Affiliates IX: Cleveland Monsters and more (All Affiliate Talk Here)

[Monstershockey]

Jet's calmness and positioning are on full display this game, making excellent saves.
1-1 after two

He has made some big steps this year. 26 saves through 2.

Edit: It is funny because when we see Jet before the game minus his eqipment, he actually looks bigger than when he has all his gear on. It is a shame that a lot of teams will look past a guy because of his size, even if they can hold their own.

 

[stevo61]

He has made some big steps this year. 26 saves through 2.

Edit: It is funny because when we see Jet before the game minus his eqipment, he actually looks bigger than when he has all his gear on. It is a shame that a lot of teams will look past a guy because of his size, even if they can hold their own.

One thing we cant call Jarmo out for. Hes willing to sign/draft small guys if their play warrents it like Greaves and Ivanov

 

[Monstershockey]

Monsters win 2-1. Greaves with 29 saves. Faced only 3 shots in the 3rd. Nice to nip any potential losing streak in the bud after the loss the other night. Greaves is 16-3 so far this year.

 

[Monstershockey]

Greaves in danger of losing his first road game down 3-1 after 2. Didn't help his cause in the 1st, playing the puck behind his net, then sending it to the slot where it ended up on a Rochester stick and in the open net.

Tied at 1 after 1. Back to back breakaways after some pretty shoddy defense made it 3-1. Still have a period to get back in it, but are coming off a 4 minute PP in which they couldn't score. They have a few seconds left to start the 3rd.

Sillinger with the goal. TFW with an assist. That's his 99th career assist. He is now the career assist leader for the Monsters and now owns all three scoring records for the franchise. 10-20-30 on the season in 28 games.

Edit: Monsters drop this one 3-1. Hopefully they get it back tomorrow.

 

[CBJ goalie]

Can't win them all, they're still playing great hockey

 

[Monstershockey]

Can't win them all, they're still playing great hockey

They played well, just made a couple mistakes that ended up in the net. Rochester goalie played a solid game, Monsters had chances, just couldn't get more past him.

 

[Monstershockey]

After blowing three 2 goal leads, Monsters win in OT. TFW with 2 goals and the game winner. Cajan pulled after giving up 4 goals in on 22 shots. Greaves comes in and makes 11 saves on 12 shots.

TFW ties team record for most game winning goals.

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

Two bits of news

Fix-Wolansky, Christiansen, and Greaves headed to the AHL ASG

Defenseman Jake Christiansen, forward Trey Fix-Wolansky, goaltender Jet Greaves named to North Division roster for 2024 AHL All-Sar Classic | Cleveland Monsters

Three Cleveland players to join Monsters Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber in San Jose, CA, Feb. 4-5

www.clevelandmonsters.com

Also, Meyer not on the ice today at practice. Highly doubt he'll play this weekend as he didn't even do any early work.

 

[squashmaple]

Two bits of news

Fix-Wolansky, Christiansen, and Greaves headed to the AHL ASG

Defenseman Jake Christiansen, forward Trey Fix-Wolansky, goaltender Jet Greaves named to North Division roster for 2024 AHL All-Sar Classic | Cleveland Monsters

Three Cleveland players to join Monsters Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber in San Jose, CA, Feb. 4-5

www.clevelandmonsters.com

Also, Meyer not on the ice today at practice. Highly doubt he'll play this weekend as he didn't even do any early work.

Meyer’s partner had a baby today.

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

Meyer’s partner had a baby today.

Thanks! Now his absence makes more sense.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

How has Svozil been?

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

The baffling goalie decisions have filtered down to Cleveland

Monsters loan goaltender Pavel Cajan to ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings | Cleveland Monsters

Cleveland additionally signed net-minder Hunter Vorva to professional tryout contract

www.clevelandmonsters.com

 

[Doggy]

The baffling goalie decisions have filtered down to Cleveland

Monsters loan goaltender Pavel Cajan to ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings | Cleveland Monsters

Cleveland additionally signed net-minder Hunter Vorva to professional tryout contract

www.clevelandmonsters.com

Why is this baffling?

Statistically speaking Cajan has not been a good AHL goalie and mostly a disaster in his last five games surrendering 23 goals on just 138 shots. A dreadful .833 Save Percentage and 5.51 GAA.

Team has deep playoff aspirations and if for any reason Jet is unavailable to them at some point they need to have a goalie they can rely on. No idea if this Vorva is the answer but clearly the team is looking around.

In theory it'd be great if Martin were to clear waivers and be sent to Cleveland but until Jarmo is ready to make that choice Chris Clark needs to find a reliable backup to Jet somewhere.

 

[koteka]

I have been critical of the Jacket’s front office, but I am impressed with the Monsters this season. Some might think a team that has been bad for a few seasons should have a good AHL team, but we all know our top prospects and first round picks are not in Cleveland. Ceulemans was a 1st rounder and LDBB was a 2nd rounder, but the top 5 guys for points in Cleveland are TF-W (7th round), Christiansen (undrafted), Meyer (6th round), Pyythia (4th round), and Owen Sillinger (undrafted). The starting goalie was a free agent signee.

