Prospect Info: Hartford Wolf Pack/Bloomington Bison Thread: Part XV

[cwede]

Can Barbashev even play in Hartford since he is only 19? Could it be possible that Shawinigan trade him before the season? I thought Barbashev is too young to play for Hartford but if he does that would be great for him.

Turns 20 this Calendar Year, so IIRC, AHL is allowed.

I see no reason why Shawinigan could not trade him again, if they find a buyer, but as reviewed above, his status as both turning 20 and an Import could present roster challenges for acquiring team.

Not as certain that entering AHL right away "would be great for him"
Maybe especially since NYR/'Pack already have 5 rookie-NA-pro Fs(Oth, Korcz, Berard, Syk, Edstrom) due to be on that roster.

But an interesting side note, also cited above, he could play this year on AHL deal, and NYR still retain rights til June, could sign ELC Mar.1 and not count against this season's NHL contracts. Maybe defer waiver clock too

 

[nyr2k2]

Can Barbashev even play in Hartford since he is only 19? Could it be possible that Shawinigan trade him before the season? I thought Barbashev is too young to play for Hartford but if he does that would be great for him.

He's 19 but he'll be 20 in December so it counts as his age 20 season. He can play in the AHL.

The QMJHL has weird trade rules including trade periods, and trades can't happen outside those periods if I understand correctly (I don't really follow the Q). The next trade period I believe opens in December, so I don't think Shawinigan would be able to trade him before the season.

 

[cwede]

He's 19 but he'll be 20 in December so it counts as his age 20 season. He can play in the AHL.

The QMJHL has weird trade rules including trade periods, and trades can't happen outside those periods if I understand correctly (I don't really follow the Q). The next trade period I believe opens in December, so I don't think Shawinigan would be able to trade him before the season.

Hadn’t realized the Q’s restrictions til you posted.
Off season deadline just passed on weekend

Trade Deadline - August 2023 - LHJMQ

Here are the transactions that have been made before today’s trade deadline. Moncton à/to Saint John : 7th round (from Saint John) 2025 Saint John à/to Moncton: 10th round (Saint John) 2025 Moncton à/to Cape Breton : Luke McPhee (2005-03-04) Cape Breton à/to Moncton: 7th round (from...

chl.ca

 

[NYR Viper]

This is another good example of a kid who would do well to go play somewhere in Europe for a season. Maybe the SEL or Swiss league

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

This is another good example of a kid who would do well to go play somewhere in Europe for a season. Maybe the SEL or Swiss league

Yes but there's a reluctance to sign Russian born players at the moment due to the current political climate.

 

[NYR Viper]

Yes but there's a reluctance to sign Russian born players at the moment due to the current political climate.

In Europe you mean?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

In Europe you mean?

Yes.

Liiga went from 16 down to just 1 Russian after the Ukraine invasion.
SHL and Allsvenskan haven't had a Russian player at all since.
The Czech Extraliga saw it go down from 10 to 2.
NL historically has a very low number of Russians.

It's not impossible for Barbashev to land a contract in these leagues but over the last few years the exodus of Russians following the Ukraine invasion, whether voluntary or forced, is noteworthy.

 

[cwede]

This is another good example of a kid who would do well to go play somewhere in Europe for a season. Maybe the SEL or Swiss league

Yes but there's a reluctance to sign Russian born players at the moment due to the current political climate.

If not Q or Eu, limited options
USHL prob a step below than Q re comp?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

If not Q or Eu, limited options
USHL prob a step below than Q re comp?

I still think he signs an AHL deal. If not with the Wolf Pack, then somewhere else. He's not obligated to sign with the Rangers' affiliate on an AHL contract.

