minutes and locked it down to the end for a 4-1 win. They can't solve any team filling up the neutral zone, dumping it back out, as well as attacking the puck for 200 feet. Teams are playing the Comets man to man and the Comets can do little if anything to beat it.
Going out in the 1st round would be a kick in the teeth to what looked like a very promising season.
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Springfield's loss drops Utica's conference clinching magic number to ten.
Comets conference clinching magic number remains nine against Charlotte and Providence.
Comets conference clinching magic number remains nine against Charlotte and Providence.
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| 2021-22 | Utica Comets | AHL | North | 65 | 39 | 18 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 86 | 0.662 |
99 points for second best Pct. in organizational history.
13 points in 7 GR. 6-0-1
97 points for third best.
11 points in 7 GR. 5-1-1, 4-0-3
93 points for fourth best.
7 points in 7 GR. 3-3-1, 2-2-3, 1-1-5, 0-0-7
91 points for fifth best.
5 points in 7 GR. 2-4-1, 1-3-3, 0-2-5
90 points to tie for sixth best.
4 points in 7 GR. 2-5, 1-4-2, 0-3-4
89 points for seventh best.
3 points in 7 GR. 1-5-1, 0-4-3
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Just checked in on the Abbotsford Canucks who have qualified for the playoffs in the Pacific Division of the AHL.
For any NJ interlopers, they were the Utica Comets for 8 seasons. It wasn't exactly difficult to make the playoffs in that division since 7 of the 9 teams qualify. You would have to absolutely suck to not get in. Arizona's farm in Tuscon and San Jose's also in San Jose have owned up to that description with 46 and 45 points to date respectively.
The Canucks are led by linemates 27-yr-old Sheldon Dries 35G/2A/62Pts and 26-yr-old Sheldon Rempal 28G/29A/57Pts.
Former Comets John Stevens (27), Jack Rathbone (22), Will Lockwood (23), Justin Bailey (26), Vincent Arseneau (30), Ashton Sautner (27), Carson Focht (22), Jett Woo (21), Guillaume Brisebois (24), and Michael DiPietro (22) are on the Canucks roster.
Nic Petan (27), Phillip DiGiuseppe (28), Madison Bowey (26), Jarid Lukosevicius (27), Danila Klimovich (19), Chase Wouters (22), Noah Juulsen (25), Devante Stevens (25), Yushiroh Hirano (26), Tristen Nielsen (22) have all been contributing members of the Canucks as well.
A total of 43 players have played for them this season as they started out poorly and have been adjusting their roster continuously until they started winning. This was new for the Canucks franchise.
They never adjusted the Comets roster for the purpose of winning after the 2nd of their 8 seasons. The 1st 2 with Lorne Henning as the GM the Comets started terribly in 2013-14, but with Lorne's work they acquired Cal O'Reilly and Kent Huskins, 2 veteran players that settled the disarray and put the team on a new path and over the 2nd half of the season compiled the 2nd best record in the AHL, but not enough to make the playoffs at the wire.
It did set the mark for the 2014-15 season which saw the team again adjusted as needed throughout the season and they went on to win their Division and Conference and made it to the Calder Cup Finals. Benning then for whatever inexplicable reason fired Henning and the Comets would only make the playoffs 2 more times only to go out in their opening round both times. The team was never built to be successful after 2015 and the number of actual Vancouver prospects was a joke. The prospects started in Utica to go on and play for the Canucks on a regular basis in 8 years were Brendan Gaunce, Sven Baertschi, Zack MacEwen, and Thatcher Demko.
This season with Abbotsford becoming the home of their AHL farm, Vancouver felt local pressure to make that team a good one. It didn't start out that way even though it was predominantly stacked with veteran players. They did not win out of the gate and the dickering withthe roster began and has continued throughout the season.
