Contending for championships in the American Hockey League isn’t always about which teams have the best roster in October. Instead, it’s about who can cope the best with the unique challenges of being affiliated with an NHL franchise, whether that’s dealing with trades to help the parent club and finding ways to compete after losing players.
Yet there are clubs who look to be better equipped than others.
As usual, the Wolves look like a contender. Despite losing league MVP Daniel Carr to the Predators organization, the Wolves’ roster is deep again. Patrick Brown captained the Charlotte Checkers to the Calder Cup this spring but is now in Rosemont, while the Wolves’ goaltending has the potential to be the best in the league.
Grand Rapids isn’t the most experienced team, but it might have the most exciting young talent. The Griffins will feature former first-round picks Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno, though both are candidates to eventually play for parent-club Detroit this season.
Perhaps the AHL team that gets the most resources is the Toronto Marlies, the affiliate of the Maple Leafs. The Marlies have reached the conference finals three times in the last four years and won the 2018 Calder Cup, and the Maple Leafs organization has made winning in the AHL a priority.
Staying in the East, the Checkers are coming off a dominant season when they ran away with the best record (51-17-7-1, 110 points) and lost just four times in the playoffs, beating the Wolves in five games in the Finals. But Charlotte’s roster has suffered losses, including Brown and Aleksi Saarela, who went to the Blackhawks organization in the Calvin de Haan trade. The Checkers also lost coach Mike Vellucci to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
While the AHL rosters and coaching staffs have undergone their usual alterations, in something of a rarity the league alignment went unchanged and no teams moved.
“Although the buildings, the cities, and a lot of times the coaches are the same, the players and the personnel are different,” Wolves coach Rocky Thompson said. “That’s something you’ve got to get to know as the season progresses.”
HIDDEN FIGURES
0
Zero teams in AHL history have won four consecutive division titles. The Wolves have claimed three consecutive Central Division titles, and have a chance to become the first team to win their division four times in a row.
3
Organizations have won the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup in the same year three times. The 1976 and 1977 Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, while affiliate Nova Scotia Voyageurs took the Calder Cup. In 1995, the New Jersey Devils claimed the Stanley Cup, and affiliate Albany won the Calder Cup.
23/50
The Wolves led the Western Conference last season with 23 wins and 50 points away from home. Only Rochester (54), Charlotte (53), and Toronto (52) earned more points on the road during the 2018-19 season.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Wolves’ ECHL affiliate is the Fort Wayne Komets, but the teams have a history that goes beyond that partnership. The Komets and Wolves used to be rivals in the old International Hockey League, with the Wolves claiming a 13-6-2 record against Fort Wayne. The Komets left the IHL after the 1998-99 season, and have since played in the United/International Hockey League (1999-2010), Central Hockey League (2010-12) and have been in the ECHL since 2012.
No team has repeated as Calder Cup champions since the Hershey Bears won the 2009 and 2010 titles. Meanwhile, Rochester (1999, 2000) is the last to win consecutive Western Conference titles.
THAT’S WHAT HE SAID
“It’s a process we’ve started. Right now, we’re laying a foundation.”
- Coach Rocky Thompson on training camp.
“Just always be better every year. Have a better year than last year, and then have a higher faceoff (percentage), winning more battles. The little things.”
- Forward Gage Quinney on his goals for the season.
”He’s a very smart hockey player. That’s something that you can’t teach. What’s really nice to see is the things you can teach and you can improve, like getting bigger and stronger, he’s done that since I’ve been here. I tend to gravitate toward smart hockey players, and he’s definitely one of them. I think that’s why he’ll have a long NHL career.”
- Vegas forward Max Pacioretty on Cody Glass, via NHL.com.
