AHL American Hockey League

Over the past six days, NHL rookies and prospects have participated in a number of games across North America at separate prospect tournaments in Oshawa, Penticton and Traverse City.

Seventeen of the thirty NHL clubs are represented at these tournaments, and players of all kinds, from first-round draft picks to fourth-line goons, are in attendance. They're all trying to stand out from their peers, especially those who went undrafted and have completed their junior eligibility, and are essentially playing for their last shot at a minor league or entry-level contract somewhere.

With over 50 fights through Tuesday's games, muckers, grinders and fighters are leaving it all on the ice, and this has some bloggers up in arms about the prevalence of fighting in a "meaningless" prospect tournament.

But the reality is that these tournaments are anything but meaningless, and year after year prove to be great jumping-off points for young players ready to make the transition from junior to pro. Showing a willingness to battle goes a long way, and using the 2008 Traverse City tournament as an example, players who drop the gloves seem to get noticed more often than not.

Bruising winger Anthony Peluso led all players in Traverse City with three fighting majors in 2008, coming off an OHL season split between Erie and Sault St. Marie, where he accumulated 21 points and 124 penalty minutes. Not a bad season for a tough guy on whom the Blues took a chance in the sixth round in 2007. Two years later Peluso is still in the Blues organization coming off his first full AHL season (62 games, seven points and 102 PIM) with Peoria.

Dale Weise and Brandon Mashinter each had a fight apiece in the tournament, and three years later found themselves in NHL uniforms making their debut in "the show." Mashinter participated in the tournament as an invite for Columbus and was later signed to an entry-level deal by San Jose following his junior career.

Mashinter saw time in 13 games last season for the Sharks, going scoreless with 17 penalty minutes. Weise was a 2008 fourth round pick by the Rangers and began his first season in Hartford after Traverse City. He played 19 games for the Rangers in 2010-2011, also going scoreless with 19 penalty minutes.

Sixteen other players recorded at least one fighting major in the tournament, and twelve of them played at the professional "AA" level or higher in 2010-2011:

AHL: Devin DiDiomete and Justin Soryal (Connecticut), Mark Cundari and Brett Sonne (Peoria), Luke Gazdic (Texas) and David Urquhart (Hamilton)

ECHL: Joe Ryan (Bakersfield), Dannick Pauquette (Gwinett), Myles Stoesz (Trenton),and Jordan Foreman (Stockton)

CHL: Tysen Dowzak and Matt McCue (Dayton)

Brennan Sonne, Bryce Swan and Ryan Graham completed their junior careers and went to Canadian University where all three continued playing hockey, and Brady Leavold retired after playing in just 4 professional games in 2009/10 (two in the ECHL with Bakersfield and two in Holland with Tillburg)

Out of that group, only DiDiomete (Calgary, seventh round, 2006), Gazdic (Dallas, seventh round, 2007), Brett Sonne (St. Louis, third round, 2007), Pauquette (Atlanta, third round, 2008), Stoesz (Atlanta, seventh round, 2007) and Ryan (Los Angeles, second round, 2006) were drafted, and neither DiDiomete or Ryan received offers from their draft rights holders. They instead attended Traverse City as invites for the Blue Jackets and Red Wings, respectively.

DiDiomete later was the center of some controversy, he was offered an AHL deal by Columbus but the Rangers swooped in and offered a NHL deal before he could sign. DiDiomete of course took the better contract, and spent the next three seasons in the Rangers' system.

While fighting isn't a sure-fire way to make the show anymore, it certainly didn't hurt these players' chances, and probably helped many of them secure contracts, especially those who didn't have the luxury of being drafted onto the NHL's radar. 

Weise and Mashinter have proven to fit the mold of the coveted new-NHL power forward, showing ability to put up a healthy amount of points combined with a willingness to play physical and fight night in and night out at the AHL level. Both should stick around a while in camp this year with Mashinter a good candidate for a bottom-six role in San Jose, after the Sharks let most of their grit (Ben Eager, Jamal Mayers, Scott Nichol) walk this summer.

