CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK 2020-21 SEASON 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – With the 2019-20 AHL and Hartford Wolf Pack season officially canceled, talk changes from what could have been, to what awaits at the next training camp that should start at some point in the final months of 2020.

For the New York Rangers, their off-season decisions are many and plentiful.

The NHL’s proposed salary cap which was projected to be between $84 and $88 million two weeks before the pandemic outbreak is out the window as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Roster decisions will now be even harder for every team’s management to handle once that actual number is decided upon.

The Rangers have an excess of defensemen as they did last year.

There are 19 defensemen in the system and only 12 can dress between the AHL and NHL. Some are heading elsewhere.

In New York, Jacob Trouba, Marc Staal, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, Adam Fox and Tony D’Angelo have the top spots.

Staal and Smith each have one year remaining before they reach UFA status. D’Angelo is now an RFA coming off a solid potentially shortened season. Lindgren will be an RFA after next season.

In Hartford, there’s Libor Hajek, Yegor Rykov, and Sean Day, who are all entering the last year of their entry-level deals.

Hajek is at a crossroads.

After making the Rangers out of camp last year, he missed 20 games with an injury was supposed to be in Hartford on injury rehab, but never made it back to Broadway.

Day started the year in Hartford, then was sent to the team’s ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners for the remainder of the season in favor of Rykov, who was a upcoming player.

Rykov’s stock fell precipitously at the end of the year. He was a healthy scratch in nine of the last 10 games including the last game the Pack played on March 11th against the Providence Bruins. The team elected to play a freshly signed rookie, Zach Guitarri, from Brown University (ECACHL) instead.

Rykov could be dealt this summer if the right offer comes along. Rykov was unhappy about how things were progressing with the knock-on him, according to several sources, was his skating. It’s not out of the question that Hajek could also potentially be involved in a package deal.

Darren Raddysh and Brandon Crawley are both RFA’s this summer. Both Vincent LoVerde and Mason Geersten were already locked up when they signed one-year AHL deals a short time ago.

Raddysh played well on both sides of the puck, as did Loverde. They were the number one shutdown tandem for two months. He would appear to have earned himself another one-year deal.

After a good training camp, Crawley spent the majority of the season in Maine.

LoVerde was very well-respected in the locker room as well as with the coaches. In fact, he played with every defenseman the Wolf Pack had on their roster this season.

Geersten proved to be worth his weight in gold and earned a contract coming in as a non-roster invitee. He was the best body-checker on the team and a true heavyweight who took care of the “physical” business and was another solid veteran signee that stabilized the locker room.

Both players earned deals with Geersten seeming to deserve a one-way, NHL money deal.

The Rangers signed K’Andre Miller to a three-year, entry-level deal just before the season was suspended.

Tarmo Reunanen, who was signed last year but played in Finland, enters year two of his three-year deal.

In the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Nils Lundkvist is coming off a strong year and at the WJC. There’s also the aforementioned Guitarri.

The problem for Reunanen and Lundkvist coming to North America is that in Europe, COVID-19 hit very hard and the question is where or not they will be able to come across the Big Pond because of possible visa issues.

Earlier this week, the EU (European Union) discussed an immunity visa that could be issued and there is a whole panoply of security and civil liberties issues that could potentially follow that.

It’s a total unknown and it’s highly possible both could stay in Europe for another year.

Defenseman Matt Robertson, from Edmonton (WHL), will likely be signed to a standard three-year, entry-level deal very soon.

Among the defenseman only Nick Ebert is the only UFA-Group 6 free agent. It’s not likely that Ebert will be re-signed. He could end up elsewhere in the AHL or Europe.

In the forward category, there are significant players who are Group 6 UFA’s. the Pack’s leading scorer, Vinni Lettieri, and Danny O’Regan.

Team captain, Steven Fogarty, is a UFA.

Despite possessing a cannon of a slapshot, Lettieri could sign elsewhere. His stock fell in the Rangers’ eye over the last year-and-a-half.

O’Regan, an old friend of Rangers head coach David Quinn from their BU days, was highly regarded by the Wolf Pack coaching staff. He will likely get a one-or-two year AHL deal in the neighborhood of $300,000K.

Then there’s Fogarty.

He was a solid captain who played through illness and injury. Near the end of the season, he wasn’t putting up with some of the lethargic play that crept back into the lineup and called out his teammates. He could receive another one year, one-way NHL deal, but he will likely test the market. He will get offers and will likely head elsewhere.

There are four RFA’s on the roster. They are Boo Nieves, Ryan Gropp, Dawson Leedahl, and Gabriel Fontaine.

