Bored with a summer that started WAY too early for the Wolf*Pack, I threw a small party last night to bring together a few devout fans at my house. We ate and drank arena-style food (although they complained that my freshly washed floors weren’t sticky enough to really give the full arena affect) and watched game six of the 1999-2000 Calder Cup finals, in which the boys brought the cup to Hartford in only their third year. For many people, it was their first time actually seeing the game, as MSG didn’t show it (I saw it via satellite in a bar - without sound, of course) so it was great that a kind Rochester fan had taped the game and made it available to Wolf*Pack fans at cost. It should have been a great evening, getting together with the crowd and watching hockey in shorts (and sitting in much more comfortable chairs than those at the civic center), but it left me fairly depressed, for reasons that weren’t too difficult to pin down.

We expected the year after the cup to be a let down, because that’s the way it always is for championship teams. I had been warned that other teams would swoop up our best players, allowing them to make the jump to the NHL - something I could hardly begrudge them. However, the Pack managed to retain almost the entire team to start the season, so this excuse for a disappointing year really didn’t apply. We had essentially the same team, but got totally different results. It seemed like the Calder Cup team could really be split into categories: those who left, and those who stayed and sucked. Looking over that roster, and comparing it to the ragged pieces we have left now, I am worried and not nearly as enthusiastic for the season to begin as I was last year. Let’s take a look back at the Calder Cup team of 1999-2000, and play "where are they now?"

Goalies:

Milan Hnilicka – went to the Thrashers after not coming to terms with the Rangers in the summer of 2000. Although he appears to be second on the depth chart there, others have leapfrogged him at times. He was a great goalie; not nearly as flashy but much more dependable than Labs, but one who clearly Coach Paddock never liked. He did, however, share the Hap Holmes trophy with Labbe for few goals allowed by a team of goalies.

J.F.Labbe – the bouncing goalie was traded to Columbus for Bert Robertsson early last season, and hasn’t seen the ice there, just like he didn’t in New York. Spent almost the entire season in Syracuse. No one reminds me more of Martin Brodeur than this guy – a great goalie on a good team, a horrible one on a bad team, but the best post-season goalie in the AHL. If you follow the trade chain last year, in the end we let this MVP goalie walk for nothing.

Bryce Wandler – Nobody could figure out who the guy was in the #1 jersey at the ceremony until he stood up and announced that he "didn’t let in a single goal!" – impressive until you realize that I didn’t let in any sitting in the stands, either. He didn’t play then, he didn’t play this past year, and he’s not going to play this year either.

What did we net from this? Nothing, since both Milan and J.F. are gone (Milan as a free agent and J.F. in a trade series that brought nothing) and Bryce is never going to be more than a minor minor league goalie.

Anything new? Well, we will have one of Vitali Yeremeyev or Johan Holmqvist, plus Jason Labarbera or the unknown Scott Meyer. Dan Blackburn can’t play in Hartford, its NY or back to juniors for him.

If I could choose, I would pick Holmqvist and either Labarbera or Meyer. Hopefully, what will happen, though, is that the best will back up Richter, the worst will get sent to Charlotte, and the other two will play in Hartford. Which is how it should be.

Defensemen:

Burke Henry – in Hartford this past year, traded to Calgary for Chris St. Croix. He only played 5 games out of 23 in the Calder cup run, so its not like he was vital to the championship. A bag of pucks would have been generous, so any body the Flames want to give us is great by me.

Terry Virtue – after winning the cup two years running with two different teams, Terry seemed determined to do it all himself when his teammates let him down this past season. Glad he’s going to be with us for at least another year.

Dale Purinton – I think he played some in Hartford this past year, but he seems to have spent more time watching games in New York. He wouldn’t have to clear waivers to be sent down to us, but you would have to clear his attitude.

Ben Carpentier – the only defensemen to play fewer games than Burke. Ben has been sighted in the Hartford area this summer, leading to fears that he will yet again be on our roster, although he never actually plays. What, they don’t have room for him in Charlotte?

Drew Bannister – was in Hartford this year, but recently signed with Anaheim. Perhaps he will play more consistently back with the Ducks, than he did bothered to do in Hartford.

Alexei Vasiliev – who? At last hearing, he was traded to Nashville from Milwaukee.

Tomas Kloucek – our pride and joy on the blue line, now doing great in New York. He still comes up to Hartford to watch his friends play on days when he has matinee games. We are holding out hope that we will be treated to his presence for a couple of rehab games with the Pack.

Jason Doig – to Ottawa with Jeff Ulmer as part of the Sean Gagnon trade. He’s bounced around a lot, never really found his home, which I think is actually on wing. But nobody asked me.

What did we net? We still have Terry. Trades of our blueliners brought St. Croix and Gagnon (both defensemen) into the Ranger system as well.

Anything new? Our biggest find on the blueline this year was Mike Mottau - and Peter Smrek, although he never really played for us. Wes Jarvis also didn’t do so badly. I liked Martin Richter in preseason, but that’s all we saw of him before he went back to Finland. There are 13 other defensemen listed on the Rangers "In The System" page that I have never seen play. A bunch of them look to be in the Blackburn situation as well – and since New York is tripping over defensemen these days, I don’t think there is much room up there to let the youngsters in.

I hope we get at least Christian Gosselin or Sean Gagnon as our resident thug, along with a handful of kids that can move the puck without getting knocked off their skates on a regular basis. I liked Mike Mottau’s play very much, particularly partnering Terry Virtue, but I think he’s ready to play in New York. And it seems that as Mike’s fortunes go, so do Peter’s, so who knows what will happen to Smrek this fall. Terry is great at teaching the new blueliners the way things are done in Hartford (quick, dirty, and without getting caught, that is), so I am less worried about needing "vets" on defense. Terry can move the puck and the opponent equally well, so as long as we get kids who can build from that, our blueline should be safe.

I’ll be back later with a look back at our forwards.

- Heather

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