Justin Soryal has improved as a player the past few seasons in Hartford, and now finds himself at the top of a shallow toughness depth chart in the Hurricanes' system on a two-way contract. This year presents a good chance for his first taste of NHL action, though Nicolas Blanchard will also compete for the fourth-line enforcer spot in Carolina.

Luke Gazdic has climbed to the top of the fighting mountain in the AHL and after an impressive 17-point, 18-fight season, could see his first recall of the year to a Stars team that's not afraid to mix it up.

With this years tournaments coming to an end, time will tell if this year's crop of tough guys such as Jamie Devane, Randy McNaught, Dalton Smith, Cody Beach and others will be able to continue to punch their way to their pro hockey and NHL dreams.

So, the Providence Bruins will meet the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team, their newest divisional rival in the wake of last week’s AHL realignment, four times in the coming season.

Meanwhile, they are to engage their two newly interdivisional rivals from the Nutmeg State eight times apiece. And the Springfield Falcons, another constituent of the newly minted Northeast Division with the Connecticut Whale and Bridgeport Sound Tigers, are to face Providence 10 times just like when they were both in the seven-member Atlantic Division.

Is anybody else lost here? You should be. 

It’s a new alignment, yet the same old kind of slate. Just like in the past two seasons, P-Bruins fans will see their team lock twigs with fellow New England-based teams for more than three-quarters of the schedule.

And just like in both 2009-10 and 2010-11, there will also be two renditions of “O Canada” at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in the coming year. The only difference is that, whereas those previous occasions were for non-conference bouts with the Abbotsford Heat, this year it will be for two and only two divisional games.

In all, the P-Bruins will play 36 of their 76 regular season games against their four Atlantic Division cohabitants. Another 32 games will be against the Northeast Division. The remaining eight will be against three out of the five East Division teams.

Translation: There will be no non-conference action in 2011-12. Nor will Providence face either the defending Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators or the Syracuse Crunch at any time.

This despite the fact that the B-Sens and Crunch are fellow Eastern Conference rivals. This despite the fact that Binghamton and Syracuse combined are less than half the trip to Providence than St. John’s. The two New York towns in question combine for 488 miles from Providence while the capital of Newfoundland is a 991-mile trek to the capital of Rhode Island.

The AHL might as well have stayed exactly as it was with a pair of eight-team and seven-team divisions. Or better yet, it could have slowed down and tried to make a tad more geographic sense when it made the right choice to emulate its parent league and divide its 30 constituents evenly into six five-member divisions. 

Early last week, this author petitioned for a Southern New England Division consisting of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Providence, Springfield and Worcester. Well, the way the P-Bruins have since detailed their list 2011-12 opponents, that arrangement might as well be the case.

But for some reason, it isn’t. What’s the matter? Is AHL president Dave Andrews worried about going over the sense-making cap that’s never been explained to the fans or the pundits but which clearly exists?

To be fair, divisional and regional rivalries are indispensable and it is a relief to see that every New England AHL fan base will continue to get its fill of one another. That being said, what exactly was the point of placing the Bruins time-honored foes from Hartford and Springfield in another division in the first place?

Furthermore, the 2011-12 distribution of matchups will only carry on the trend of giving teams and their followers a little too much of a good thing.

Take a look elsewhere and notice the lack of a get-together with Binghamton or Syracuse, only one encounter at each venue apiece with the likes of Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, not to mention the relatively close Western Conference teams who won’t be stopping by in the near future.

To be precise, 10 of the 15 teams based in the Western circuit are all closer to Providence than St. John’s. That includes Charlotte, Chicago, Hamilton, Rochester and Rockford, all of whom have traded past visits with the P-Bruins.

Knowing that makes it kind of hard to apply the M-word in defense of this format. If the Baby B's can afford one or two nearly thousand-mile ventures to Newfoundland, they could just as easily afford a 330-mile ride to Rochester and a 440-mile trip to Hamilton.

And for those partial season ticket holders waiting to select their games, it’s that much tougher to accept one of the slimmest menus in recent memory; perhaps the slimmest variety of opponents in the team’s soon-to-be 20-year history.

