Chicago Wolves | CollegeHockeyPlayers

27Mar

Alexandre Giroux(12) Springfield Falcons

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

High 5’s for 11-year Springfield Falcons‘ veteran center Alexandre Giroux(12) for scoring his 700th career AHL point, a goal last weekend.

He has 364 goals and 336 assists in 764 regular season games played, which is a pretty incredible feat.

He’s not exactly having a career year for scoring this season with 24 goals and 26 assists in 58 games; yet he’s still in the top 20 for points in the league.

In the last three seasons, he’s either won top scorer or come in second.

He’s skated in 48 NHL games scoring 6 goals and 6 assists.

At 6’3″ 202 lbs. he’s a pretty big power forward and has the ability to get in tight and score some goals but has never quite been given the chance.

We remember two and a half great seasons when he was with Hartford Wolf Pack, signed to New York Rangers, who he only played one game for.

He’s only signed with Columbus Blue Jackets for a year, but we hope they re-up with him for another season.

11Mar

Brett Sterling (9)

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

6th year left wing Brett Sterling(9) slides over to Portland Pirates from Peoria Rivermen as collateral in the Patrick O’Sullivan deal.

Originally Atlanta Thrashers‘ 5th round pick in the 2003 draft (#145 overall), he has played a scant 30 NHL games with a few different teams, including four games with St. Louis Blues this season registering no points.

His career totals are 5 goals and 4 assists but what’s sort of puzzling is in 7 games with Pittsburgh Penguins a couple of seasons ago he had 3 goals and a pair of assists but they had no interest in re-signing him.

He’s played 376 AHL games and scored 195 goals and 149 assists.

The head scratching part of this player swap is Portland is a small team to begin with and at 5’7″ 175 lbs. it’s not like he’s the most intimidating guy on the ice, but he can score goals and that makes him dangerous.

Tough to say which team gets the best of this deal.

12Feb

David Caruso(35) Charlotte Checkers

Posted in AHL, ECHL | Leave a comment

6th year undrafted goalie David Caruso(35) has played AHL games in 4 of his first 5 seasons and with his recent call-up and start in net for Charlotte Checkers he can make that 5 of 6.

He signed a contract with Trenton Titans, an organization he’s spent all of his career with (as the Devils), except his rookie year, which was with Gwinnett Gladiators with a single game with Chicago Wolves to start the run.

He has 52 games of AHL experience and 174 in the ECHL.

At almost 30 years old, it’s a bit of a wonder where netminding will take him next season.

01Feb

Spencer Machacek (10)

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

4th year right wing Spencer Machacek(10) was originally selected by Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets in the 3rd round of 2007 draft (#67 overall).

He’s been in their system ever since he signed a 3-year two-way entry level deal with the team, followed by accepting their qualifying offer to stay for 2011/2012.

In the AHL he’s put up 50 points give or take in each of his first three seasons and is on course to achieve that again this year with St. John’s IceCaps.

He has 11 goals and 23 assists in 44 games.

Recently recalled, he skated in his first NHL game with Winnipeg Jets.

In 13 games he has yet to register a point and will likely need to step it up when he gets his opportunities or find a new home for 2012/2013.

He’s still only 23-years old though.

30Jan

Edward Pasquale(40) St. John’s IceCaps

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

2nd year Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets‘ 2009 4th round pick (#117 overall) goaltender Edward Pasquale(40) looks to put up career highs this season playing very impressively for their AHL Eastern Conference leading affiliate St. John’s IceCaps.

In 16 games he has a 10-6 record with a 2.88 GAA and a so so .897 SV% but he’s been very focused and tough to beat in net the couple of starts we’ve seen him play recently. He notched his 1st shutout of 2011/2012 last weekend going into the AHL All-Star Game break.

He split his rookie season with Chicago Wolves and Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL and played decently for both.

10Jan

Mike Duco(14) Vancouver Canucks

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

One of the last cuts from Vancouver Canucks to be reassigned to their new AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves, wing Michael Duco(14) was making the decision tough for them with his smart preseason play.

He was recalled for the first time this season to play against the only other team he’s played an NHL game with, Florida Panthers. He played 12 games with them over the last two seasons registering no points.

Originally signed to a multi- year entry level contract as an undrafted, free agent out of juniors, he played almost 200 games with Rochester Americans in his first three seasons.

Right before getting called-up he posted his 1st pro career hat-trick with the Wolves.

1/15: After 3 games and his first NHL point (an assist) he is reassigned by Vancouver back to the AHL.

31Dec

Patrice Cormier (28)

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Center Patrice Cormier(28) was originally a New Jersey Devils‘ 2nd round pick in the 2008 draft (#54 overall) but before he could play a game with them he was involved in the blockbuster trade that would send Ilya Kovalchuk out of Atlanta for the first time in his pro career.

He’s most infamously known for putting a vicious elbow check to an opposing player while playing in his last season of juniors.

The hit got him suspended for the remainder of the season.

As a rookie, he played 21 games for Atlanta Thrashers registering one goal and one assist.

He also skated in 11 games with their AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves picking up 2 goals and 3 assists.

After 28 games with St. John’s IceCaps (9 goals, 4 assists), he received his first recall by Winnipeg Jets.

His gritty play could find him a home with the team for the remainder of the season.

27Dec

Jack Combs(11) Colorado Eagles

Posted in AHL, ECHL | Leave a comment

In his 3rd pro season, undrafted wing Jack Combs(11) has been tearing up the scoring sheet pretty much regardless of what AA league he’s playing in.

At the time of his call up to the AHL by Worcester Sharks he lead the ECHL in scoring (17 goals 20 assists in 23 games) with Colorado Eagles.

He scored on his first shift with the team and has struck for 3 goals and 3 assists in 5 games.

No doubt, if he continues on this pace, he will remain with the team for the foreseeable future.

In 6 previous AHL games over the last couple of years, he never tallied a goal and only had one assist.

He finished 2nd in scoring and first in goals with 40 for Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League in 2010/2011 and 10th overall in the league.

9/19-12: Maybe in a bit of a surprising move, the 24-year old re-signs to start 2012/2013 with Colorado Eagles of the ECHL.

He completed last season under contract with the AHL Sharks scoring 16 goals and 14 assists in 50 games.

The one downside was a poor -9 plus/minus.

17Dec

Drew MacIntyre(31) Rochester Americans

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

9th year Rochester Americans‘ goaltender Drew MacIntyre(31) keeps an eye on the play in front of his net.

He was originally picked by Detroit Red Wings in the 4th round of the 2001 draft (#121 overall) and spent the first three years of his pro career with their AHL and ECHL affiliates before getting a short chance in the NHL with Vancouver Canucks, where he made a couple of appearances.

From there he bounced around in the minors signing one-year deals with Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal Canadiens before inking another one-year two-way contract with Buffalo Sabres for the 2011/2012 season, ultimately ending up in Rochester.

He has played in 250 AHL games.

12Dec

Colin Stuart(10) Rochester Americans

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | 1 Comment

8th year wing Colin Stuart(10) played Friday night in Rochester, where he is team captain of the Amerks. On Saturday he received his first NHL 2011/2012 season call-up and played in Buffalo Sabres‘ home game. Then on Sunday he was back in the AHL playing up in Hamilton playing against the Bulldogs.

He was original picked in the 5th round of the 2001 draft (#135 overall) by Atlanta Thrashers and was in their system for the first four years of his pro career.

He’s been signed with Buffalo for the last couple of seasons and has responded to this season’s leadership role with a point production that puts him second on the team.