 

[cwede]

re Tanner Fritz, there were online rumors he's sign overseas, and online speculation he could return to Pack

But he signed w Isles' Bridgeport affiliate, where he'd played for 6 prior seasons before his 2 with Pack

Bridgeport Islanders Sign Forward Tanner Fritz | Bridgeport Islanders

Official website of the American Hockey League's Bridgeport Islanders, Top Affiliate of the NHL's New York Islanders

www.bridgeportislanders.com

 

[cwede]

I recall a couple years back, Sabres fans, here at HFB, hoping he'd become a physical, 2-way middle 6, that didn't want him traded, as that was a differentiator for from from other F prospects

MATEJ PEKAR LOOKS TO BUILD ON RECENT EXPERIENCES IN DEBUT SEASON WITH WOLF PACK | Hartford Wolf Pack

www.hartfordwolfpack.com

"...
“I believe I can help the team win here, and I’m hoping to prove that starting with training camp.”
Pekar’s game is one players love to have by their side but hate to go against. He’s the kind of player that fans love to boo when he comes into their arena but love to cheer on when he tugs on the home jersey. He’s physical and hard-working, the kind of player every team needs if they are to achieve the ultimate goal.
“I think I am a hardworking winger that can be a bit of a pest,” Pekar assessed when asked to best describe his style of play. “I believe that I can outwork the opponent anywhere on the ice. I believe I can make plays and help in that regard too.”"

 

[cwede]

Henault was rookie pro last season, signed to Pack contract out of OHL Windsor, but had spent entire season w Jax

Solar Bears add Carroll, Henault

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Solar Bears, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, have announced the signings of defensemen Ben Carroll and Louka Henault to contracts for the 2023-24 season. Carroll enters his fifth professional season and fourth in the ECHL....

www.echl.com

 

[cwede]

Lindbom not listed for Friday scrimmage roster,
last minute PTO, MaineECHL G Brad Arvanitis is listed

 

[cwede]

Pack open Camp today

Pending guys like Lesch, Berard, Edstrom, Rempe, Robertson, Hollowell, Domingue , below are attendees per release on their page today

*s are tryouts
MCcleary(20, expected to play as OA, in hometown SwiftCurrentWHL) was at Rookie NYR Camp,

G Arvinitis (signed w Maine ECHL) was briefly at NYR Camp as scrimmage G

Didnt check yet, some tryouts likely CincyECHL guys, Pack's new AA affiliate. (Pack signees Pekar, Berzolla were w Cincy last season)

A familiar looking name among F tryouts

From Pack site today :
"The Wolf Pack currently has 17 forwards, ten defensemen, and three goaltenders on the training camp roster.
Forwards (17): Matej Pekar, Turner Elson, Riley Nash, Anton Blidh, Luka Burzan*, Karl Henriksson, Sahil Panwar, Adam Sýkora, Peter Laviolette*, Ryder Korczak, Bobby Trivigno, Maxim Barbashev, James Hardie*, Alex Belzile, Drew Worrad, Cristiano DiGiacinto, and Michal Mrazik*

Defensemen (10): Matthew Cairns*, Connor Mackey, Zach Berzolla, Blake Hillman, Seth Barton, Nikolas Brouillard, Steven MacLean*, Ryan McCleary*, Billy Constantinou*, and Chris Cameron*

Goaltenders (3): Brad Arvanitis*, Talyn Boyko, and Olof Lindbom"

 

[cwede]

Pack open Camp today

Pending guys like Lesch, Berard, Edstrom, Rempe, Robertson, Hollowell, Domingue , below are attendees per release on their page today

*s are tryouts
...

follow up notes
as suspected, most of the new-name try-outs are signed w Cincy for '23-24, ,
except Lavi's son, and Cameron

D-Men
Cairns is 25, 6'2" 203" LHD ex-Cornell\UMD, entering 3rd season w Cincy Drafted #84OA in '16 by EO

Cameron is ex-OHL 24, 6'4 230 RHD, played mostly w Indy ECHL his 2 pro seasons, re-signed there in summer

Constantinou is ex-OHL 22, 6' 183# RHD signed by Cincy

MacLean is 25, 6'7" 216# LHD joined Cincy last spring after 3 season Canadian Uni, signed w Cincy for '23-34

