2024-25 Utica Comets and ECHL thread

[PizzaAndPucks]

That awful start to the season really put them in a big hole. They atleast crawled back into the playoffs hunt at one point ans finished with a record that isnt god awful. There is work to be done this offseason to make Utica competitive but Squires, Lachance & I believe Hameenaho if he comes to NA this summer should be some good/skilled players to keep an eye on.

 

[Bad Goalie]

It was announced this AM 4/24/25that

Brian Halonen (LW)
Mike Hardman (LW)
Nathan Legare (RW)
Marc McLaughlin (C)
Topias Vilen (LD)
Colton White (LD)
Isaac Poulter (G)

have been recalled to New Jersey.
Maybe this is the best they can do to reward the better Comets, but in that case McLaughlin is a mystery. The team's leading scorer, Ryan Schmelzer, should have received the call ahead of McLaughlin, no goals in 16GP.

 

[Guttersniped]

It was announced this AM 4/24/25that

Brian Halonen (LW)
Mike Hardman (LW)
Nathan Legare (RW)
Marc McLaughlin (C)
Topias Vilen (LD)
Colton White (LD)
Isaac Poulter (G)

have been recalled to New Jersey.
Maybe this is the best they can do to reward the better Comets, but in that case McLaughlin is a mystery. The team's leading scorer, Ryan Schmelzer, should have received the call ahead of McLaughlin, no goals in 16GP.

I got to think they’re a good chance they’re going to try to re-sign McLaughlin. It’s hard to believe they traded Misyul for a forward depth rental.

 

[Bad Goalie]

I got to think they’re a good chance they’re going to try to re-sign McLaughlin. It’s hard to believe they traded Misyul for a forward depth rental.

Oh, I think you are right, however, he is not a the level of AHL center they need. He is maybe a notch above Malone.
Malone #4
McLaughlin #3
Schmelzer #2
A F***ING #1 center. It has just got to happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replace Willman with a wing better at scoring than any other one they end up with on the roster. Those guys are out there and they need to get a couple.

I love Gambo (Gambardella), but he has just lost too many steps and there are more effective wings that can play his tough style but also score goals. Or maybe they keep Gambo around for his tough forecheck, board work, passing, and the goals he does score and say so long to Laberge. He doesn't score and his toughness has turned into a ref-baiting penalty machine.

Get the center and a couple solid wings with some scoring punch. Then maybe they have something that can win enough games to be in the playoff mix, not just make 'em and then say goodbye.

 

[IT0]

according to eliteprospects ..
filip engarås signs with södertälje / allsvenskan
after few seasons in utica/adirondack

 

[Bad Goalie]

according to eliteprospects ..
filip engarås signs with södertälje / allsvenskan
after few seasons in utica/adirondack

Have to give it to Filip. The kid gave everything he had when on the ice. His skill level just didn't come up to The AHL standard he needed to have. I and the rest of the Comets fan base wish him the best back home in Sweden.

He was a 2020 6th round selection by the Edmonton Oilers. After a 3-yr stint at NCAA UNH concluded, was signed to an AHL ATO with Bakersfield for the remainder of the 2021-22 season where he played 5 games. At the same time he signed a 2-yr AHL contract to begin at the start of the '22-23 season. He played 11 games with Bakersfield and 23 for the ECHL Fort Wayne Comets.

On 1/23/23 he was traded to the Utica Comets for Garrett Van Whye. He was signed to an AHL deal in Utica for the remainder of '22-23 after being traded to Utica by Bakersfield. He played 26 games for Utica.
On the 2nd year of his original AHL contract he played 53 more games for Utica.

On 6/26/24 the. Comets re-signed Filip for the 24-25 season and he played 48 games due to a serious injury and healthy scratches. So in all he played 127 games for the Comets and recorded
127G/26A/38Pts. He was usually used as 4th line center, but also played a bunch of games at #3. He was -8 in his first stint but over the course of his last 2 seasons he was +8 as he became the team's 4th line center, where he was expected to play a solid defensive game and he handled the role respectably usually centering Laberge and Legare.

He will turn 26 on May,16. I think he made a wise choice to go back home as his prospects for profitable future in NA were not in his favor. Being a healthy sacratch for this team in '24-25 paints a poor picture.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Nathan Legare has been re-signed for '25-26 to an NHL 2-way deal.

