TWO MINUTES FOR THOUGHTS: MARCH 2ND, 2023
Mar 2, 2023
Just one game has come and gone since we last spoke in this space. Did you think it was going to be an uneventful week? Think again. The Wolf Pack and the parent New York Rangers were quite active on the trade front. The Rangers, of course, made the big move to trade for superstar forward Patrick Kane on Tuesday night. There was a Wolf Pack component to that trade too.
In all, there have been four trades involving the Wolf Pack this week, two by the Rangers and two AHL deals between the Wolf Pack and the Rockford IceHogs and Cleveland Monsters. Oh, and of course, there was a trade over the weekend that saw a player make his way to Hartford.
There are less than 24 hours to go, as of this writing, until we hit the NHL’s annual Trade Deadline. That happens tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. ET. The AHL Trade Deadline, meanwhile, is still a week away. That happens next Friday, March 10th.
Onto the blog!
1.) We’ll start off the ice, where we will do one point for each of the trades involving the Wolf Pack since we last spoke. The first deal this week occurred on Tuesday afternoon, as the Rangers sent forward Austin Rueschhoff to the Nashville Predators in exchange for future considerations. Rueschhoff had scored eleven points (2 g, 9 a) in 31 games with the Wolf Pack this season.
For the Wolf Pack, this was a numbers game. With Will Lockwood (more on him later) and Jake Leschyshyn both now in Hartford, the Wolf Pack were at 19 forwards on the roster. That’s far too many. Even if we cut it down to 17, with both C.J. Smith and Patrick Khodorenko dealing with injuries, it’s still about three forwards too many.
Rueschhoff will report to AHL Milwaukee, where he’ll have a chance to get into the lineup on a more consistent basis for the Admirals. Hartford has great forward depth, and unfortunately, that means there isn’t enough playing time to go around for everyone. Best of luck to Austin with the Predators organization.
2.) The Patrick Kane deal was announced on Tuesday night, a three-team deal between the Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Arizona Coyotes. The Rangers acquired Kane and defenseman Cooper Zech from the Blackhawks, while Chicago acquired defenseman Andy Welinski, a conditional second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft from the Rangers. Chicago also received the signing rights to defenseman Vili Saarijarvi from Arizona, while the Coyotes received a conditional third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft from the Rangers. The Coyotes retained 25% of the remaining cap hit on Kane’s deal.
Zech, 24, joins Hartford after 13 games with the IceHogs this season. He’s also spent time in the Atlantic Division, playing for the Providence Bruins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms earlier in his career. He’s joined the Pack and is wearing #37.
Of course, that was Welinski’s number. Welinski heads the other way in this trade after 40 games with the Wolf Pack. A well-respected veteran who was a true pro to be around, Welinski will certainly be missed.
3.) How about this addition for the Wolf Pack? Shortly after the completion of the three-team NHL trade, the Wolf Pack and IceHogs, Chicago’s affiliate, completed an AHL deal. Forward Zach Jordan was dealt to the IceHogs for veteran defenseman Adam Clendening.
Jordan appeared in just one game with the Wolf Pack after signing with the club as a free agent in July. With Hartford’s ample depth at the forward position, it was a chance for GM Ryan Martin to use an area of strength to add to the defense corps. Make no mistake, Clendening is a major addition.
A veteran of 492 career AHL games, Clendening has scored 309 career points (48 g, 261 a) and brings a strong puck-moving element to the table. Not only that, but he brings 90 games of NHL experience to the roster and is a well-respected leader who has worn a leader for multiple teams and brings playoff experience to the locker room. He’ll wear #5 and skated with the club this morning.
4.) Forward Alex Whelan is off to Cleveland. The former Quinnipiac Bobcat was traded to the Monsters for future considerations on Wednesday. As was the case with Rueschhoff, this is a numbers game for a Wolf Pack team that simply had too many forwards. Whelan, who played 95 games with the Wolf Pack, will get a chance to help the Monsters on their playoff push, while the Pack opens another roster spot for Lockwood and Leschyshyn.
5.) Speaking of Lockwood, he was acquired on Saturday just hours before the Wolf Pack played the Syracuse Crunch. Lockwood and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick were the return for forward Vitali Kravtsov, who was traded to the Vancouver Canucks.
Lockwood, 24, has a career-high 12 goals this season with the Abbotsford Canucks. He’s a player with an offensive touch, as he has scored over .50 points per game in his AHL career. Over the course of 96 games, Lockwood has scored 54 points (25 g, 29 a). He’ll wear #7 with the Wolf Pack.
6.) Okay let’s go on the ice, shall we? The Wolf Pack took a 4-1 decision over the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night, improving to 3-0-0-0 on their season-long five-game road trip. Hartford has also won four straight games, the first time since the COVID shortened 2020-21 campaign they have done that.
The win also snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Crunch and snapped the Crunch’s nine-game point streak (8-0-0-1) against the Wolf Pack. It was Hartford’s first victory over Syracuse since February 9th, 2018, and their first regulation victory since December 21st, 2016.
Jonny Brodzinski paced the offense, scoring twice on special teams. He notched the game-winner on the powerplay in the first period, then scored shorthanded for the insurance marker in the middle stanza. Louis Domingue was sensational in this game, making 37 saves.
Next up? A massive three-in-three weekend. The Wolf Pack wrap their road trip up with games in Springfield tomorrow night (7:05 p.m.) and Bridgeport on Saturday night (7:00 p.m.). Both of those contests are effectively four-point games. The weekend wraps up on Sunday when the Pack returns home to host the Charlotte Checkers for the final time this season. The puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m.
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ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team’s inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack are the top player-development affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and play at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers newest faces including Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, and Ryan Lindgren. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.