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

RangersFan1994

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Aug 20, 2019
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He was at Montreal Canadiens developmen camp last year. Here is a write up from a Canadiens fan blog.

"Isaac Dufort is a 20 year old forward who is coming off a strong season in the QMJHL with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He scored 21 goals and 41 points in 61 games on a rebuilding team and added seven more points in seven playoff games. He isn’t lighting the league up with his scoring, but that’s why he hasn’t been drafted yet.


Dufort is worth keeping an eye on as a possible signing candidate and could get the same deal that Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Xavier Simoneau and Joel Teasdale got which is to be sent back to the QMJHL for their overage season and then signed to an AHL-only contract for one year. At 6’2″ and 180 pounds, the Laval native is definitely on the Canadiens radar as a potential future Laval Rocket."

I hope for once, if he plays for the Wolfpack that he plays well to earn an NHL contract from the Rangers. Rangers can use some diamond in the rough type players that they will need especially when they have cap issues. These type of players do help the organization.
 

eco's bones

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46 points in 62 Q games as a 20 year old tells me that if Dufort makes the Pack it won't be in a scoring role. Sometimes it's hard to see why the Rangers choose this or that young free agent to give AHL contracts too. If I remember last year Panwar was an invite to the Rangers camp and impressed off a point per game OHL season.....but he also spent almost the entire year in Jacksonville ECHL. He did fairly well there too but apparently we didn't pick him up for a second go around. When I say hard to say why though I'm sure there are reasons they decided to give Dufort a shot. That said I think the odds of him ever suiting up for an NHL game are pretty thin.
 
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eco's bones

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Hollowell was a decent player and more than less the main power play QB. Brouillard isn't a loss. He's not good defensively and he took loads of undisciplined or out of position penalties. What it means though is the Rangers don't really seem to have a defenseman who can run their power play. That's the one gaping hole that the Pack seem to have right now. Other than that it seems like they should have a good team.

Remains to be seen from how training camp goes but I do expect Carrick to make the Rangers. He's a 4th line guy for sure but he's okay on face-offs and a gritty physical guy not all that much unlike Goodrow only coming in a lot cheaper. Barclay's all around game might be somewhat better in some areas but not by all that much. Carrick hits a little more and he drops the gloves more. He's had like 18 fights in the last two years and he's fighting the tough guys almost all the time. I looked at his list on Hockeyfights. He's not picking fights with guys who don't do it or do it very often......he's fighting the legit guys.
 

RangersFan1994

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Hollowell was a decent player and more than less the main power play QB. Brouillard isn't a loss. He's not good defensively and he took loads of undisciplined or out of position penalties. What it means though is the Rangers don't really seem to have a defenseman who can run their power play. That's the one gaping hole that the Pack seem to have right now. Other than that it seems like they should have a good team.

Remains to be seen from how training camp goes but I do expect Carrick to make the Rangers. He's a 4th line guy for sure but he's okay on face-offs and a gritty physical guy not all that much unlike Goodrow only coming in a lot cheaper. Barclay's all around game might be somewhat better in some areas but not by all that much. Carrick hits a little more and he drops the gloves more. He's had like 18 fights in the last two years and he's fighting the tough guys almost all the time. I looked at his list on Hockeyfights. He's not picking fights with guys who don't do it or do it very often......he's fighting the legit guys.



So he is the center version and this year’s version of Tanner Glass? Their game is pretty similar.
 

eco's bones

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So he is the center version and this year’s version of Tanner Glass? Their game is pretty similar.

So many people here have a fixation with Tanner Glass for some reason. Some of the narratives people create around players they decide to en masse hate are a bit much IMO.

Carrick is a gamer. He's a physical player. He'll pop in goals/points every once in a while. That's more than less what you want from 4th line guys. If the expectation or demand is for 20 goals and 50 points from a $1 million vet who's always had to fight to keep in the lineup I don't know what to say. I think what we should hope for from a 4th line guys is for them to be physical, forecheck/backcheck hard, be defensively responsible, stick up for their teammates. He does all these things. He's not afraid of anyone and may fit with a guy like Rempe really well. That has the potential to be a nasty line to play against.
 

bmoak

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Does Carrick kill penalties? That's something you really want from a 4th liner.
 

