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Portland Pirates Update: What’s The Latest In the AHL?

By William Grigsby

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Checking in with the Portland Pirates

As of Super Bowl weekend, they stand sixth in their tightly contested Eastern Conference — where just 13 points separate the first place and eleventh place teams.

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They only trail the first place Manchester Monarchs by seven points — not a bad place to be in. Their 24-17-3 record is certainly competitive, and an improvement from last season’s record at this point. Since the last time we checked in with the Pirates a few weeks ago, they have 12 points in 9 games — a good pace for the affiliate to be playing.

Last season, they finished a disappointing last place in the Eastern Conference with a mere 61 points. The team was non-competitive, as many of the brightest young players were still… well, young.

This season, though, they are already at 51 points in only 44 games — putting them right in contention for a playoff berth in the Calder Cup.

There has been quite a bit of activity with the parent Arizona Coyotes recalling Portland players of late:

  • On 1-13-15 the Coyotes recalled newly acquired Philip Samuelsson to take a look at his playing skills. He played four games and looked pretty solid — he’s good passer, and showed excellent presence on the puck. He was sent back down to Portland on 1-21-15 to get some valuable playing time during the NHL All-Star game break.
  • On 1-15-15 goalie Mike Lee was recalled to Arizona to back up starter Mike Smith, after Devan Dubnyk was traded to the Minnesota Wild.
  • On 1-21-15 Goalie Mike McKenna (pictured above) was recalled and Brandon Gormley, Philip Samuelsson, and Lucas Lessio were sent to Portland over the break to get playing time.
  • On 1-26-15 after the break, Lessio was recalled to Arizona. He scored his first NHL goal against the Blackhawks, helping the Coyotes avoid a shutout in their disappointing 6-1 loss. Andrew Campbell was also recalled from Portland and notched his first NHL point when he assisted on Connor Murphy’s first period goal versus the Philadelphia Flyers on 1-27-15.
  • Finally, on 1-28-15 the Coyotes recalled Brendan Shinnimin, who scored two goals in the AHL All-Star game held 1-26-15 in Utica, N.Y.

In other AHL news:

The AHL Board of Governors announced the formation of a Pacific Division — consisting of five teams affiliated with Western Conference teams — to begin play in the 2016-2016 season.

• The Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals AHL franchise and will relocate it from Norfolk, Va., to San Diego, Calif.
• The AHL franchise owned by the Calgary Flames will relocate from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton, Calif. 

• The AHL franchise owned by the Edmonton Oilers will relocate from Oklahoma City, Okla., to Bakersfield, Calif. 

• The AHL franchise owned by the Los Angeles Kings will relocate from Manchester, N.H., to Ontario, Calif.

• The AHL franchise owned by the San Jose Sharks will relocate from Worcester, Mass., to San Jose, Calif.

This was a move many were expecting, as it helps the NHL teams get their players to them in a more timely fashion when needed.

Rumor is that the Arizona Coyotes would like to see the Portland, ME team relocated as well — and who’s to say they couldn’t come somewhere like Tucson? The city already has an arena there, which was used for hockey when the city had a Pacific Coast League in the 70’s.

That would certainly be convenient to have our developing players that close to Phoenix when a trade or injury occurs.

Dog Biscuits:

With the Super Bowl on Feb 1, 2015 some of the Portland Pirates gave their predictions on the game:

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