UticaHockey

He didn't show up on the scoresheet but last night was by far the best game from Gadjovich as a pro. It was the first game this season for Wacey Hamilton after suffering a concussion in preseason and the line of Gadjovich - Hamilton - Bancks was magic all night. I've criticized Wacey Hamilton in the past for all of the bad penalties he takes but he along with Carter Bancks are the prototypical 4th line that works every shift and are a pain in the ass to play against. It's when they are asked to play up in the lineup and do too much that they are not effective. Gaunce cut his teeth as a pro playing on a line with Hamilton and Bancks and benefited from it. Gadjovich was the most notable he has been all year playing tough grind it out hockey. He will learn from those two that you have to play hard every shift that you are on the ice and always be hard to play against.

Alf is cool

Arch scores from his knees on a backhand 180 feet away to secure the win.

Stuck with me for at least 2 more years if not longer.

Dahlen, Lind and anyone who had to play with centers like Tony Cameranesi say thank you.

Everyone hates a rat on another team and loves them on their own team. Tkachuk is no different.

But they won't do nothing. They will officially decline the option to extend.

Tampa has done a great job drafting and developing in the entire draft and not just the first round. What remains to be seen is can Brisebois continue to keep the success rate up with Yzerman out of the picture. Surprisingly Brisebois did not hire an AGM to run the Crunch as he kept controll of both the NHL and AHL teams after Stevie Y stepped down.

That is my understanding as well. The Canucks have until Dec 31 to exercise an option to extend the current agreement for another 6 years with an out clause after 3 years. Or they can let it expire and either negotiate a new contract with the Comets with different terms or move the AHL farm to a different city.

Tampa Bay is the model that most NHL teams should be following. Patrick Williams cover the AHL for NHL.com

Tonight they played a team that is probably the best team in the conference. Tampa Bay has stacked Syracuse with a great team. But putting that aside the injuries on defense has caught up to them. There are only two healthy defensemen that are on NHL contracts and McEneny is still not at the same level that he was playing at before knee surgery last year. Jesse Graham is a train wreck and should never be playing in this league. Sifers is old and slow and Dirk is a work in progress. Against some of the weaker teams the Comets were able to put some good efforts together with this defense and pull off a few wins. But eventually they were bound to regress to what they really are and they could not skate on the same ice as a team like the Crunch.

And that is consistent with what many are seeing from Lind in game action. He needs to improve his skating explosiveness and physical strength. I never once said that Kole Lind is a bust just an honest opinion of where his game is right now and what he needs to work on to get to the next level. To say that he is a fantastic skater is not an accurate assessment of his current skill set when compared to other players in this league.

Lind most certainly needs to work on his skating over the off-season. He has been a little more noticeable over the past few games mostly on the rush but he needs to be a half step or better to finish. He just doesn't have the skating ability to get around the defender and finish the play. The goals will eventually come but he needs to improve his skating to become a legitimate AHL threat let alone a NHL player.

On the contrary I think most Utica fans will give you an honest opinion of how Vancouver's prospects are progressing in the AHL because most have a relatively neutral viewpoint of the Canucks. We are neither blinded by unrealistic expectations that fans of the parent team will have nor do we have negative biases because we don't view the Canucks as rivals. Before the Canucks placed their AHL team in Utica most of the locals barely paid attention to them because so few people out here follow any of the Pacific Division teams. Utica is primarily a Rangers town but there are also a solid number of Sabres, Devils and Islanders fans to go along with a smattering of other teams. Having a neutral team like the Canucks kind of turned out to be a good thing because it avoided the conflicts if the Devils were in Utica and Rangers fans saying they won't support the Devils. I think most Comets fans have adopted the Canucks as their secondary team or their "Western Conference" team. I am a Sabres fan first but probably watch almost as many Canucks games. And as far as the AHL is concerned you will never see me cheering for the Amerks unless they are playing the Crunch of course (our biggest rival). The same applies to when the Rangers farm team in Hartford visits the Aud. You tend to see more people than usual in Rangers jerseys but you don't hear them cheering when Hartford scores. Comets fans are Comets fans forever independent of who the parent team is.

Kulbakov was signed to an AHL contract last summer. Looks like he will be in Utica the rest of the season if Bachman has an Achilles injury.

Chatfield is still month to month with a broken foot. I'm not sure if Sautner will be back this season with multiple facial fractures. I'm not sure if McEneny or Brisebois will get one of the four available recalls after the TDL unless there are injuries and they can be classified as emergency recalls. If they use all 4 of there allowed post TDL recalls on NHL looks or cups of coffee then they cannot paper anyone in Vancouver at the time to make them AHL eligible. That would include any players recalled from Utica before the TDL.

