Dalton feature

Yesterday I finished a feature on Matt Dalton, a Boston prospect who's a very interesting guy. Self-taught goaltender/farmer, it doesn't get better than that. When he came out of the locker room to find me, he was still buttoning his shirt and getting on his shoes -- he said he didn't want to keep me waiting. We talked for about 14 minutes, and it didn't feel like I was keeping him. He was very relaxed for a goaltender too. All in all, very impressive off the ice. I'm surprised more features haven't been written about him.

I don't think Reading has a very good team this year, but if Dalton puts them on his back, who knows.

Coaching prospect: Chuck Weber

Usually I write about player prospects. But today I want to say a word or two about a coaching prospect, Chuck Weber.

I first encountered Weber when he was coaching his Cincinnati Cyclones in the 2008 ECHL Kelly Cup Finals. After the game, he came into the room where the press conference was set up, and instead of sitting down at the table and microphone, he stood. Here's a picture I took that day:


It was obvious that he had a lot of energy. He struck me as very intense, businesslike. And he got it done -- his team won the thing on the road in Las Vegas.

For the fourth straight year, Weber's got his Cyclones in playoff position, leading their division. The most impressive thing about it to me is that they're doing it this year with two 20-year-old rookie goaltenders -- one from the Predators, one from the Canadiens -- who are not top prospects. These are the kinds of goaltenders who most teams wouldn't want to have to rely on. But the Cyclones play such great team defense that it's working. Weber was himself a defenseman and he knows how to teach it, obviously. He never played pro hockey himself though.

I interviewed Weber about the goalies last night as his team came through town. I wanted to hear about them, but equally I wanted to know more about how he goes about things too.

He was again very professional, fully answering every question. It was after a loss, so this was a good test. Some coaches don't hold it together very well after losses. That's not the case with Weber. He made thoughtful comments and treated the little people (me) with respect.

He won't likely be in the league long. Or, if he is, it's the AHL's loss.
.

Charlotte to the AHL, how it could go down

Dave Andrews, President of the AHL, was on XM Radio yesterday talking about Charlotte, NC coming into the AHL in the next year or two. This has been in the works for a long time, and I'm glad to hear it's coming along.

The logistics of this are interesting because unlike European leagues where there's relegation and promotion -- teams drop down a league if they come in last in the standings -- the minor leagues in North America don't work like that. Moving a city from one league to another is trickier and means buying and selling franchises.

The first thing that needs to happen for Charlotte to have an AHL team is to move the current ECHL Charlotte Checkers out of town. Who has the money and the interest do this? It's looking like the Checkers owner himself actually, with the understanding that they would affiliate with the Carolina Hurricans. It would be nice to have your top farm club nearby instead of in Albany, NY wouldn't it? And the Canes affiliation with the River Rats is up this year.

So now there's an ECHL team without a home. The owner could fold it up if he wanted, but how about moving it somewhere else, somewhere nearby that has a nice hockey arena...like say Greensboro? This city is strongly rumored to be getting an ECHL franchise next fall, and putting two and two together, I think it could be the former Charlotte franchise. The Canes could then have their NHL team and AHL and ECHL affiliates all in the same state. This makes for easy travel and good marketing. (Their ECHL affiliate is currently the Florida Everblades, but they don't send many players there.)

The investors in the Charlotte AHL team would need to purchase another AHL franchise to be able to move it to Charlotte. There are a number of struggling northeast teams, and the Iowa Chops franchise is also dormant. Any of these are candidates. The Edmonton Oilers own a dormant franchise too, but that's destined for Oklahoma City.

Could Charlotte to the AHL happen for fall 2010? It would be quicker than normal, but yes I think it could. There don't seem to be any big obstacles to overcome. I think the Charlotte fans would accept the new team. The arena can certainly accommodate what would likely be a somewhat bigger crowd; it is the NBA Charlotte Bobcats arena after all. It seats 14,100 for hockey.

Charlotte's closest AHL neighbor would be the Norfolk Admirals, located on the coast in Virginia, 327 miles away (5.5 hours). This would make Charlotte an outlier, but still much closer than Abbotsford, BC, whose closest team is in Winnipeg, Manitoba, half a continent away. Interestingly, Charlotte would not become Norfolk's closest neighbor, as Hershey is a hair closer at 318 miles away.

Brian Burke, when he was GM of the Anaheim Ducks, wanted to begin to move the AHL to the west coast. Maybe instead we'll see it move south, which has the advantage of keeping it closer to the existing teams. Travel costs can never be underestimated as a factor.

Charlotte has a metro population of about 1.8 million and is considered an up and coming city.

