Chirps from Center Ice

Note: The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins signed defenseman Danny Syvret to a PTO this afternoon. Details on this can be found here.

There is a new number one in the Week 22 offering of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. It should come as no surprise to anyone that it’s the Grand Rapids Griffins, who have points in their last 15 contests.

But there is a lot going on outside of Grand Rapids. Take the Northeast Division for example. Syracuse is the top team there. The Crunch are the team that the Politburo says will not make playoffs this season. In second, it’s the Springfield Falcons, who have lost three in a row. Next is the Hartford Wolf Pack, who have a six game losing streak. The best team in the Northeast Division may actually be fourth place Albany, who split two with the St. John’s IceCaps in a weekend battle between two teams that are desperately trying to get back into the playoff discussion.

Oh, an easter egg for you to find in this weeks rankings. The Politburo said last week that Syracuse would miss playoffs. There is a team that is not in playoffs currently that the the Politburo says will make the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs.

In order to find out who, and to see where your favorite team ranks, please click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct….

Read more of this post

The AHL’s Daily Playoff Primer debuted this week, meaning that we are close to the end of the season. About at the three quarter pole for all teams.

But there is much work to do as teams jockey for playoff positioning.

There are three teams in the AHL that are on an absolute tear, and are ranked 1-2-3 in this weeks Rankings. A Penguin and a Griffin walk into a bar and say to the Bear tending bar….I forget the rest, but you get the idea….

If you are new to the Rankings, the way this works is that you click through the jump below to read more or if you clicked in from someplace else, you can just keep scrolling…

Read more of this post

There are about eight weeks left in the regular season. There are teams on the up and up and teams plummeting downward. There are teams that have been contenders all season long and teams that haven’t been relevant since the start of the season.

As you pick though this weeks offering of the Week 20 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings, you will see what I mean. Teams like the Grand Rapids Griffins trending up and in a three way tie for first in the Midwest Division and teams like the Bridgeport Sound Tigers that started out with so much promise, but are dead last in the Eastern Conference.

No team among the leaders last week went without a regulation loss in the top five this week, so I figured instead of throwing the top eight into a blender to keep one and two the same and then adjust accordingly from three on back. Pop through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where your favorite team ended up this week…

Read more of this post

Special President’s Day start time to the Week 19 AHL Power Rankings here at 11 a.m. on Monday. Here are a few things to look for…

There is a new number one this week.

There is a team the Politburo describes as, “quietly underrated.”

See if you can find the description of the team that is interjecting themselves into the most exciting divisional race to watch in the AHL.

A question for some fans of some teams that read this blog. I’m really interested in your replies.

Something or nothing for a team in the East Division.

An apology to a team the Politburo messed up on last week.

Plus much more. Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct.

Read more of this post

It is mid-February. Where did January go? If you are in the Northeast, you probably think that it is still January with all the snow that is out there, but in the AHL, we are about ten weeks away from the end of the season and there are some teams that are solidly in, some teams that are teetering on the brink of destruction and glory and some teams that are so checked out that they are already making plans for a long offseason.

But there is still time to make a run. You may delay, but time will not. Better hurry!

There is a new number one this week. Last weeks number one didn’t slip too far, click through the jump to see where your favorite team ended up.

Read more of this post

So as the calendar flips to February, things are hotly contested in many of the divisions in the AHL.

In the North, you have the Adirondack Flames four points behind the Utica Comets, who have 56 points.

In the Midwest, division leading Rockford leads the way with 58 points and three back the Milwaukee Admirals are lurking.

In the West, the Oklahoma City Barons are running away with things, but the race for second is a hotly contested one. The San Antonio Rampage lead the Texas Stars by six points.

All those teams I mentioned? They play their pursuer or pursuee twice this week. Are you a contender or a pretender? While it may be too soon to say, this weekend may be the first step in finding out.

The Syracuse Crunch still lead the Week 17 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings by the way. Click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where everyone else ended up this week.

Read more of this post

It’s the All-Star break in the AHL, so how is your team doing?

There are a couple of teams that have been good all season long. Teams like Manchester, Utica, Rockford and Oklahoma City have been constantly at the head of their division class.

But there is a team, just west of where the festivities are taking place this weekend, that has been knocking and knocking and finally kicked the door down on the division lead on Saturday night.

It’s the Syracuse Crunch. One of the Eastern Conference’s most dangerous teams knocks off last week’s number one Hartford in a thrilling Saturday night battle at home and take over the Northeast Division and the number one spot in the Week 16 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. The Crunch are just a point off of the Manchester Monarchs for first overall in the Conference, too.

I don’t know how many times I use the word “break” in the rankings this week. It was a lot, though. Count them up and let me know in the comments. But first, you have to jump through if you didn’t link in direct….

Read more of this post