Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Monthly Archives: June 2016

Frenzy Eve

2 Comments Posted by on June 30, 2016

A couple of things to touch on before free agency begins Friday and the bedrock of a teams success starts building towards the Fall…

First, I am pinning the AHL Big Board to the top of the site so that it stays front and center for about a month and a handy reference tool to any that want to use it as free agency wears on. The changeover will be made tonight. You won’t notice anything other than the Big Board will be on the top of the site for the first month or so. Just scroll down to see the newer content.

Wilkes-Barre made a second signing this week, a kid by the name of Christian Hilbrich. A giant 6’7 forward that captained the Cornell Big Red last season. 27 goals and 21 assists in 111 collegiate games.

Pittsburgh, fresh off of winning a Stanley Cup about two weeks ago, opened their NHL Prospect Camp. The Skating on the Susquehanna blog, the team run WBS Penguins blog, has all the good stuff on local kids trying looking to make an impact, especially one from Kingston and more on Hilbrich’s signing.

Bookmark that blog and read it often.

Mattias Plachta went back to his German team, Adler Mannheim, and got a four year deal.

There was a goofy rumor about the Penguins breaking up with Wilkes-Barre and moving their affiliation to Hershey. Not only is that a nonsensical rumor this late in the season, it’s also an asinine thing to even assume. Wilkes-Barre will be playing as the AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins until at least 2019. The Pittsburgh Penguins just won the Stanley Cup with a group of players developed in Wilkes-Barre. They got their coach from Wilkes-Barre too. Washington places their prospects in the oldest, most historic and decorated team in the American Hockey League which has led the 30 team league in attendance for years. The idea that Pittsburgh would want to uproot their affiliate, itself a shining star of its own right with the longest playoff record in the AHL, premier facilities and a passionate fanbase and place it someplace else, is nonsense. That Washington would even consider it is nonsense itself. You may not get along with the Bears fan sitting next to you at the game on Friday or that Penguins fan that is loud and obnoxious at the Bears game but trust me, it’s good for one another. This rivalry that we have is not only good for Hershey and Wilkes-Barre but Washington and Pittsburgh, playing competitive hockey in hostile environments 12 tines a year. It’s also good for the AHL, two healthy, passionate fanbases drive revenue and all that other stuff that makes this whole developmental thing successful.

240 words on a bunch of nonsense. Anything for clicks these days, I assume. File this one under the rarely used, “Just Rambling” blog category.

Anyway.

#57 is off of the Big Board, as Zach Sill has re-signed with the Washington Capitals.

The fun starts noon Friday. I will have a blog Friday night recapping the days events and how they affect the Penguins, Bears, Phantoms, Wolf Pack, Sound Tigers, Bruins and Thunderbirds. This weekend I am going to New York City, so I will do my best to update the Big Board and blog about any additions to any of the teams in the AHL’s Atlantic Division as time allows. Probably in the evening hours. Just keep it locked here this weekend.

Oh, and out the door, I don’t know if you heard the news but Scott Stuccio announced this week that effective this past Monday his services with Hershey Entertainment and Resorts (the corporate name of the group that runs the Bears) has been eliminated. Suffice to say, this news was shocking. Scott is a top notch broadcaster and better individual. Rest assured that he will not be unemployed for very long. Some other team will snatch him up sooner rather than later.

Back tomorrow with a recap of Free Agency Day 1.

Just Rambling, Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

2016 AHL Top 100 Free Agents and Beyond — The Big Board

1 Comment Posted by on June 28, 2016

(Note: Big Board was last updated August 16 and will not be updated again)

Back for another year is a project first born in the mind of Jonathan Bombulie many years ago, a ranking of the Top 100 AHL Free Agents and Beyond. For anyone not familiar, there are NHL and NBA Free Agent Big Boards on nearly every corner of the internet. But instead of names like Steven Stamkos and Kevin Durant, this board focuses on the Andy Miele’s and Michael Leighton’s of the minor league hockey world.

