The Wolf Pack return to action from a five day break when they take on the Manchester Monarchs tonight at the Hartford Civic Center. After tonight's contest, the Pack will enjoy another five day period without any games. The rest is definitely much needed, as on December 8th, the Wolf Pack will head to Worcester, Massachusetts to begin one of the more grueling sections of their schedule this season.
Starting with that road game at the DCU Center, the Wolf Pack have 26 games in 51 days. Oh, and all but three of them are against Atlantic Division teams.
The one positive behind this is that the Wolf Pack won't have to travel that far -- they've already completed their two longest road trips of the season. In fact, excluding one game in January where the Wolf Pack head to Albany, New York to take on the River Rats, Hartford isn't scheduled to leave New England until March 3rd when they visit the Philadelphia Phantoms.
There's no question that this stretch of games will be a test for the team. After a prolonged slow start to the 2006-2007 season, in which they picked up only 5 wins in their first 17 games, the Pack appear to be back on the right track. They're currently riding a three game win streak, powered by two dramatic overtime victories.
The question is, can they keep it up?
With the recent performance of each individual player, and the team finally starting to click, things are starting to shape up for the Wolf Pack. At this point, every standings point counts.
Luckily for the Wolf Pack, things aren't as bad as they could be. They're only six points out of a playoff spot, they have a game in hand on Manchester, and they're only 11 points behind division leading Portland. Lose tomorrow night, and they're eight points out of a playoff spot. It may be an old saying, but standings points count as much in December as they do in April.
With twenty games in the books, fans in Hartford have had ample time to get a look at each player and get a feel for what they can bring to the table. So, I've come up with a report card for the first quarter of the 2006-2007 season.
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#2 Dave Liffiton - Defense
20 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 50 PIM, -8
It's a good thing the Wolf Pack don't rely on Dave for his point production, though it would be nice to get a little help from him occasionally. So far, he's on pace for a whopping four points. For a third year pro who improved a lot over the course of last season, I expected him to continue improving. Clearly not the case. He's been outplayed by every other defenseman on the team, with the exception of Martin Richter, and he hasn't really stood out.
Grade: C
#4 Marvin Degon - Defense
20 GP, 3 G, 7 A, 14 PIM, -13
All three of Marvin Degon's goals have come on the powerplay this season. It's not just that he's scoring on the powerplay, it's that he's scoring at clutch times. Between this season and the end of last season, he's scored five AHL goals. One was the game winner in overtime, one tied the game, and two put some life back into the team after they had yet to score. The other was the 9th goal in a 9-3 rout of San Antonio. Degon's not afraid to shoot the puck on the power play either.
Grade: B
#5 - Forward - Dale Purinton
19 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 77 PIM, -6
Dale has improved this season. He's actually stayed out of the penalty box for entire games, and he's not taking that many stupid penalties. He's one of the veterans on the team, and he certainly is playing like one. Granted, he's no point producing superstar, but he has scored some timely goals as a result of hard work. It's starting to rub off on those around him
Grade: B
#7 - Defense - Martin Richter
17 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 10 PIM, -6
Richter has been ineffective thus far. As I pointed out in my previous article, it's hard to notice him out there. I expected him to be more of a force, putting up decent numbers on offense because of his recent numbers in Europe. Unfortunately, he hasn't done that.
Grade: F
#9 - Left Wing - Nigel Dawes
6 GP, 0 G, 7 A, 4 PIM, +/- 0
Though I should really give him an incomplete, as he's only played six games, he's really helped the Wolf Pack offense since his return. Hartford is 4-2 this year when Nigel Dawes in the lineup, and they've won four out of their last five. Now, Rangers fans should know about Nigel Dawes, since he spent a good deal of time with the Rangers this season. Unfortunately, he really didn't get a great opportunity to play on a line with players who can put up points. In Hartford, he played some time with Immonen and Callahan, and that line looked pretty solid.
Grade: A-
#10 - Center - Dwight Helminen
20 GP, 4 G, 5 A, 10 PIM, -6
Dwight had struggled early on in the year (but then again, who didn't). He's still nowhere near on pace for the 32 goal season he put up last year while playing with Dawes and current Anaheim Ducks prospect Colby Genoway, but he's also not getting top line minutes. Most recently, he’s been playing with Craig Weller and Dale Purinton. That right there is not a line that’s going to put up a lot of points. As a positive, Helminen does play a good two-way game.
Grade: B-
#11 - Right Wing - Francis Lessard
6 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 38 PIM, +/- 0
I really haven’t seen that much of Lessard, he has only played six games so far this season. He really isn’t expected to do much more than fight, so I really don’t have anything to grade him on
Grade: Incomplete
#14 - Left Wing - Brad Isbister
3 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PIM, -1
For a veteran of numerous NHL games, I expected more from him in his first three games. He wasn’t really noticeable in any of the Pack’s games, and he was a healthy scratch on Sunday. I, and I’m not alone on this one, expect more production from him. He even played with Greg Moore and Jarkko Immonen in his first game, and didn’t look that great. By comparison, Petruzalek, the player traded for Isbister, has a goal and two assists in this first two games with the Albany River Rats.
