Every year, there’s something to learn about the American Hockey League. This season is no different for the fun and ever-evolving league. So, here are a few big takeaways from the season, which at times has felt like two or three to cover.
What Have We Learned?
A Strong Veteran Presence is Everything in This League.
Teams only go as far as their veterans can take them. The AHL is a development-focused league, and every NHL team wants its affiliate to provide it with prospects. That said, the veterans are vital to their development. They allow the prospects to take a step forward beyond just their on-ice mentorship.
The Providence Bruins made a bet on a veteran core. The top line of Patrick Brown, Matej Blumel, and Riley Tufte not only sets the tone for the team, but they’ve also been the leaders in the locker room. That veteran presence allowed prospects to make significant strides, players like James Hagens, who are still learning the pro game but are already making significant strides.
The Bruins aren’t the only team that made this bet. The Laval Rocket brought back Alex Belzile to be the buffer for the coaching staff and a leader on the ice. “He's such a vocal, positive man, and he plays the right way, so to have him around the younger players, it’s huge as a coach,” Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent noted earlier in the season. The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins signed Rafael Harvey-Pinard for that role as well. Along with 19 goals and 15 assists, he’s a lead-by-example player who has allowed other prospects to fit in on the top line.
Running The Right Systems Matter
There’s a tough balance in the AHL of running a system that both works with the roster in place and lines up with what the NHL is doing. Every coach will talk about wanting to play fast but few teams have the players to play that way. Likewise, it’s hard to build around the defense if the players aren’t in place to do so.
The Charlotte Checkers are a fascinating team with this in mind. Under Geordie Kinnear, they run a fast-paced style with no worries about shot volume. “It’s how we think the game should be played, it’s different but we’ve had success with it,” Kinnear mentioned in a conversation with The Hockey News. The Checkers run a system that gets the most out of their prospects, and it’s helped prepare them for the NHL, even if the Florida Panthers don’t play the same way.
Oftentimes, a team tries to mirror their NHL affiliate to the point where they compensate for winning in the process. While it might help a prospect or two, as they can pick up where they left off when they are called up, it doesn’t work in the long run. It’s why the most successful AHL teams with the best track records have coaches who adjust to their rosters and work with the players they are given.
The Arts & Sciences of Coaching
Todd Nelson was the first coach to tell me about the “arts and sciences” of coaching, something that is a common phrase in coaching or teaching cycles but rarely mentioned enough. Many coaches can talk about the X’s and O’s or the systems for days but when it comes to bringing out the most in their players, they can’t do it. Likewise, there are motivators without any innovation.
In this league, it’s about finding that balance. More importantly, it’s about finding the balance between coaching in the short term and the big picture. The veteran coaches in this league all talk about how they won’t overreact to a win or a loss, knowing how long the season is. When Joel Bouchard was asked how his previous experiences in the AHL helped him become a great coach, he responded, “Oh my God! Everything!”
The coaches who last the longest and are the most successful tend to be even-keeled. Nelson embodied that in his time in the AHL when he won two Calder Cup titles with the Hershey Bears, while coaches like Vincent, Bouchard, and John Gruden have the same demeanor. It’s worked out well for them.
How College Hockey Can Bridge The Gap With The AHL
The Frozen Four takes place next week, with the semifinal games on Friday night and the championship on Sunday. This season, more than most, has been a big moment for college hockey and a turning point for prospects, who are choosing to move to the NCAA in their draft years.
It was easy to assume that college hockey would have its moment. Instead, many scouts were quick to point out the flaws and shortcomings in how it develops prospects. The shortcomings are easy fixes and ones colleges should consider, especially as more interest and money are poured into it.
The first is for the NCAA to allow players to move from the NHL to college after 10 games. For many prospects, they must make the decision in the summer and miss training camp and a chance to make a strong impression with the NHL teams. A player like Porter Martone could have made the Philadelphia Flyers out of training camp but was already committed to Michigan State.
The NCAA bridging the gap will win over those prospects who otherwise might choose the junior route for this reason. This will become a particular issue with the new rules that allow teams to move their first-rounders to the AHL even if they aren’t 19 years old, as teams will want to leave the door open for standouts from the later rounds.
Another key is for the NCAA to have a more intense and rigid schedule. Many coaches and players have talked about how the college schedule isn’t as intense, and the players struggle to adjust when they move to the AHL and the NHL. Consider a typical week for a player in the NCAA and the AHL.
- An NCAA player plays a game on Friday night, followed by a game on Saturday, and then practices the rest of the week.
- An AHLer can play a Wednesday night game followed by a three-in-three on the weekend.
Add it all up, and a college prospect plays around 30 games in a season, under half the workload of the AHL or the NHL. Junior hockey, while less intense, has the game and grind that the pro game has.
College has an opportunity to bridge that gap and should consider it. Sure, a Wednesday night game won’t sell tickets but it will put the players on the same timeline as players in the NHL and make it a more attractive spot for top prospects.
Quick Hits
The Hershey Bears defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 8-1 on Saturday night. Ilya Protas has a six-point game and has a rookie-leading 62 points. He’s been the most impressive rookie in the AHL this season and established himself as an elite prospect in the Washington Capitals system.
The Wilkes-Barre Penguins swept the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this weekend with back-to-back wins. They took the season series, winning 10 of the 12 meetings against their Pennsylvania rival, and with the sweep this weekend, they might have buried their playoff hopes as well.
Speaking of playoffs, this time of the year is when the playoff picture starts taking shape. The Laval Rocket have a slight lead over the Syracuse Crunch for the top spot in the North Division, and aside from getting the bye, both teams want to secure the top spot to avoid the Cleveland Monsters (and the extra travel) for a five-game series. In the Atlantic Division, the Bridgeport Islanders (seven wins in 10 games) and Springfield Thunderbirds (four wins in a row) can secure the four and five seeds in the division, which would make for quite a playoff matchup.