Senators between several teams strengthen rosters in a limited time | TheAHL.com
Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Preparing to make their final stand, the Belleville Senators saw their roster strengthened ahead of the AHL trade/loan deadline.
The NHL’s decision makers want their prospects to face the pressure that comes with year after year of playoff races. It gives a good barometer of where those younger players stand. And as the daily changes in the league standings reflect that fact, the Senators organization knows how close these races can be. Belleville missed the cutoff Calder Cup Playoffs last season by two points, made the playoffs on the final weekend of 2023-24, and fell by just four points in 2022-23.
This year’s race will be another race to the bottom for the B-Sens, who will enter Sunday’s game five points back in the fifth and final playoff spot in the North Division. They started the season 0-3-1-0. There was a 2-8-4-0 November-December slide that led to a change of coach as Andrew Campbell he entered David Bell temporarily. But before this slump there was 9-3-0-0 which shows that this team can win.
However, as Belleville dropped nine of 10 between Feb. 6 and March. 6, the Ottawa administration is taking steps to provide some relief. During last week’s NHL trade deadline, the Senators were acquired Graeme Clarke from the Washington Capitals to Wyatt Bongiovanni. Clarke, a 2024 AHL All-Star who had back-to-back seasons with Utica earlier in his career, has seven points (3g, 4a) in his first two games in a Belleville jersey, including a goal and two assists in his return to Hershey on Saturday night. The Sens have scored 13 goals in two games with Clarke in their lineup.
Earlier this week, Ottawa added a defenseman Samuel Bolduc from Los Angeles onwards Jan Jeník. In Bolduc, the organization finds someone who can distribute the puck and play a top pairing role. And they move forward Riley Kidney and the protector Ryan O’Rourke from Montreal/Laval, shipping Hunter Shepard again Jake Chiasson of Canadians. Both Kidney and O’Rourke spent most of this season with Trois-Rivières in the ECHL, but both were former second-round picks with significant AHL experience.
Many other AHL teams were active before Friday’s AHL deadline. Here is a breakdown of the results of that move:
Coachella Valley Firebirds
Already a top-10 scoring team, the Firebirds received a significant boost when they acquired a veteran forward. Cooper Marody from the Lehigh Valley for future consideration. Some of Marody’s best work came in the Pacific Division, where he scored twice with 20 goals for the Bakersfield Condors. He could also add help on the Coachella Valley power play which ranks 24th in the AHL at 16.5 percent.
The Grand Rapids Griffins
The Detroit Red Wings sent the Griffins defenseman Ian Mitchell on the Tampa Bay Lightning going forward Michael Milne again Wojciech Stachowiak on Thursday. Mitchell became the second veteran blueliner to leave the Griffins within a week, after that Justin Hall went to St. Louis at the NHL trade deadline. But Stachowiak, who had 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in 38 games for the Syracuse Crunch and played for Germany in the Olympics last month, is providing scoring help as his adjustment continues in his first North American season. Milne is 23 years old and has played 191 games at the AHL level.
The Laval Rocket
And the rookie AHL All-Star goaltender Jacob Fowler In recalling the Canadiens, the Rockets added a two-time Calder Cup winner and Bastien Award recipient. Hunter Shepard in Montreal and Ottawa trade. Shepard joins Kaapo Kähkönenwho returned Charlotte to the Calder Cup final last spring, in Laval’s place.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Interaction Cooper Marody going to the Coachella Valley takes away ice time from the front man Noah PowellThe Flyers’ most recent 2024 draft pick is out of Arizona State University.
The Syracuse Crunch
In a busy week for the Crunch, the veteran defense Ian Mitchell it is another development. Mitchell had 20 points and a plus-27 average in 45 games for Grand Rapids and also has 110 NHL appearances to his credit. Syracuse also got a center Matthew PecaA First Team AHL All-Star last year, from the Springfield Thunderbirds.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