The last city to successfully move from the ECHL to the AHL was Peoria. They kept the moniker -- Rivermen -- which is rare.

Update (2/13/10): I'm hearing that rather than Greensboro, there's been some interest in moving the ECHL franchise to the midwest. But it's equally likely that it will just be folded.
.

Funny images

Last night I was waiting for the Caps prospect Jake Hauswirth to finish showering after the South Carolina Stingrays game, and was confronted with a very funny sight: Nikita Kashirsky in a giant foam cowboy hat. He turned right in front of me. "Nice hat," I said.

I asked around and found out this monstrosity gets passed around the Stingrays locker room as a reward for good play. I chuckle about what coach Cail MacLean said about the hat tradition: "I think it's sort of on the down low." Something that big and that funny won't stay on the down low long.

Kashirsky had scored the game winner that night, which was worthy of the hat. But since he's also a rookie, he had to carry bags to the bus. In the hat. Sadly I did not have my camera while he was doing this.

Here's a link to an ad for the hat. The Stingrays one looks just like this, but with yellow trim and numbers scribbled on the front brim. For more of MacLean's comments, read my HF article on the ECHL prospects.

And here are a couple of other funny sites from yesterday.

Jake Hauswirth projectile spitting.


Trevor Bruess with an uncontrollable tongue.
.

Potluck

Typically when I interview people, I know basically how I'm going to use the information, and I follow through and use it that way. That didn't happen with my latest article, an installment of Off the Radar. I was trying to find an ECHL rookie worthy of a full feature, but was not enamored enough with any of them to feature them alone. So I decided to just write a bit about all three. Prospect potluck I guess.

I think Mike Berube has the best chance of the three though. He's got so much going for him, with just a small skating issue. If he really keys on that, with some help he can fix it.
.

Finley possessed

I couldn't talk to Joe Finley last night because I was busy filling in for the paper, but I took some photos at warmups. Several came out with just white in his eyes. I've never seen anyone blink this way on film. Kind of creepy.




He played well though. Quite a good skater for his size and he's hard to get around. Accurate shot from the point. I'll probably talk to him in a few weeks.
.

How you know when your team has sold out

This.


The Kalamazoo Wings, in warm-ups. The helmet stickers went all game.
.

NHL prospects in the ECHL for 2009-10

Just finished my yearly "prospects to watch" in the ECHL for HF. It's a lot more work than it looks like. Not all the NHL prospects are mentioned, just the best ones -- the ones who will be there half a year and move up, not the guys who are just playing out the string.

The ECHL teams range from nine NHL-contracted prospects (Bakersfield) to none (Johnstown). Here's the full list, near as I could come up with. You can't use transaction logs because those are often misleading.

Alaska (STL): T.J. Fast, Ryan Turek, Anthony Peluso, Tomas Kana
Bakersfield (ANA): Maxime Macenauer, MacGregor Sharp, John de Gray, Stu Bickel, Timo Pielmeier, Justin Pogge, Bobby Bolt, Logan MacMillan, Shawn Weller.
Charlotte (NYR): Ryan Hillier, Chris Chappell. None from Colorado.
Cincinnati (NAS): Jeremy Smith. None from Montreal.
Elmira (OTT): Michael-Lee Teslak, from Philly
Florida (CAR): Rob Hennigar. None from the Panthers
Gwinnett (ATL): Chad Denny, Michael Forney. None from Columbus
Idaho (DAL): Guillame Monast, Michael Neal, Richard Bachman
Kalamazoo (PHI): Jeremy Duchesne. None from San Jose
Las Vegas (PHO): Nick Ross, Matt Watkins, Joe Gistedt
Ontario (LA): Dwight King
Reading (TOR and BOS): Kevin Regan and Stefano Giliati
South Carolina (WAS): Braden Holtby, Joe Finley, Josh Godfrey
Stockton (EDM): Jordan Bendfeld, Bryan Pitton
Toledo (CHI and DET): Alec Richards, Jordan Pearce, J.C. Sawyer
Trenton (NJ): Myles Stoesz
Utah Grizzlies (NYI): J.D. Watt (CAL)
Victoria (VAN): Dan Gendur
Wheeling (PIT): Alex Grant, Joey Haddad, Casey Pierro-Zabotel
.

South Carolina Stingrays on to conference finals

The South Carolina Stingrays took down the Florida Everblades in the ECHL South Division finals tonight. I picked them in preseason, and they came through, despite a ton of roster changes. No reason they can't beat Cincinnati in the conference finals as well. Goaltending wins championships, and the Stingrays have it with James Reimer. I hope they win another series so I can goto the Kelly Cup Finals again this year. Last year I went to Cincinnati for them, and that was an enjoyable little trip. I'm rooting for an Alaska Aces/Stingrays final, one that doesn't interfere with another hockey trip I am doing in early June.
.

