The Hockey News: On The 'A'

On this week's episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Jacob and Patrick start the show off by dissecting the report that the Chicago Wolves are planning to be without an NHL affiliate for the 2022-24 season. Patrick provides some history of the Wolves and the situation, and Jacob explains how they became incompatible as an affiliate partner with a lot of NHL teams. (Note: Patrick is speaking on behalf of himself with his specific views, not those of the AHL.)

- Dustin Wolf is our prospect of the week (again). The 21-year-old goaltender is putting up the best season by an AHL goalie from the past decade. Jacob pulls up some advanced stats to back up why.

- Jacob thinks the Milwaukee Admirals are dark horse Calder Cup favorites. Pat wonders if the teams' impending reinforcements — Phil Tomasino, Luke Evangelista, Kiefer Sherwood, Mark Jankowski — will gel with the teams' current personnel. He's seen it happen both ways, and it's not always a slam dunk that the most "stacked" team prevails.

- The Arizona Coyotes are the team of the week. Patrick points out that Arizona's AHL affiliate hasn't gone on a deep playoff run since 1996-97. He analyzes Coyotes prospects, such as Victor Soderstrom, Michael Kesselring, Vladislav Kolyachonok and Milos Kelemen.

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This week on The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Coachella Valley Firebirds assistant coach Jessica Campbell joined the show. Campbell became the first female assistant coach in AHL history this season. She discussed Coachella Valley's first year in the AHL, her experience working alongside Dan Bylsma and prospect Tye Kartye while also touching on why it's important that NHL teams construct their hockey ops departments with people from diverse backgrounds.

- Patrick explains how the AHL's Calder Cup playoff format is different than the Stanley Cup playoff format.

- The 2023 Calder Cup playoffs are taking shape. Patrick and Jacob analyze each team that would be battling it out in the best-of-three play-in series if the playoffs started today.

- Thomas Bordeleau is the prospect of the week. The 2020 second-round pick was just recalled by the Sharks yesterday — notching an assist against the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night — after recording 41 points in 64 games this year. What's his trajectory?

- The Boston Bruins are the team of the week, with a look at the AHL's Providence Bruins. Yes, the Bruins' screw-ups at the draft are well documented, but they quietly have consistently hit on a handful of prospects lately.

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This week on The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Henderson Silver Knights forward Brendan Brisson joins the show to talk about the highs and lows of his first full pro season in the AHL, having a player agent as a father, playing for coach Manny Viveiros and more.

- Ty Kartye is the prospect of the week. The left winger for the Coachella Valley Firebirds is in his rookie pro year with 47 points in 60 games so far.

- Speaking of rookies, who votes for the rookie of the year in the AHL?

- The Minnesota Wild are the team of the week, with a focus on the Iowa Wild. Jacob spoke about Marco Rossi after writing a profile on him recently and had some nice words to say about Iowa coach Tim Army. But there are plenty more players to discuss on the team.

- And more, so check out the full episode.

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This week on The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Patrick expands on what he says is a shift in mentality among AHL coaches after the trade deadline. The training wheels are off as the quest for the Calder Cup is well underway. He spoke to some coaches and executives around the league and shared what was said.

- Jack Drury got recalled. After recording 13 points in his last 15 AHL games, Drury was recalled by Carolina in wake of the Andrei Svechnikov injury. Patrick and Jacob discuss Drury's NHL ceiling.

- Toronto Marlies forward Bobby McMann is the prospect of the week. He has 21 goals in 29 games and 18 in his past 17 games. Can you really be more red-hot than Bobby McMann is? The 26-year-old is yet another testament to the amount of depth Toronto has assembled via the NCAA undrafted free-agent market.

- The Philadelphia Flyers and AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms are the teams of the week. Patrick and Jacob discuss the development of Tyson Foerster, Elliot Desnoyers, Bobby Brink, Samuel Ersson and Olle Lycksell.

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On this week's episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert joins the show. Appert has coached the US National Development Program and has nearly 20 years of experience as a head coach and assistant at the NCAA level. He talked about the differences and similarities of coaching NHL prospects in the AHL and draft-eligible prospects. Appert also provided insight on two of Buffalo's recent first-round picks, Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen.