Well, at least there will still be a sufficient number of opportunities to see the Whale and the Falcons. But that still begs the question about the recent realignment and how exactly the unbalanced schedule is supposed to explain it.

Earth to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: before anyone offers anymore traction to the notion of regressing from six to four divisions, look at what your top developmental circuit just did.

The American Hockey League had operated under the same seven or eight-member divisional approach until Monday, when a cleaner arrangement of six, five-team divisions was unveiled. It will go promptly into effect for the 2011-12 campaign, and while the scheduling format has yet to be finalized, odds are an emphasis will be placed in increasing order on nonconference, intra-conference, and intra-divisional matchups.

On that note, there are a few key areas where Dave Andrews and Co. egregiously missed the net when they realigned their teams. Certain existing rivalries are not exactly in danger of diminishing but are not helped by the fact that their constituents are now in separate divisions.

Let’s start on the east coast. Until the realignment, the Atlantic Division might as well have been dubbed the New England Division as it exclusively carried all seven of the region’s AHL satellites.

Naturally, at least two had to be evicted when the league reached its decision at the annual meeting. Not an easy move to make, but there were a few lesser evils in this scenario.

Unfortunately, the wrong teams were nudged out. The new, five-team Atlantic Division still includes the Providence Bruins, Worcester Sharks, Manchester Monarchs and Portland Pirates, but has also enlisted the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team.

Meanwhile, both Connecticut-based teams and the Springfield Falcons are left to join the newly-crafted Northeast Division, opposite the Battle of the 518 Area Code between Adirondack and Albany.

As a result, the following matchups are bound to decrease in frequency: Providence-Connecticut, Providence-Springfield, Springfield-Worcester.

Again, no telling exactly how often divisional and non-divisional rivals will lock twigs, but you can bet all the contents of your CCM duffel bag that the P-Bruins are going to engage Manchester, Portland, and St. John’s more often than the Falcons and the Whale.

That’s just not right. Providence and Springfield are the most time-honored AHL bases in New England, and ever since the Connecticut Whale came along as the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1997, they have been the P-Bruins’ topmost rival.

And then there’s the Bay State Battle between the Falcons and the Sharks. How do you justify separating those two?

The way it should have been is as follows: simply swap out Manchester, Portland, and St John’s in exchange for Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Springfield. That way, all five of the teams based in the southern New England states can fan their flames of hatred to the fullest.

Meanwhile, out west, the Midwest Division makes 80 percent sense with the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Peoria Rivermen, and Rockford IceHogs.

But just what are the Charlotte Checkers doing there? Why not the Lake Erie Monsters, or better yet, the Grand Rapids Griffins?

Not only are Cleveland and Grand Rapids both actual Midwestern cities, but they also have a rich history against the likes of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Peoria that dates back to final years of the old IHL.

The Checkers actually be a better fit for the East Division, which is home to their closest AHL cohabitant, the Norfolk Admirals. In fact, all of the East Division teams are closer to Charlotte than any of their Midwest cohabitants.

If Charlotte transferred to the East, then the Syracuse Crunch could move out west to the North Division and renew their intrastate rivalry with the Rochester Americans.

Again, like Providence and Springfield, you have two classic AHL cities there. And with Lake Erie in the equation, you could potentially have three of them in the North. Meanwhile, the Griffins could simply find a better home in the Midwest Division.

Other than that, this looks as good as can be. And it’s certainly a tidier alignment than what the AHL had before―and what the NHL is strangely considering.

Are you paying attention, Mr. Bettman?

Earth to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: Before anyone offers any more traction to the notion of regressing from six to four divisions, look at what your top developmental circuit just did.

The American Hockey League had operated under the same seven- or eight-member divisional approach until Monday, when a cleaner arrangement of six, five-team divisions was unveiled.

It will go promptly into effect for the 2011-12 campaign and while the scheduling format has yet to be finalized, odds are that emphasis will be placed on increasing order on non-conference, intra-conference, and intra-divisional matchups.