The prospects on the current roster are:
- Jack Rathbone LD (22) - 2017 Rd 4 #95 OA I described him last season as the first D-prospect to show serious NHL promise and he is currently living up to expectations. 9G/26A/35Pts/32GP. He has been in Vancouver but used sparingly when there and has been injured for a spell. His 35 points are tied with for 5th in scoring for the season and he's only played 32 games.
- Will Lockwood RW (23) - 2016 3rd Rd #64 OA Skates like the wind, forechecks like a demon, is physical, handles the puck like a grenade and needs the net to be 1o feet wide to be effective as a goal scorer. Maybe a 4th line NHL player. The fan base thinks 3rd line. It's optimistic to see him as an NHL regular period. 9G/16A/25PTa/46GP.
- Danila Klimovich RW (19) - 2021 Dd2 #41 OA 8G/9A/17Pts/55GP. The report is he is figuring out the NA game and has steadily improved. Time will tell.
Compare this with Alexander Holtz. Alex was 19 when he finished last season with Binghamton and put up 3Pts in 10 GP. He was still 19 for the first 4 months this season with the Comets (birth date 1/23/2002).
11G/9A/17GP with 2 recalls to NJ + an injury and 2 illnesses. Right now it's 24G/23A/47GP with an additional illness and another injury.
- Carson Focht C (22) - 2019 5th Rd selection. 3/7/10Pts/39GP in his 2nd full AHL season. Not a lot of promise in making a career for himself in the NHL.
- Jett Woo RD (21) - 2018 2nd RD, #37 OA Not racking up a lot of points in this his 2nd full AHL season with 2G/5A/7Pts/35GP, but he never was projected to a big scoring threat. He is a defensive D-man that plays with physicality. I liked his play in his rookie season here, but he needed to be with an offensive partner. He and Rathbone worked very well together. He apparnetly hasn't improved a whole lot. but is a darling with the fan base who are wishing him to the NHL. I'm not too sure. IMO he will find a career in the AHL.
- Michael DiPietro G (22) 2017 3rd Rd #64 OA Mike is in his 3rd professional season. With the 2019-20 shortened season and the spending the entire 2020-21 season spent sitting on the Vancouver Taxi Squad, the kid missed about 1 and 1/2 straight seasons of his 3-yr career. Many seemed so surprised that when this season began he wasn't the sharp exciting talented keeper he had looked to be in his rookie season in Utica (21-11-2/2.79/.908). He struggled a lot. However, he seems to have regained his form and has moved his numbers to 11-11-4, but more importantly 2.72/.907. The kid had spectacular moments in Utica while playing very steady in front of the Comets. It was shame that season was halted. The Comets had a strong group and was looking forward to a playoff run led by the scoring of ex-Devil Reid Boucher, ex-Canucks Sven Baertschi and Nikolay Goldobin, Vancouver acquisition Justin Bailey, and Vancouver prospect Kole Lind. They were aided by the offensive support of rookie D-man Brogan Rafferty.
The other young members on this roster are not really high level prospects even though they are rookies. Chase Wouters, Brandon Cutler, Yushiro Hirano, Alex Kannok Leipert, and Tristan Nielsen were all signed to AHL contracts as free agents by Abbotsford.
Sheldon Dries, Sheldon Rempal, Nic Petan, John Stevens, Phil Di Giuseppe (the team's 5 top scorers along with Rathbone tied wit DiGiuseppe), and Devante Stevens on D were all signed to 2-way contracts by Vancouver. Justin Dowling was signed to a 1-way and has split the season in Vancouver and Abby.
This is a roster built from free agency with veteran players leading the pack. There is little scoring from prospects past Rathbone. They have very few top promise prospects.
Comparing this AHL roster to the current Utica Comets and you see the difference between a development roster and patchwork roster of free agent vets, undrafted free agents signed to AHL contracts, and career AHL players still in the Vancouver organization in order to ice a team for their few "prospects".
Abbotsford is the latter and Utica is a development team.
Utica's playoff roster will be comprised of 13 players who were drafted by the Devils. 4 D-men, 6 frowards, 2 goalies. Another forward prospect was acquired in a trade making the total 14 NJ prospects. 2 others are no longer here, one having been recently traded and the 2nd was lost to waivers or it would have been 16.