- Patrick and Jacob go over notable paper transactions while explaining what that term even means. 

- Contrary to their provincial rival, the Edmonton Oilers will keep their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif. Patrick spoke to Oilers AGM Keith Gretzky and got some insight as to why that may be. 

- Luke Evangelista is the prospect of the week. The 2020 second-round pick has four points in three games with Nashville after recording 41 points in 49 AHL games this season.

- The New York Rangers are the team of the week. Can Ryan Martin bring his special sauce from his Detroit/Grand Rapids days to rejuvenate the player development on Broadway? They've struggled to develop their homegrown prospects, particularly forwards. 

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This week on The Hockey News on the 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Patrick sat down with Hershey Bears VP of hockey operations Bryan Helmer. A veteran of over 1,100 AHL games as a player, two seasons as a coach, and the last seven seasons as an executive — Helmer had an interesting perspective on the NHL and AHL trade deadlines from all angles. 

- Prospect of the week: Ville Heinola, Winnipeg Jets. Heinola is arguably the best defenseman in the AHL, and the 22-year-old is a hot topic in the prospect world. Patrick and Jacob take a look at his development. 

- Could Karl Taylor become a head coach in Nashville? Fans don't seem to love John Hynes, and with Barry Trotz coming in, there could be changes. Do the Preds give their prospect whisperer the keys, or is that not even a possibility? 

- The Chicago Blackhawks are the team of the week, with analysis on Lukas Reichel, Alec Regula and Isaak Phillips. 

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On this week's episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Jacob chatted with Byron Bader of hockeyprospecting.com to discuss how his model projects some notable prospects currently treading in the AHL (Marco Rossi, Lukas Reichel, Aatu Raty and more, so be sure to check out the full episode).

- Jacob and Pat discussed Toronto Marlies forward Bobby McMann's hot streak, with 14 goals in his last 15 games.

- William Eklund is the prospect of the week. The 2021 first-round pick has recorded 25 points in his last 25 games after recording 16 points in his first 25 matches of the season

- The Pittsburgh Penguins are the team of the week. The cupboards are bare with the Baby Pens in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. 

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This week on The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- The Nashville Predators recalled Phillip Tomasino on Monday. After a rookie season that saw him record 32 points in 76 games last season, Tomasino didn't make the Predators out of camp this season, and he had been with Milwaukee since the start of the season — recording 32 points in 38 AHL GP. What took so long for him to earn a recall?

- A way-too-early Calder Cup outlook. Who are the contenders in the Eastern and Western Conferences? Who are the sleepers? And why do AHL teams' Championship chances change so drastically after the NHL trade deadline?

- Georgii Merkulov is the prospect of the week. Merkulov, 22 signed with Boston as an undrafted free agent before the 2022-23 season. He has 35 points in 43 games with Providence (AHL).

- The New Jersey Devils are armed with a deep prospect pool, and there's a good chance they could unload some of their AHL prospects in a deadline deal.

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On this episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Patrick discusses his experience covering the AHL All-Star Classic in Laval last weekend. He sheds light on league president Scott Howson's first state of the union, the electric crowd in Laval and the "first-class event" itself.

- Jacob suggests how to enhance the All-Star Game, as he and Patrick pondered the merits of a top prospects game in the AHL.

— The Montreal Canadians are our team of the week. Jacob and Patrick looked at some of the notable names with the Laval Rocket this year. Jesse Ylonen, one of the players mentioned, was recalled by Montreal today.

— The prospect of the week is the Calgary Wranglers' Dustin Wolf. The 21-year-old netminder has a .928 SP this year (second among goalies that have played at least 15 games played). Should the Flames call him up?

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On this week's episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast with Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams:

- Part 2 of the Connor Carrick interview: Carrick dove into what it's like for a player at his stage of his career, touching on topics like free agency, mentoring young players and why he picked Boston.

- Alex Galchenyuk is in the AHL and he's trying to climb his way back up. Patrick spoke with Galchenyuk last week and provided some insight into the situation.

- Aatu Raty is the prospect of the week. What are the Vancouver and Abbotsford Canucks getting in the main return piece of the Bo Horvat trade?

- The St. Louis Blues are the team of the week. Things are about to get interesting with the Blues, who look primed to become sellers at the trade deadline.

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