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Thunderbirds 2024 25

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MortiestOfMortys said:
Reasons why adding Addison is an unambiguous good:
  • Power play specialist. CA pretty much single-handedly had the bottom-feeder Silver Knights clicking at a 20% pp rate.
  • He’s 24 and has ~150 NHL games under his belt.
  • He adds balance to the lefty-dominated blue line as a righty, allowing our prospects to play their natural positions.
We want SPR to make the playoffs and do well in them. We want Dvorsky and Stenberg and Robertsson and the rest of them to get that experience, and to play meaningfully competitive games against good competition. We want them to have a fighting chance against teams that are likely to be many years older than them. Addison helps all of that. He is a true PP QB from the blue line, and that’s pretty much all he is. But that’s a good thing to have, and we got him for free.

All I’m saying in general is that what happens in SPR is important, and we should be trying to make them better so that our prospects don’t develop thinking it’s ok to lose a bunch of games as long as they do well. That breeds “me-first” play that is a disease for up-and-coming players. It doesn’t take much to keep that from happening, as this acquisition shows, but it is worth doing it.
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Kessell will stay up with the big club the rest of the year after Parayko went down, so they needed a righty D. Hopefully, he isn't a turnover machine. It would be nice to have someone on the PP take the attention away from Dvo's one timer.
 
PerryTurnbullfan said:
Kessell will stay up with the big club the rest of the year after Parayko went down, so they needed a righty D. Hopefully, he isn't a turnover machine. It would be nice to have someone on the PP take the attention away from Dvo's one timer.
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His +/- over the last two seasons is… concerning. I don’t think he eats up a lot of 5v5 time on this roster. But put the man out there for 12 minutes a game and all the PP he can handle (lol), and I think you can come out in the black.
 
The American Hockey League announced today that Springfield Thunderbirds goaltender Colten Ellis has been selected as the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending March 9, 2025.

During a week in which he also agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with the St. Louis Blues, Ellis allowed only two goals on 97 shots over three appearances, going 2-0-0 with a 0.72 goals-against average and a .979 save percentage.

Ellis earned his second shutout of the season on Tuesday night, stopping all 32 shots in Springfield’s 4-0 win at Charlotte. He came on in relief on Wednesday and turned aside 24 of 25 shots in 46 minutes of work, then made 39 saves – including 19 in the third period – to lead the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 win over Providence on Saturday.

The fourth-year pro has a record of 20-7-3 with a league-leading .928 save percentage in 32 appearances for Springfield this season, his first full season in the AHL. He also ranks ninth in the league with a 2.36 goals-against average, tied for second with 20 victories and fourth in total saves (956). A 24-year-old native of Whycocomagh, N.S., Ellis has played in 54 career AHL games with Springfield, going 28-19-5 with a 2.69 GAA, a .922 save percentage and two shutouts.
 
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execwrite1 said:
The American Hockey League announced today that Springfield Thunderbirds goaltender Colten Ellis has been selected as the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending March 9, 2025.

During a week in which he also agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with the St. Louis Blues, Ellis allowed only two goals on 97 shots over three appearances, going 2-0-0 with a 0.72 goals-against average and a .979 save percentage.

Ellis earned his second shutout of the season on Tuesday night, stopping all 32 shots in Springfield’s 4-0 win at Charlotte. He came on in relief on Wednesday and turned aside 24 of 25 shots in 46 minutes of work, then made 39 saves – including 19 in the third period – to lead the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 win over Providence on Saturday.

The fourth-year pro has a record of 20-7-3 with a league-leading .928 save percentage in 32 appearances for Springfield this season, his first full season in the AHL. He also ranks ninth in the league with a 2.36 goals-against average, tied for second with 20 victories and fourth in total saves (956). A 24-year-old native of Whycocomagh, N.S., Ellis has played in 54 career AHL games with Springfield, going 28-19-5 with a 2.69 GAA, a .922 save percentage and two shutouts.
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No question he is their best player and MVP this year.
 
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PerryTurnbullfan said:
Not as good handling the puck. Good at blocking and covering it though!
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If there is room for improvement in that area then great, but I would focus on strengthening what he is already good at.

If he’s not a puck-handling goalie, then so be it.

We will need strong D retrieval when he plays.
 
The weird AHL and Springfield schedule is likely the factor. They have a crazy amount of b2b games and they have 3 in a row this weekend. They give a ton of shots, so it's a lot of wear and tear on the goalies too.

I imagine they are going to run out of gas soon. They should be good to make the playoffs, but I don't expect them to do much.
 
Thunderbirds are lacking a lot of skill and talent right now. No Kaski, no Peterson, and no Robertsson is like missing 3 of your top 6 in your lineup. No one really left that creates turnovers. It’s going to be tough without them coming back.
 
This weekend, the final regular season games in the CHL are being played. We already know Kelowna's season ends, so Stancl will likely go to Springfield. Sarnia and the 67ers season might also end, so there is a chance Fischer and Mayich (if we decide to sign him, which I doubt) will also report to Springfield.

The rest of our CHL-players are heading to their respective playoffs.

Springfield also signed Anthony Kehrer to an ATO (+ 1 year deal). RD from Wisconsin.
 
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