Let’s take a spin around the AHL with this week’s latest news and notes.
MANITOBA MOOSE
Wins continue to pile up for the Winnipeg Jets, who are off to a 15-1-0 start after handling the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, 6-3.
However, the season’s first month has been a lot more rocky for their AHL affiliate, the 3-7-0-0 Manitoba Moose. After dropping back-to-back 5-2 decisions this past weekend at Texas, the Moose have lost four in a row and are at the bottom of the Central Division. Their schedule hardly eases up on them, either. They visit the 9-2-0-0 Milwaukee Admirals this morning before moving on to stops at Rockford and Chicago this weekend.
They have allowed 3.30 goals per game, leaving them 21st in the AHL. So the Jets went out and fortified their organizational depth chart in net Tuesday, bringing back goaltender Kaapo Käkhönen via waivers from the Colorado Avalanche. Because Colorado had claimed the 28-year-old Käkhönen on waivers from Winnipeg on Oct. 11, the Jets were able to assign immediately to the Moose without needing waivers this time. This season the Moose have split goaltending work between 21-year-old Thomas Milic and rookie Domenic DiVincentiis, who is 20.
Käkhönen had signed with the Jets in the offseason and was expected to compete with Eric Comrie for the team’s back-up job. Comrie won that job, and Käkhönen eventually found himself in Colorado. He made one appearance for the Avs along with two more with the Colorado Eagles. Last season he played 37 games between the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils (7-24-3 | 3.64 | .898).
While Käkhönen has had an up-and-down performance at the NHL level with the Avs, Devils, Sharks, and Minnesota Wild, he has been a standout in the AHL. He played two seasons with the Iowa Wild and won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltender in 2019-20. That season with Iowa, he had a league-best seven shutouts and was 25-6-3 | 2.07 | .927 in 34 games.
ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS
Artūrs Šilovs, one of the top stories of last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, made a brief encore with the Abbotsford Canucks this past weekend.
With just nine NHL games behind him, Šilovs stepped in net for the Vancouver Canucks following injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith. He ended up playing 10 games (5-5 | 2.91 | .898) and had a 42-save night in Game 3 of Vancouver’s second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Demko remains out, and DeSmith is now with the Dallas Stars, so Šilovs had a chance to take control of the Vancouver net. However, he struggled immediately and is 0-2-1 | .477 | .808. After a third-period relief effort last Saturday against the Oilers, his first action since Oct. 30, the club assigned him to Abbotsford.
Šilovs got a start the next night against visiting Bakersfield, and his 23 saves helped set up a 4-2 home win. Vancouver recalled him this past Monday, and he backed up Kevin Lankinen in Tuesday night’s 3-1 home win against the Calgary Flames.
CALGARY WRANGLERS
Life at home suited the Calgary Wranglers well.
They went 6-2-0-0 on an eight-game homestand and have a league-best 11 wins (11-3-0-0). Now comes life on the road for the Wranglers, who have been stationed in Calgary for nearly three weeks.
A seven-game swing starts Friday night at San Jose as a two-game set with the Barracuda begins. The journey will feature additional stops at San Diego, Tucson, and Manitoba. They don’t return to Scotiabank Saddledome until Dec. 6 against Tucson. Between now and Dec. 18, they have 10 of their next 14 contests on the road.
PROVIDENCE BRUINS
The Providence Bruins unveiled a new third jersey Tuesday, and it pays homage to the parent Boston Bruins “Pooh Bear” 1990s-era logo.
