Coyotes send 29 to Portland
 

The Coyotes have assigned 29 players to the Portland Pirates:

Goaltender:
Chad Johnson
Mark Visentin
Louis Domingue
Mike Lee

Defensemen:
Mike Stone
David Rundblad
Brandon Gormley
Max Goncharov
Mathieu Brodeur
Justin Weller
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Mark Louis (AHL)
Chris Summers

Forwards:
Ethan Werek
Brett Hextall
Chris Brown
Jordan Szwarz
Brendan Shinnimin
Evan Bloodoff (AHL)
Scott Arnold
Phil Lane
Max Villemaire (AHL)
Andy Miele
Alex Bolduc
Chris Conner
Rob Klinkhammer
Joel Rechlicz
Darian Dziurzynski (AHL)
Jordan Martinook

Bolduc, Conner, Klinkhammer, Rechlicz and Johnson cleared waivers.

I'll have more shortly....

2013 Calder Cup champions if this lockout continues!

I don't know, I haven't checked many other team's upcoming AHL rosters but Oklahoma City is going to look something like this...

Paajarvi-Nugent-Hopkins-Eberle
Hartikainen-Arcobello-Pitlick
Byers-Lander-Tyrvainen
Hamilton-Vande Velde-Abney
(and eventually Taylor Hall)

Teubert-J. Schultz
Plante-Fedun
Marincin-Helmer/other AHL vet

Danis
Roy

Pirates defense would be quite a bit better but the Barons forwards are light years more dangerous.

Not sure I agree with sending OEL down to Portland seeing that he is not in the need to prove that he can play in the NHL and earn a sport on the roster.

Probably just for the lockout brotha. They need him to keep playing, he's still in the process of growth.

I agree... Besides that, it isn't quite fair to be taking others places on the roster because they're on strike basically. You have to wonder what the Pirates players think about this. Unless I'm missing something?

Like i said, OEL is our youngster, we want him to keep growing and keep playing. The Coyotes wont be playing any games anytime soon, the Pirates will. Let OEL get some games in, then call him up when our season starts

Meh, I'd be fine with letting him play in Leksands, if he prefers. I'm not sure he needs to be in Portland. I guess with the lock out, the ahl is definitely superior to Allsvenskan. Too bad he cant play in the SEL. Or can he?

Hopefully they will all be playing in a winning environment!

I could be wrong but I don't think he can play in the Allsvenskan or SEL.

He can't. The SEL decided not to allow any NHL players at all during this lockout. If he were to play in Allsvenskan he's said that he wants to play for Tingsryd, the team where he played youth hockey before he went on to Leksand and the team he had his summer training with. However it should be better for his development to play in the AHL this year so I'd prefer if he did that.


SEL, correct. Allsvenskan did say they weren't going to allow NHL players but they changed their mind a few days ago.

I would think so too, and the competition at the AHL level should be pretty high if the lock out drags.

Yeah, because all other NHL players would have to pass waivers to go down to the AHL, this is why we are sending players like Stone, OEL, etc. I believe that we can send these players down without any penalty or chance of them being picked up by another team, based on contracts.

Once the lockout ends, Stone, OEL and others are right back up here... Actually, all of these guys would be given invites to tryouts, but we would wind up sending most of them down...

Why would people want Oliver to go back over to Sweden? His biggest knock when he came over was getting adjusted to North American rinks. Why would you send him back to an international rink when he can have another year tuning his game to the small ice?

And if it's because of who he's playing, look at all the top flight young talent that'll be playing in the AHL this year, I'm sure he'll be plenty challenged.

I'm too drunk to find it, but there was a tweet earlier that Maloney didn't want to send him to the AHL, but OEL actually requested it. I think it would be good for Gormley, and the other defenseman in our system.

And if he can't play hockey anywhere else, why not? It's ice time, and he can stay in shape.

That makes sense, especially since he accepted his demotion to the minors during his rookie season instead of going back to Sweden like his contract allowed. I guess he still feels playing on North American ice will benefit him more.

And worth pointing out we have now idea how long the lockout will last. I lean towards it being weeks rather than months.

I really hope you're right, but I've been stocking up on full games on iTunes for $1.99 just in case! Between that, playing myself, and the Winterhawks I'll get my hockey fix. It's not the same as watching the Coyotes but it works for now!

This is a great chance for OEL to grow and become more a leader. He's obviously going to be the number 1 guy down there and he could do a lot for the development of our young defensive core players. Especially Rundblad.

Actually, Rundblad is a year older than OEL. =P

Send Shane Doan to Gwinnett(I kid).

My Observations
 

Been wanting to see a Oliver Ekman-Larsson - David Rundblad pairing for awhile
The competition should be better, which hopefully speeds up Gormley's development (and of course most other prospects). I'm thinking a Stone - Gormley pairing.
So who will end up in Gwinnett? (Nick Ross back to the ECHL!)
Portland Maine is a long commute to watch Coyote Hockey.

Our current owners suck! The day after re-signing the face of the franchise, they decided that they would rather not let them play as a team.

Tingsryd are trying very hard to get OEL to play for them. Here's some quotes from OEL lately:



About possibly playing the away game for Tingsryd tomorrow against Leksand:

His agent then goes on to say Oliver will not play that game.

It ought to be good for Rundblad's development to play with OEL - I like that idea a lot.

However, its a shame the Coyotes cant let OEL play a game or two for Tingsryd as a goodwill gesture as he obviously wants to. Little things like that can count for a lot when it comes time for OEL to decide on a new contract. GMDM is usually very good when it comes to player relationships though.