Comments Off on Free Agent Frenzy Update
Posted by nafsnep on July 6, 2011
Business is slowing down a bit as the pieces for next year are slowly falling into place. Monday things were pretty quiet. Tuesday and today some minor moves, here they are:
Pittsburgh / Wilkes-Barre / Scranton:
Alexandre Picard. No, not number 37 on Bombulie’s list, Alexandre Picard from the Montreal Canadiens. He was signed to a two way deal. Bombulie speculated that Picard could very well be sent down to Wilkes-Barre because of the fact that Pittsburgh has all seven defensemen back from last year all on one-way contracts. I also saw on Twitter that Picard could be brought into Wilkes-Barre to mentor young defensemen like Robert Bortuzzo, Brian Strait, Philip Samuelsson and Simon Despres. If so, that would be huge.
You know about Brad Thiessen re-signing from yesterday. Penguins color guy Scott Stuccio caught up with Brad today. You can also follow Scott on Twitter now @ScottStuccio
Anaheim / Syracuse:
Bryan Rodney. You may remember him as the Charlotte Checkers captain from last year. Our blogging pals over at Chairman How’s Glorious Army have more on Bryan Rodney.
Jean-Francois Jacques. You may remember Jacques here in Wilkes-Barre when we split the affiliation with Edmonton. J-F hasn’t seen AHL ice in a few years, but he is on a two-way so he could get sent down so it’s worth noting here.
Tom Pyatt. Another NHLer for the most part last year signed to a two-way contract. If he gets sent down, look out. I am really impressed with the Admirals off-season acquisitions.
Finally, don’t forget to give me input on how you find my blog from your home page on your internet browser. Do you have me bookmarked, do you do a search on Google or some other search engine, do you click the link on my Twitter page or some other way. This input is valuable information for me on how I can better serve the reader.
Comments Off on Shake It Up
Posted by nafsnep on July 5, 2011
It was announced today by the AHL that there will be divisional realignment for next season. Every team will be clustered in a five team division, three divisions to a conference.
Wilkes-Barre remains in the East Division but loses Charlotte, Albany and Adirondack. The Checkers move to the Western Conference and the Devils and Phantoms move to the newly titled “Northeast Division.” The Pens divisional opponents remain the Norfolk Admirals, Hershey Bears, Binghamton Senators and Syracuse Crunch.
Bombulie had pre-alignment speculation up over at the Penguins Insider earlier this morning.
Playoff format goes to what the NHL has with the division winners getting the top three seeds then four thru eight based off of points. Round one of the playoffs is a best-of-five and then after that best-of-seven.
Highly speculated but not announced was the elimination of inter-conference opponents. If that is truly the case then you can say bye-bye to playing the Checkers entirely who are now in a division with the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Peoria Rivermen and Rockford IceHogs. The league will release the schedule matrix later this summer. Scuttlebutt is they want to move to a balanced schedule, which would eliminate playing Western Conference teams entirely.
This alters the Free Agent Watch a bit as we no longer have to worry about what Charlotte, Adirondack and Albany sign. But, it likely means more games against the Bears, Admirals, Senators and Crunch.
Finally, please take a moment to vote in my latest poll at the top right. I am interested in how you get to this blog on a daily basis. Thank you in advance!
Held out hope that Sterling would return to Wilkes-Barre on account of unfinished business. Every players dream is to play in the NHL. Sterling’s best chance in his mind is in St. Louis right now so we wish him the best of luck in his endeavors in the Gateway to the West.
Danny Richmond. Richmond has always been my goat on defense. I never cared for what he offered. Richmond also eats up the last veteran spot on the Bears blueline. Questionable signing from the 11-time Champions in my “I have never played hockey before” opinion. But what do I know.
Tampa Bay / Norfolk:
Trevor Smith from the Springfield Falcons. Number 28 on the Bombulie list. Solid signing. The Admirals are quietly looking formidable.
Elsewhere:
Jeff Taffe to Minnesota / Houston. Would have loved to have seen Taffe return, but he gets a great opportunity to get to play with the Wild.
Alexandre Giroux to the Columbus Blue Jackets / Springfield Falcons. At least it’s not in the East. Giroux gets a hefty payday too.
If anything happens on the Fourth of July, I will have it here or on Twitter. If not, stay safe!
Comments Off on Pens sign Defenseman Boris Valabik
Posted by nafsnep on July 3, 2011
I showed up late to a 4th of July party today because right when I was leaving to go, the Penguins announced that they have signed Boris Valabik to a 1 year contract.