AHL may return to dressing 17 skaters a game

Prior to this season, the AHL had dressed 17 skaters a game, one fewer than the NHL. For this season, they increased the number to 18. But the economy may push it back down to 17, as everyone tightens their belts.

From the Patriot-News (Hershey):

Economics played the prime role in the AHL's traditional use of 17 skaters. Adding a player to the lineup adds to costs (contract, health care, equipment).

The economic downturn ultimately could mean a return to 17. It's a topic that likely will be addressed at upcoming AHL meetings.

"There could be contraction and reducing it to a less number for next year," [Hershey Bears president-GM Doug] Yingst said. "My sense right now is that the vote would be to reduce the number.

It sounds like Hershey rolls four lines regularly, which is good for the rookies, who do get the experience they need. But not all teams use all four lines regularly, which means that a lot of rookies don't get much playing time. Some would be better off in the ECHL where they would see more situations.

It's interesting that the ECHL just broke its own record for number of players graduating to the NHL in a season (49 players) during a year in which the number of prospects sent by NHL teams went down. Surely there's a delay effect -- the guys who played in the NHL this year largely played in the ECHL last year or the year before. If the 18-skater rule doesn't change in the AHL though, that record will probably stand because fewer prospects will have seen time in the ECHL,
.

City takes on stake in Utah Grizzlies to keep them going

Two ECHL teams have folded this season, but that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of teams in trouble. The Utah Grizzlies turned money owed for rent into a new owner -- West Valley City. They'll be one of the lucky ones when it's all said and done.

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

The minor league hockey team now has a partner and the city now owns part of a professional sports franchise. It's not an ideal situation for either party, but the fact is they need each other.

The Grizzlies need a partner to shore up mounting financial losses. The city needs its biggest E Center tenant to keep filling dates and bringing in the crowds.

West Valley City laid out $600,000 to buy a stake in the team, a figure that essentially wiped out what the Grizzlies owed the E Center in rent.

.

More casualties of teams in minor league hockey

ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna was unusually candid in this AP story, saying the league could lose more teams during this economic downturn.

"The teams that struggle in a good time, they're going to struggle even more when the economy's bad," McKenna said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we have a couple more casualties. Hopefully we're better positioned for growth in the future. Our league having lost some struggling teams may in fact make us stronger overall."

It's almost a given that Wheeling will be one of those lost this offseason. It's implied by one of the comments by the owner in the same article.

"We want to do our best to keep some type of hockey team here in Wheeling because we love the community," said Jim Brooks, who bought the team with his brother in 2003. "But we need the community's help to do that."

Wheeling's facilities are very outdated, and do not attract players, to say the least. That franchise may fold or be sold. Mississippi is another team that due to travel costs, is on the edge. Johnstown has been hanging on by a thread for several years. They are averaging just 2100 in attendance. If they don't get the lease renegotiated favorably enough, they could move.

Abbottsford, British Columbia is a possible new location for a team if they do not get an AHL club.

The article points out that while other minor leagues have had a decline in attendance, the ECHL is actually up 2.2 percent this season.

Attendance at minor league hockey games is down nationwide. The only exception is in the ECHL, which has seen a 2.2 percent increase in per-game attendance after losing four of its seven lowest-performing franchises since the end of last season.

.

Regan Q&A up

I chatted with Kevin Regan last night and the Q&A is up at HF. It's important to read it in a South Boston accent for flavor.



One note is that Pyle did not rule out Nastiuk returning to Gwinnett. It sounded like that wasn't the plan now, but "if something happens" he would. I guess something happening would be a trade by the Boston system.
.

Regan to debut for ECHL Gladiators tonight

Bruins prospect Kevin Regan was assigned to the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators yesterday, and will make his debut for the team tonight. The rookie pro out of UNH will wear #31.

Regan at morning skate today. That bright yellow Bruins mask is going to clash badly with the Gladiators sand and mauve third jerseys.


Coach Jeff Pyle seemed to take special care to make Regan feel welcome. Tonight's an important game against division leader the Florida Everblades. Anton Khudobin (MIN) will start for the Blades. Jeff Mason, normally a defenseman for the Gladiators, will play wing. Brad Schell, still out with a back injury (2-3 more weeks), will debut a new white shirt as he runs the defensive pairs. He has to expand his wardrobe now that he's behind the bench.
.