⏪ Rewinding to Retro ⏪ Get your first look at our all-new alternate sweaters, set to debut on #AHLBruins Retro Weekend (Nov 30/Dec 1) ⤵️
🟡 Replicates styling of late 90s/early 00s jerseys
🟡 Reversed coloring: Gold 🔄 Black
🟡 Reversed logos: Front Crest 🔄 Shoulder Patch pic.twitter.com/j8QRaXOGQJ— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 12, 2024
Providence won its only Calder Cup in 1999 with jerseys bearing similar styling to this new look. Led by head coach Peter Laviolette, the P-Bruins’ worst-to-first campaign featured a 70-point improvement from 1997-98 along with a 37-win increase. Randy Robitaille, named the league’s most valuable player, had a 102-point regular season before the P-Bruins ultimately finished off Rochester in a five-game series to take the Calder Cup. It was the city’s first Calder Cup title since 1956 when the Providence Reds won their fourth and final championship.
The Boston-Providence partnership dates back to 1992-93 and is the AHL’s longest-running uninterrupted affiliation. Providence will debut its alternate look at home Nov. 30 against Utica.
ROCKFORD ICEHOGS
NHL veteran Andreas Athanasiou finds himself back in the AHL for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Back then, Athanasiou was a 21-year-old prospect in the Detroit Red Wings organization and wrapping up his time with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The forward has played 492 NHL games with Detroit, Edmonton, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Chicago Blackhawks. It was the Hawks who signed him to a free-agent deal in July 2022, and after he delivered a 20-goal season he received a two-year extension in June 2023. But he played just 28 games last season with Chicago (2-7-9) and went scoreless in five appearances this season.
He had not dressed for Chicago since Oct. 22. After clearing waivers Tuesday, the Hawks assigned him to the Rockford IceHogs.
SYRACUSE CRUNCH
Friday night will be a homecoming when Alex Barré-Boulet and the Laval Rocket visit Syracuse for the first time this season.
Barré-Boulet spent six seasons with the Crunch, setting franchise records in goals (113), assists (189), and points (302). After playing 36 games last season for the Tampa Bay Lightning, he signed with the Montreal Canadiens on the first day of free agency. The 27-year-old forward made the Montreal roster out of training camp but was sent to the Rocket after only two games.
In seven games for the Rocket, he is second in team scoring with 3-8-11.
UTICA COMETS
With just one game this weekend, the Utica Comets need to make this middle stretch of November count.
After a 4-0 home loss to Cleveland began their week, the Comets are winless through their first 12 games (0-9-1-2). They saw a bid for their first win slip away last Saturday night at Lehigh Valley, where their one-goal lead disappeared with 3:29 to go in regulation in what became a 4-3 overtime loss to the Phantoms.
One month of hockey has been a grueling one for the Comets, who already have a minus-30 goal differential (51-21). Head coach Kevin Dineen was let go last Wednesday and replaced by Ryan Parent on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. Veterans Justin Dowling and Nick DeSimone are on recall to New Jersey, though the Devils did send 20-year-old Simon Nemec to Utica for playing time, and the Comets have struggled to get offensive production from much of their veteran core. Utica’s next game is this Saturday when Syracuse visits in the teams’ first meeting since the Crunch took a 5-0 opening-night win. The Comets will not play again after that until Nov. 22, affording them ample practice time.
The 1987-88 Baltimore Skipjacks (0-19-2) own the AHL record for the longest winless streak from the start of a season at 21 games. That team had just lost its affiliation with Pittsburgh. Forced to go unaffiliated, Baltimore eventually finished 13-58-9.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Filip Larsson is making his second turn through the AHL count.
Then 20 years old, Larsson went to the AHL in 2019-20 following a standout freshman effort at the University of Denver. Signed by Detroit, he ended up playing just seven games with Grand Rapids along with another 10 for their ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye. So Larsson went back to Sweden, spending three seasons in HockeyAllsvenskan along with a brief stop in Denmark. Eventually he worked his way up to the SHL, where we finished 19-9-0 | 1.93 | .920 last season for Leksands.
That work secured him a new two-year contract from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Starting this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the 26-year-old has two shutouts in his first four appearances. After blanking Rochester last Saturday night at home, he has now stopped 94 of the past 95 shots that he has seen (.989).
Tristan Jarry, who appeared in five AHL games while on a conditioning loan, is now back with Pittsburgh.
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