Before we get to the Board, there are some people I need to personally acknowledge and sincerely thank for their help with the following respective teams…

Brent Baldwin – Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Brandon Curtis – Syracuse Crunch
Tracey Lake – Albany Devils
Kyle Mace – Hershey Bears
Nathan Mallett – San Antonio Rampage, Ontario Reign and San Diego Gulls
Stephen Meserve – Texas Stars
Chris Reynolds – Providence Bruins, Hartford Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Alan Saunders – Rochester Americans

Information on Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agents was gathered from Cap Friendly, The AHL, EliteProspects, HockeyDB and HockeysFuture.

I hope that you enjoy the lists that follow. The first list is the Top 100 AHL Free Agents available, then a “Best of the Rest” immediately below that list. Note that any players name that has an asterisk after it was a non-qualified restricted free agent. You won’t find many in the Top 100 list because I found it easier to rank the Unrestricted Free Agents. There was no sense in listing a restricted free agent in the Top 100 when he was only going to get tendered an offer.

Please let me know what you think of the rankings, and if there are any errors, omissions, or signings so I can make the correct edits. The Free Agency market, “goes live” July 1 at noon.

After the jump if you didn’t link in direct, dive in…..

Read more of this post

The AHL

The Calm Before the Board

Comments Off on The Calm Before the Board Posted by on June 27, 2016

Good news you guys, the AHL Free Agent Big Board is, for all intents and purposes, done.

– Full list of Unrestricted Free Agents? Check.

– Full list of Restricted Free Agents? Check.

– Capsules on every Free Agent? Through the efforts of many, check!

– Full list of Restricted Free Agents tendered qualifying offers? No. A good majority of teams announced theirs before 5 p.m. today. Teams that I do not have full information on are as follows, Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.

– A Top 100? Check.

Everything that is left is just taking the Top 100 from paper to online in a table then taking the 250+ names not listed in the Top 100 and alphabetizing by last name. I did that last year manually and it was a real pain and took me a half a day to do. Not this year. I was able to search the internet on how to alphabetize a list on a spreadsheet. I tinkered with it Sunday night on a small sample size and it worked. So that means that at some point tomorrow, the 2016 Top 100 AHL Big Board and Beyond will be out at some point. I am going to gun for 5 p.m. If, it goes later than that, I may push it to no later than 8 Tuesday or if push come to shove, noon Wednesday.

So stay tuned. This was a massive project that came together rather quickly this year.

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There was news affecting Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Monday, so let’s get to that.

Tim Erixon re-signed with Pittsburgh. A one year, two way deal. Erixon was a pending RFA, and was part of the “Black Aces” crew that was called up to Pittsburgh after Wilkes-Barre’s season ended at the hands of the Hershey Bears in Game 7 of the Atlantic Division Finals in May. I took that as a positive sign and it panned out for Erixon who will be looking to crack Pittsburgh’s lineup in the fall.

Dominik Uher was the only other RFA tendered a qualifying offer. Uher has signed a deal with a team in his native Czech Republic. The Pens did this proactively to retain Uher’s North American rights.

Tyler Biggs, James Melindy, Dan O’Donoghue, Mattias Plachta, Harrison Ruopp, Justin Schultz and Anton Zlobin were not tendered offers and all are free agents. Biggs was a walking M*A*S*H unit, couldn’t ever stay healthy. Melindy and O’Donaghue were throw ins for Dustin Jeffrey in the trade with Arizona and never played a game for Wilkes-Barre. Plachta was a bit of a surprise, I thought he caught on a bit with the change of scenery. Ruopp was a dime a dozen ECHL also-ran that never made an impact to stick. Schultz may re-sign with Pittsburgh in a restructured deal and Anton Zlobin has a KHL tryout lined up.

Coal Street announced their first new player signing of the offseason.

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Depending on how he does in camp, he could be a player that sticks in Wilkes-Barre. 95 points and a +60 isn’t anything to ignore. So it’s worth watching. If not, Wheeling has themselves a hell of a player.

I’ll update my woefully outdated 2016 Offseason Moves List in a bit. In fact, it may be updated by the time you read this.

So big board tomorrow or Wednesday. Check back often.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

2016 NHL Draft Recap

Comments Off on 2016 NHL Draft Recap Posted by on June 25, 2016

Not really much analysis wise I can offer on the guys that the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins drafted on Day 2 of the NHL Draft. Consider this a one stop shop link off to the other areas of the internet that have knowledge and insight on the potential Wilkes-Barre / Pittsburgh Penguins.