So my question to those who watch the Monsters, what are Chris Clark and Trent Vogelhuber doing right that the folks in Columbus aren’t doing?

 

[Monstershockey]

I have been critical of the Jacket’s front office, but I am impressed with the Monsters this season. Some might think a team that has been bad for a few seasons should have a good AHL team, but we all know our top prospects and first round picks are not in Cleveland. Ceulemans was a 1st rounder and LDBB was a 2nd rounder, but the top 5 guys for points in Cleveland are TF-W (7th round), Christiansen (undrafted), Meyer (6th round), Pyythia (4th round), and Owen Sillinger (undrafted). The starting goalie was a free agent signee.

So my question to those who watch the Monsters, what are Chris Clark and Trent Vogelhuber doing right that the folks in Columbus aren’t doing?

I don't think there is much difference in the way they play in Cleveland. What has put them up top where they are, is their OT record. 8-1 after regulation is what is getting it done, but they need to win more in regulation as OT can switch on them and they can be on the losing end more. I don't really want to make a habit of trying to win games 3 on 3. They score a lot, (1st in division, 4th in league), but they give have given up some too, (5th in division, 20th in league). They have their games where they struggle defensively and will get pinned in their defensive zone a little too much for my liking. The goaltending by Greaves has been outstanding, and he has saved the D multiple times, but if he has a stretch where he is just OK, they will look like a different team.

The PP isn't bad (19.4%), but isn't as good as when KJ and Bemstrom was here. PK isn't good, and we get in the box a little too much also.

Overall I think Vogelhuber and his assistants do a fine job and most of the time they seem well prepared. I think the players like playing for him as a couple of guys said in the press conference we went to. They like that it wasn't that long ago that Trent played, and can relate to him because he is a younger coach that played the type of game that is being played now. Letestu and Haviland are solid assistants.

They still need to improve in some areas and cut down on mistakes and penalties that let the opposition back into games, like the last game when they blew three, two goal leads and ended up having to win in OT.

 

[majormajor]

I have been critical of the Jacket’s front office, but I am impressed with the Monsters this season. Some might think a team that has been bad for a few seasons should have a good AHL team, but we all know our top prospects and first round picks are not in Cleveland. Ceulemans was a 1st rounder and LDBB was a 2nd rounder, but the top 5 guys for points in Cleveland are TF-W (7th round), Christiansen (undrafted), Meyer (6th round), Pyythia (4th round), and Owen Sillinger (undrafted). The starting goalie was a free agent signee.

So my question to those who watch the Monsters, what are Chris Clark and Trent Vogelhuber doing right that the folks in Columbus aren’t doing?

There are so many presumptions and false premises in this I don't know where to start.

Rebuilding clubs don't generally have the best AHL teams!

And Clark and Vogelhuber are members of the Jackets organization. Clark is in our FO, director of player perssonel I believe. Most of the players were acquired as Jackets prospects. It didn't happen despite the folks in Columbus, it was them.

 

[Doggy]

I don't think there is much difference in the way they play in Cleveland. What has put them up top where they are, is their OT record. 8-1 after regulation is what is getting it done, but they need to win more in regulation as OT can switch on them and they can be on the losing end more. I don't really want to make a habit of trying to win games 3 on 3. They score a lot, (1st in division, 4th in league), but they give have given up some too, (5th in division, 20th in league). They have their games where they struggle defensively and will get pinned in their defensive zone a little too much for my liking. The goaltending by Greaves has been outstanding, and he has saved the D multiple times, but if he has a stretch where he is just OK, they will look like a different team.

The PP isn't bad (19.4%), but isn't as good as when KJ and Bemstrom was here. PK isn't good, and we get in the box a little too much also.

Overall I think Vogelhuber and his assistants do a fine job and most of the time they seem well prepared. I think the players like playing for him as a couple of guys said in the press conference we went to. They like that it wasn't that long ago that Trent played, and can relate to him because he is a younger coach that played the type of game that is being played now. Letestu and Haviland are solid assistants.

They still need to improve in some areas and cut down on mistakes and penalties that let the opposition back into games, like the last game when they blew three, two goal leads and ended up having to win in OT.

I cannot debate the team with you as I have only seen them once in a dominant performance (I think the score was 7-2). That said, if they were 1-8 in OT rather than 8-1 they would still be tied for first in the division. While not as dominant they would still have a very good record.

 

[Monstershockey]

I cannot debate the team with you as I have only seen them once in a dominant performance (I think the score was 7-2). That said, if they were 1-8 in OT rather than 8-1 they would still be tied for first in the division. While not as dominant they would still have a very good record.

True, but a lot of their record is, in large part, due to Greaves' play so far. He has been outstanding. This team doesn't suck, but if they play the same way, with average goaltending, they would be more like a .500 or so team, battling for a low seed, or just the last playoff spot. I'm hoping with the start they have had, when they do run into some adversity, they will be in a spot where they aren't relying on what other teams do just to make the playoffs, like last season.

 

[koteka]

There are so many presumptions and false premises in this I don't know where to start.

