There are a lot of people who are keenly interested in what will happen to minor league hockey in Glens Falls after the Phantoms leave after next season, so here's something to keep an eye on: The Vancouver Canucks have formally told the Peoria Civic Center that they won't be keeping their AHL team there next season, according to a report from Dave Eminian of the Peoria Journal-Star.

The Journal-Star report notes that the Canucks, who bought the Peoria Riverman franchise from the St. Louis Blues earlier this year, wants to move its AHL team to Abbotsford, British Columbia, a city that's about an hour inland from Vancouver. However, the Calgary Flames have six years remaining on a lease in Abbotsford and are unwilling to relocate their franchise, according to the Journal-Star.

The Journal-Star reported Monday was the deadline for National Hockey League teams to inform the AHL where they plan to locate their farm teams next season, and the Vancouver Sun reported that the AHL gave the Canucks a 30-day extension to decide what to do with the Rivermen franchise. An AHL spokesman did not immediately return a request for confirmation on either of those points.

However, sources told Eminian that the Canucks were likely to keep the Rivermen franchise dormant next season and simply loan its prospects to another AHL team. The loaning option, while not ideal for prospect development, was relatively common when the AHL had fewer than 30 active teams.

That whole situation is still murky, but another item of note is a certainty: The Hartford Wolf Pack will be returning to the AHL for the 2013-14 season. The team that calls the XL Center home had been named the Connecticut Whale for a little more than two seasons, but will be reverting to its original name now that Global Spectrum will be running the building and non-hockey operations of the team.

The team changed its name after Howard Baldwin, who was instrumental in bringing the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers to the NHL, where they became the Hartford Whalers, assumed control of the AHL team in 2010 as part of his plan to bring the NHL back to Connecticut.

The Rangers have since severed their relationship with Baldwin.

Peoria is poised to join the SPHL next season, the Journal-Star reported.

Finally, former Phantoms coach Greg Gilbert has signed a three-year extension to remain coach of the OHL's Saginaw Spirit. He was the Canadian junior hockey league's coach of the year in 2011-12.

The Adirondack Phantoms added one Hobey Baker finalist when they signed Canton native Kyle Flanagan to an amateur try-out contract, which will officially become an NHL contract this summer.

Now, it sure looks like they're adding another.

Niagara University goaltender Carsen Chubak has signed an American Hockey League contract with the Phantoms, according to multiple reports. The Western College Hockey Blog, citing anonymous sources, reported Chubak will forego his senior season at Niagara, which he led to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. Flyers Director of Hockey Operations Chris Pryor confirmed to Bill Meltzer that the deal is AHL-only. He would have to sign an NHL contract to be called up.

The Phantoms have yet to formally announce the signing, but Chubak wrote on his Twitter account the hashtag "goPhantoms," among other things. Seems like it will only be a matter of time on that.

Chubak, a 24-year-old Saskatchewan native, went 23-7-5 for the Purple Eagles this season, posting a 1.91 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. I take this to mean that Scott Munroe, who missed the final few weeks of the season after he got a nagging knee injury fixed, may not be brought back. The 31-year-old played the role of veteran goaltender excellently, even when the Flyers traded for Brian Boucher in mid-January and he was briefly unceremoniously thrust into the press box.

Boucher brings some added value to the Philadelphia Flyers in that he has played hundreds of NHL games, and is a valuable insurance for the parent club, though he will also be an UFA this summer.

Cal Heeter, who wound up being Adirondack's most-played goalie as a rookie, will be in his final year of his entry-level contract next fall. He figures to exceed the 32 games he played this season.

He and Chubak appear poised to split time, unless the Flyers or Phantoms make another move.

With this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs not even concluded yet, there is still plenty of time for that.

Until next time,
MC

By MICHAEL CIGNOLI
mcignoli@saratogian.com
Twitter.com/MCSaratogian

GLENS FALLS – The names and faces have changed, but the scene has remained the same.

One day after the conclusion of the American Hockey League’s regular season, the Adirondack Phantoms gather at Glens Falls Civic Center. They file into the home dressing room, pack up their equipment and bid farewell to their teammates before beginning their trips home for the summer.

