Our AHL affiliate random thought...

does anyone wish that our AHL team was local? Like say Long Beach, cuz i would love to go watch our AHL team play ya know just to make it easier to keep track of our prospects and such? Just a thought

That would be a load of fun.

No chance that the AHL will cross the Continental Divide...now if you ask me whether at some point there could be a wholesale Triple-A realignment that would be WC friendly, that could happen...Hockey, is, afterall a funny game...

By the way...I'm working tonight's Pirates/Springy game for the Portland Press Herald.....

FYI....

...here's your lines/pairs

Dixon-Wirtanen-Platt
Keith-Ebbett-Miller
Segal-Christie-Bouck
Birner-Ferguson

Festerling-Weinrich
Schneider-Salcido
Mikkelson-Callahan

McKenna in goal

Did a quick check (with the WJC having concluded and all) to see which Pirates have WJC creds...Found two--Birner (Czech Rep) and Wirtanen (Finlandia)

Vaya con Dios!

No chance that the AHL will cross the Continental Divide...now if you ask me whether at some point there could be a wholesale Triple-A realignment that would be WC friendly, that could happen...Hockey, is, afterall a funny game...

By the way...I'm working tonight's Pirates/Springy game for the Portland Press Herald.....

FYI....

...here's your lines/pairs

Dixon-Wirtanen-Platt
Keith-Ebbett-Miller
Segal-Christie-Bouck
Birner-Ferguson

Festerling-Weinrich
Schneider-Salcido
Mikkelson-Callahan

McKenna in goal

Did a quick check (with the WJC having concluded and all) to see which Pirates have WJC creds...Found two--Birner (Czech Rep) and Wirtanen (Finlandia)

Vaya con Dios!

thanks for the update. I like it when people give occasional updates on our portland squad.

No chance that the AHL will cross the Continental Divide...now if you ask me whether at some point there could be a wholesale Triple-A realignment that would be WC friendly, that could happen...Hockey, is, afterall a funny game...

By the way...I'm working tonight's Pirates/Springy game for the Portland Press Herald.....

FYI....

...here's your lines/pairs

Dixon-Wirtanen-Platt
Keith-Ebbett-Miller
Segal-Christie-Bouck
Birner-Ferguson

Festerling-Weinrich
Schneider-Salcido
Mikkelson-Callahan

McKenna in goal

Did a quick check (with the WJC having concluded and all) to see which Pirates have WJC creds...Found two--Birner (Czech Rep) and Wirtanen (Finlandia)

Vaya con Dios!
Thanks for the lineup info. If you want to periodically update stuff like this it'd be much appreciated, there's a sticky thread too. I'd love any kind of progress report on how the players are doing, how they're progressing, what roles they're playing with the team too.

We had to trade Hnidy because we had 8 NHL defensemen, but this lineup shows how thin the organization has suddenly become at defense. At the beginning of the season we had too many, and so we traded away Wilson, Saunders, and Rome. Well now we have no one who's NHL ready if our big club gets injuries. St. Jacques, but he must be injured since he's not in this lineup.

Thanks for the lineup info. If you want to periodically update stuff like this it'd be much appreciated, there's a sticky thread too. I'd love any kind of progress report on how the players are doing, how they're progressing, what roles they're playing with the team too.

We had to trade Hnidy because we had 8 NHL defensemen, but this lineup shows how thin the organization has suddenly become at defense. At the beginning of the season we had too many, and so we traded away Wilson, Saunders, and Rome. Well now we have no one who's NHL ready if our big club gets injuries. St. Jacques, but he must be injured since he's not in this lineup.

Your points about the Pirates' D are well taken...Bruno is out with something akin to a shoulder strain...kind of a fluky whiplash thing...I do have to say, though, the Brian Salcido has come a long, long way since first arriving here, last year. I believe he can be a top 6 NHL guy, something I didn't believe last year...

does anyone wish that our AHL team was local? Like say Long Beach, cuz i would love to go watch our AHL team play ya know just to make it easier to keep track of our prospects and such? Just a thought

Dan is right. The AHL will never be on the west coast because it's just not financially feasible to the teams already in the league. For the most part, teams try to keep their travel down to the minimum such as Portland who will play 68 of their 80 games against opponents in their division (i.e. Manchester, Worcester, Lowell, Providence, Hartford and Springfield).

I'm not sure if another league on the same level as the AHL would be viable either, it would require the blessing of the NHL, and the PHPA and I'm not sure financially it would be possible.

We had to trade Hnidy because we had 8 NHL defensemen, but this lineup shows how thin the organization has suddenly become at defense. At the beginning of the season we had too many, and so we traded away Wilson, Saunders, and Rome. Well now we have no one who's NHL ready if our big club gets injuries. St. Jacques, but he must be injured since he's not in this lineup.

Overall, the organization will be ok on defense. Like what Dan has said, Brian Salcido has grown by leaps and bounds since his arrival in Portland. For me, when he came to Portland, it was admittedly a horror show to watch him on the ice, but by the end of the season I thought he was the Pirates best defenseman. He's continued that again this season, impressing me on a game-by-game basis. The good news for Anaheim is much of the same things I've said about Salcido, I see in Brett Festerling and Brendan Mikkelson. Both are progressing nicely within the organization and in the last few weeks it possible to see glimpses of an NHL defensemen in both kids.