CANTLON’S CORNER: OFF-SEASON NEWS AND NOTES – VOLUME I 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Now that the Bradford pears and forsythias have sprung into bloom and are kicking in, the New York Rangers might want to put a giant set of forsythias in front of the XL Center to obscure the Hartford Wolf Pack after another spring without playoff hockey.

The roster for 2019-20 is in the embryonic stage of development, however without a coaching staff, not much will be known until after a new Rangers President is named. That decision isn’t likely to come until mid-to-late May. GM Jeff Gorton is the final hockey authority in the MSG hierarchy and a lot will be ongoing as the presidential search process continues.

As of May 1st, this is what the Wolf Pack roster might look like before any trades and the upcoming June draft in Vancouver is done.

Goalies: Alexander Georgiev and Adam Huska.

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

Goaltender, Igor Shestyorkin, and forward, Vitali Kravtsov, will finally be coming to New York next season, but there are caveats. Neither has formally signed a contract, but that could be coming soon as both of their KHL contracts concluded on April 30th. Both will be in the Rangers prospects camp at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, CT while their practice facility undergoes renovations.  A report from Larry Brooks of the New York Post says that in Shestyorkin’s deal, there will likely contain a non-Hartford clause roughly along these lines; if he doesn’t make the Rangers he could be reassigned to SKA St. Petersburg, his KHL club.

If he does make the Rangers, Shestyorkin would likely need some adjustment period to the North American smaller rinks. It’s entirely possible that he could play for Hartford say for a limited period of time at the beginning of the season before being elevated and Georgiev either gets returned to the Pack or traded. It would be similar to the Dustin Tokarski, who is a UFA this summer and Marek Mazanec who rotated this season with Georgiev to get playing time when Henrik Lundqvist was playing long stretches.

Brandon Halverson and Chris Nell have their entry-level deals expiring. Neither is likely to be re-signed.

Defense: Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajak, Chris Bigras, Brandon Crawley, Sean Day, Darren Raddysh, and Joey Keane.

Except for Keane, a rookie from London (OHL), they are all players returning some coming off season-ending injuries (Lindgren – a concussion, Bigras – ankle, and Hajak-shoulder). Day and Crawley had major struggles this past season.

Bigras is an RFA and a player the Pack should re-sign if they are going to have to have some continuity.

Leaving:

John Gilmour, a Group 6 UFA (Unrestricted free agent) was undrafted and has not played 80 NHL games by his 25th birthday. Because of this unique status as an unrestricted free agent, under the CBA, he should and will likely sign elsewhere. A pro hockey career is a short one. This is a rare financial opportunity and with the Rangers currently having four defensemen making $4 million plus per year, it’s not likely to leave much roster room.

Defenseman Rob O’Gara, another Group 6 UFA, and one of the assistant captains this year, ended the year with an injury (back spasms). Like Gilmour, with economic freedom, he’s likely to take advantage of it.

O’Gara was cautious in his exit interview on breakup day.

“It’s very tough to be a part of something like this, with the season we had and to see how it affects somebody like our coach. You develop a relationship over a season, so when something like this happens, you feel personally responsible, even though we were together as a team. He helped me keep developing my game. Early on in the season, I went to get some mental help for my game (with a sports psychologist) and he also helped me come around on that end. We built that trust early on. It was big. I was trying too hard and not doing the things I do well.”

A four-year pro veteran, O’Gara is getting healthy with his back and handling his pending nuptials in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine. In July, he’ll marry his high school sweetheart, Isabella Wise, and letting the hockey economics take care of themselves.

“You know the first three years between here, Providence, and Boston, I have seen all sides of this business. We (he and his agent) have talked informally, but my priority is to get healthy, get back to normal, plan my wedding, and we’ll see what happens for next year,” O’Gara said as he departed with personnel from the locker room still having to carry his bags to his car because his back is still clearly not 100%.

Josh Wesley, still Carolina Hurricane property, will likely be cut loose when the Charlotte Checkers end their run likely in June in the Calder Cup Final.

Julius Bergman, a late-season acquisition from Ottawa, is an RFA. He is being pursued by several Swedish Hockey League teams and will likely return home.

Darren Raddysh, acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks for Peter Holland, was unimpressive during his stay in the Connecticut capitol. He supplied just a lone goal on 23 shots in 22 games. Not sterling numbers for an offensive defenseman to say the least. Add in a minus-10 rating, and he shouldn’t come back even with another year left. Buy him out. It’s a worthy investment.

Forwards: Steven Fogarty, Ville Meskanen, Ryan Gropp, Tim Gettinger, Matt Beleskey, Shawn O’ Donnell, Ty Ronning, Jake Elmer, Ryan Dmowski, Patrick Newell, Nick Jones, Shawn McBride

Fogarty, a group 6 free agent, has already signed for next year at ($150K-AHL). Boo Nieves is another who was already signed. He would seem to be a logical choice to carry the captain’s C next year. Lately, though that has been like having the scarlet letter on your chest and not a badge of courage since the last four captains have all been traded.

Gropp must have a breakout year next season. He was better in the second half, but he spent three weeks in Maine in December to jumpstart his game.