Gropp, a former second-round pick, after being assigned to ain’t took a three-week sabbatical early in the season. He returned to Maine and worked his way back up to the Pack lineup. He played well, but didn’t produce enough points, He could be departing as well.

Leedahl spent most of the season in Maine and likely will not be back.

Coming off of season-ending, left shoulder surgery, Fontaine will likely get a one-year AHL deal.

Nieves is a tough call. He played very well, tallying 12 points in 10 games before suffering from severe migraines. He played just one game the remainder of the year. He was a last-minute scratch in what was to be his second consecutive game. Nieves is a tantalizing talent, but the Rangers pigeonholed him as a defensive center, which didn’t work. He’s now 27 and on a one-way, one-year, $700K NHL deal. It isn’t likely he will be offered another deal. A really solid player and person, he will likely migrate elsewhere.

Entering, the last year of their deals, are the most improved player last season in Tim Gettinger, as well as Ty Ronning, Patrick Newell, Nick Jones, and the wildest of wild cards, a former first-round pick, Lias Andersson.

Andersson’s unexpected departure back to Sweden on November 18th, not surprisingly, earned him organizational scorn, however, some are said to be still willing to give him another chance.

Andersson wasn’t a malcontent but made a rash, impulsive, and immature decision that put him in a box.

Inside sources indicate he had a bit of an emotional breakdown two weeks before bolting. The self-imposed stress of having to live up to his being the number seven overall draft pick and producing very little results weighed heavily on him. Unless a larger trade deal is constructed that he’s a part of, or he has some huge reversal in his behavior, he’ll likely spend the final year of his original deal skating on the bigger surfaces in Sweden.

The other first-round pick returning for year two is Vitali Kravtsov, who had a difficult first-year. He went back to Russia after just five games, came back, and showed only glimpses of his skill that made him a seventh overall draft selection as well. He was too inconsistent and did not get enough puck time and his willingness to take a hit to get the puck or to take a shot.

Nick Jones, a free agent signee did everything he was asked to do and did a lot of good things on both sides of the faceoff circle. He helped set players up and was very strong on the PK. A looming minus-14 needs to be improved upon. Jones’ Achilles Heel was being unable to finish on his scoring chances. He was reminiscent of a young Jed Ortmeyer. He has likely earned a one-year, two-way AHL deal.

Ryan Dmowski and Shawn McBride were the heart of the fourth line. The team relied on them before play was suspended. Both were both on AHL deals and looks like they’ve earned another one-year, AHL deal. Numbers plus analytics will ultimately determine if they do get offers.

Returnee Jake Elmer has two years remaining on his deal. He spent more time in Maine than in Hartford.

There’s a batch of new signees for the Pack.

The 6’7, Austin Rueschhoff, as well as Patrick Khodorenko, Patrick Whelan, Michael O’Leary, and Justin Richards will be in what should be a very competitive training camp whenever that camp actually opens though is anyone’s guess.

The only UFA on the Pack roster is veteran, Matt Beleskey. He and his $825K NHL cap hit and overall $1.9 million are over. He will end up either with an AHL veteran’s deal somewhere else or will take a deal to play in Europe.

At the start of the season, the Rangers’ not even inviting Beleskey to their NHL training camp was one of the very few questionable moves. He would still be a locker room bonus and gave it his all for the team. Late in the season, he was involved in the line brawl in Springfield in the second to last game of the year that earned him a three-game suspension.

Late in the year, the departure of Ville Meskanen was obviously the other “questionable” decision by the team’s management.

The Wolf Pack could have used him, especially when the team hit the skids during a five game losing streak and a 2-7-1 mark in their final 10 games.

Meskanen could have easily made a difference in the team’s slide rather than having to rely on signing guys, like Connor Bleackly, to PTO’s and ATO’s to fill in the gaps.

Goaltending is a major hot button issue for the Rangers. There are presently seven in the organization.

A bit of a soap opera will play out until the situation with future Hall-of-Famer, Henrik Lundquist, is resolved. He is entering the last year of his $8.5 million per year deal. Alexander Georgiev becomes an RFA, and Igor Shesterkin enters year two of his two-year deal.

An option for the Rangers is to buy-out Lundqvist. Trading Georgiev is another option.

Meanwhile, in Hartford, Adam Huska (UCONN) is in his second year. J.F. Berube is there and is a UFA. Tyler Wall was just signed out of UMASS-Lowell (HE) and makes for a very congested organizational goalie crease area.

Toss in the drafted, but unsigned, Olof Lindbom, who is coming off an injury sustained while playing with Mora IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan), and his hopes for a bounce back season in Sweden in the SHL possibly with Farjestad BK, where he played one game with last year. He is also WJC eligible.

Lots to ponder about the 24th edition of the Wolf Pack coming out of this pandemic.

Stay safe.