Ages of the prospects:
- 3 are 20 (RW Alexander Holtz / RW Graeme Clarke / LD Michael Vukojevic)
- 5 are 21 (LW Nolan Foote / LD Kevin Bahl / LD Nikita Okhotyuk / G Akira Schmid /G Nico Daws)
- 4 are 22 (RW Tyce Thompson / LW Fabian Zetterlund / RD Reilly Walsh / LD Jeremy Groleau)
- 1 is 23 (C Aarne Talvitie)
- 1 is 25 (AJ Greer) While still a valuable prospect he counts as a VE)
That's an average age of 21.5 yrs of age.
They signed a total of 7 other players to the opening day roster who have made a difference:
- Ryan Schmelzer C (28, 1-yr AHL contract. Ryan has been with the Devils organizatioin for this the 4th straight season. He is not a VET) He is the Comets Captain.
- Joseph Gambardella LW (28, 2-yr, 2-way, but does not count as a VET this season.) He wears an "A"
- Robbie Russo RD (29, 2-yr, 2-way VET)
- Frederik Gauthier C (26, 1-yr, 2-way VET)
- Chase Deleo C, LW, RW (26, 1-yr, 2-way VET)
- Brian Flynn C, RW (33, 1-yr, 2-way VET) He wears an "A"
- Tyler Wotherspoon LD/RD (29, 1-yr AHL contract)
- Ryan Schmelzer C (28, 1-yr AHL contract. Ryan has been with the Devils organization for this the 4th straight season. He is not a VET)
These guys were brought in for their leadership qualities as well as filling in gaps missing from the total of prospects. Thus the captaincy and assistant captains were selected from this group.
The top 5 scorers in Abbotsford are the outside acquired vets.
4 out of the Comets top 5 scorers come from kids :
Zetterlund 52Pts
Greer 50 Pts
Deleo 50 Pts (VET)
Holtz 47 Pts
Walsh 38 Pts
The problem with the Comets is they are totally in the dark as to what to expect form the AHL Calder Cup p[layoffs. The veteran teams are well prepared. The Comets have never experienced the physicality from the opening faceoff to the final horn. They have never faced a never ending determined forecheck, filled up neutral zones, and puck attacking in all 3 zones, especially the offensive zone where teams defend their goal to the death. For the Comets the experience can and should be very valuable to their futures. A long run will bond these guys forever. It's an invaluable experience for them moving on to the NHL where a run for the Stanley is even more difficult, but having an AHL run under their belts would carry a wealth of experience moving forward.
For any NJ interlopers, they were the Utica Comets for 8 seasons. It wasn't exactly difficult to make the playoffs in that division since 7 of the 9 teams qualify. You would have to absolutely suck to not get in. Arizona's farm in Tuscon and San Jose's also in San Jose have owned up to that description with 46 and 45 points to date respectively.
The Canucks are led by linemates 27-yr-old Sheldon Dries 35G/2A/62Pts and 26-yr-old Sheldon Rempal 28G/29A/57Pts.
Former Comets John Stevens (27), Jack Rathbone (22), Will Lockwood (23), Justin Bailey (26), Vincent Arseneau (30), Ashton Sautner (27), Carson Focht (22), Jett Woo (21), Guillaume Brisebois (24), and Michael DiPietro (22) are on the Canucks roster.
Nic Petan (27), Phillip DiGiuseppe (28), Madison Bowey (26), Jarid Lukosevicius (27), Danila Klimovich (19), Chase Wouters (22), Noah Juulsen (25), Devante Stevens (25), Yushiroh Hirano (26), Tristen Nielsen (22) have all been contributing members of the Canucks as well.
A total of 43 players have played for them this season as they started out poorly and have been adjusting their roster continuously until they started winning. This was new for the Canucks franchise.