Grade: Incomplete
#15 - Right Wing - Greg Moore
19 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 13 PIM, -8
If there’s one guy I’d like to see on the scoresheet more often this season, it’s Greg Moore. The Wolf Pack are undefeated when Moore records a point. After gathering just one point in his first nine games, he has five in his last ten. He’s still got some work to do, but he’s been pretty impressive so far this year. He still has some work to do, but that goes for just about every young player on the team.
Grade: B-
#16 - Center - Jarkko Immonen
19 GP, 6 G, 7 A, 6 PIM, -14
After a dismal start to the season, Immonen has rebounded and has scored six times in his last six games. (If you’re keeping score at home, that’s exactly the amount of time that Nigel Dawes has been with the team). It took him a while to get that first goal (at least 33 shots) but once he finally got one in, he’s been the Immonen fans in Hartford saw last season. If I graded him around the ten game mark, he probably would have gotten an F. However, he’s really stepped up his game recently.
Grade: B-
#19 - Center - Brandon Dubinsky
18 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 26 PIM, +3
Last month, I was willing to give Dubinsky the benefit of the doubt. He looked good skating wise, but he wasn’t scoring. Now... nothing’s really changed. For someone as highly touted as Brandon Dubinsky, he really hasn’t been performing that well this season. Even now, when the Wolf Pack’s offense is finally starting to click, he hasn’t been that effective. Something I’ve notice is he always seems to be getting manhandled out on the ice, whether it be getting a hard check into the boards or simply getting outmuscled. I’m not sure what’s going on with him. He obviously has talent, he showed that last year when he was up for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Since that first round against the Monarchs though, he really has fallen off the radar. He has just 3 points in his last 16 games. Hopefully he can do something tonight against the team he played so well against last year.
Grade: D
#21 - Left Wing - Lee Falardeau
16 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 22 PIM, -6
Falardeau, who was real impressive in training camp this season, has been sent to Charlotte after he managed just 3 points in 16 games this season. Honestly, I thought he outperformed Hugh Jessiman, and that Jessiman should have been the one demoted to Charlotte. Whatever way you slice it, neither were that great during the first quarter of the season. I will say that he played a better physical game than he did last year.
Grade: C
#23 - Defense - Ivan Baranka
9 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 12 PIM, -3
Though limited to nine games due to injury, when Ivan Baranka returned to action it didn’t look like he missed a game. In fact, it looks like the injury actually helped him. Since his return, he has three assists in two games. He and Daniel Girardi are probably the two best defenseman in Hartford this season. Baranka plays a solid physical game, and he’s very reliable on defense. Like I said before, his offense appears to be picking up as well. Hopefully he can maintain that.
Grade: B+
#24 - Right Wing - Ryan Callahan
19 GP, 15 G, 6 A, 28 PIM, +3
Callahan has been the driving force behind the Wolf Pack’s offense so far this season. I had high expectations for him entering the year, and so far he’s lived up to and exceeded every one of them. Here’s what I said about Callahan back on October 7, before the season started.
Last Season: Nigel Dawes
Replaced By: Ryan Callahan
Dawes and Callahan are both players who are small in stature, but big in talent. While Callahan checks in at 5’11, the Rochester native exhibited the same scoring prowess that Nigel Dawes possessed in junior hockey last season with the Guelph Storm. Callahan scored 52 goals and added 32 assists in just 62 games while captaining the Storm to the third round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. He’s also not afraid to block shots and play the defensive side of the puck. Expect Callahan to play the same role in Hartford that Nigel Dawes did, a top six forward who gets a substantial amount of ice time. Don’t be surprised to see him spend time on the power play and penalty kill units as well.
And sure enough, Ryan Callahan had virtually the same start to the season that Nigel Dawes did. Last season, Dawes didn’t score until his fifth game. After that, he had an outstanding rookie season. This year, Callahan didn’t score a goal until his fifth game, though he did record an assist in his third. So this season, Callahan actually has 15 goals in his last 15 games.
Grade: A+
#25 - Defense - Jake Taylor
0 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PIM, +/- 0
Taylor has yet to play due to an injury.
Grade: Incomplete
#26 - Defense - Bryce Lampman
19 GP, 3 G, 5 A, 34 PIM, +/- 0
Considering that Lampman came off an injury which caused him to miss a great deal of games last season, you figure that it takes a while for him to get accustomed to game action again. Lampman didn’t appear to be playing that well at all until very recently, namely the road game against Houston where he was a +4. Since that game though, he’s playing a lot better. There was a brief period in the game against Bridgeport last Saturday where he didn’t look that great, but once he scored he appeared a lot more confident on the ice. It wasn’t a spectacular goal, he threw it on net and it managed to go in, but sometimes all a player needs is confidence. Right now, Lampman appears confident out on the ice, and he’s playing much better than he did earlier in the year.
