The Laval pickup of Schnarr is the kind of thing many NHL teams do at the TDL to strengthen their AHL rosters for the AHL playoffs. NJ only weakened the Devils roster thus far. They have added no one. The roster at the moment is in a state of disarray due to the lack of acquired depth right from the getgo opening day.
So, now with 2 guys in NJ and a 3rd up there injured for most of the season and injuries in Utica that have been averaging 2 -3 for some time (they just keep trading spaces in term of the IR). At this point in the season with the same guys playing every game when healthy the number of unhealthys has increased. You can't just keep playing the same 13 forwards and 7 D-men and expect them to all come through a full AHL season without tuckering out near season's end leading to injury.
They are now playing with a 3rd goalie on an AHL contract having to get games because Schmid can't play 'em all. Also note that Schmid's game has suffered since the rotation he was playing with Daws was disrupted by the 2nd straight year of a goalie fiasco in NJ.
The D is playing a recent NCAA free agent out of Arizona State U as a PTO in Bahl/Groleau's spot.
The forwards include:
- Patrick McGrath, who was signed on day 1 as a Comets depth forward. He has been with the Comets except for a 4-day stint with ECHL Adirondack when he returned from an injury. He has played 22 games and hasn't put up a single point while amassing 53 PIM.
- Luke Stevens was also on the opening day roster. He played in 3 of the Comets first 11 games and was injured twice. Game 9. Returned for game 11 on 11/17 and was injured again. He would play one more game before being reassigned to Adirondack on 12/2. He was just signed to another PTO yesterday in order to play last night - game 5. He assisted on Zetterlund's first goal last night with a blind centering pass that fortunately found no Crunch player defending in front and Z was able to skate into it for a goal.
- Tyler Irvine has 5 recalls from Adirondack and has played 12 games. His most recent was on 3/23 and he was returned to Adirondack the next day. He has amassed 3 points with 1 goal in his games here.
- Patrick Grasso has been recalled from Adirondack and played 3 games. Once in January for a game and then returned and again on 3/23 and played both Wednesday and Friday. He has 0 points.
- Nick Rivera was called up on 1/11 and played 5 games and was injured on in the 5th game (1/21), reactivated on 1/30, returned to play on 2/4, played 4 more games and was returned to Adirondack. he put up 1 assist in his 9 GP.
- Samuel Laberge was called up from Adirondack on 11/13 and played in 8 games before returning to Adirondack on 12/2. There was at least 1 regular Comet out of the lineup every game during that stretch and often more and he got the nod every game.
He didn't get his 2nd recall until 12/31, played a game, and was returned on 1/1. Clarke joined Gambardella on the injured list and Laberge was immediately recalled for the 1/5 game and he has been here ever since.
Whenever he was in town he played and was signed to an AHL contract soon after his last recall. Dineen said he is a Comet. Of all the Adirondack guys brought up to play in Utica he is the most dependable. He forechecks and backchecks, can take and make a pass, stands up for his mates but doesn't do something stupid in doing so. He has chipped in 10 points as well as 4 goals in a 4th line role. Is he a prototype AHL 4th line grinder like Abbotsford forward Vincent Arseneau when he was a Comet? No, but he has been adequate in his 43 GP.
These are the guys the Comets have used when short in manpower up front. In other words, when they found themselves below 12 forwards which can happen a lot when you only carry 13 active most of the time.
Defensively there has always seemed to be 6 healthy out of the 7 on the roster and when not it seemed to coincide with the White's short return visits. When that wasn't the case.....
- Joe Masonius was called up from Adirondack. He was always the weak link, but they survived with him. He played a total of 3 games, 0 Pts, 0 PIM. He was recently traded by the Thunder to the ECHL Fort Wayne Komets .
With no Masonius, the Comets have used
- Chris Lijdsman for 1 game, all 0s
- Tim Theocharidis was signed to a PTO on 3/23 and has played the last 2 games and recorded 0 Pts and 0 PIM. He has shown a bit of a knack for playing offense when the puck is in the offensive zone. He has walked the line to create more options. Made a couple of nice passes threafter. He has put the puck on net and has been down in the high slot looking for a centering pass and again for a rebound. In all cases he was not caught up ice. Defensively he has at times looked lost, found himself out of position, chased, and done too much stick waving at the puck as players passed the puck by him. 4 ECHL GP with the Thunder and 2 with the Comets with little if any practice time won't get a most recent NCAA D-man up to snuff with an AHL hockey team.
This is the depth the Comets have had all season.
Bahl was returned today. That will be a big +.
Greer's return will also be looked forward to. The failure of the Devils to get him back while still not requiring waivers would be unacceptable with the AHL playoffs so close.
He along with Holtz, Zetterlund, and Deleo are the big 4 for the Comets offensively.
If Thompson is healthy come playoff time the Comets will have 3 very strong lines and a 4th pushing up right behind them.
The top 12 won't contain a single member of that list above if they can enter the playoffs healthy.
Their 7 regular season D-men would also be available.
The only doable spare forward would be Laberge and there are no extra D-men beyond the top 7. Considering the number of possible games in the 20s That's pure Shite for depth.