That was how it played out again on Monday evening. The Phantoms, who failed to qualify for the playoffs for a fourth straight year, officially began their summers not even one month into spring.

This year’s elimination hurts more than the others. They began the year with no shortage of talent and promise, boasting a lockout-bolstered roster that was renowned around the American Hockey League, and proceeded to record fewer points than any of the 16 Phantoms teams that preceded them. It was the single-lowest point total of any Philadelphia Flyers AHL affiliate in two decades.

What went wrong? How did this team finish where it did, last in the AHL’s Eastern Conference and 12 points out of a playoff spot? The discussion has to begin and end with the team’s offense.

They scored six impressive goals on opening night, but an abysmal 176 the rest of the way. Their 182 total goals shattered the franchise record for the fewest in a season. They were also the least ever recorded by a Flyers AHL affiliate, dating back to the NHL club’s 1967 inception. Two of their top four scorers, Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier, have not set foot here since mid-January.

“We work a lot on defending the game rather than going out and taking hold with our offense,” Phantoms defenseman Danny Syvret said Monday evening. “We rely on our defense a lot, which, in some cases, might hurt you when you’re willing to defend more than you’re willing to attack.”

It would be easy to point the finger at first-year Phantoms coach Terry Murray in this situation, as the system he implemented before the start of the year is one that preaches checking above all else, but the team’s inability to score goals is one that predated Murray’s arrival to the Phantoms.

Excluding shootouts, the Phantoms have not scored 200 goals in a season since they moved to Glens Falls in 2009. Most of this season’s AHL playoff teams have lit the lamp at least 230 times.

An exception is the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who only scored 178. But they also allowed the fewest shots in the league, and goaltending duo of Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff took home the league’s Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award for allowing the fewest goals among the AHL’s 30 teams. The Phantoms allowed 219 goals, which placed them well in the league’s bottom third.

And the Phantoms were 18-15-3-4 in one-goal games, while the Penguins went 23-9-2-2 in them.

“We could have won more games,” Marcel Noebels said after Adirondack’s season-ending win Sunday evening, echoing Murray’s comments from the day before. “We had so many one-goal games. I think if we won even half of those, we’d play next week probably and make the playoffs.”

So why didn’t they win more than 18 of their 40 one-goal games? Why didn’t they score more?

“I think sometimes we just hurt ourselves with turnovers that we made, that (opponents) didn’t really force,” center Garrett Roe said as the Phantoms parted ways Monday. “That always hurts you. Just little things. Not creating enough traffic in front of the net, or coming in on the rush and you miss the net instead of getting an extra opportunity or making the goalie make a save. It’s just little things like that. Whenever you find yourself struggling, it kind of reverts back to the basics.”

The power play was also an issue. It accounted for 35 percent of Adirondack’s total goals (64 of 182), the largest percentage since the team moved to Glens Falls, yet finished atop the bottom half of the league with a 16.5 percent success rate. Most teams shoot to hit the 18 to 20 percent range.

“It was like hot and cold,” Syvret said of the unit. “Pieces came in and out, more so near the end. About a month ago, we had a consistent five-man unit. We were pretty comfortable with knowing each player’s tendencies and what they like to do with the puck, or where they are on the ice.”

Scoring too few goals and allowing too many of them was the root of several other problems, each damning for Adirondack’s playoff chances: They twice had stretches where they lost seven of eight games. They did not win more than three consecutive games all year. They lost 10 straight games on the road, and dropped eight of their 12 games with the Albany Devils, who only won 31 times. The penalty kill, while a strength, was perhaps asked to play too much. They were the eighth-most penalized team in the AHL, committing nearly a period's worth of infractions every night.

“I think a lot of guys had tough years,” Roe said Monday evening. “You can learn a lot. You can see where things weren’t as good, maybe, as they used to be. Maybe you did some good things. It’s kind of read and review and go over how you played. Evaluate yourself honestly. You’re not going to give yourself 10s for everything. Evaluate yourself honestly, and kind of work from there.”

Injuries also took a toll throughout the organization, and neither the Flyers or Phantoms had their full varsity squads for an entire season. Phantoms captain Ben Holmstrom went down with a season-ending ACL injury in December. But injuries and illnesses are expected to be part of a season.