Correct and anyone papered down to Utica to make them eligible for the AHL playoffs is included in that 4. I could see MacEwen and Demko being called up after the TDL to see what they can do against NHL level competition without having to open up a roster spot by waiving someone from the 23 man roster. But unless there are injuries which would allow for additional emergency recalls I don't see that many Comets being recalled for a late season NHL look.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I'll exclude Gaunce because everyone knows what he brings to the table and any of the NHL/AHL depth players such as Boucher, Kero and Archibald. The player in my mind that is most ready to make the jump is MacEwen. His skating and confidence is much improved from last season. I could easily see him in Vancouver in a bottom six role but without a few injuries upstairs there isn't room to bring him up now. And there is nothing wrong with that as he still needs some work with his puck handling skills and defensive awareness in his zone. The Canucks are overloaded with bottom six players that require waivers so I don't see Big Mac getting called up for the traditional cup of coffee until after the trade deadline when rosters are expanded beyond 23. Same applies to Demko where people are impatient and want him to get NHL games now. When the rosters can be expanded after the TDL he will get his chance. The defense is incredibly thin right now with just McEneny and Brisebois on NHL contracts. EMac still isn't up to the same level of skating from where he was before his latest knee surgery and I don't think he can handle the pace of the NHL. Brisebois could fill in if needed on a 5/6 pairing but would be better served by playing the full season here and competing for a spot at training camp next year. Dahlen has been very effective on the power play but needs to show more at 5 on 5 to be ready for the step. His skating needs to be a bit more explosive and he needs more physical strength to compete in puck battles. Jasek is the dark horse on the Comets. He does surprisingly well in puck battles and sees the ice well. He just needs to be more consistent from shift to shift.

I'm confused on the bolded part. My post above was a simple question to a poster if he actually watches AHL games or just forms his opinions based on highlights and gifs. Here is his quote that lead me to the question. Even if it may be vital to adapt to the small rink, especially defensivly, I don't see how he can develop his game in a dump-and-chase-thug-league like AHL His opinion is that Dahlen should go back to Sweden because the AHL is a thug league. If he regularly watches AHL games than I disagree with with his opinion. If he doesn't watch AHL games then it is a misinformed opinion. If all I ever watched was NHL highlands of Tom Wilson being Tom Wilson or Matheson body slamming EP, Martel concussing Stecher or even Paquette running EP I could easily come away with the opinion that the NHL is full of head hunting thugs. But I actually watch most Canucks games instead of relying on a few highlights posted to Twitter so I know better. If Dahlen is going to advance to the NHL he needs to develop a game that is applicable to the North American game. I'm sure the risk of injury is greater in the AHL than it would be in the SHL but the risk is also higher in the NHL. How long do you want to put a protective bubble around these guys before you expose them to the North American game? Pettersson is very physically slight and has been injured once already. Odds are he will be injured again at some point. Does anyone think he should go back to Sweden for a couple seasons to give him more time to physically fill out to reduce the chance of another injury? Probably not. If these guys plan on having a career in the NHL it is my opinion they need to be playing in North America whether it be the NHL if they are ready or the AHL if they still need some additional development.

Agree. I thought the Comets played well enough to win but couldn't score enough goals to overcome a rare bad game from Demko. Two soft ones and then the fluke goal that went off Cameranisi's stick. I liked how active Dahlen was last night but he needs better line mates than Cameranisi and Arseneau. Maybe after coming back from injury Cull wanted some protection from Vinny but Dahlen looks much more like a playmaker than a shooter and he needs line mates capable of handling the puck. Arseneau and Cameranisi never saw the ice in the third period and Dahlen took Lind's spot on the line with Bancks and Darcy. Lind was limited to just a couple shifts in the third period as Cull shorten the bench to three lines. Lind is getting more chances mostly off the rush but is lacking that extra gear to get around the defenders. This is a recurring theme. Eventually he is going to get his first goal but he really needs to work on his skating over the summer to make the next step. The good news is he is starting to become noticeable which he wasn't earlier. A three in three coming up after Christmas with all in state rivals. Hopefully they can pull off 4 or 5 points and continue with the hot streak. I imagine Demko will get the Thursday and Saturday home games with Kulbakov playing Friday in Syracuse.

I honestly don't remember ever having a discussion with you in any of the threads. Not saying that we haven't but off the top of my head I don't remember.

Just curious. How many AHL have you watched? Full games and not highlights or GIFS.

Hits like this only happen in the AHL and never in the NHL....

Looks like Dahlen traveled with the team to Charlotte.