AHL PROSPECT WATCH: Rare bad news in Charlotte
Monday is when AHL teams catch up after another hectic weekend on the ice and on highways across Canada and the United States.
With two and sometimes three games – plus travel – crunched into a weekend, those teams have earned that rest and step away from the rink. But Monday here is a day to catch up on and assess some of the weekend’s best performances across the 31-team AHL.
TOP CAROLINA PROSPECT OUT
So much has gone right for the AHL-leading Charlotte Checkers through the first five months of this season, but some bad news has paid them a visit.
The Checkers announced this past weekend that top Carolina Hurricanes forward prospect Janne Kuokkanen will miss the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury.
Kuokkanen had not played since March 2nd and then missed the Checkers’ two road games against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms the following weekend. After their 4-1 home win against the Rochester Americans this past Friday, Checkers head coach Mike Vellucci told the team web site that Kuokkanen will have season-ending surgery.
That leaves the Checkers without a significant piece of their offense as they try to lock down the AHL regular-season title and prepare for the Calder Cup Playoffs next month. The 20-year-old Kuokkanen, a Carolina second-round pick taken 43rd in the 2016 NHL Draft, will finish his season with 12-26-38 in 48 games for the Checkers along with seven scoreless games for the Hurricanes. Last season he turned pro as a 19-year-old and produced 11-29-40 in 60 regular-season games for the Checkers along with a 3-1-4 performance in eight playoff games before Charlotte went out in the second round.
This season he missed the AHL All-Star Classic in January before returning for 11 games in February and into March. He went 1-6-7 in that stretch before going out of the line-up.
This past weekend in a two-game home series against the Amerks, the Checkers decisively fended off another challenge to their months-long grip on first place in the AHL. Charlotte swept the Amerks, who had moved to within two points of the league lead. The Amerks left town six points behind Charlotte and bumped a spot down into third place in the league. Charlotte has won six in a row at Bojangles’ Coliseum.
Charlotte will face another challenger on Tuesday in the Syracuse Crunch when the teams meet for a two-game series on Checkers ice. Syracuse has taken over second place in the AHL and is within three points of the Checkers. Charlotte and Syracuse each have a magic number of six and this week can become the first two teams in the league to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs, depending on how the scoreboard plays out around the rest of the AHL.
Kuokkanen is part of a prospect-packed Checkers line-up that has a league-high 41 wins and 89 points. Their 41-15-6-1 record has them eight points ahead of the second-place Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the Atlantic Division lead as well. Up front are Hurricanes top young prospects Martin Necas, Aleksi Saarela, Julien Gauthier, Nicolas Roy, Clark Bishop, and Morgan Geekie, among others. Jake Bean looks like a bona fide NHL future defenseman, and Alex Nedeljkovic has put together a career season in his third season in the Charlotte net.
Fortunately for the Checkers, they do have ample insurance to at least partially offset Kuokkanen’s loss. Charlotte acquired NHL-caliber experience in forward Tomas Jurco in an AHL deal with the Springfield Thunderbirds on February 25th. Jurco has clicked with Necas, going 3-3-6 in six games for the Checkers and contributing three assists in the two games against the Amerks.
Carolina holds the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and is four points clear of the playoff line, so reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2009 is looking increasingly likely. However, the Hurricanes did make forward Warren Foegele eligible to join the Checkers.
Elsewhere in the Carolina system, forward Eetu Luostarinen’s Liiga season with KalPa Kuopio has ended. Carolina took him in the second round at the 42nd spot in the 2017 NHL Draft. He delivered 15-21-36 in 54 games in Kuopio. That put him second in team scoring to Alexandre Texier, who has already headed over to the AHL with the Cleveland Monsters. Another Carolina forward prospect, Stelios Mattheos, ended his WHL season this past Saturday night with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He went to the Hurricanes in the third round in 2017 and piled up 44-52-96 in 65 games for Brandon.
