The Wolves survived a battle of attrition for an important win Sunday. But Vegas still has time to deplete the roster even more.
A day before the NHL trade deadline, the Wolves were without multiple key cogs but still beat the Rockford IceHogs 5-1. Keegan Kolesar (right knee) hasn’t played since Jan. 31, and Gage Quinney, Zach Whitecloud and Nicolas Roy are up with the Golden Knights. Lucas Elvenes (upper body), Cody Glass (right knee), Jimmy Schuldt (upper body) and Valentin Zykov (illness) were unavailable, and Patrick Brown was recalled to Vegas after Roy left Saturday’s Golden Knights game with an injury.
To help fill out the roster, the Wolves signed ECHL forwards Dan DeSalvo, Cam Maclise and Shawn St-Amant to player tryout contracts.
But for one day anyway, the Wolves had more than enough to beat an IceHogs team playing for the third straight day.
Brandon Pirri and Paul Cotter scored twice, Dylan Coghlan added a goal, and the Wolves snapped a two-game winless streak despite being out-shot 31-22. The victory also enabled the Wolves (26-24-3-2, 57 points) to take a two-point lead over the IceHogs for the Central Division’s last playoff spot.
“It shows that we were ready,” said Cotter, who hadn’t scored a goal since Dec. 28. “Coach (Rocky Thompson) kind of came in and said some of us younger guys that don’t have so much ice in the normal season, it’s time to step up.”
Unfortunately for the Wolves, there’s another threat to the roster looming.
Monday is the NHL deadline, and parent-club Vegas is once again a contender for the Stanley Cup looking to get over the top. By placing Alex Tuch on long-term injured reserve and sending Cody Eakin to Winnipeg, the Golden Knights created enough room under the salary cap to make a move that could involve their prospects.
That could affect the Wolves, who were dinged last year when standout defenseman Erik Brannstrom was dealt to the Senators for Mark Stone. As for this year, Thompson quipped he’ll be watching Twitter to keep up with any developments, and said the team’s bus will be leaving their Hoffman Estates training facility for Tuesday’s game in Iowa a little later than normal in case a move is made Monday.
In his position, Thompson said the best thing he can do is wait and see. When reminded how different his team could look in 24 hours, Thompson said it’s already changed plenty in the last week, which is a part of life in the AHL.
“That’s just the way it is,” he said. “Used to that.”
Cotter, in his rookie professional season, will be going through his first deadline. He could see teammates departing in deals to help Vegas, but not the Wolves.
Cotter seems ready to handle that if it happens.
“You can’t really control things you can’t control,” Cotter said. “If anything happens, it’s for a reason and I’m sure that if anybody leaves we’re definitely going to miss them, but it’s a good opportunity for them to move on and get better.
“Hopefully there’s no moves, but I think we’re going hot right now. We’ve got to keep it going.”
Nick Moutrey scored for Rockford.
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