All Entries in the "Albany River Rats" Category
Tidbits — Jan. 6
Some notes and stats concerning the Canes:
• Zach Boychuk helped lead Canada to their fifth straight World Junior U20 gold medal, his second consecutive with the team. While draft-eligible superstar John Tavares made the biggest splash throughout the tournament, Boychuk fared well with four goals and three assists in six games.
• Defensive prospect Brett Bellemore’s [...]
LaCouture Picks Russia; Boychuk Leads Canada
Dan LaCouture’s back-and-forth flirtation with the Kontinental Hockey League is over, with the veteran forward deciding to leave the Albany River Rats and head to Russia. There are comments here from Albany GM/coach Jeff Daniels courtesy the Schenectady Daily Gazette, and also Jim Rutherford’s take at LSB (soon to be Canes Now).
Pete Dougherty at the [...]
LaCouture Jumping To KHL?
It sounds like the Canes have lost another depth player to the Kontinental Hockey League.
Dan LaCouture, who was invited to training camp and earned a contract with his play in the preseason, is leaving Carolina’s AHL affiliate in Albany to play in the KHL, according to TSN.
If the 31-year-old journeyman has indeed left for Russia, [...]
Kaberle Off IR, Conboy Reassigned
Frank Kaberle will be back in the lineup tomorrow. He was activated from injured reserve today. To make room, Carolina assigned defenseman Tim Conboy to Albany (AHL).
Kaberle has battled injuries this season, playing in just seven games with two lengthy stints on the shelf. When he has played, however, he has looked better than the [...]
Improved Drafting Makes Team Deeper
The Hurricanes started their season eight deep on defense, with GM Jim Rutherford looking to part with one of his NHL blueliners to make his budget. Fast-forward two months, and not only has Carolina seen all eight play at least half of the team’s 28 games, but they’ve recalled three AHL d-men to fill in [...]
Changes Begin: Borer, Conboy Recalled
The Hurricanes made their first move of the new Paul Maurice era, sending Josef Melichar and Patrick Dwyer down to Albany and recalling Casey Borer and Tim Conboy.
With Justin Williams‘ return — and decent play in his first game back — Dwyer’s penalty killing skills became expendible, so instead Carolina adds toughness with Conboy.
Conboy became [...]
Loose Pucks — Nov. 10
More Loose Pucks:
• The Hockey News recently published their annual “Bucks And Pucks” report, which focuses on the financial side of the game. This year’s analysis looks at team finances and the salary cap — mostly how the current economic downturn is affecting the league. We hear enough about the bad economy, but there were [...]
Loose Pucks — Nov. 5
I figured I needed a name for these random things I find that really don’t deserve their own posts — so Loose Pucks is born!
• Three Hurricanes are will be on the ballot for this year’s All-Star Game in Montreal. Rod Brind’Amour, Eric Staal and Ray Whitney all made the cut for the voting, which [...]
Canes Ink Forward Michael Ryan
The Hurricanes added more depth to their forward ranks, signing 28-year-old Michael Ryan to a one-year contract. The contract will pay him $475,000 in the NHL and $75,000 in the AHL, with a $100,00 payout guaranteed. He will be assigned to Albany of the AHL.
“Michael is an experienced forward who will add depth to our [...]
The Hit: What They’re Saying Around The League; Conboy In Trouble?
I thought I’d compile some quotes from around the world of hockey to give everyone an idea of what’s being said about Doug Weight’s hit on Brandon Sutter:
• NHL executive vic e president Bill Daly: ”The league takes very seriously its role in helping to protect players from dangerous or unnecessary blows to the head.
“To this [...]
Checking In On The Prospects
Here’s some stats information on the Canes prospects in North America and overseas, for those who don’t want to dig it all up (* indicates team-high total; for stats that have multiple people tied, I did not include a *):
FORWARDS
• Mike Angelidis, Albany (AHL) — 4G: 1-0-1, -2
• Nicolas Blanchard, Albany (AHL) — 4G: 1-1-2, [...]