ELSEWHERE
Toronto Marlies forward Jeremy Bracco continued his excellent second pro season by winning the CCM/AHL Player of the Week award. He rolled up 2-7-9 in four games for the Marlies, who broke even with a 2-2 record. Bracco, 22, went to the Toronto Maple Leafs as a 2015 second-round pick and has moved into a second-place tie in AHL scoring with 18-51-69 in 64 games. The 51 assists top the AHL.
Disappointment has followed the Stockton Heat around this season, but forward Curtis Lazar’s bounce-back campaign has continued with another recall to the Calgary Flames. He is 17-20-37 in 49 games for the Heat.
San Jose Barracuda rookie netminder Josef Korenar took his fourth shutout of the season Sunday in a 9-0 demolition of the visiting Colorado Eagles. That loss ended Colorado’s nine-game winning streak. Korenar, 21, is 20-8-1 | 2.58 | .909.
San Jose has run into the Bakersfield Condors on too many nights lately, but this past Saturday night it was the Ontario Reign’s turn to be put through that grinder. Bakersfield crushed Ontario, 7-0, on another standout night for Edmonton Oilers prospects. Rookie forward Tyler Benson put up a four-point night (1-3-4) and is one point off the AHL rookie scoring lead at 13-42-55 in 58 games. Edmonton selected him in the second round in 2016. Fellow rookie forward Cooper Marody’s goal and assist moved him into third place in rookie scoring at 15-36-51. Defenseman Ethan Bear had a 2-2-4 night. Goaltender Shane Starrett’s 23 saves gave him his fourth shutout of the season. Bakersfield is eight points ahead for first place in the Pacific Division and tied for second in the Western Conference at 78 points.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Jake Lucchini picked up his first pro goal in a crucial 2-1 overtime home win against the Providence Bruins this past Saturday. Lucchini, an undrafted 23-year-old, signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins last week after four seasons at Michigan Tech. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is five points out of a playoff spot.
Winnipeg Jets prospect Kristian Vesalainen is back in town after nearly four months in the KHL with Jokerit. The 24th pick in the 2017 NHL Draft started the season in Winnipeg and divided his time between the Jets and Manitoba Moose before being re-assigned to Jokerit on November 23rd. He went on to play 31 games for Jokerit with 6-11-17. On Sunday afternoon, he returned to the Moose line-up, going pointless with one shot in a 4-1 home loss to the San Diego Gulls. It was his first AHL game since November 14th; he had 3-5-8 in eight games during his first AHL stint. Manitoba is chasing three teams in the Central Division for a playoff spot and is four points out.
Texier made his AHL debut on the weekend for Cleveland’s 3-2 overtime road loss to the Rockford IceHogs. The 19-year-old forward managed two shots for Cleveland. He is a 2017 second-round selection by the Columbus Blue Jackets and was 14-27-41 in 55 games for KalPa.
Another player with Columbus draft roots is Belleville Senators forward Vitaly Abramov. The rookie went to the Ottawa Senators in the Matt Duchene trade last month. He is 2-1-3 in eight games for Belleville and had six shots in a 3-2 shootout loss at home to the Laval Rocket this past Friday night. Belleville holds a four-point lead for fourth place in the North Division.
With AHL leading scorer Daniel Carr of the Chicago Wolves still injured, Bracco and Carter Verhaeghe (28-41-69) of Syracuse each are in position to take over the AHL scoring lead this week.
Syracuse rookie forward Alex Barré-Boulet is up to third in the AHL in goals at 29. Hershey Bears forward Riley Barber took over the league lead this weekend at 31.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending prospect Connor Ingram played two more games as his ECHL exodus with the Orlando Solar Bears continue. He took a 4-1 loss to the Idaho Steelheads to close out his weekend, allowing the four goals on 25 shots. The night before, he stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 6-2 win. He is 3-2-0 | 3.61 | .893 in six games for Orlando. He still is second in the AHL in GAA (2.26) and tied for second in save percentage (.922) from his time with Syracuse. He went 14-7-0 in 22 games before the Lightning shipped him out of Syracuse earlier this month.