To start this edition of Calder's Corner, I'd like to take a moment to check in on some familiar faces from last season's team. These guys parted with the Rangers organization and each of them went their separate ways. Here's how they're doing so far in 2005-2006:

Layne Ulmer seems to have regained his goal scoring touch with San Antonio of the AHL. He's tied for the team lead in goal scoring, lighting the lamp 5 times in just 8 games. Not bad for a man who scored 7 goals in 65 games last year. Coincidently, this Saturday is “Mullet Night” in San Antonio. The best mullet in the house wins a trip for two to Phoenix! What a great opportunity for Layne to see some NHL ice time. Yes, it really is a promotion.

Jozef Balej has himself a pair of goals, and a pair of assists as well. Through 6 games for Manitoba he's also racked up 10 PIM. Fedor Fedorov, who the Rangers acquired from Vancouver in exchange for Balej , was averaging a point a game, 1-4-5, before being called up to New York.

Jeff MacMillan has not recorded a point in three games for Syracuse of the AHL, the Blue Jacket’s affiliate. He does have 10 penalty minutes to his name.

Joel Bouchard came to the Wolf Pack towards the end of 2004-2005, mainly for the playoff run. Unfortunately, that was short lived. He’s now with Bridgeport, and I believe he got hurt on opening night. Not exactly sure.

Trevor Gillies, who was our enforcer last season for those who don’t know, has become an offensive machine for Portland, which is now the affiliate of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. He’s recorded one goal and has an assist to go with it. That’s two points in five games. Watch out AHL. He also has 19 penalty minutes.

Lawrence Nycholat continues to contribute on offense for whatever team he is with. He’s scored twice, and added four assists in seven contests for the Hershey Bears of the AHL.

Jeff Hamilton is scoreless in 7 games for Kazan Ak Bars (or possibly Ak Bars Kazan) of Russia. That’s shocking. Who would have thought Gillies would ever be outscoring Jeff Hamilton? Yes, I know that they’re in different leagues. It was a joke. Well, not the fact that he’s scoreless, he really is. Bear with me.

Steve Valiquette I could not find stats on. Sorry guys.

Now, I’m going to say this twice because when I saw it I couldn’t believe it. Lucas Lawson has 9 points in 14 games. Lucas Lawson has 9 points in 14 games. Yes, Lucas has had the hot hand in Finland, he’s ranked third in scoring on JyP Jyvaskyla with his 1 goal and 8 assists. For those keeping track, JyP was also Jarkko Immonen’s Finnish team.

And finally, Jason LaBarbera has been on a tear in the National Hockey League. He’s won every game he’s started for the Los Angeles Kings, and is boasting a 1.50 GAA and a .942 Save Percentage. Good to see him doing good in the NHL, disappointing for me to not see him with the Rangers.

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And now for the current Wolf Pack roster.

Highlights

As previously stated, Fedor Fedorov was called up to the Rangers. To make room for Sergei’s brother, the Rangers sent Dale Purinton back to Hartford. Unfortunately, this pretty much means that my idea for the costume contest at the Civic Center Saturday Night is dead. With my luck, Dale would probably be scratched that night, and if he sees “Colton Orr” walking around the Civic Center... well ... I like having both my eyes.

Now, there seems to be a big question mark surrounding Hugh Jessiman. Hugh has shown me nothing. Nothing at all. He has not recorded a point, his hits aren’t that strong, his skating doesn’t look that great. Pretty much everybody on Hartford is outperforming him. Yes, even Dale. When you look at a list of the people drafted after him in 2003, you can easily see perhaps he was not the best choice. Dustin Brown has developed into a nice young impact player for the Kings, Brent Seabrooke has 6 assists in 8 games with the Blackhawks, Zach Parise is shaping up to be a great NHL rookie as well. Hugh, so far, nothing.

As far as everyone else goes...

Goalies - Montoya and Holt are not LaBarbera and Valiquette. We can’t fall back on them to win us games. Montoya started on opening night, but so far they’ve both been fairly even. They’re both 1-1, and have each allowed 7 goals. Montoya’s GAA is slightly lower, but Holt holds a slight edge in Save Percentage. To me, I don’t think we have a clear starter right now.

Defense - The defenseman I think the majority of Rangers fans are concerned with is Thomas Pock. He’s picked up his offensive game, he’s recorded four points in five games. This is a great improvement over last season, where he recorded a whopping total of six points in 50 games. His defensive capabilities are up in the air, I don’t think he does a good job of keeping the puck in our zone when we are on the power play. As a result, we’ve got to chase clearing attempts down the ice. The rest of the defense I’ll cover next week.

Offense - Jarkko Immonen continues to score for us, he’s got 4 goals in 5 games. I think he’s been our best offensive player. He knows where to be, gets there, and makes the most of it. I’ve seen three of his goals, and they were all on the power play. One he knocked in a rebound, one was a last-minute tip in to win the game, and one was a loose puck which he floated up and over the goalie. Another name on offense you might recognize is Nigel Dawes. He scored his first professional goal this past Saturday night on the road in Hershey. He also added an assist in the Wolf Pack’s 6-5 win. Outside of that game, he has not recorded a point.

Well, that about does it for this edition of Calder’s Corner. If there’s any specific players you want me to profile more in depth, send me a message on the forums. Thanks for reading.

- Calder

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