On that note, there are a few key areas where Dave Andrews and Co. egregiously missed the net when they realigned their teams. Certain existing rivalries are not exactly in danger of diminishing, but are not helped by the fact that their constituents are now in separate divisions.

Let’s start on the east coast. Until the realignment, the Atlantic Division might as well have been dubbed the New England Division as it exclusively carried all seven of the region’s AHL satellites.

Naturally, at least two had to be evicted when the league reached its decision at the annual meeting. Not an easy move to make, but there were a few lesser evils in this scenario.

Unfortunately, the wrong teams were nudged out. The new, five-team Atlantic Division still includes the Providence Bruins, Worcester Sharks, Manchester Monarchs and Portland Pirates, but has also enlisted the yet-to-be-named St. John’s team.

Meanwhile, both Connecticut-based teams and the Springfield Falcons are left to join the newly-crafted Northeast Division, opposite the Battle of the 518 area code between Adirondack and Albany.

As a result, the following matchups are bound to decrease in frequency: Providence-Connecticut, Providence-Springfield, Springfield-Worcester, Connecticut-Springfield.

Again, no telling exactly how often divisional and non-divisional rivals will lock twigs, but you can bet all the contents of your CCM duffel bag that the P-Bruins are going to engage Manchester, Portland, and St. John’s more often than the Falcons and the Whale. 

That’s just not right.

Providence and Springfield are the most time-honored AHL bases in New England and ever since the Connecticut Whale came along as the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1997, they have been the P-Bruins’ topmost rival.

Likewise, the Hartford/Connecticut and Springfield franchises have enjoyed their moments of mutual animosity, partially stemming from their geographic proximity (25 miles) and the fact that the old NHL Whalers based their prospects in Springfield for many years.

And then there’s the Bay State Battle between the Falcons and the Sharks. How do you justify separating those two?

The way it should have been is as follows: Simply swap out Manchester, Portland, and St John’s in exchange for Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Springfield. That way, all five of the teams based in the southern New England states can fan their flames of hatred to the fullest.

Meanwhile, out west, the Midwest Division makes 80 percent sense with the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, Peoria Rivermen, and Rockford IceHogs.

But just what are the Charlotte Checkers doing there? Why not the Lake Erie Monsters, or better yet the Grand Rapids Griffins?

Not only are Cleveland and Grand Rapids both actual Midwestern cities, but they also have a rich history against the likes of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Peoria that dates back to final years of the old IHL.

The Checkers would actually be a better fit for the East Division, which is home to their closest AHL cohabitant, the Norfolk Admirals. In fact, all of the East Division teams are closer to Charlotte than any of their Midwest cohabitants.

If Charlotte transferred to the East, then the Syracuse Crunch could move out west to the North Division and renew their intrastate rivalry with the Rochester Americans.

Again, like Providence and Springfield, you have two classic AHL cities there. And with Lake Erie in the equation, you could potentially have three of them in the North. Meanwhile, the Griffins could simply find a better home in the Midwest Division.

Other than that, this looks as good as can be. And it’s certainly a tidier alignment than what the AHL had before―and what the NHL is strangely considering.

Are you paying attention, Mr. Bettman?

When the Providence Bruins last conducted business at the Dunkin Donuts Center on April 10, the pregame refrain from the Spoked-P masses was “Re-sign Whitfield!” as team captain Trent Whitfield accepted one team award after another.

Hours later, as the Baby Bs served up a stick salute upon defeating the Manchester Monarchs, 3-2, the chorus rang “Re-sign Anton!” in appreciation of the game’s No. 1 star, goaltender Anton Khudobin.

It all made sense at the time. Whitfield had returned from an Achilles ailment on Jan. 7 and buoyed the Bruins to a near-miracle return to playoff contention

Likewise, Khudobin had been a member of the organization for merely six weeks, yet already had a sound 9-4-1 transcript with Providence.

It all continues to make sense.

Peter Chiarelli, general manager of the parent Boston Bruins, fulfilled the parting wishes of his Providence buffs by locking in both men for an additional two years Friday afternoon.