FORWARDS
Lavi's son is 25, 6'4", was pro rookie last year, after D2 DIII college hockey. Played last season for Wheeling ECHL where he was born, when his dad was rookie coach for Nailers 25 years ago

Burzan is 23, 6' 183#, entering 4th pro season, was acquired mid-season by Cincy and extended

Hardie is 21, 5'11",. signed w Cincy last spring after OHL season ended Last 3 OHL seasons >110G, >220pts

Mrazik is 6'4". 220# 22-year old Slovak (played some Junior in Sweden) , first NA season last year, acquired by Cincy in summer. A fellow Slovak friend for Sykora at Camp

 

[cwede]

And ... 7 more guys sent to Hartford

"New York Rangers ... trimmed its Training Camp roster to 27 players as Brett Berard, Dylan Garand, Adam Edstrom, Jake Leschyshyn, Matt Rempe, Matthew Robertson, and Brandon Scanlin have been assigned to the Hartford ..."

Brodz, Cuylle, Othmann, also Harpur, Hollowell still w NYR
Hollowell and Domingue waived today, could be assigned at 2pm tomorrow

Harpur, Brodz are as yet un-waived, demotion-possible waivers-required guys still in camp

Barring season-opening injuries,
2 of Brodz, Cuylle, Othmann, and both Harpur, Hollowell
likely Pack-bound before season starts (if Brodz, Hollowell, or Harpur not claimed)

 

[Luger]

Garand deserves one more preseason start, but I guess he never had a chance because the plan was always to cut down the goalies to 2 the first day of October. It would be nice to see Garand against better opposition since other teams also cut their rosters.

 

[GAGLine]

Garand deserves one more preseason start, but I guess he never had a chance because the plan was always to cut down the goalies to 2 the first day of October. It would be nice to see Garand against better opposition since other teams also cut their rosters.

No matter how well Garand played, there was no chance of him making the team. He's too young and needs to show that he can be consistent at the AHL level. On top of that, it's better for him to play 40-50 games in the AHL rather than 20-25 in the NHL.

If Quick shits the bed, the timeline for Garand might be accelerated, but the organization is going to wait and see how things play out before they make any moves.

 

[Luger]

I wasn't talking about him playing in a regular season game. I just wanted another game, maybe half a game in preseason.

 

[eco's bones]

With Nash, Belzile, Blidh, Elson, Edstrom, Sykora, Leschyshyn, Berard, Rempe, Trivigno and Henriksson that's already 11 forwards. Rangers are likely to send two more down to make 13. DiGiacinto and Pekar I think are two pretty good F's with AHL contracts. I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them end up in Cincinnati nor would I be surprised if any of Barbashev, Korczak and Panwar end up there too.

Mackey, Robertson, Hollowell, Scanlin and Brouillard (who can move up to forward) are locked in as 5 of the D. One of Harpur, Jones will come from the Rangers. Hillman, Barton, Berzolla with AHL contracts. Hillman's been with the Pack a couple years though and he played really well in the AHL playoffs last year. Got to think he's got the edge to stick as their seventh D.

Garand and Domingue the goalies.

 

[egelband]

Did any of our waived players get picked up? Besides Emberson.

 

[cwede]

Did any of our waived players get picked up? Besides Emberson.

No Lesch cleared yesterday, Hollowell, Domingue cleared today

 

[cwede]

not expected to be a key guy, but just realized Mullin is not listed on Pack Camp roster, or website

will ping Alex T and others on 'X'

WOLF PACK AGREE TO TERMS WITH FORWARD TRISTAN MULLIN ON ONE-YEAR CONTRACT | Hartford Wolf Pack

www.hartfordwolfpack.com

 

[Ranger Ric]

With Nash, Belzile, Blidh, Elson, Edstrom, Sykora, Leschyshyn, Berard, Rempe, Trivigno and Henriksson that's already 11 forwards. Rangers are likely to send two more down to make 13. DiGiacinto and Pekar I think are two pretty good F's with AHL contracts. I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them end up in Cincinnati nor would I be surprised if any of Barbashev, Korczak and Panwar end up there too.

