CANTLON’S CORNER: PACK HOST MARLIES AND TRAVEL TO SPRINGFIELD 

Pack Host Marlies and Travel To Springfield

By Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The second weekend of AHL action will start with the Hartford Wolf Pack playing host to the Toronto Marlies on Friday night before traveling up I-91 to Springfield for their first road game on Saturday night at the Mass Mutual Center against the Thunderbirds.

The team’s two opponents couldn’t be more different. Toronto is a loaded team up front with veteran players like Andreas Johanssen, Kerby Rychel, Kasper Kapanen and Chris Mueller. All of them provide plenty of offensive fire-power. Springfield is built more like Hartford, based on a heavy dose of younger players as the Florida Panthers seek to develop more players for the future.

Pack head coach Keith McCambridge has just one focus for his troops. “I look at this stage is where we’re at. Playing the right way and forming an identity. No doubt Toronto is a very strong club and we’re looking to improve on those things moving forward I mentioned going into the regular season. We’re just trying to find some line chemistry. We saw flashes of that last weekend and working stages two of three on how we’re implementing our systems. It might be an overused phrase at this point in the year, but right now it’s about us,” remarked McCambridge. 

This was a week to work out some of the kinks from last weekend’s season-opening loss to Charlotte and its stronger shootout win over Lehigh Valley.

“We’re just trying to make players aware of what a Toronto might do some tactics and such, Mostly, I’m trying to see us improve within our structure to play the game we need to play.”

At the end of Pack practice, the team was working on shooting in hockey’s version of football’s red zone, 15-20 feet out the garden spot in hockey for scoring.

“You can have a lot of puck movement on the perimeter, but you have to be able to penetrate to those areas of the ice. No question, we need to be able to generate shots and get goals.”

Goaltender Chris Nell, who made 28 quality saves against the Phantoms, will be in goal against Toronto and Alexandre Georgiev will likely start in Springfield.

“I thought both goalies showed some strong parts of their game, but we’re going with Nell for (the) Toronto (game).”

McCambridge got a bonus during the week with the addition of the Rangers’ prize 18-year-old Czech rookie and their first-round pick (12^th overall), Filip Chytil.

The Rangers also claimed forward Adam Cracknell off waivers from Vancouver. Cracknell played Tuesday against St. Louis and so, in turn, the Rangers assigned Chytil to the Wolf Pack.

The Rangers had the option to send him Chytil to his Czech Republic club HC Zlin in the Czech Elite League (CEL) where he had a contract for this season but they opted to assign him to Hartford instead.

His Canadian Major Junior rights are with the North Bay Battalion (OHL). The Rangers have up until December 31^st to assign him there or recall him to New York. He will likely be a member of the Czech Republic World Junior Championship squad at the 2017-18 WJC tourney in Buffalo this year starting December 26th.

“He is a player we know about having seen him in Traverse City and with the Rangers who he made the team. Now, he comes down here to be able to get the time to play and allows us to gauge where he is at the pro level. We also get to see him against AHL players and other high picks and help him get to know the organization.”

Liker Alexei Bereglaszov he has to adjust to the language barrier, the different ice surface than he played on in the Czech Republic and the systems the Rangers wish to employ.

“I like the approach I did it in Winnipeg with Mark Scheifele when they had Josh Morrissey come in or Joel Armia, a Buffalo draft pick they acquired to understand the game of pro hockey and it does take time. He has the decision and strong skill set and the hockey sense to where he should be on the ice were early things we recognize he has.”

One of the team strong points is its line of Boo Nieves-Adam Tambellini and Toronto area native, Scott Kosmachuk.

Kosmachuk and McCambridge have a history together. McCambridge coached him in Manitoba and was surprised he was available this summer and immediately sought to get him under contract.

“Kos; I had the chance to coach him in Winnipeg and you can see why he was drafted where he was. He put some good numbers up his first year and he is a highly skilled player. It’s a joy to see him one-year removed to where he is now. He wasn’t re-signed by the Jets organization and quite frankly, I was surprised by that. We were excited to get him into the Rangers organization. He is a player I like a lot and as a person, so I’m very happy we have him here.”

Kosmachuk had a strong junior career with Guelph (OHL) where he had 49 goals and 101 points in his last season of junior. He was a third round, 70^th overall pick by Winnipeg in 2012, and started his pro career in St. John’s and each year his numbers have steadily improved.

“We’re starting to jell as a team. We had a good week here and really looking forward to this weekend.”

He has developed some early chemistry and used his speed on the forecheck against Charlotte to force a turnover and get a shot on goal that Tambellini jammed in for his first goal of the year.

“We’re working well as a line. We got Boo up the middle with some size and speed, and Tambo brings strong offense and we really complement each other,” Kosmachuk said. Kosmachuk is a relative greybeard in terms of this team as he enters his fourth pro season.

Knowing McCambridge gave him a head start on off-season training.

“It’s a certain level of comfort and nice to know what to expect from the coaching staff. I really like the way he runs things. He is very professional and we each know what to expect from each other. We’re on the same page and working together. I have tried to incorporate a lot of things to my game and be a three-zone player,” Kosmachuk, who has eight NHL games to his credit, said.

He continues to progress as a player each season he has been in the AHL.

“It’s a maturation thing, you start to understand things you could get away with in junior that you can’t do as a pro. I have tried to really play one game at a time and not look ahead too much.”

Kosmachuk admits he was not a big TV watching hockey player, but kept track of the Leafs’ great, Mats Sundin, growing up.

“He was the captain,n the big player and tried to be a bit like him he had a great career with the Leafs.”

Kosmachuk is hoping the Wolf Pack will propel him up the hockey ladder.

NOTES:

Defenseman Vince Pedrie is still out with an upper-body injury. He skated in a non-contact jersey during practice and he will not be in the lineup this weekend. “He is progressing well. He’s on course and along the timeline, we had expected, but he won’t be available for this weekend. We will evaluate more next week to see when he will be available for us,” said McCambridge.

On Malte Stromwall being sent to Greenville,  McCambridge said, “Its obvious with our numbers and the movements that took place, it happens. It’s not the fair part of the business, but I liked what we saw of him in pre-season. He did top end things that we were looking at from him and he realizes he has to get playing time, so I’m not worried about his work ethic. He is disappointed naturally, but he’s going with the right attitude, to work on his game and continue to adapt to the North American game and rinks.”

The Leafs feature several ex-Wolf Pack players such as Chris Mueller, Mike Paliotta (Westport/Choate)  and son of ex-Whalers in high flying, Kasperi Kapanen (son of Sami) and Mason Marchment (son of Bryan) and Ben Smith (Avon/Westminster Prep).

The goaltending situation with the Marlies is as wild as ever. The team is carrying three goalies after getting Calvin Pickard early in the week from the Las Vegas Golden Knights for Tobias Lindberg and 2018 sixth-round draft pick. Pickard was selected in the expansion draft from the Colorado Avalanche whom he played 50 games for last season.

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