Around The A Notebook: Moose Finds Help In Net, Athanasiou Heads To Rockford

On By Littum

Let’s take a tour of the AHL with this week’s latest news and notes.

MANITOBA MOOSE

Wins continue to pile up for the Winnipeg Jets, who are off to a 15-1-0 start after handling the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, 6-3.

However, the first month of the season has been much rockier for their AHL partner, the 3-7-0-0 Manitoba Moose. After dropping back-to-back 5-2 decisions this past weekend in Texas, the Moose have lost four in a row and are at the bottom of the Central Division. Their schedule does not facilitate them either. They visit the 9-2-0-0 Milwaukee Admirals this morning before moving on to stops at Rockford and Chicago this weekend.

2024 Manitoba Moose vs Milwaukee Admirals

They have allowed 3.30 goals per game, which leaves them 21st in the AHL. So the Jets went out and solidified their organizational depth chart in net Tuesday, bringing back goaltender Kaapo Käkhönen via waivers from the Colorado Avalanche. Because Colorado had claimed the 28-year-old Käkhönen off waivers from Winnipeg on Oct. 11, the Jets were able to immediately deal Moose without needing waivers this time. This season, the Moose have split the goaltending duties between 21-year-old Thomas Milic and rookie Domenic DiVincentiis, who is 20.

Käkhönen had signed with the Jets in the offseason and was expected to compete with Eric Comrie for the team’s back-up job. Comrie won that job, and Käkhönen eventually found himself in Colorado. He made one appearance for the Avs along with two more with the Colorado Eagles. Last season he played 37 games between the San Jose Sharks and the New Jersey Devils (7-24-3 | 3.64 | .898).

While Käkhönen has had an up-and-down performance at the NHL level with the Avs, Devils, Sharks and Minnesota Wild, he has been a standout in the AHL. He played two seasons with the Iowa Wild and won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s top goaltender in 2019-20. That season with Iowa, he had a league-best seven shutouts and was 25-6-3 | 2.07 | .927 in 34 games.

ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS

Artūrs Šilovs, one of the best stories from last spring in the Stanley Cup playoffs, did a brief encore with the Abbotsford Canucks last weekend.

With just nine NHL games under his belt, Šilovs stepped into the net for the Vancouver Canucks following injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith. He ended up playing in 10 games (5-5 | 2.91 | .898) and had a 42-save night in Game 3 of Vancouver’s second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Demko remains out and DeSmith is now with the Dallas Stars, so Šilovs had a chance to take control of the Vancouver net. However, he struggled right away and is 0-2-1 | .477 | .808. After a third-period relief effort last Saturday against the Oilers, his first action since Oct. 30, the club assigned him to Abbotsford.

Šilovs got a start the next night against visiting Bakersfield, and his 23 saves helped create a 4-2 home win. Vancouver recalled him last Monday and he backed up Kevin Lankinen in Tuesday night’s 3-1 home win against the Calgary Flames.

CALGARY WRANGLERS

Life at home suited the Calgary Wranglers well.

They went 6-2-0-0 on an eight-game home stretch and have a league-best 11 wins (11-3-0-0). Now life is coming to the road for the Wranglers, who have been stationed in Calgary for almost three weeks.

A seven-game swing begins Friday night in San Jose as a two-game set with the Barracuda begins. The journey will include additional stops at San Diego, Tucson and Manitoba. They won’t return to the Scotiabank Saddledome until Dec. 6 against Tucson. Between now and December 18, they have 10 of their next 14 contests coming up.

PROVIDENCE BRUINS

The Providence Bruins unveiled a new third jersey on Tuesday, and it pays homage to the Boston Bruins’ “Pooh Bear” parent logo from the 1990s.

Providence won its only Calder Cup in 1999 wearing jerseys similar to this new look. Led by head coach Peter Laviolette, the P-Bruins’ worst-to-first campaign featured a 70-point improvement from 1997-98 along with a 37-win surge. Randy Robitaille, named the league’s Most Valuable Player, had a 102-point regular season before the P-Bruins ultimately finished off Rochester in a five-game sweep to claim the Calder Cup. It was the city’s first Calder Cup title since 1956, when the Providence Reds won their fourth and final championship.

The Boston-Providence partnership dates back to 1992-93 and is the AHL’s longest continuous affiliation. Providence will debut its alternate look at home Nov. 30 against Utica.

ROCKFORD ICE HOGS

NHL veteran Andreas Athanasiou finds himself back in the AHL for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

At the time, Athanasiou was a 21-year-old prospect in the Detroit Red Wings organization, finishing his time with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The forward has played 492 NHL games with Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks. It was the Hawks who signed him to a free-agent deal in July 2022, and after he posted a 20-goal season, he received a two-year extension in June 2023. But he played just 28 games last season with Chicago ( 2- 7-9) and went scoreless in five appearances this season.

He hadn’t suited up for Chicago since October 22nd. After clearing waivers Tuesday, the Hawks assigned him to the Rockford IceHogs.

SYRACUSE CRUNCH

Friday night will be a homecoming when Alex Barré-Boulet and the Laval Rocket visit Syracuse for the first time this season.

Barré-Boulet spent six seasons with the Crunch, setting franchise records in goals (113), assists (189) and points (302). After playing 36 games last season for the Tampa Bay Lightning, he signed with the Montreal Canadiens on the first day of free agency. The 27-year-old forward made the Montreal roster out of training camp, but was sent to the Rockets after just two games.

In seven games for the Rocket, he is second in team scoring with 3-8-11.

UTICA COMETS

With just one game this weekend, the Utica Comets need to make this middle part of November count.

After a 4-0 home loss to Cleveland began their week, the Comets are winless through their first 12 games (0-9-1-2). They saw a bid for their first victory slip away last Saturday night at Lehigh Valley, when their one-goal lead disappeared with 3:29 to go in regulation in what became a 4-3 overtime loss to the Phantoms.

A month of hockey has been a grueling one for the Comets, who already have a minus-30 goal differential (51-21). Head coach Kevin Dineen was let go last Wednesday and replaced by Ryan Parent on an interim basis for the rest of the season. Veterans Justin Dowling and Nick DeSimone have been recalled to New Jersey, though the Devils sent 20-year-old Simon Nemec to Utica for playing time, and the Comets have struggled to get offensive production from much of their veteran core. Utica’s next game is on Saturday when Syracuse visits for the teams’ first meeting since the Crunch posted a 5-0 victory on opening day. The Comets won’t play again after that until Nov. 22, giving them plenty of practice time.

The 1987-88 Baltimore Skipjacks (0-19-2) hold the AHL record for longest winless streak from the start of a season at 21 games. That team had just lost its affiliation with Pittsburgh. Baltimore was forced to go unattached and eventually finished 13-58-9.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Filip Larsson is making his second trip through the AHL count.

Then 20 years old, Larsson left for the AHL in 2019-20 after a standout freshman effort at the University of Denver. Signed by Detroit, he ended up playing just seven games with Grand Rapids, along with another 10 for their ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye. So Larsson went back to Sweden and spent three seasons in the HockeyAllsvenskan along with a brief stop in Denmark. He eventually worked his way up to the SHL where we finished 19-9-0 | 1.93 | .920 last season for Leksands.

That work secured him a new two-year contract from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Coming into this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the 26-year-old has two shutouts in his first four appearances. After blanking Rochester last Saturday night at home, he has now stopped 94 of the last 95 shots he has faced (.989).

Tristan Jarry, who appeared in five AHL games while on a conditioning loan, is now back with Pittsburgh.

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