Mackey, Robertson, Hollowell, Scanlin and Brouillard (who can move up to forward) are locked in as 5 of the D. One of Harpur, Jones will come from the Rangers. Hillman, Barton, Berzolla with AHL contracts. Hillman's been with the Pack a couple years though and he played really well in the AHL playoffs last year. Got to think he's got the edge to stick as their seventh D.

Garand and Domingue the goalies.

First preseason game tonight against Springfield.

Eco's bones has an accurate assessment of the team make up.

Goaltending should be strong. By not signing a veteran goalie for Cincinnati it looks like the Rangers want Lindbom and Boyko to carry the load. With two veteran goalies in Jacksonville last year Lindbom didn't see much action even though his play improved as the year went on.

The defense should be strong in its own zone but will need for Hollowell and Brouillard to generate some offense to replace Jones. I was disappointed that Scanlin didn't get into a game in NY. He was on the game list for game 1. Since I'm out of market I watched the Boston feed on the NHL Network and the Boston announcer said at one point regarding Schneider that he was only in because of a late scratch. That had to have been Scanlin. So maybe he was hurt. Vince M also had him on the list to play game 3 but that game was postponed and he didn't play in game 4.

Up front, while I'm excited about many of the kids I'm concerned about the lack of creativity the team has at center. I thought the top generators of offense last season were Brodzinski, Fritz and Trivigno. Brodzinski looks like he makes the Rangers and I believe Hartford chose not to resign Fritz. Leschyshyn and Nash are likely to be the top two centers and being creative with the puck is not their strengths. I also was disappointed that Bobby T didn't get into any games with NY before being sent down, particularly since Vince T mentioned him in two different practice sessions as making an impact. I also think it would have been nice to have the NY kid play at MSG in front of his family. It doesn't appear that the Rangers are that high on him.

 

[eco's bones]

First preseason game tonight against Springfield.

Eco's bones has an accurate assessment of the team make up.

Goaltending should be strong. By not signing a veteran goalie for Cincinnati it looks like the Rangers want Lindbom and Boyko to carry the load. With two veteran goalies in Jacksonville last year Lindbom didn't see much action even though his play improved as the year went on.

The defense should be strong in its own zone but will need for Hollowell and Brouillard to generate some offense to replace Jones. I was disappointed that Scanlin didn't get into a game in NY. He was on the game list for game 1. Since I'm out of market I watched the Boston feed on the NHL Network and the Boston announcer said at one point regarding Schneider that he was only in because of a late scratch. That had to have been Scanlin. So maybe he was hurt. Vince M also had him on the list to play game 3 but that game was postponed and he didn't play in game 4.

Up front, while I'm excited about many of the kids I'm concerned about the lack of creativity the team has at center. I thought the top generators of offense last season were Brodzinski, Fritz and Trivigno. Brodzinski looks like he makes the Rangers and I believe Hartford chose not to resign Fritz. Leschyshyn and Nash are likely to be the top two centers and being creative with the puck is not their strengths. I also was disappointed that Bobby T didn't get into any games with NY before being sent down, particularly since Vince T mentioned him in two different practice sessions as making an impact. I also think it would have been nice to have the NY kid play at MSG in front of his family. It doesn't appear that the Rangers are that high on him.

My guess is Jones makes the Rangers out of camp.....though there are other scenarios with him (such as a trade) and Harpur starts the year with the Wolfpack. That's what happened last year. The issue on the Rangers D then is how much does Jones play and this is a different scenario altogether than last year because Schneider/Gustafsson on our bottom pair are legit good players. I don't know how Laviolette is going to run that.....most veteran coaches and probably even most younger coaches if their teams aren't in some kind of rebuilding process are going with what they think is their best lineup night in and night out because they want to win as many games as possible. The 7th guy gets in when there's an injury. I don't see a platoon thing happening whoever is the 7D.