More on Hagemo — Cut By Everblades
Carolina prospect Nate Hagemo fell short of making the Florida Everblades, Carolina’s affiliate in the ECHL. From The Naples News:
************
ROSTER CUTS: The Blades had to submit their opening day roster to the ECHL by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. But Cameron wasn’t too worried about potential roster cuts.
So far, he has cut just one player: Defenseman [...]
River Rats Preview Up At HF.com; Other Loose Ends
My latest at Hockey’s Future is posted — it’s a season preview of the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate in Albany. It actually should’ve gone up yesterday, but it had to be tweaked a little because of the Matt Murley situation.
In a way, Murley’s departure will probably be good for someone of the Albany guys. Forwards like [...]
Matt Murley “Pulls a Radulov” - Now AWOL in Russia
During the offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes signed forward Matt Murley to a two-way, one year contract. Murley was originally drafted in the second round in 1999 by Pittsburgh, had 21 goals with 62 points for San Antonio last year, and is an RPI graduate. Fans from Albany were looking forward to watching the [...]
Camp Preview Looks At Prospects
More from me over at Hockey’s Future. The latest is a Hurricanes training camp preview that focuses on the team’s prospects and their chances at camp.
As most of us know, Brandon Sutter looks like the only greenhorn that will leave camp with a job in Carolina, but there will be a chance to see some [...]
Canes Make Minor Move
The Hurricanes signed left winger Matt Murley to a one-year, two-way deal today, adding more depth to their forward corps. The 28-year-old was with Phoenix last year, splitting time between the Coyotes and their AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.
In three games at the NHL level, Murley had one assist, but with the Rampage he [...]
“Fun Fest” Highlights
I went over to the RBC last night to check out how the Carolina Hurricanes first “Fun Fest” was going. I’m not very good at guessing the number of heads in a crowd, but if I had to make a guess I would say that there were probably a few hundred people in attendance.
While [...]
Carolina Hurricanes Prospect Conditioning Camp - Preview
The “Young Guns” of the Carolina Hurricanes organization are in town this week to take part in the annual conditioning camp for prospects. During the camp, which is officially running from July 9th to the 12th, the players will learn new physical training techniques, have media training, learn proper eating habits, and will be [...]
Fast and Loose - A Quick Look Around
Taking a quick gander around the hockey newsworld…..
San Jose coach, Ron Wilson was fired yesterday. Wilson had one of the best regular season records in the NHL for the past 3 years and made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs each of those years.
Eventually though, that just wasn’t good enough.
There are a [...]
Rats Join Canes on Golf Course
The Albany River Rats ended their season with a 2-0 loss against the Philadelphia Phantoms last night in the final game of their round one, playoff series. As previously mentioned, goalie, Michael Leighton was the hero of the series for the Rats, but he wasn’t quite good enough. Congratulations to Coach Tom [...]
Leighton and Rats in Game 7 Tonight
The Albany River Rats and the Philadelphia Phantoms finish their best of 7 series tonight in Philadelphia with the series all tied up at 3 games apiece.
Rats goalie Michael Leighton has been nothing short of spectacular in this showdown. Not only does he have 2 shutouts against the Phantoms so far in this playoffs, [...]
Record Setting Night in Albany
Game five in the series between the Albany River Rats and Philadelphia Phantoms was one for the record books. First of all, it was the longest game in AHL history as it lasted 5 overtimes! Secondly, Rats goalie Michael Leighton made a record, 98 saves! Yes, 98…that is not a typo.
Unfortunately [...]
Shakedown - Brodeur and Avery Epitome of Class - NOT
The New York Rangers eliminated the New Jersey Devils on Friday night and something different happened during the traditional hand-shake ceremony. Martin Brodeur refused to shake Sean Avery’s hand and passed him by, while shaking everyone else’s hand. Pretty funny stuff.
Avery wasn’t amused though and called out Brodeur in the press afterwards. [...]