And it will continue to make sense if and only if Whitfield and Khudobin can both fulfill the hype. But by all counts, that shouldn’t be a harrowing task.

Nothing but a slew of injuries is likely to warrant either of them a promotion to Boston in the immediate future. Thus, with a multitude of late-season acquisitions from college and major junior figuring to return, it is on Whitfield and Khudobin to team up with new head coach Bruce Cassidy and pilot a carry-over from the 2010-11 homestretch.

Whitfield proved an offensive, minor-league equivalent of Tim Thomas upon his return from injury. In 45 games, he crammed 18 goals and 18 assists en route to repeating team MVP honors while the P-Bruins posted a 24-19-3 record.

By contrast, they were 14-17-3 in their leader’s absence, including a rancid 4-11-2 record at home.

Obtained from the Minnesota Wild organization on March 1 to make everyone forget about Nolan Schaefer, Khudobin consumed 78 percent of the P-Bruins' crease time as the team finished strong at 12-6-1.

By dusk, Providence was only six points shy of a playoff berth, a scenario no one could have realistically placed on their holiday wish list in December.

A healthy Whitfield earlier in the year, and the added dose of leadership that comes with it, might have supplemented the balance in that department. On the other hand, perhaps everyone needed the initial adversity in order for Whitfield to be the spark plug that he was after the New Year.

But Khudobin’s instant impact most indubitably had Bruins fans asking “Where was this 18 months ago?”

After all, the core culprit behind this team’s failure to qualify for each of the last two Calder Cup brackets was a gross failure to fill big pads when Tuukka Rask earned a permanent slot in Boston at the start of the 2009-10 campaign.

That vital endeavor bottomed out this past season when the veteran Schaefer, a would-be feel-good story as a renowned Providence College alum, went 9-16-1 with a .897 save percentage and 3.10 goals-against average.

A save percentage anywhere south of the .900 line and a GAA of 3.00 or beyond are virtually cardinal violations in this game.

Schaefer maintained the dishonorable double crown and was gone after the final weekend of February.

Professional sophomore Matt Dalton had the same problem with a 3.20 GAA and .894 save percentage in 16 appearances. The best the Bruins could do to him, though, was relegate him to the back-up role.

Conversely, Khudobin made 16 starts himself and finished with a .920 save percentage and 2.40 GAA, easily the best numbers in both categories between seven different Providence stoppers in the last two seasons.

Going forward, it’s tempting to hunt for a caveat when you have an arrangement like this. But for the first time since Rask graduated, the P-Bruins have a stopper who has kept his numbers within respectable range.

It’s more than just a case of not fixing what isn’t broken. It’s a refreshing case of the goalie’s guild not being broken for a change. Schaefer’s ineptitude was an anomaly. If anything, Khudobin stands a decent chance of posting better data in 2011-12.

On the offensive and leadership front, there is no cause for concern that Whitfield’s hunger will somehow taper off next season. He knows as well as any member of the Providence faithful that there is something to be built upon.

That is why―along with Khudobin and Cassidy―everyone expressly wanted him to stick around a while longer. And that is why Chiarelli has made that happen.

When Terry Pegula formally announces the Buffalo Sabres' purchase of the Rochester Americans AHL franchise and officially begins a new era of Amerks hockey, the phones should be ringing off the hook at the Blue Cross Arena box office for the 2011-12 season opener.

Ask any hockey fan in the Rochester area if they've been to an Amerks game lately, and most will reply "I used to go all the time when the Sabres were there." And that makes sense.

The three season partnership with Florida produced one playoff appearance that ended abruptly when the Amerks were ousted in seven games by the first-year Calgary Flames affiliate Abbotsford Heat.

The ouster was a real disappointment to owner Curt Styres and his hockey operations staff that included "Mr. Amerk" Jody Gage and former NHL player and coach Ted Nolan. They worked diligently to stock the Amerks with AHL stars such as Graham Mink, Jeff Taffe, Jamie Johnson, Rory Fitzpatrick and Clay Wilson to help offset the lack of substance provided by the Panthers' brutal drafting through the early 2000s.