Lenni Hameenaho has been signed to an NHL 3-yr ELC. I think unless he stands the NHL management on their ears in training camp that the 20-yr old Finn will be a Comet.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Nathan Legare has been re-signed for '25-26 to an NHL 2-way deal.

Lenni Hameenaho has been signed to an NHL 3-yr ELC. I think unless he stands the NHL management on their ears in training camp that the 20-yr old Finn will be a Comet.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Not exactly sure why, but Utica Comets Asst Coach David Cuniff will not be renewed. Don't know what he actually did, but just maybe it wasn't good. Not easy to decide what that might have been. Their PP and PK both sucked. Their defensive zone coverage left a lot to be desired. Yada, Yada.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Not trying to sound like a total downer, but hard to see a lot of optimism with the players from last year's team mentioned in this thread.

Imagine Hardman and Halonen will pursue deals elsewhere and if Nolan Foote was going to be anything that would have happened by now.

It might be nice if Gritsyuk and Hameenaho are in Utica - at least for the first half of the year. But that leaves a big need for 4A players who have proven capable of scoring in the AHL; like the Chase De Leos or Ben Sextons of previous seasons.

Defensively, it will be interesting to see Edwards and Casey playing together if they're reunited from their Michigan days - and I'd imagine Vilen returns - imagine Colton White is the veteran presence - but again it seems like the Comets need to look outside the organization for true AHL caliber players (something they were either unwilling or unable to do this past season).

@Bad Goalie has seen both Daws and Poulter more than most but I'm not sure either is the franchise goalie of the future to this point. Signing an AHL veteran as a starter to mentor a prospect might be the way to go.

 

[Triumph]

This post got moved but not corrected - Hardman and Halonen are signed for next season. The Comets need, as ever, a center, but they should be okay on wing even if Nolan Foote leaves, which he probably will.

 

[Bad Goalie]

This post got moved but not corrected - Hardman and Halonen are signed for next season. The Comets need, as ever, a center, but they should be okay on wing even if Nolan Foote leaves, which he probably will.

I posted that twice back on the Lenni page.
A whole lot of Comets talk evolved on that page.

 

[Bad Goalie]

See post #104 in the Melovsky thread for my thoughts on the current Center situation in Utica for 2025-26.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Starting to leaf through some of the European leagues and one of the players in Germany who is intriguing is Ingolstadt's Austen Keating, who put up big numbers in the OHL and at the University of New Brunswick.

Likely not an NHL prospect at 26, and thus not likely on the Devils' radar at this point, he seems like the type of offensive player that could thrive in the AHL.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Starting to leaf through some of the European leagues and one of the players in Germany who is intriguing is Ingolstadt's Austen Keating, who put up big numbers in the OHL and at the University of New Brunswick.

Likely not an NHL prospect at 26, and thus not likely on the Devils' radar at this point, he seems like the type of offensive player that could thrive in the AHL.

Guess you'd have to put that bee in Fitz's bonnet. I don't think he'd see it otherwise.

 

[Guadana]

Not trying to sound like a total downer, but hard to see a lot of optimism with the players from last year's team mentioned in this thread.

Imagine Hardman and Halonen will pursue deals elsewhere and if Nolan Foote was going to be anything that would have happened by now.

It might be nice if Gritsyuk and Hameenaho are in Utica - at least for the first half of the year. But that leaves a big need for 4A players who have proven capable of scoring in the AHL; like the Chase De Leos or Ben Sextons of previous seasons.

Defensively, it will be interesting to see Edwards and Casey playing together if they're reunited from their Michigan days - and I'd imagine Vilen returns - imagine Colton White is the veteran presence - but again it seems like the Comets need to look outside the organization for true AHL caliber players (something they were either unwilling or unable to do this past season).

@Bad Goalie has seen both Daws and Poulter more than most but I'm not sure either is the franchise goalie of the future to this point. Signing an AHL veteran as a starter to mentor a prospect might be the way to go.

Gritsyuk will not play in AHL. May be only because of injuries or a couple of games because soemthing went wrong. If he would wanted to play there and he would needed to play there he would already played there.