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Minor League Thread 2017-18: Part VIII

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@Beacon Bigras was one of the AVs more hyped prospects until he suffered a really bad concussion and apparently was super skiddish in his play afterwards. He's definitely more mobile and has more two-way potential than Graves, and it's nice to see him put up really solid numbers since joining the Pack.

Thanks again for the recaps!
 
SECOND PERIOD

Lindgren could stand to improve his straight away speed a little. Not awful, but there's a difference between 'good' and 'good for a big defense-first guy.'

Big sliding pad save by Mazanec.

Mazanec with a long pass from behind his own net to the red line.

Fogarty with a sneaky pass to DeSalvo that required a big save.

Hubert Labrie absolutely destroyed a Devil trying to skate around the net. One of the biggest hits I saw this year. Followed by a quick fight, but no real punches thrown. Devils PP.

Big couple of saves by Mazanec.

Not sure Fogarty can stick in the NHL. He'd be a total black hole offensively and the era when Mike Hartman would get a 400-game NHL career despite having no offense at all are long gone.

Labrie gets open in front of the goalie, one timer, but stopped.

Big save by Mazanec seconds later on the other end of the ice.

Albert with a nice steal.

Craw with a hit to drive a Devil off the puck. Good positioning too.

Mazanec with a shoulder save on a 4 on 2.

Ronning with a chance by driving to the net.

SCORE: Lindgren from the left side to Vinni on the right cirle, off the goal post and in. Bigras with the other assist.

Interestingly, the last bunch of games, Vinni at center, Rambo on the LW.

SCORE: Almost immediately after taking a 2-1 lead, the Pack give up a goal. Defensive breakdown left a Devil right in front of Mazanec. Not much the goalie could do.

Former Devil first rounder Michael McCloud splits Labrie and Rambo to create a mini-breakaway for himself, but stopped by Mazanec. McCloud likely plays in NJ next season. He looks like the Devils vet, not a kid on an ATO just out of the OHL.

DeSalvo with a chance, but couldn't put it on the net.

END OF TWO
 
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LAST PERIOD OF THE SEASON

Ronning manhandled along the boards, dropped to the ice again. Mostly because of poor positioning, not his size.

SCORE: A bunch of broken plays, eventually a shot by Gropp trickles in.

Big hit by a Devil on Lindgren who put his head down. Needs to learn that this isn't like playing against teens in college. They chat, get sent to the box to cool off.

Good defense by Pedrie, lifting McCloud's stick to prevent an up close shot.

Ronning tries to bring the puck in, but turnover.

Ronning shoots, but from far away, and unlike the Juniors, these types of shots don't go in at the AHL level.

Lindgren has good edgework (the twists and turns of skating). Could improve his straight away speed. Not awful, but would help him make the NHL if he were a hair faster.

Devils hit the post.

Helgesen with a finished check, then Leedahl got hit hard, and all hell breaks loose as everyone tried to hit, push, shove or fight.

Fontaine with a rebound in front of an open net, but his stick was lifted by a defenseman.

Fogarty being very effective on the PK. Rushes the puck out, undresses the Devil trying to defend against him to create a shot. He doesn't have a great ability to finish, but really nice play there.

Fogarty breaks up a play and almost gets a breakaway, but is caught up.

SCORE: Devils pull their goalie, a bunch of attempts to clear, and then Rambo scores through the legs of a Devil defenseman who should've blocked it. 4-2.

Almost another ENG.

Well, at least the season ends with a pair of wins against the Little Devils.
 
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Ronning's game can be judged purely on points. He doesn't do anything except try to get open to score. If he doesn't score, he had a bad game.
 
Beacon said:
Ronning's game can be judged purely on points. He doesn't do anything except try to get open to score. If he doesn't score, he had a bad game.
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I'd be willing to give the guy a shot to learn the game at the professional level after not being taught anything at the junior level
 
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Levitate said:
I'd be willing to give the guy a shot to learn the game at the professional level after not being taught anything at the junior level
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Which is why he's probably best to start in the ECHL. He can be a first liner getting 20 minutes there. The ECHL is known as a graveyard of prospects because very few of them make it. However, very few Junior players make it 4.6% or an average one player per team. The Juniors have a few stars, but half of the players are without exaggeration on on par with a high-end beer league. ECHLers are guys who used to be first liners in the Juniors/NCAA, but not stars. Think of Zibanejad in the NHL - a very good player, but not a star. A CHL equivalent of that becomes an ECHLer. Ronning will play against older, stronger, wiser former NCAA/CHL first liners without total scrubs who populate the bottom-6 in the Juniors getting in the way. He can adjust to the pro speed, to facing only good players and then he can dominate them. Hopefully in a few months, he moves on to the AHL as a PP specialist who is a good forechecker, which is his strength when he's not shooting the puck. That would be a good rookie pro year. Then as sophomore, hopefully he becomes a quality top-6 AHLer. Reasonable expectations are needed for him.
 
Harbour Dog said:
How good a skater is Fogarty? I don't remember him ever standing out one way or the other when I've seen him.
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If he were in the NHL, it would probably be average. Maybe a hair above? Given the game he plays his skating wouldn't be what holds him back.
 