They never adjusted the Comets roster for the purpose of winning after the 2nd of their 8 seasons. The 1st 2 with Lorne Henning as the GM the Comets started terribly in 2013-14, but with Lorne's work they acquired Cal O'Reilly and Kent Huskins, 2 veteran players that settled the disarray and put the team on a new path and over the 2nd half of the season compiled the 2nd best record in the AHL, but not enough to make the playoffs at the wire.
It did set the mark for the 2014-15 season which saw the team again adjusted as needed throughout the season and they went on to win their Division and Conference and made it to the Calder Cup Finals. Benning then for whatever inexplicable reason fired Henning and the Comets would only make the playoffs 2 more times only to go out in their opening round both times. The team was never built to be successful after 2015 and the number of actual Vancouver prospects was a joke. The prospects started in Utica to go on and play for the Canucks on a regular basis in 8 years were Brendan Gaunce, Sven Baertschi, Zack MacEwen, and Thatcher Demko.
This season with Abbotsford becoming the home of their AHL farm, Vancouver felt local pressure to make that team a good one. It didn't start out that way even though it was predominantly stacked with veteran players. They did not win out of the gate and the dickering withthe roster began and has continued throughout the season.
The prospects on the current roster are:
- Jack Rathbone LD (22) - 2017 Rd 4 #95 OA I described him last season as the first D-prospect to show serious NHL promise and he is currently living up to expectations. 9G/26A/35Pts/32GP. He has been in Vancouver but used sparingly when there and has been injured for a spell. His 35 points are tied with for 5th in scoring for the season and he's only played 32 games.
- Will Lockwood RW (23) - 2016 3rd Rd #64 OA Skates like the wind, forechecks like a demon, is physical, handles the puck like a grenade and needs the net to be 1o feet wide to be effective as a goal scorer. Maybe a 4th line NHL player. The fan base thinks 3rd line. It's optimistic to see him as an NHL regular period. 9G/16A/25PTa/46GP.
- Danila Klimovich RW (19) - 2021 Dd2 #41 OA 8G/9A/17Pts/55GP. The report is he is figuring out the NA game and has steadily improved. Time will tell.
Compare this with Alexander Holtz. Alex was 19 when he finished last season with Binghamton and put up 3Pts in 10 GP. He was still 19 for the first 4 months this season with the Comets (birth date 1/23/2002).
11G/9A/17GP with 2 recalls to NJ + an injury and 2 illnesses. Right now it's 24G/23A/47GP with an additional illness and another injury.
- Carson Focht C (22) - 2019 5th Rd selection. 3/7/10Pts/39GP in his 2nd full AHL season. Not a lot of promise in making a career for himself in the NHL.
- Jett Woo RD (21) - 2018 2nd RD, #37 OA Not racking up a lot of points in this his 2nd full AHL season with 2G/5A/7Pts/35GP, but he never was projected to a big scoring threat. He is a defensive D-man that plays with physicality. I liked his play in his rookie season here, but he needed to be with an offensive partner. He and Rathbone worked very well together. He apparnetly hasn't improved a whole lot. but is a darling with the fan base who are wishing him to the NHL. I'm not too sure. IMO he will find a career in the AHL.
- Michael DiPietro G (22) 2017 3rd Rd #64 OA Mike is in his 3rd professional season. With the 2019-20 shortened season and the spending the entire 2020-21 season spent sitting on the Vancouver Taxi Squad, the kid missed about 1 and 1/2 straight seasons of his 3-yr career. Many seemed so surprised that when this season began he wasn't the sharp exciting talented keeper he had looked to be in his rookie season in Utica (21-11-2/2.79/.908). He struggled a lot. However, he seems to have regained his form and has moved his numbers to 11-11-4, but more importantly 2.72/.907. The kid had spectacular moments in Utica while playing very steady in front of the Comets. It was shame that season was halted. The Comets had a strong group and was looking forward to a playoff run led by the scoring of ex-Devil Reid Boucher, ex-Canucks Sven Baertschi and Nikolay Goldobin, Vancouver acquisition Justin Bailey, and Vancouver prospect Kole Lind. They were aided by the offensive support of rookie D-man Brogan Rafferty.