Teams must adapt to them, and the Phantoms did.

Jason Akeson led the team with 20 goals and 53 points, finishing as the team’s No. 1 scorer for the second year in a row. He earned a call-up to Philadelphia last week and scored in his NHL debut Saturday. Tye McGinn had a breakout season with 14 goals and 26 points, improving on his 12-6-18 totals from last year despite playing 17 fewer games. Danny Syvret hit the 40-point mark again, becoming the only AHL defender to accomplish that feat in each of the past five seasons. He and Rob Bordson played in all 76 games, and Bordson emerged as a legitimate fourth-line prospect as he anchored a penalty kill unit that finished seventh in the league at 85.6 percent. That was the team’s best percentage since they moved to Glens Falls. Marcel Noebels scored 13 goals in a little more than half a season, and was on pace to score 22 as a rookie. Another rookie, Matt Konan, wowed the coaches with his size and speed on the blue line, and has since debuted with Philadelphia.

The Phantoms have used inexperience as a crutch, repeatedly pointing out that they have one of the – if not the – youngest teams in the league, when it comes to professional experience. They have a point. Of the 15 players who dressed in more than half of Adirondack’s games, only one of them had more than three years of pro hockey experience on their resume. Nine had two or fewer.

But some of Adirondack’s better hockey was played down the homestretch, when their line-up was the youngest it had been. They started to ice a team filled with contracted junior players and amateur try-outs whose pro games were in the single digits, and went 10-8-1-2 since March 8.

“You have a philosophy as a team or as an organization,” Phantoms coach Terry Murray said after Sunday afternoon’s victory over the Devils at Times Union Center. “Are you a development team? Are you a team that wants to go out, add a bunch of veteran players so that you’re going to be one of the better teams in the league and try to win the Calder Cup at the end of the day? And you’d like to have, ideally, your young players step up and play well and give you the Calder Cup at the end of the day. I look at us as a team that’s a development group. We’re feeding the parent club. That’s what’s most important. That’s our priority. We’re aware that the fans are coming and paying their dollars and we have private owners that want to get extended runs into the playoffs so that they can recoup a little bit of their investments too. We’re trying to accomplish both, and it’s not always easy. But when you have a feeling of a pretty solid foundation coming out of this (season) with a young group of guys, I’m hoping there’s many better days ahead for this group.”

The question now becomes how many in this group will return to the Phantoms next season?

Virtually all of the team’s veterans, with the exception of Syvret, are going to be free agents. AHL-contracted players like Jon Sim, David Laliberte, Zack FitzGerald, Jeff Dimmen, Bordson and Roe are free to sign anywhere. NHL-contracted Erik Gustafsson, Oliver Lauridsen, Brandon Manning, Mitch Wahl, Shane Harper, Eric Wellwood and Blake Kessel are restricted free agents, and the Flyers have the first priority for re-signing them. Two other players – Brian Boucher and Andreas Lilja – are unrestricted free agents, and could sign anywhere. Lilja has already signed in Sweden.

Realistically, not all of them can be brought back. The organization, riddled from injuries from top to bottom this season will become healthy, and there needs to be roster spots for many of the players who arrived on amateur try-out contracts. One of them, former University of Minnesota defenseman Mark Alt, has been impressive early. Lilja, Alt’s defensive partner, sung his praises.

“I think he’s going to be something special,” Lilja said. “I think he’s really, really good.”

Statements like that give hope that the future will be better, that the talent pool is deeper and that a last-place finish in the conference will not be replicated. Because next season is the Phantoms’ last in Glens Falls before they leave for greener pastures in the form of a new arena currently being constructed for them in Allentown, Pa. For the fans in Glens Falls who have endured four years of non-playoff hockey, the old sports adage “There’s always next year” will no longer apply.

The Adirondack Phantoms’ season is over, but Cal Heeter’s isn’t.

The rookie goalie was one of the first 15 players named to the roster of the U.S. Men’s National Team bound for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships next month.

Heeter, 24, was the most-played goaltender on the Phantoms this season, and posted a 12-16-3 record with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage in 32 appearances. He also backed up Ilya Bryzgalov during a one-game call-up to the parent Philadelphia Flyers this month.

