CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK ROSTER ROTATION CONTINUES 

CANTLON’S CORNER: Wolf Pack Roster Rotation Continues

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The dismantling of the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack organizations continue as pro hockey moves towards Monday’s trade deadline.

The Wolf Pack on Thursday saw their sole physical presence, who’s been in and out of the lineup all season, Eric Selleck, got traded to the Belleville Senators for future considerations. Also, forward Dan DeSalvo was recalled from Tulsa (ECHL).

“For Eric, it gives him a chance to play more regularly than we had him here and it puts him closer to home to be near family,” Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said when announcing that the deal had been done and clearly, Selleck was not going to be offered a contract for next season. “He’s a veteran guy, has been a good leader, but in and out (of the lineup) here. He has the ability to showcase himself, and depending on their lineup, has a chance to play more regularly and look for something next season.”

McCambridge spoke fondly of Selleck and clearly wished he could have played him more, but with the AHL veteran rule, he was often the odd man out. That was even with Selleck, as a player, often coming to the aid of his teammates when they were being leaned on and roughed up by the opposition.

“He was nothing but a professional here this season. It’s tough for any player to sit as often as he did. I’m very sensitive about this, whether it’s training camp cuts or a trade like this, you want to talk directly with the player like he was my son trying out for a team when sitting across from them at a table. You’re impacting their life and I respect him as a player and a veteran player.”

Selleck played just 32 games and tallied three goals with 46 PIM.

Selleck’s departure leaves only wingers, Scott Kosmachuk, and Cole Schneider as the only two players left who were signed in the off-season still on the roster.

As expected, Vinni Lettieri was recalled by the Rangers now that Alex Georgiev is activated. Ryan Sproul was reassigned back to the Pack opening a roster spot.

“For our group its all the lessons learned this season right now as we continue to take shape to move forward moving into March. All the teams in the league are ramping things up the last couple of weeks, ourselves included. We still have to continue to make strides as well.”

McCambridge was finding the best way to cut the apple about the road trip.

“Considering the amount of movement we faced, I thought we did well, but to be honest instead of three-and-three, I would have much-preferred 4-2 with the expectations we had, especially as tight as the standings are right now. With a team like Bridgeport, who we haven’t had a lot of success against, we had a good start, but things unraveled in the second and third.”

The 800-lb. elephant in the locker room, on the ice, and in the building, is the upcoming trade deadline with the Rangers public pronouncements of their intentions to be sellers and restructure the team. That, of course, will invariably affect the Wolf Pack.

Keeping the players focused as this maelstrom sweeps around them is a challenge.

“You can control what you can control. You can’t control the business side of things. All you can do is play your game and play the way we need and the outside things will take care of themselves.”

One of the newer bodies in the locker room from the Hershey trade is center John Albert. He is no stranger to McCambridge as the Pack head coach was his bench boss in Manitoba.  Actually, all four players involved were not having their best seasons, so each side got a chance to move players who did not fit into their future equations.

“John was a player Chris (GM Chris Drury) talked with over the summer before he signed with Washington. When his name came up, of course, Dru and I had a conversation. John has speed, a natural center, and has played in big games like the Calder Cup final. He’s a player with some years left in his game and would be a quality addition.”

The other was defenseman Hubert Labrie.

“I have watched him for a number of years in this league. I saw him in Springfield and Hershey quite a bit and he too played in a Calder Cup final. He is a player that you can never have enough of, defensemen. If we hadn’t picked him up, because of all the movement we had over the road trip, we would have been in trouble. At one point we had only five defensemen. I think the trade allows us to add two solid, veteran pieces to our lineup.”

With the moves so far this week, The Pack will have one extra forward and defenseman entering the weekend as of today and that literally could change at any moment.

“With players like (defense) are in those high traffic areas, they tend to go down more (with injuries), so it’s nice to have the extra body. Over the year we lost Noonan and Bereglazov early, so Chris (Drury) has done a good job getting us new pieces like Labrie to increase our depth. but my philosophy is you coach the team they give you. That’s whether you have 50 transactions or one,” McCambridge said.

The Pack head caoch went through a similar change when he was in Manitoba in the Moose’s first season back in the AHL.

NOTES:

Defenseman Brandon Crawley is out for Friday and Saturday (upper body) may play on Sunday in Providence

Marek Mazanec has a groin injury and is still listed as week-to-week. He skated some back here and they feel he is doing better, but not ready or cleared to play.

Shawn O’Donnell (facial fracture) is skating in a non-contact jersey but is not medically cleared yet to play.

The addition of DeSalvo, who will play wing, and center, gives the team a strong core of natural centers which has often been a Wolf Pack problem over the years.

“Maybe put together a line of three centers and cheat like hell and not get hurt when they get tossed,” McCambridge joked.

DeSalvo had been reassigned to the Tulsa Oilers (ECHL) with four goals and eight points in 10 games.

Hershey will feature ex-Pack Tommy Hughes on his second recall to the Bears from South Carolina (ECHL). They’ll also have their former captain, Joe Whitney and forward, Adam Chapie. Chris Bourque, who played for the US Olympic Team could be back but likely won’t return until next week given the time difference changes, jet lag, and playing through the quarterfinal round before being eliminated by Finland in a shootout.

Ex-Pack Randy Murphy is an assistant coach with the Bears and Reid Cashman, the former QU Bobcat is the other assistant coach.

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