Every Wednesday we’ll take a look at the status of the
Rangers’ AHL affiliate. Top prospects
Ryan Bourque, Carl Hagelin and probably Tim Erixon will all be key players for
the Whale this season. We’ll check on
how they’re doing and how the team performs as the season progresses.
- The CT Whale opens its season on Saturday on the road
against the Adirondack Phantoms, the farm team of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Whale will play again on Sunday against
the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and are then off until Friday, October 14th. Connecticut went 2-2-0 in preseason action.
- Here’s a look at how
Connecticut’s lineup could shape up:
Forwards
Carl Hagelin/John Mitchell/Andreas Thuresson
Andre Deveaux/Ryan Bourque/Jonathan Audy-Marchessault
Tommy Grant/Kris Newbury/Scott Tanski
Jordan Owens/Kelsey Tessier/Chris McKelvie
Defensemen
Wade Redden-Pavel Valentenko
Tomas Kundratek-Jyri Niemi
Blake Parlett-Collin Bowman
Jared Nightingale, T.J. Fast, Collin Bowman
Goalies
Chad Johnson, Cam Talbot
- Sean Avery, who was waived by the Rangers yesterday, cleared
waivers and could be assigned to the CT Whale. It is likely that Avery will pursue a career in Europe, but if that
fails then he could join Redden in Connecticut.
- Defensemen Tim Erixon, Brendan Bell and Stu Bickel could all
end up back with the Whale early in the season. A lot of that will depend on the health of Marc Staal, but the Rangers
certainly want Erixon to get some AHL seasoning and aren’t confident that Bell
or Bickel are capable of playing in the NHL. That could create a major logjam on defense for Connecticut.
- Dale Weise, who had been with the Whale for the last three
seasons, was claimed off waivers by the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. Weise was one of the Rangers’ final cuts and
the hope was that Weise would clear waivers and play another season in Connecticut. He could
start the season on Vancouver’s fourth line.
- Forward Chad Kolarik will miss the majority of the season
after tearing his ACL.
- Defenseman Sam Klassen and forwards Max Campbell, Brendan
Connolly and Jason Wilson were assigned to the Greenville
Road Warriors. Tayler Jordan and Matt Rust, who both played in the Traverse City Tournament, were released.
- Connecticut is expecting
big things from Jonathan Audy-Marchessault.
- Read more about the Connecticut’s revamped forward group here.
Past editions of The Whale Week That Was:
The Whale Week That Was - October 5, 2011 >
Click
here for our full Summer 2011 Archive >
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