Irishguy42 said:
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Hartford is the biggest media market in the US without a major league team in any of the 4 sports. May be their attempt to get one, but they seem late to the NHL with Vegas and likely Seattle to get a team. That said, maybe the NHL wants to expand once more to 34 teams. I think Quebec deserves a team. They are a big hockey fans and Quebec City gained 15% population since the Nordiques became the Avs, with the suburbs gaining even more. Hamilton is another option because it has over a million people, but it's only 40 miles to Toronto and 60 miles to Buffalo. Both the Leafs and the Sabres can block a franchise going to Hamilton. You're also not expanding the NHL fan base by putting yet another team in Ontario. Houston seems like a good option. It's the 4th biggest city in the US after NYC, LA and Chicago. It has2.3 million people, about the same population as Raleigh, Vegas, Nashville and Washington DC combined, and all 4 of those cities are in markets far from Canada and not known for being big hockey fans. If you include the metro area, Houston Metro has almost 6.5 million people.

Put a team in Quebec because they have a crazy fan base and another team in Houston because they have a massive population that should be easily able to sell out most games, while expanding the NHL almost to the Mexican border. Hartford will have to wait for someone to move a current NHL team there.
 
Irishguy42 said:
On a scale from Lias Andersson to 10, I'd say he's a solid 6.
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I think we make a bit much out of skating fast. All these guys can skate well enough. The more pertinent question is whether they *think* fast.
If a player is in the right spot he doesn’t have to skate fast.
Of course it’s nice if a guy can negate an icing or recover fast from a mistake or bad bounce.
But I’d be prioritizing finding guys who think the game well.
 
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egelband said:
I think we make a bit much out of skating fast. All these guys can skate well enough. The more pertinent question is whether they *think* fast.
If a player is in the right spot he doesn’t have to skate fast.
Of course it’s nice if a guy can negate an icing or recover fast from a mistake or bad bounce.
But I’d be prioritizing finding guys who think the game well.
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Bingo! And Lias is a prime example of that. Great situational awareness, ability to read the game and anticipate. I think the previously mentioned Kotkaniemi has that skill but not on the same level. The change in direction the scouting staff has followed the last few years makes me confident they can find the right guys for this team.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman said:
Bingo! And Lias is a prime example of that. Great situational awareness, ability to read the game and anticipate. I think the previously mentioned Kotkaniemi has that skill but not on the same level. The change in direction the scouting staff has followed the last few years makes me confident they can find the right guys for this team.
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I was thinking of Lias as I was writing that.
And on the flip side, the Rangers have had plenty of great skaters and physical specimens who kinda sucked. Enver Lisin comes to mind.
 
Tambellini had a solid second half of the season after being put on the fourth line with Joe Whitney on January 7th. He was one player who got the message while the other did not (and was traded). He’s worthy of a new deal, but after three years and no recalls to the bigs, it would seem like he’s lost his prospect status at least for the New York Rangers organization.

That could all change, however with the impending new coaching regime coming into New York. It’s likely Tambellini is likely to be included in a draft day deal or released to pursue a new deal elsewhere. Cantlon’s Corner can state that at least three teams have interest in his services.

Boo Nieves is an RFA in much the same boat as Tambellini. He could wind up in a trade package.
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Drury and the Rangers may toss the Hartford GM job to Jed Ortmeyer, who’s the current Director of Player Development. It was Ortmeyer who conducted the post-season exit interviews with McCambridge and assistant coach Joe Mormina.
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http://www.howlings.net/2018/04/23/cantlons-corner-wolf-pack-season-review/
 
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Tambellini is a non prospect at this point IMO. Should very interesting to see what they do in the draft. I hope they go for quality rather than quantity Use Namestnikov and Spooner to move up in the first and draft in the 14 to 19 range if possible.
 
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http://www.howlings.net/2018/04/23/cantlons-corner-wolf-pack-season-review/

Interesting article that covers all the players and whatnot.

“I’m like the players. I want to get an opportunity in the NHL too. I enjoy working with the younger players and getting them developed and ready to get to the top level. Some coaches are in a rush to get to the NHL, I’ve been working on my craft since 2003 starting in Alaska. Training players here in Hartford has been fun, and like I said, in this business in the summer you never know.”
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Sounds like McCambridge wants to make a pitch to whoever the new HC for the Rangers will end up being. I mean, would have been pretty obvious he would try.
 
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Irishguy42 said:
Would like to see Joly brought back into the fold, even on an AHL deal again.
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I'm just cucurious---why? Seems like he's an ECHL star and decent AHL guy at this point. I would be okay with bringing him back, but I feel like there are other guys out there who are more proven at the AHL level if we're looking to supplement the Hartford roster with some veteran talent.
 
nyr2k2 said:
I'm just cucurious---why? Seems like he's an ECHL star and decent AHL guy at this point. I would be okay with bringing him back, but I feel like there are other guys out there who are more proven at the AHL level if we're looking to supplement the Hartford roster with some veteran talent.
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Eh. Give him another shot at the AHL level to see if he could be more than "decent" now that he's had a few years as a pro. No harm, no foul even just giving him an AHL deal.

Depends on how many of their own prospects they expect to be in Hartford or how many vets/AHLers they plan to re-sign.
 
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