Ranger Ric

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Oct 26, 2015
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Hollowell was a decent player and more than less the main power play QB. Brouillard isn't a loss. He's not good defensively and he took loads of undisciplined or out of position penalties. What it means though is the Rangers don't really seem to have a defenseman who can run their power play. That's the one gaping hole that the Pack seem to have right now. Other than that it seems like they should have a good team.

Remains to be seen from how training camp goes but I do expect Carrick to make the Rangers. He's a 4th line guy for sure but he's okay on face-offs and a gritty physical guy not all that much unlike Goodrow only coming in a lot cheaper. Barclay's all around game might be somewhat better in some areas but not by all that much. Carrick hits a little more and he drops the gloves more. He's had like 18 fights in the last two years and he's fighting the tough guys almost all the time. I looked at his list on Hockeyfights. He's not picking fights with guys who don't do it or do it very often......he's fighting the legit guys.
I agree that Hartford needed to sign a player to run the PP and the team didn't. That lead me to think that maybe the management feels there are players on the roster who could fill that role.

Hartford has signed three defensemen to AHL contracts: Case McCarthy, Ryan Siedem and Carter Berger.

On June 3rd I posted the following about them:

"In the 2019 draft Berger was drafted in the 4th round with the 106th pick by Florida. Hunter Skinner was drafted by the Rangers with the 112th pick by the Rangers. And Case McCarthy was drafted with the 118th pick by New Jersey. Only Skinner was signed and he was traded.

Ryan Siedem also was draft eligible but was not selected.

The Central Scouting Bureau rated McCarthy 77 for US non goalie prospects, Siedem 110 and Skinner 120. Berger was an over ager. I didn't find him in the CSB rankings but Steve Kournianos's website said he as rated 147 by CSB.

Kournianos rated McCarthy 95 and Siedem 110. He did not rate Skinner and he rated Berger as the 47th overager.

Of McCarthy Steve said he is a "thick, big-bodied blue liner who can crank it from the point." Steve said that while he can carry the puck he relies moron making safer plays and deferring to play makers. He called Case a "strong, powerful skater."

For Siedem Steve commented he was a "clean no nonsense two-way defender." Steve called him highly-intelligent and disciplined."

At Western Michigan, Carter Berger had 23 points in 33 games in the 2022-2023 season and followed that up last year with 20 points in 36 games. He was the 9th leading scorer on the team.

Case McCarthy played five years and never had more than 15 points.

Ryan Siedem played three years at Harvard before moving last year to Notre Dame. He had 20 points last year.

None of this screams running a power play.

Perhaps that's why the Rangers invited Kale McCallum. McCallum had 69 points in 68 games in the QMJHL in 2021-2022 and was the fourth leading scorer on the team. He followed that up with 34 points in 36 the following year before moving onto Canadian colleg hockey. Last year for the University of New Brunswick he had 42 points in 30 games and was the second leading scorer on the team. It will be interesting to see if he is offered a contract.
 

Ranger Ric

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Confirmation that Vaisanen will not be in Hartford this upcoming season.



Google Translate:

Ilves and the NHL club 𝐍𝐰𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐫𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 have agreed on the loan agreement of the 21-year-old forward 𝐊𝐂𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐭! Väisänen will play in Ilves in the 2024–2025 season, but will possibly participate in the Rangers' training camp in the fall.
 

RangersFan1994

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Confirmation that Vaisanen will not be in Hartford this upcoming season.



Google Translate:

Ilves and the NHL club 𝐍𝐰𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐫𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 have agreed on the loan agreement of the 21-year-old forward 𝐊𝐂𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐭! Väisänen will play in Ilves in the 2024–2025 season, but will possibly participate in the Rangers' training camp in the fall.


I don’t get this. I thought he’d be getting used the AHL by being here full time this season. Hope this helps his development. I see Viktor Stalberg upside with him.
 

Ranger Ric

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I don’t get this. I thought he’d be getting used the AHL by being here full time this season. Hope this helps his development. I see Viktor Stalberg upside with him.
I think Amazing Kreideman reported on this already that under the existing transfer agreement drafted players from an overseas team can only come over to play in the NHL if they are below a certain age. Otherwise the player must remain with its foreign team. That's why Karl Henriksson took a few years to come over to Hartford.
 

nyr2k2

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I think Amazing Kreideman reported on this already that under the existing transfer agreement drafted players from an overseas team can only come over to play in the NHL if they are below a certain age. Otherwise the player must remain with its foreign team. That's why Karl Henriksson took a few years to come over to Hartford.
Yeah there is a rule about players covered by the IIHF transfer agreement having to be offered back to their European club if they meet certain age/draft-related criteria and don't make the NHL roster. It's sort of confusing with Väisänen because he was previously under contract with TPS and not Ilves. If the player isn't under contract they don't have to be offered back. But, who knows, maybe the teams worked something out.
 