Heeter is in both the minority and the majority on the red, white and blue’s roster.

He has never played in an NHL game, and he is one of just two players (along with Montreal Canadiens prospect Danny Kristo) who can say that. But Heeter is also one of three players on the team from St. Louis, Mo., the city that has produced the most national team players this year.

Other players from Heeter's hometown include Colorado Avalanche center Paul Stastny, who won a silver medal with the U.S. at the 2010 Olympics, and Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Butler.

Some of Heeter’s other teammates announced Thursday are Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jamie McBain, and former Albany Devils winger Bobby Butler, who is now a member of the Nashville Predators.

USA Hockey is expected to name more players to the national team’s roster in the coming days, potentially as the NHL concludes its season and more teams are eliminated from the playoffs.

The roster selection committee includes, among others, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren.

The U.S. Men’s National Team is set to begin its seven-game tournament schedule May 4, when it takes on Austria in Helsinki, Finland. The tournament’s semifinals and medal games, if the United States advances that far, will be played May 16-19 in Stockholm, Sweden.

UPDATE:  The Phantoms also announced Thursday that rookie forward Marcel Noebels is being considered for the German squad in the same tournament, though that country’s roster has not been finalized.

Noebels, 21, had 13 goals and 10 assists in 43 games with the Phantoms after he was called up in January from the ECHL’s Trenton Titans.

Some notes to pass along:

The Phantoms Flyers called up goaltender Brian Boucher this morning, making him the sixth Adirondack Phantoms player to be called up since the team concluded its regular season on Sunday.

You know the original four: Jason Akeson, Scott Laughton, Matt Konan and Tye McGinn. Then  Andreas Lilja was called up yesterday after it was announced Kimmo Timonen will miss the remainder of the season with a compression fracture in his foot. He played last night against Boston.

Speaking of last night, Oliver Lauridsen was credited with his first NHL goal on this fluky play:



They don't ask how, they ask how many. And Lauridsen not-so-subtly hinted at that in his post-game media remarks, when a reporter asked if he was pissed his first NHL goal came on a play like that.

"Why would I be pissed? I just scored a goal! In 20 years or a week from now no one is going to ask me how that went in," the Flyers quoted him as saying. "It’s a bounce; it wasn’t a well calculated snipe or anything. It’s not much different from when you take a shot from the point and it hits three different shin pads and goes in. Hockey is a game of inches and bounce; you see it all the time."

The Trenton Titans have formally announced they will suspend operations for the 2013-14 season, as The Saratogian's Journal Register Company affiliate The Trentonian first reported on Monday night.

The post-season recap, with an outlook on the Phantoms for next season, has been pushed back to this weekend. The plan is to run it as a kind of centerpiece Sunday, but it may be online here before then.

Until next time,
MC

Several times this season, the Adirondack Phantoms sent players down to their ECHL affiliate, the Trenton Titans, to get some more playing time or ease them back after they returned from an injury.

That apparently won't be an option next season.

The Trentonian, citing multiple anonymous sources, reports that the Titans are expected to announce they will suspend operations for the 2013-14 season. There is a hope the team will return in 2014-15.

Trenton's attendance dipped from 3,013 fans last season to 2,578 this year, the Trentonian reported, and there were rumors of financial troubles. One source told the Trentonian that the players were concerned about if they would receive their paychecks, or if those checks would clear if they came. There was also some concern about travel costs associated with a playoff run that never materialized. 

The Trentonian and The Saratogian are sister papers under the Journal Register Company umbrella.

Presumably, this means the Philadelphia Flyers will look for another ECHL team to which they can send their prospects. It is possible the Flyers could split an ECHL affiliate with another NHL club.

The Flyers have had a longstanding history with using the Titans as their ECHL affiliate. When the Phantoms were based in Philadelphia, the Flyers used Trenton as their ECHL club from 1999-2007.

But when the Titans became the Trenton Devils in 2007, the Flyers sent prospects to the Wheeling Nailers for two years before the Phantoms moved to Glens Falls. The Flyers then used the Kalamazoo Wings in Adirondack's first season, 2009-10, and then the Greenville Road Warriors for 2010-11.

