Chirps from Center Ice

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

Category Archives: The AHL

AHL Power Rankings: Week 10

1 Comment Posted by on December 14, 2015

It’s the Griffins world now and we are all just living in it.

It’s the middle of December and the Grand Rapids Griffins have won 11 straight games in a row, beating Central Division leading Rockford IceHogs Saturday night and needing comeback fashion after falling in an 0-3 hole Sunday in Des Moines against the Iowa Wild only to win in overtime. Grand Rapids was the odds on favorite to win it all this year, took the month of October off and are now as hot as ever and are still your number one team as the Week 10 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings roll in.

There are a few teams still jostling for relevancy, teams that are on the way up from obscurity and teams on the way out of the spotlight to the darkness to maybe never be heard from again.

Find out more by clicking the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Mike Johnston Fired, Mike Sullivan Hired, Jay Leach Interim

Comments Off on Mike Johnston Fired, Mike Sullivan Hired, Jay Leach Interim Posted by on December 12, 2015

“You can’t fire the players, so fire the coach.”

After guiding the Pittsburgh Penguins to an underachieving 15-10-3 start, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced this morning that they have fired Head Coach Mike Johnston and replaced him with Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. Assistant Coach Gary Agnew was also let go as part of the process as well.

Sullivan has guided the WBS Penguins to an American Hockey League best 18-5 start.

When the hire of Sullivan was announced, you had the feeling that it was only a matter of time before he would pilot an NHL bench again. You figure that if Pittsburgh did falter, Sullivan would be waiting in the wings to replace him. The crescendo had built in recent weeks and finally the writing was on the wall when GM Jim Rutherford went to the Pittsburgh media to openly criticize and question some of the decisions made by the on ice management of a team that has superstars like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury.

Coal Street announced in the wake of the news that Jay Leach will serve as interim head coach of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins:

[tweet https://twitter.com/wbspenguins/status/675739809781030913]

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Seth’s reaction here, with video from Jonathan Bombulie in Pittsburgh embedded with the first interview with the new Pittsburgh Penguins head coach.

If you are worried that Wilkes-Barre will never win another game again, stop it. Scott Wilson won’t forget to score goals, Tom Kostopoulos won’t forget to lead, Steve Oleksy won’t forget how to play defense and Matt Murray won’t forget how to stop a wrist shot from the slot. The Penguins will be fine. They always are.

[tweet https://twitter.com/ahlpr/status/675727478552453122]

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If management doesn’t think that Leach is capable to guide Wilkes-Barre, there will be a bevy of excellent coaches lining up or tripping over themselves to get the gig behind the bench at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza whenever there is a hockey game being played.

My best to Mike Sullivan with the parent club and best of luck to Jay Leach in the new interim position.

The Gameday setup against Albany hits the blog at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

AHL Power Rankings: Week 9

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 9 Posted by on December 7, 2015

You wanted them, I gave them to you.

I put a poll up at the end of the Week 8 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings on whether you all wanted me to include team records in the capsules. I had been approached a few times by people clamoring for the records to be added. Well, overwhelmingly, you all thought it was a good idea so team records have been added to Week 9 and will be a regular staple.

For this week, call them the Comeback Kids.

The Grand Rapids Griffins were the laughingstock of the AHL a few weeks ago. Eight wins later, they are at the top of this weeks Power Rankings.

There are battles heating up in all four divisions. The Pacific has the Reign leading it with the Rampage and Stars closing in. In the Central, it’s a seesaw battle of the IceHogs, Admirals and Monsters with the Griffins closing fast. In the North, the Marlies lead the division but the Devils are the hottest they have ever been, on a franchise best six game win streak and in the Atlantic, the Penguins have gone cold and the Sound Tigers and Bears are jockeying for who will be the one to dethrone the Penguins.

To see where they all stack up, click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct…

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 8

1 Comment Posted by on November 30, 2015

It’s Week 8, the first week of December is upon us, summer is but a faint memory.

There are powerhouse teams, terrible teams, average teams and elevator teams.

Elevator teams? Exactly as you would think. Up one week, down the next. The hope is with these teams is that you have a bunch of other elevator teams in your division and you are going up when the other teams are heading down when it all is said and done in April.

There seems to be more and more elevator teams as some transition from good to bad, bad to good.

Also, there is a brief survey at the end of the Power Rankings this week. Some people have asked that I add team records. If I get enough votes, I’ll add it next week. Information at the bottom.

Anyway, the Penguins are certainly a powerhouse team and they reclaim the top spot in the Week 8 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

To see the order of the other 29 teams, click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

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Power Rankings

Tuesday Tidbits 11/24

Comments Off on Tuesday Tidbits 11/24 Posted by on November 24, 2015

Coupla things to touch on this Tuesday night.

First, the Penguins announced their nine game TV schedule. All Saturday dates, beginning December 5 when the Penguins host the Hartford Wolf Pack. Here is the whole list, air time on WQMY-TV at 7 p.m.

  • Hartford on December 5.
  • Albany on December 12.
  • Lehigh Valley on January 30.
  • Portland on February 13.
  • Bridgeport on March 12.
  • Hershey on March 19.
  • Providence on March 26.
  • Bridgeport on April 2.
  • Providence on April 16.

The Penguins will bring back, “Chillin’ with the Penguins” as well, airing at 6:30 before each game.

On the injury front, Matia Marcantuoni is closer to return than Tom Kuhnhackl. Seth said that Marcantuoni participated fully in today’s practice.

Not out there yet, but the Penguins are recalling defenseman Clark Seymour from Wheeling according to the nightly ECHL transactions roundup. Seymour is second on the Nailers in points for defensemen with 4-5-9 and a +6 in 16 games played.

Finally, Sean Shapiro from Wrong Side of the Red Line had me on his blog to talk AHL All-Stars. I don’t know if you have heard, but they have changed the format this year in the AHL. You can read about that here then read Sean and my projections.

Pens head up I-81 for a date with the Binghamton Senators. Gameday for that will hit the blog Wednesday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

AHL Power Rankings: Week 7

4 Comments Posted by on November 23, 2015

It’s Thanksgiving Week, and are you thankful for your AHL team? For some, there is a lot to be thankful. Wilkes-Barre, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Ontario, Toronto and Chicago are among teams that can be thankful this week.

But then there are other teams like Iowa, Providence, Utica and Rochester that don’t have anything to be thankful for. They have a lot of work to do.

If you didn’t link in direct, hit the jump to find out who the new number one is.

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Power Rankings

AHL Power Rankings: Week 6

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 6 Posted by on November 16, 2015

What a weekend it was. You had comebacks a plenty and blowouts galore. Lots of teams are in great position heading into a week before Thanksgiving while other teams have a lot of work to do.

It’s the Penguins and Rampage world though, and the rest of the AHL is just living in it.

Not much change to the Top 5 this week. Lots of teams elevatored up and down this week behind these teams.

Hit the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where your favorite team ended up this week.

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Power Rankings

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