The other young members on this roster are not really high level prospects even though they are rookies. Chase Wouters, Brandon Cutler, Yushiro Hirano, Alex Kannok Leipert, and Tristan Nielsen were all signed to AHL contracts as free agents by Abbotsford.
Sheldon Dries, Sheldon Rempal, Nic Petan, John Stevens, Phil Di Giuseppe (the team's 5 top scorers along with Rathbone tied wit DiGiuseppe), and Devante Stevens on D were all signed to 2-way contracts by Vancouver. Justin Dowling was signed to a 1-way and has split the season in Vancouver and Abby.
This is a roster built from free agency with veteran players leading the pack. There is little scoring from prospects past Rathbone. They have very few top promise prospects.
Comparing this AHL roster to the current Utica Comets and you see the difference between a development roster and patchwork roster of free agent vets, undrafted free agents signed to AHL contracts, and career AHL players still in the Vancouver organization in order to ice a team for their few "prospects".
Abbotsford is the latter and Utica is a development team.
Utica's playoff roster will be comprised of 13 players who were drafted by the Devils. 4 D-men, 6 frowards, 2 goalies. Another forward prospect was acquired in a trade making the total 14 NJ prospects. 2 others are no longer here, one having been recently traded and the 2nd was lost to waivers or it would have been 16.
Ages of the prospects:
- 3 are 20 (RW Alexander Holtz / RW Graeme Clarke / LD Michael Vukojevic)
- 5 are 21 (LW Nolan Foote / LD Kevin Bahl / LD Nikita Okhotyuk / G Akira Schmid /G Nico Daws)
- 4 are 22 (RW Tyce Thompson / LW Fabian Zetterlund / RD Reilly Walsh / LD Jeremy Groleau)
- 1 is 23 (C Aarne Talvitie)
- 1 is 25 (AJ Greer) While still a valuable prospect he counts as a VE)
That's an average age of 21.5 yrs of age.
They signed a total of 7 other players to the opening day roster who have made a difference:
- Ryan Schmelzer C (28, 1-yr AHL contract. Ryan has been with the Devils organizatioin for this the 4th straight season. He is not a VET) He is the Comets Captain.
- Joseph Gambardella LW (28, 2-yr, 2-way, but does not count as a VET this season.) He wears an "A"
- Robbie Russo RD (29, 2-yr, 2-way VET)
- Frederik Gauthier C (26, 1-yr, 2-way VET)
- Chase Deleo C, LW, RW (26, 1-yr, 2-way VET)
- Brian Flynn C, RW (33, 1-yr, 2-way VET) He wears an "A"
- Tyler Wotherspoon LD/RD (29, 1-yr AHL contract)
- Ryan Schmelzer C (28, 1-yr AHL contract. Ryan has been with the Devils organization for this the 4th straight season. He is not a VET)
These guys were brought in for their leadership qualities as well as filling in gaps missing from the total of prospects. Thus the captaincy and assistant captains were selected from this group.
The top 5 scorers in Abbotsford are the outside acquired vets.
4 out of the Comets top 5 scorers come from kids :
Zetterlund 52Pts
Greer 50 Pts
Deleo 50 Pts (VET)
Holtz 47 Pts
Walsh 38 Pts
The problem with the Comets is they are totally in the dark as to what to expect form the AHL Calder Cup p[layoffs. The veteran teams are well prepared. The Comets have never experienced the physicality from the opening faceoff to the final horn. They have never faced a never ending determined forecheck, filled up neutral zones, and puck attacking in all 3 zones, especially the offensive zone where teams defend their goal to the death. For the Comets the experience can and should be very valuable to their futures. A long run will bond these guys forever. It's an invaluable experience for them moving on to the NHL where a run for the Stanley is even more difficult, but having an AHL run under their belts would carry a wealth of experience moving forward.
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