Rebuilding clubs don't generally have the best AHL teams!

And Clark and Vogelhuber are members of the Jackets organization. Clark is in our FO, director of player perssonel I believe. Most of the players were acquired as Jackets prospects. It didn't happen despite the folks in Columbus, it was them.

Perhaps I should have phrased “Some might think a team that has been bad for a few seasons should have a good AHL team” as “Some not paying attention to the organization might presume the Monsters have been successful due to recent high draft picks”.

I have heard Clark mostly deals with the Monsters. His title is GM of the Cleveland Monsters / Director of Player Personnel. Formerly he was Director of Player Development. Rick Nash is currently Director of Player Development and the team website says Nash oversees the progress of prospects and supervises the development coaches.

I would love to see an org chart and know who reports to whom. It is my understanding that Clark and Vogelhuber are more focused on the Monsters and they probably report to Dan Gilbert as much as Jarmo. I have been involved in enough projects that involve multiple companies to expect that Gilbert at the very least has veto power over the Monsters GM and coaching positions. I see Clark and Vogelhuber at least somewhat apart from the Columbus brain trust because they are focused on successfully running an AHL team. They care way more about Owen Sillinger than Mike Sillinger.

Anyway, even though you might not have liked the question, @Monstershockey and @Doggy had very informative responses, and I want to thank them.

 

[Monstershockey]

Perhaps I should have phrased “Some might think a team that has been bad for a few seasons should have a good AHL team” as “Some not paying attention to the organization might presume the Monsters have been successful due to recent high draft picks”.

I have heard Clark mostly deals with the Monsters. His title is GM of the Cleveland Monsters / Director of Player Personnel. Formerly he was Director of Player Development. Rick Nash is currently Director of Player Development and the team website says Nash oversees the progress of prospects and supervises the development coaches.

I would love to see an org chart and know who reports to whom. It is my understanding that Clark and Vogelhuber are more focused on the Monsters and they probably report to Dan Gilbert as much as Jarmo. I have been involved in enough projects that involve multiple companies to expect that Gilbert at the very least has veto power over the Monsters GM and coaching positions. I see Clark and Vogelhuber at least somewhat apart from the Columbus brain trust because they are focused on successfully running an AHL team. They care way more about Owen Sillinger than Mike Sillinger.

Anyway, even though you might not have liked the question, @Monstershockey and @Doggy had very informative responses, and I want to thank them.

Tony Brown explained it a couple of games ago. The Monsters higher ups are all CBJ employees. They report to Jarmo/JD. Dan Gilbert has pretty much nothing to do with them other than he is the owner. I don't think he even pays the contracts, but I am not sure about that and could be wrong. Columbus will even dictate who plays. Vogelhuber may have some leeway with coaching, but they pretty much have to play what system Columbus does, which makes sense since they need to be ready when they come up. If you notice in some of the pre-season videos they put out, all the Monsters guys are in Columbus working with the people there.

I see Nash here and there at the games, but over the last few seasons it seems the team is separating the team people from the fans. When we would get dinner, the coaches, GM's, people from the other teams would all be in together. The coaches would usually leave earlier to prepare for the game. Pretty sure covid is the excuse as after that is when they started separating us.

Monsters lost last night 5-4. Game started ugly as they were down 3-0 halfway through the first. I didn't watch, but it looks like they came close to pulling it out as they tied it at 4, but gave up a goal with like 22 seconds left. Back at it tonight vs Syracuse. Need this win without giving loser points to Syracuse to keep a good lead in division.

 

[Jackets Woodchuck]

Gilbert only runs the business side (tickets, marketing, broadcasts, etc.). Also, re: the preseason: So much of the preseason work is done in Columbus that the Monsters don;t even play preseason games (they get their preseason work in during CBJ preseason games).

Jock Callander and Brad Thiessen are the two guys who I'm not sure who pays them as they seem to have both hockey ops and broadcasting duties.

 

[Monstershockey]

Monsters up 4-1 after 2. Malatesta 2g and an assist, DBB with a goal and assist. Greaves 19 saves on 20 shots.

 

[Monstershockey]

Monsters get the win 4-2. Needed the points as their hold on first has dwindled to 4 points.

 

[majormajor]

Monsters up 4-1 after 2. Malatesta 2g and an assist, DBB with a goal and assist. Greaves 19 saves on 20 shots.

Going into the year I did not expect these prospects to be playing this well this early in their pro careers. Really good to see.

How do they look, points aside? How consistent are they game to game?

 

[Monstershockey]

Going into the year I did not expect these prospects to be playing this well this early in their pro careers. Really good to see.

How do they look, points aside? How consistent are they game to game?

I think they both look good. Malatesta is more of a physical player. He can be a pest, which is good. Not afraid to mix it up with anyone. He had a nice solid hit last night that spoiled a rush. DBB is less physical, but plays smart. He's more of a playmaker than Malatesta. They are both having solid first years and don't look overmatched. Malatesta has good speed. If they can build on what they have accomplished this season, I could see them being call ups next season. Not sure if they would make the team out of camp.

They both could be trade chips, also. Thrown in to sweeten a deal.