Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Preparing to make their last stand, the Belleville Senators saw their roster fortified before Friday’s AHL trade/loan deadline.
NHL decision-makers want their prospects facing the pressure that playoff races bring each year. It provides a good barometer for where those young players stand. And as the daily changes to the league’s standings reflect that reality, the Senators organization knows just how close these races can get. Belleville missed the Calder Cup Playoff cut last season by two points, qualified for the postseason on the final weekend in 2023-24, and fell short by just four points in 2022-23.
This year’s stretch drive is shaping up to be another race to the finish for the B-Sens, who enter Sunday’s action five points back of the fifth and final playoff position in the North Division. They started the season 0-3-1-0. There was a 2-8-4-0 November-December slide that resulted in a head-coaching change as Andrew Campbell stepped in for David Bell on an interim basis. But before that slump there had been a 9-3-0-0 surge that showed this team’s winning potential.
However, with Belleville dropping nine of 10 between Feb. 6 and Mar. 6, Ottawa management made moves to provide some help. At last week’s NHL trade deadline, the Senators acquired Graeme Clarke from the Washington Capitals for Wyatt Bongiovanni. Clarke, a 2024 AHL All-Star who had back-to-back 25-goal seasons for Utica earlier in his career, has seven points (3g, 4a) in his first two games in a Belleville sweater, including a goal and two assists in his return to Hershey on Saturday night. The Sens have scored 13 goals in the two games with Clarke in their lineup.
Earlier this week, Ottawa added defenseman Samuel Bolduc from Los Angeles for feisty forward Jan Jeník. In Bolduc, the organization is getting someone who can distribute the puck and play a top-pairing role. And they picked up forward Riley Kidney and defenseman Ryan O’Rourke from Montreal/Laval, sending Hunter Shepard and Jake Chiasson to the Canadiens. Both Kidney and O’Rourke have spent most of this season with Trois-Rivières in the ECHL, but both are former second-round draft picks with significant AHL experience.
Several other AHL teams were active as well before Friday’s AHL deadline arrived. Here is a breakdown of the implications for those moves:
Coachella Valley Firebirds
Already a top-10 scoring team, the Firebirds got some significant help when they acquired veteran forward Cooper Marody from Lehigh Valley for future considerations. Some of Marody’s best work has come in the Pacific Division, where he twice topped 20 goals for the Bakersfield Condors. He also could add help to a Coachella Valley power play that ranks 24th in the AHL at 16.5 percent.
Grand Rapids Griffins
The Detroit Red Wings sent Griffins defenseman Ian Mitchell to the Tampa Bay Lightning for forwards Michael Milne and Wojciech Stachowiak on Thursday. Mitchell became the second veteran blueliner to depart the Griffins within a week, after Justin Holl went to St. Louis at the NHL trade deadline. But Stachowiak, who had 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in 38 games for the Syracuse Crunch and played for Germany in last month’s Olympics, offers scoring help as his adjustment continues in his first North American pro season. Milne is 23 years old and has played 191 games at the AHL level.
Laval Rocket
With rookie AHL All-Star goaltender Jacob Fowler on recall to the Canadiens, the Rocket added two-time Calder Cup winner and former Bastien Award recipient Hunter Shepard in Montreal’s trade with Ottawa. Shepard joins Kaapo Kähkönen, who backstopped Charlotte to the Calder Cup Finals last spring, in Laval’s crease.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Dealing Cooper Marody to Coachella Valley clears a bit of ice time for someone like forward Noah Powell, the newly signed 2024 Flyers draft pick out of Arizona State University.
Syracuse Crunch
In a busy week for the Crunch, the veteran defenseman Ian Mitchell is another boost. Mitchell had 20 points and a plus-27 rating in 45 games for Grand Rapids and also has 110 NHL appearances on his ledger. Syracuse also acquired center Matthew Peca, a First Team AHL All-Star a year ago, from the Springfield Thunderbirds.