Last season, with new hockey management in Florida led by Stanley Cup-winning GM Dale Tallon, their hands were tied, as Florida took the ever-so-tedious approach of using their AHL affiliate to strictly develop prospects rather than win. As a result, Rochester fell right back to the bottom of the Western Conference and attendance plummeted with them.

So in comes Buffalo, coming off back-to-back-to-back seasons featuring Red Garrett award winners (AHL rookie of the year) in Portland (Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Ennis and Luke Adam) as well as playoff appearances in each of the three seasons Sabres' prospects played in Portland.

The recent success has been there, and although none of those Portland teams featured an abundance of AHL veterans, the prospect crop was deep enough to carry the team each year. With the blue chippers ready to move up, Amerks fans have to hope that Pegula is willing to open his wallet at least a little bit to help take the weight off of highly-touted prospects such as Zack Kassian, and reassure the fickle Rochester fans that he's here to win.

But to spend money, the Amerks must make money, and nostalgia and the idea of watching kids develop and then advance to Buffalo will only go so far before attendance dwindles again. So the city of Rochester needs to show their support at the gate.

A lot has changed in the city since the Calder Cup-winning year of 1996 and the runner-up efforts of 1999 and 2000. Kodak is a shell of itself and more jobs have left than been created, but many affordable mini-plans exist and single game tickets remain well below league average.

This is the last chance for the franchise—the second oldest in the league behind Hershey—and there is no reason to fail. The turnout to hear Pegula, Ted Black and Darcy Regier speak at 11 a.m. Wednesday should give an indication as to whether Rochester still is indeed a "hockey town" or if time has passed the Flower City by.

The Sabres have opened their wallet for you Rochester, now it's your chance to do the same.

Mike Loftus, the longtime Boston Bruins beat writer for the Quincy Patriot Ledger, has reported that general manager Peter Chiarelli will settle on his new American League coach whilst wrapping up this weekend’s NHL draft on Saturday.

Assuming Chiarelli follows through on that, he will end a 10-week wait for the word on who replaces Rob Murray, who was discharged after three seasons behind the Providence bench and on the heels of two straight Calder Cup playoff no-shows.

The most logical move would be to simply elevate Murray’s assistant, Bruce Cassidy, to the head coaching position. After all, that was how Murray, predecessor Scott Gordon’s sidekick for five years, claimed the job when Gordon accepted an offer to lead the New York Islanders in August 2008.

Although it is a far less plausible scenario, Craig Ramsay’s recent release from the NHL’s new Winnipeg franchise is bound to have at least a few Bruins Buffs speculating his return to the organization. Ramsay was the topmost assistant during Claude Julien’s first three years in Boston before he was lured to the Atlanta Thrashers last summer, granting him his first head coaching gig since a one-year stint in Philadelphia (2001-02).

On the one hand, in addition to those years in Atlanta and Philadelphia, Ramsay has 16 solid seasons of experience as an NHL assistant. That could make for a viable AHL head-coach candidate.

By the same token, though, such a lengthy run in The Show makes Ramsay an enticing choice to fill a void on another NHL staff, of which there are plenty.

For the P-Bruins, some of whose fans questioned the reasoning behind Murray’s dismissal, Cassidy is a more sensible choice for every reason. He has a sliver of NHL coaching experience with the Washington Capitals, who ultimately fired him in December 2003 after he had only logged 107 games.

But that was not before he guided the Grand Rapids Griffins to the best regular-season record in the final year of the IHL, then won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award in the Griffins’ first AHL campaign in 2001-02.

One could argue that Murray, whose first season as head coach saw Tuukka Rask backstop the P-Bruins to the Calder Cup semifinals, did not deserve the fall guy tag when Providence plummeted.

But in a sense, forking Murray out of the locker room in favor of Cassidy could be akin to benching an overcooked goalie even when the opposing onslaught is due to defensive breakdowns. A slight change in personnel positioning is simply needed to wake up the rest of the squad.

For more 2011 NHL draft coverage, stay tuned to Bleacher Report for updated NHL mock drafts, NHL draft rumors, NHL draft results and draft grades.