Matt Beleskey, if he isn’t brought out in the summer or packaged in a trade, will return for just two reasons. First, he has an extremely cap friendly contract of which the Rangers take just a $825K hit when he isn’t in the NHL on his last year of a four-year deal at $1.9 million per season that was originally signed with the Bruins and they need to fill a veteran spot up front.

Meskanen, paired with Beleskey and Peter Holland for most of the season, was heading back to his home in Southern Finland to see his girlfriend and his dog. Losing his first pro head coach was not on his bucket list. “That’s not what I was expecting or wanted. I guess they want some fresh (new) blood here maybe it will be a change for the better. I liked both those guys.”

The lanky winger showed progress and mental toughness, and he knows he has lots of offseason work ahead.

“They were very honest with me about my play. I really liked when they told me what I had to improve on. Playing with Holly (Holland) was very good for me. He helped me (adjust) both on and off the ice and to get used to North American style. I know I have to improve my skating and get stronger to win the one-on-one open battles in the corner, so I’m looking forward to working on that in summer practices. I think I have a better idea of what it’s like here and I will be more ready next year. I had no clue when I got here.” Meskanen replied with his sly, dry wit.

Shawn O’Donnell provides another veteran presence that they will need, O’die is a good loyal soldier who knows he isn’t NHL material, and he accepts working with the prospects in their development. He is on an AHL deal only.

Ty Ronning, who was misused most the season in Hartford and then suffered injuries, will look to play a full season in the American League for his sophomore season. The late-season rookie Elmer, Jones, Dmowski, McBride, and Zerter-Gossage all showed good skill sets and should be in training camp in the fall.

The Vitali Kravtsov factor will be interesting if he is sent to Hartford to get quality playing time early a la Filip Chytil two years ago is an unknown.

Tim Gettinger had some genuine understanding of what he needs to for next season after a season at minus 20 in his rookie campaign.

“I have been more physical consistently in the offensive and defensive zone. It’s a big summer for me personally and everybody in the room to be fully ready for training camp in the fall. It’s gonna be a whole new coaching staff to adjust to, but we have to work harder and try to worry about the things off the ice and concentrate what we do on the ice,” commented the rookie winger while driving back to the Cleveland area for the summer.

Leaving: Vinni Lettieri is an RFA (Restricted Free Agent). He just misses Group 6 status by five months, but he has no room in New York. The Rangers don’t appear to believe he is top six forward material. He should sign elsewhere and could become the next Jonathan Marchessault, one of the Rangers worst player evaluation mistakes ever.

Lias Andersson, shouldn’t be in Hartford. His was a very poor sophomore season in Hartford. He had just three multi-point games, was a minus-24 in 36 games and contributed just 20 points. He didn’t do much in New York either with six points in 42 games. It’s too early to toss a 20-year-old aside and label him a bust, but he is a major project next season at either the NHL or AHL levels. He might be here or he might be packaged in a deal at draft time.

The Rangers should have left him in Kitchener (OHL) last year where he belonged. Now he is about two years behind his draft class in development and he needs to learn has to go to the game, not thinking the game will come to him.

Gabriel Fontaine had 26 points in 72 games and one of the more likable guys in hockey at the end of his three-year entry-level deal. He has one year left on his ELC deal and is really a bubble player for returning, It looks like he might head elsewhere as a buyout or trade.

Sadly, Bobby Butler didn’t work out well here at all with a minus-26. He was shuttled on almost every different line and had some strong games, but not enough to make a difference.

Butler was a real rental player. He lives at home in Massachusetts and worked his second job as Director of Player Development for a junior hockey team, the Boston Jr. Bruins (NCDC) after practice with his father, John as the team’s assistant coach in the afternoon after practice in Hartford.

He and his wife are expecting child number three next month, so retirement as an active player is much more likely to occur. The season left Butler feeling very empty.

“The fans were great to us, wished we put a better product out there for them to cheer for. We tried to nip this thing early and every time we get back to a level spot, we got back to where we didn’t want to be it was very frustrating.

I hate to lose and there was too much of it this year and it wasn’t like we weren’t trying-people like winners and it’s tough coming off a losing season. I hope guys find that hunger for next year when they’re in the gym in the summer,” said in his deep Massachusetts accent was genuinely disappointed as he completed his ninth year as a pro.

The trade of Cole Schneider sunk the Wolf Pack. It was bittersweet as they lost a captain and gained an old friend, Connor Brickley.

“I was happy to see Brick.  He’s a very good dude. We played together our first year in San Antonio and he’s a Boston guy, and once you make friends with a Boston guy, it’s for life,“ Butler said with a laugh. The trade of the captain, he acknowledged, hurt the team tremendously, “It’s something you don’t see often except if you’re in this organization where it happens every year.”

Dawson Leedahl, who played just 29 games, was scratched for eight games and missed 23 of the last 24 games with a shoulder injury. He had zero points. With a year left on his deal, he likely won’t be back and if he does it will be in Maine.

Shawn St. Amant, who had a nice training camp earned an AHL deal never seem to fit in here. He did well when he was sent to Maine. He’s more of an ECHL player and will likely be in Maine or elsewhere, next season.

Its gonna be a long, interesting summer in Wolf Pack-land.