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Arizona Coyotes New AHL Affiliate Springfield Falcons

By William Grigsby

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The Arizona Coyotes partnership with their new AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons will begin this season under the leadership of Head Coach Ron Rolston. Ralston is 48 years old, and has plenty of coaching experience under his belt, while serving as the main suit behind the bench, at many different levels.

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Rolston served as the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres for 51 games, starting the 2012-13 season, and ending in the 2013-14. He earned a record of 19-26-6. Before that, he served as the head coach for the Sabers AHL affiliate the Rochester Americans for two years, posting a record of 79-55-13-5, which led to two consecutive playoff births.

The teams’ roster has not been completed just yet, as they don’t begin training camp until September 28th, with preseason games on October 2nd and 3rd vs. Providence.

Ralston’s roster thus far contains some familiar faces from the AHL Portland Pirates affiliation last season.

Some names you might recognize include:

  • Philip Samuelsson (D)
  • Tyler Gaudet (C)
  • Lucas Lessio (LW)
  • Jordan Martinook (LW/C)
  • Henrik Samuelsson (RW/C)
  • Brendan Shinnimin (C)
  • Jordan Szwarz (RW)
  • Laurent Dauphin (C)
  • Henrik Samuelsson (RW/C)
  • Anthony Duclair (LW/RW)

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All of the above have logged some playing time with the Arizona Coyotes. With the youth movement in high gear in Arizona, players like Henrik Samuelsson, and Anthony Duclair will be given a shot at a roster spot on the parent team. Duclair is practically a sure bet to make the team, while Henrik may be on the bubble. Another player who may get a look is Henrik’s brother, Philip who performed well in Portland last season (5-g, 15-a, 20 points in 51 games).

Brendan Shinnimin saw action in 12 games with the Coyotes, and tallied one assist. Lucas Lessio got the largest call up from Portland, when he played in 26 games, collecting two goals and three assists. Both of these forwards will be valuable backups in case of injuries in the Arizona Coyotes’ roster occurs. 

Philip Samuelsson may get called up as well, when the need arises. As far as which players will be invited to training camp, my guess would be all of the above players may be invited to see what they’ve got. The candidates with the most promise to either make it to the Coyotes roster, or be given some attention during training camp would include: Philip and Henrik Samuelsson, Anthony Duclair, Lucas Lessio, Brendan Shinnimin, Jordan Martinook, with Tyler Gaudet as a bubble candidate.

Next: Lucas Lessio: Getting To Know The Arizona Coyotes

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