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HFsNumber1Heel

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I think Amazing Kreideman reported on this already that under the existing transfer agreement drafted players from an overseas team can only come over to play in the NHL if they are below a certain age. Otherwise the player must remain with its foreign team. That's why Karl Henriksson took a few years to come over to Hartford.
It's fine they're gonna have Chlemar/Rooberak/BMB and a returning Sykora in Hartford this season. Plenty of youth. Also one to three of Rempe/Edstrom/Othmann/Berard will start the year there.
 

Ranger Ric

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It's really slow in hockey land. The unofficial announcement about Brandan Burke led me to do followup about Hartford next season and here are some thoughts:

1. Jeff Macolm has been with the organization for six years, three as a consultant followed by three years as Hartford goalie coach. Goaltender has been a strength for Hartford over the last two years with Domingue reestablishing his goalie credentials and Dylan Garand developing into a solid prospect. We know he won't be with Hartford next year. But we also know that Bennett Allaire is taking a step back. Maybe Malcolm moves up to the Rangers?

2. When I looked at the Hartford staff I noticed that Steve Smith is no longer listed while Paul Mara is. Mara was brought in to coach the defensemen when Smith took over as interim. Perhaps Smith will no longer be in the organization.

3. The new goaltender coach, Brendan Burke, is the son of Sean Burke. Brendan was the goaltending coach for the Portland Winterhawks last year in addition to his work with the Junior Coyotes. Sean Burke was a long time NHL goalie and NHL goalie coach. I haven't listened to this but Brendan was interviewed by InGoal Magazine. InGoal Radio Episode 215with Brendan Burke - InGoal Magazine

4. While the wolfpack roster currently has a lengthy list of defensemen, none of them are power play specialists who could replace Mac Hallowell. Patrick Williams who writes about the AHL had a tweet regarding AHL vets who had yet to be signed:


Keegan Jarvis, who covers the Wolfpack, wrote about Brad Hunt:


It will be interesting to see how the organization plans to address the power play role in Hartford.

5. In the thread dealing with the 2024 draft and undrafted free agents, I mentioned that Bryce Brodzinski who was drafted by Philadelphia but did not go to the Philadelphia development camp, could be a Ranger target on August 15. Another Hartford blogger noted the need for more forward depth in Hartford.


The Rangers still have a couple of open contract spots and Hartford, which usually signs around 10 players to AHL contracts, has only signed five to date.
 

cwede

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... followup about Hartford next season and here are some thoughts:
...
2. When I looked at the Hartford staff I noticed that Steve Smith is no longer listed while Paul Mara is. Mara was brought in to coach the defensemen when Smith took over ...
I am taking the Mara listing at Pack site with a grain of salt, it may just be a leftover placeholder
He is also still listed at NYR site in his prior/overlapping role
1721653747158.png

Soon Potulny (or Martin) should confirm the staff for next season, and we'll know more
 

kovazub94

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Aug 5, 2010
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It's really slow in hockey land. The unofficial announcement about Brandan Burke led me to do followup about Hartford next season and here are some thoughts:

1. Jeff Macolm has been with the organization for six years, three as a consultant followed by three years as Hartford goalie coach. Goaltender has been a strength for Hartford over the last two years with Domingue reestablishing his goalie credentials and Dylan Garand developing into a solid prospect. We know he won't be with Hartford next year. But we also know that Bennett Allaire is taking a step back. Maybe Malcolm moves up to the Rangers?

3. The new goaltender coach, Brendan Burke, is the son of Sean Burke. Brendan was the goaltending coach for the Portland Winterhawks last year in addition to his work with the Junior Coyotes. Sean Burke was a long time NHL goalie and NHL goalie coach. I haven't listened to this but Brendan was interviewed by InGoal Magazine. InGoal Radio Episode 215with Brendan Burke - InGoal Magazine
This is interesting. A while ago I was listening to Jeff Marek podcast where he was talking about Sean Burke as one of the highest regarded goalie coaches in the NHL.. and former B Allaire disciple.
 

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