First the picks…

Pens opened up the day at 55…

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Then they picked again at 61…

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Then a trade of a familiar face to move up to 77…

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Bennett is an injury liability who got passed over for more durable players in the likes of Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust. He returns to the GM who drafted him in Ray Shero with the Devils and the Head Coach who knows him best in John Hynes.

With the pick, the Penguins selected…

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Pens were up again at 121, 151 and finally at 181…

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Masonius attended Penguins development camp last season and left an impression enough for the Penguins to select him with their last pick in the draft.

Analysis wise, Coal Street’s blog Skating on the Susquehanna has everything you need on these guys and more.

The AHL Free Agent Big Board is about half done as of Saturday afternoon. It was crowd sourced again this season and the help is appreciated. Depending on how quickly it comes together this weekend, look for it sometime early this week. The soft goal is Wednesday, if not sooner.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Birds of a Feather…

1 Comment Posted by on June 18, 2016

The two newest teams in the American Hockey League were announced this week. They are the Springfield Thunderbirds and the Tucson Roadrunners.

The Thunderbirds were announced Thursday. They are the relocated Portland Pirates team and will play as the affiliate of the Florida Panthers. It’s possible and highly likely that the Thunderbirds will remain in the Atlantic Division.

At first, when I heard the name and the logo, I thought it was a weak attempt at a rebrand of a team in Springfield. But then I read about it, in the link above, and understand where they are coming from.

The Roadrunners were announced Saturday in Arizona. They are the “old” Springfield franchise and are the affiliate of the Arizona Coyotoes.

Wait. Coyotes and Roadrunners. It is your Saturday morning cartoon past revisited.

The Roadrunners have embraced the hashtag, #meepmeep which I think is as cool as all get out. What wasn’t announced was a sponsorship with ACME. If that happened, that would be downright awesome.

The Roadrunners are slated to play in the Pacific Division and most likely will play 68 games joining their California counterparts.

The AHL may need to re-align again, as there now is an imbalance of 16 teams in the Western Conference and 14 teams in the Eastern Conference, with the loss of Portland and the gain of Tucson. News on possible realignment will come sometime later in the Summer.

Happy Father’s Day!

The AHL

2016-17 Preseason Schedule Announced

3 Comments Posted by on June 15, 2016

I have to go back and look for comparison sake when the preseason schedule was announced in prior years but Coal Street announced theirs today. They are as follows:

Thursday, October 6 vs. Albany
Saturday, October 8 vs. Hershey
Sunday, October 9 at Hershey

Times for the home games start at 7:05. The Sunday game in Hershey starts at 5.

Regular season schedule won’t be announced until mid to late August, so we have a ways to go before the whole 2016-17 playing schedule is announced by the League.

WBS

Is that a Monster in my Closet?

1 Comment Posted by on June 11, 2016

No, it’s a trophy.

The Lake Erie Monsters have won the Calder Cup.

How good we as Lake Erie? They swept three of four series and lost only twice in the postseason. A 1-0 win over the Hershey Bears in Game 4 of the Finals Friday in overtime with 1.9 seconds left and the Monsters win Cleveland’s first Calder Cup since 1964 in the AHL’s 80th year.

No reason to hang your head if you are the Hershey Bears. The Bears gave the Monsters a hell of a fight and every game was close. There is no reason that it could not be the Bears celebrating their 12th Cup but the Monsters were that much better.

A feather in the cap for Ryan Craig, who captained Lake Erie and was the captain here in Wilkes-Barre for a year. Brad Thiessen was on that team but didn’t appear in a game.

So that does it for the AHL’s 80th season. In the ECHL, the Allen Americans defeated the Wheeling Nailers in sixth games on home ice Thursday. No reason to hang your head there either, as the Nailers gave the Americans a hell of a fight but again, much like Lake Erie, Allen was just that much better.

So enjoy these next few weeks of down time before free agency fires up again in July. More on that and what that means for the blog as the caldendar gets ready to flip to July.

The AHL, Wheeling

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