The Coyotes have recalled forwards Brett Hextall, Brett MacLean, Andy Miele, Jordan Szwarz, Ethan Werek and defensemen Maxim Goncharov, Connor Murphy & David Rundblad from Portland. Defenseman Mark Louis was recalled from the Pirates as well. He is not under NHL contract, but will practice with the black aces. He was brought into Portland under a PTO and later signed to an AHL SPC.
The Coyotes have also recalled Louis Domingue from Quebec of the QMJHL.
I can't speak to Domingue in particular, but most goalies don't crack the league as backups until they're 22 or 23, and only when opportunity meets preparation, as they say. That is, the goalie has to be extremely stellar and his team has to have an opening for him.
All three of Domingue, Visentin and Lee are AHL eligible this year, while the former two still have a year of OHL eligibility (I think). Lee can no longer play NCAA hockey now that he has a contract. My conservative guess is that one of them splits time in the AHL with a veteran (like Pogge), one of them starts in the ECHL and gets the majority of starts down there, and one of them gets another year of seasoning in the CHL. There's a chance we see two of them at the ECHL or AHL level, too, if everybody performs well enough, and I don't think Domingue or Visentin has much left to prove at the CHL level. It would be nice if they could all take another step so we could reassess the depth chart in a year.
We're having a difficult enough time in the faceoff circle as it is.
agreed. Miele was horrible at the dot. I think that for 4 to 8 minutes in a game, Miele, with his puck handling skill, can keep the Hawks pinned in their own zone during the majority of his shifts.
You want another big body or a small kid with skill? If you want a big body with skill, I haven't seen any in Portland.
A big body. Miele is not ready to be thrown into a top six role in the playoffs, and in a bottom six role a big body or energetic player would be a much better fit.
Nope, big body at this point, need to crush the body and the heart will follow. Hit them again and again and again and then we'll have the 'skill' players back for Game 5 and beyond. We can still win with the guys we have in, they just have to play a very tight game.
Is there any way Hextall could work his way into the lineup? I dont think he could slot into the top six, but from everything I've read about him he plays the same gritty, physical style as Raffi.
We're probably better with Biz in the lineup as he has NHL experience, but I figured itd be worth throwing the idea out there
I guess the jury's still out on whether Nick Ross has resurrected his career - it would appear the organization's "viable prospects" received the call for Black Aces duty and NR didn't make the cut.
His play certainly did improve down the stretch. Will he be offered a contract? Maybe an AHL deal?