Valabik, you will remember, was the 6’7 giant on defense for the Chicago Wolves when they defeated the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in six games in 2008.
It is a veteran signing. He will probably spend most of his time, if not all, in Wilkes-Barre. If you are content with a body on D then this is great news. If you are more analytical towards the signing and want to delve deeper into the numbers then read on.
Valabik hasn’t scored a goal since 2008-09 when he was with the Chicago Wolves. He has a grand sum total of 13 assists in AHL games since. If my math is correct, he is a -2 in those AHL games also, a sum total of 76 games since. Now, in 50 NHL games for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008-09, he had 5 assists and was a -14. (source: HockeyDB)
These numbers are a bit concerning. There are speedy wingers in the AHL East division. Probably the most speedy in the entire AHL. I am not saying it’s a bad signing, I am just saying that I’d like to know more in what the thought process is bringing Valabik in. We / I may never know.
Bombulie had a blurb about it. Jonathan references two memorable fights which involved Valabik I went out and found:
and this one, more well known to the main stream:
Elsewhere, a very quiet day on Free Agent Movement and how it affects the East Division. Vancouver signed Bears pest Steve Pinizzotto. I’d suspect that business will pick up again Tuesday.
If anything happens tomorrow, check my Twitter feed or on the blog for a quick recap. If not, Happy 4th everyone! Stay safe.
Goaltender Tomas Vokoun was brought in to backup Michal Neuvirth. This means Braden Holtby starts the year in Hershey. Lots of mixed reactions on my Twitter feed on this move too.
Missed this yesterday but the Canes signed goaltender Brian Boucher. This likely means that Justin Peters will be sent back to Charlotte and tend the Checkers nets with Mike Murphy. Peters only played 12 games last year behind Cam Ward, so the thought is send Peters back to the AHL and have him push Mike Murphy and vice versa.
Andrew Gordon. Writing was on the wall for him when the Bears brought in Ryan Potulny and Chris Bourque returning sealed the fate. Could possibly crack the Ducks lineup but if he doesn’t will make the Crunch respectable.
Elsewhere:
Alex Giroux is still mulling offers. Oklahoma City Barons beat guy Ryan Aber caught up with Giroux, who should decide by today where he will be playing next season.
Giroux is among some big names still left on the board including Jeff Taffe, Brett Sterling, Ryan Keller, Christian Hanson, Paul Szczechura, Bryan Rodney, Graham Mink and Brian Willsie. Wilkes-Barre may or may not be pursuing any of these guys. Time will tell. Stay tuned.
Day One of the NHL Free Agency Period is nearly in the books. The big NHL free agents are the hot commodities, but I kept my eyes on what went down in the AHL East Division with their parent teams. Team by team, here we go:
Pittsburgh / Wilkes-Barre / Scranton:
Colin McDonald from the Oklahoma City Barons. Led the AHL with 42 goals last season. This signing struck me like a Mack truck. I did not see this happening at all. I had him signing a one-way. This is big news.
Ray Shero states that this is not the market to be signing players. With about $2 million left in cap space does this mean he loads up the farm?
Washington / Hershey:
Paul Baier, a defenseman from the Rochester Americans. Fan favorite in Rochester and a Brown graduate. Not a veteran, so he solidifies them at that position.
Ryan Potulny from the Binghamton Senators. Center depth for the Bears if he doesn’t stick in Washington. Likely means the end of Andrew Gordon in Hershey.
Matt Ford from the Lake Erie Monsters. 26-16-42 for Lake Erie last season.
Michel Ouellet, who played overseas last season (ironically with the same team John Curry signed with the Hamburg Freezers) and did time in WBS many moons ago.
Elsewhere:
Edmonton signs Corey Potter. Disappointing to see Corey walk like that. Wish him well with his new team. Leaves a bit of a hole at the position but Wilkes-Barre has a plethora of talent at the position.
Hershey loses its captain, Andrew Joudrey to Columbus.
AHL observer Patrick Williams has a new job as NHL.com correspondent.
If you see any omissions from any other teams from the AHL perspective that will directly affect Wilkes-Barre, leave me a comment in the comment section. I will be back tomorrow to recap Day Two.
My thought is that Wilkes-Barre, Hershey and the heavyweights in the East Division are not done beefing up. We still need to get Brad Thiessen and Dustin Jeffrey signed. I don’t think we are done yet. Stay tuned. Business is picking up.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 