The New Jersey and Albany Devils also assigned prospects to the Titans over the past two seasons.

After Jason Akeson scored the second of his two goals against the Connecticut Whale last Saturday, a booming slap shot that gave the Adirondack Phantoms a come-from-behind overtime victory, he was asked about the prospects of him getting a call up to the National Hockey League.

“It’s always going to be in your mind,” Akeson said on that day. “That’s where the ultimate goal is. I’m playing in the AHL for a reason. It’s not to stay here. It’s to get a shot up there. Hopefully.”

Akeson’s hopes came to fruition on Monday afternoon, as the Philadelphia Flyers called him and three other Phantoms up to skate with the parent club in this final week of the NHL season. The Phantoms ended their season Sunday. It is the first career call-up for the winger, who concluded his second AHL season with elite numbers.

The 22-year-old Orleans, Ontario, native produced 13-15-28 over his final 25 games, giving him a team-best 20 goals and 53 points despite appearing in just 62 of Adirondack’s 76 contests to date.

He was a bright spot on an offense that struggled mightily to score, and finished the season with 182 goals. That is the lowest total ever recorded by any AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren visited Glens Falls last week to watch two Phantoms games, and was impressed with what he saw out of Akeson. Though a bit undersized at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, Akeson has worked on becoming more of a shooter and a two-way presence.

He was one of the more-used forwards on a penalty kill that ranked seventh in the AHL at 85.2 percent, and ran the point on the power play. His 11 power-play goals tied him for 10th in the AHL.

“We like the way Jason has come along,” Holmgren said last week. “He’s coming out of junior hockey, where he was a very prolific scorer. He’s come here and put up really good numbers and also – I think the most important part for him – is improve his game away from the puck. He’s a smart game. I think his skating has improved. He’s certainly a guy that we talk about a lot.”

Akeson led the Phantoms in scoring for the second straight campaign, despite spending nearly two months in the ECHL with the Trenton Titans at the start of the season. He was sent there to work on his two-way play, which has come along, and because of the influx of talent the Phantoms got because of the NHL lockout. Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier had two top-six roster spots.

“To Jason’s credit, he went to Trenton and worked hard,” Holmgren said at Adirondack's games last week. “He didn’t pout. He didn’t complain. And then when he came up, he’s been a good player since then. Like I said, he’s a guy that we talk about a lot. He’s a gifted young hockey player and he’s just going through the development phase of trying to get better in all areas and he’s doing that.”

The Flyers have three games remaining, and are mathematically out of playoff contention. That could increase Akeson’s chances of making his NHL debut during this call-up. The Phantoms dressed many younger players, fresh out of junior and college hockey, after they were out of the playoff hunt.

The Flyers also recalled defenseman Matt Konan, winger Tye McGinn and center Scott Laughton. All three have previously been called up to the NHL, though only Konan has yet to make his NHL debut. He was a healthy scratch in a game last week, but his chances of playing may also increase.

McGinn, who has five points in 18 games with the Flyers this season, thrived in an increased role under Phantoms coach Terry Murray. He set career highs in goals (14), assists (12) and points (26) despite appearing in 17 fewer games than his rookie campaign one year ago. After the Phantoms concluded their season Sunday, McGinn was asked if he thought that was his final game in the AHL.

"You want to play in the NHL," he said after Adirondack beat Albany. "The American Hockey League is a good league as well. I strive to be in the NHL for hopefully next year. It's something I'm going to work hard (for) this summer. I like it in Glens Falls, but I want to be in Philadelphia."

The only player in that group unlikely to get into a game is Laughton, as doing so would burn a year of his entry-level contract. That means he would be one-year closer to free agency. Earlier this year, the Flyers sent him back to his junior hockey team in Oshawa to avoid that exact scenario.

Even if the quartet does not play, they will still have the chance to practice with the parent club for a week. The experience may prove invaluable for a group of young players vying to win NHL jobs.

The rest of the Phantoms had their break-up day today, and said their final goodbyes before they headed home for a five-month summer. Check for a blog post on that later tonight or tomorrow.

Until next time,
MC