The Official Home of the Hartford Wolf Pack :: Former Wolf Pack Lights up NHL

April 25, 2010 Author: Bob Crawford

Anybody notice which ex-Wolf Pack player is leading the NHL in playoff goal-scoring?

Going into Sunday’s games, Vancouver’s Mikael Samuelsson had seven goals in five games for the Canucks, which was one more than his countryman, and former Detroit Red Wings teammate, Henrik Zetterberg, had rung up in five games for the Wings.

Samuelsson’s last eight of 74 career AHL games played were with the Wolf Pack in 2001-02, and he notched three goals and nine points in those eight contests before being called up to the Rangers, never to return to the AHL. The Rangers traded Samuelsson to Pittsburgh in February of the next season, and the Mariefred, Sweden native was then dealt to Florida that summer. After one year with the Panthers, Samuelsson spent the lockout year back over in Europe, before returning to North America to join the Red Wings in 2005-06.

Samuelsson was a huge part of Detroit’s Cup win in 2008, and their return to the Finals last year, and after signing with Vancouver this summer bagged a career-high 30 goals in 74 games with the Canucks.

He’s played a lot with the Sedin twins (on an All-Swedish, lots of finish line) this postseason, which certainly doesn’t hurt, but in the games I’ve watched his grit and willingness to shoot the puck has been just as big a part of the trio’s success as has been the superb finesse of the Sedins.

Samuelsson created some notoriety for himself prior to the Olympics with some pointed comments regarding his omission from the Swedish Olympic entry, and if he is still peeved about that, he seems to be taking it out on the rest of the NHL. Based on his playoff performance, and the Swedes’ failure to medal in Vancouver, you’d have to characterize that Olympic decision as a fairly significant error.

And in another postseason note, Hershey needed overtime once, and had to come from behind several times, to get past Bridgeport in five games in the first round. Now they fall behind Albany in Game One of that series before coming back and winning in OT. Are there chinks in the mighty Bears’ armor, or is this just a case of a world-beater team taking a little bit to find its full stride?

Chris, you often see bench minors also called for unsportsmanlike conduct, for saying something over-the-top to the officials.

Posted by: Bob Crawford

- May 4 2010 9:47AM

David, right now I'd probably have to say Savard, although Dan Cloutier had himself a heck of a career too, before his chronic injury problems became too much to overcome. The likes of Ryan Callahan, and maybe Brandon Dubinsky, though, are certainly giving every indication that they might equal or surpass Savard's impact before they are done.

Posted by: Bob Crawford

- May 4 2010 9:44AM

besides to many men or there any other peneltys that are considered bench minors.

Posted by: chris

- May 3 2010 10:24PM

Chris, here is a list of all the names I could come up with of guys who have played, or coached, for the Wolf Pack and have won either a Calder or a Stanley Cup (or both): Derek Armstrong (Calder), Dean Arsene (Calder), Drew Bannister (Calder), Bill Berg (Calder), Blair Betts (Calder), Rich Brennan (Calder), Ben Carpentier (Calder), Mathieu Dandenault (Stanley), Jason Dawe (Calder), Jason Doig (Calder), Anders Eriksson (Stanley), Bob Errey (Stanley), Brian Fahey (Calder), Rico Fata (Calder), Peter Ferraro (Calder), Jeff Finley (Calder), Ken Gernander (Calder), Robert Gherson (Calder), Alexandre Giroux (Calder), Daniel Goneau (Calder), Josh Gratton (Calder), Todd Hall (Calder), Mike Harder (Calder), Paul Healey (Calder), Jay Henderson (Calder), Milan Hnilicka (Calder), Johan Holmqvist (Calder), Andrew Hutchinson (Calder, Stanley), Boyd Kane (Calder), Chris Kenady (Calder), Tomas Kloucek (Calder), J.F. Labbe (Calder), Sylvain Lefebvre (Stanley), Francis Lessard (Calder), Corey Locke (Calder), Dave MacIsaac (Calder), Manny Malhotra (Calder), Rumun Ndur (Calder), Lawrence Nycholat (Calder), Kryzsztof Oliwa (Stanley), John Paddock (Calder), Dale Purinton (Calder), Jamie Pushor (Stanley), Pascal Rheaume (Calder, Stanley), Mikael Samuelsson (Stanley), Geoff Smith (Stanley), Brad Smyth (Calder), Chris St. Croix (Calder), P.J. Stock (Calder), Daniel Tkaczuk (Calder), Tony Tuzzolino (Calder), Alexei Vasiliev (Calder), Terry Virtue (Calder), Dixon Ward (Calder), Chris Wells (Calder), Kay Whitmore (Calder), Johan Witehall (Calder).

Posted by: Bob Crawford

- May 3 2010 2:49PM

Marc Savard,Bruin and former Wolf Pack star comes back from a concussion and 2 month absence to score the OT winner in Game 1 semi-finals! And he only averaged 3 minutes of ice time each period. Pretty sweet (even for a Bruin)! Which raises the question, in your opinion or in your stat finding, which former Wolf Pack has made the biggest impact or greatest impression in the NHL?

Posted by: David McLeod

- May 1 2010 8:47PM

how many people who have eaither played or coached at least one game with the pack have one a calder or a stanly cup

Posted by: chris

- Apr 27 2010 9:12PM

Speaking of former Wolf Pack players making an impact in the NHL playoffs, I saw that our old friend Lauri Korpikoski had scored a short-handed goal for the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 6 in their series against the Detroit Redwings. It was the first goal of that game and the Coyotes went on to win that game 5-1 and force a game 7. Another note: I am kind of surprised that the Albany River Rats took out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the first round of the AHL playoffs. Though the games were tightly contested, I have usually seen the Pens go much deeper.

Posted by: David McLeod

- Apr 27 2010 1:19PM

Chris, I can tell you that there have been 95 empty-net goals scored by the Wolf Pack in their history. I do not have an easily-accessible record of when they were all scored, but I would imagine there was probably at least one of those 95 that came at 19:59.

Posted by: Bob Crawford

- Apr 27 2010 10:34AM

Arthur, I have heard that same rumor, but at this point, as far as I know, it's still just speculation.

Posted by: Bob Crawford

- Apr 27 2010 10:16AM

is there anything on record to show how many empty net goals the pack have scored through there 13 seasons. and if there is a record of it which one came with the most time left in the game.

Posted by: chris

- Apr 26 2010 2:42PM

THERE WAS A STORY LAST WEEK IN THE WORCESTER T&G THAT THE LOWELL DEVILS ARE DONE IN LOWELL,AND ARE MOVING TO ALBANY.WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?

Posted by: ARTHUR B ROUECHE

- Apr 26 2010 2:00PM

Monday August 30, 2010

Former Wolf Pack Lights up NHL

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