Grade: B
#27 - Right Wing - Hugh Jessiman
16 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 17 PIM, -7
After starting the season off very strong, Jessiman reverted back to the player Wolf Pack fans saw at the start of last season. He’s been very disappointing, especially because he was playing very well at the end of last season and appeared ready to contribute in the AHL on a regular basis at the beginning of this season. Since then though, he hasn’t done much of anything.
Grade: F
#29 - Goalie - Al Montoya
12 GP, 2-7-0, 2.83 GAA, 90.0 Save %
Although he has been playing a lot better than he had last season, consistency is still an issue for him. If you watch Montoya, you’ll see flashes of brilliance. You’ll say to yourself “Wow! How did he stop that?” Then, not even a couple minutes later, the opposition will score a weak goal and you’ll wonder “Wow! How didn’t he stop that?” His record isn’t a record of his performance though, as his team hasn’t scored goals in the games he’s played. Although, this past Sunday he allowed five goals and still managed to win, so that’s up to your own interpretation. He did earn the win, but he allowed five goals. Which is more important to you? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Grade: C+
#34 - Left Wing - Dane Byers
18 GP, 1 G, 7 A, 63 PIM, -5
I’m going to say exactly what I said last month about Dane Byers. He’s one of -- if not the best -- the Pack’s best physical wingers. I’m also going to use the same example that I used last month, but it really epitomizes what type of player he is. At the end of the second period in the game vs. Wilkes-Barre, Byers narrowly missed a scoring chance. He was drilled from behind into the boards by Marc-Antoine Pouliot. The referee was going to call a penalty, but Byers decided to take things into his own hands. He instantly dropped his gloves and gave Pouliot a major league beating. Byers wound up getting the extra penalty on the play, but there is no way in my mind that that was the correct call. Byers doesn’t back down from anything, and he will stick up for himself and his teammates. He’s far from an enforcer, but he’ll drop the gloves if he has to.
Grade: B+
#36 - Right Wing - Craig Weller
20 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 24 PIM, -6
Weller’s only really been noticeable in two games this year -- when he scored twice and the Pack beat Portland 4-3, and when his goal gave Hartford a 3-2 overtime win against Bridgeport. He hasn’t fought as much as he did last year, but he’s also playing disciplined hockey.
Grade: B-
#40 - Goalie - Steve Valiquette
11 GP, 6-5-0, 2.79 GAA, 89.9 Save %
Valiquette has been more reliable than Montoya this season, he’s generally not a goalie who is going to let in soft goals. However, he has had some games where he hasn’t looked that great -- then again, so has pretty much everyone else on the team. The really interesting thing is to look at Valiquette’s numbers, and then look at Montoya’s numbers. They’re almost similar, with the exception of the wins and losses.
Grade: B
#44 - Left Wing - Lauri Korpikoski
20 GP, 3 G, 7 A, 9 PIM, -3
Korpikoski is a very technical player. He knows where his teammates are, and he knows where he has to be on the ice. He can get there easily, he’s got great skating skills. The problem with him is not him off the puck, it’s when he has the puck. Like I said last month, he can pass well, shoot well... it’s just that when he does it it’s usually too late. He plays a very disciplined game, and doesn’t lose his cool and take unnecessary penalties. So far this year, he’s only been called for two minors.
Grade: B
#48 - Defense - Daniel Girardi
20 GP, 0 G, 15 A, 6 PIM, +/- 0
While Callahan is making a name for himself on offense, Girardi is making a name for himself on defense. The prospect who probably gets the least attention from Rangers fans, is probably the most complete all around defenseman in Hartford at the moment. Recently, Girardi has been on an amazing assist streak. He has recorded at least one assist in 7 of his last 8 games, and in those 8 games he has 12 assists. This stands in stark contrast to earlier in the year when he had just 3 assists in his first twelve games. Not only is he a great puck mover, but he rarely makes mistakes in his own end of the ice.
Grade: B+
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Here’s the thing with the grades. I tried to take into account how each player did in every game this season. Obviously, if I graded them after 10 games and then after 20 games, there’d be a big difference between the two scores. These are more or less an average -- a ballpark figure even -- of how the guys have done over the first quarter of the season.
That pretty much wraps up the first twenty games of the 2006-2007 Hartford Wolf Pack season. Hopefully over the course of the next twenty games, the Pack can get back to at least a .500 level, and hopefully out of last place in the Atlantic Division.
At least the team isn’t last in the AHL in goals scored anymore. That honor goes to the Syracuse Crunch.
- Calder
Posted by Pete at December 02, 2006 02:53 PMeMail this entry!
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