AHL: A New Kind of Wolves

The Chicago Wolves have a long history of excellence in the old IHL and in the AHL, and the organization won the AHL's Calder Cup in 2008, but that was on the strength of AHL veteran offensive-impact players such as Jason Krog, Darren Haydar, Jesse Schulz, and Joel Kwiatkowski. The Wolves do have some veteran scoring presence at forward in 2008-09 in Grant Stevenson, Joe Motzko, and Junior Lessard, but they aren't the same as Krog, Haydar, and crew. Now, instead of a high-flying offensive game executed better than some NHL teams, the Wolves feature a high-pressure forecheck and a two-way game executed by such future Atlanta Thrashers as Spencer Machacek and Riley Holzapfel.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey recently had the opportunity to catch the Chicago Wolves in action on consecutive nights and enters notes on several prospects such as Machacek, Holzapfel, Grant Lewis and Boris Valabik.

Spencer Machacek (Atl), RW, Chicago Wolves

Rookie-pro looking good on the ice even if numbers don't reflect it a month into the season .. skilled player along and off the boards .. does a good job maintaining possession of the puck along the boards in the offensive zone .. often sets up from the trapezoid and makes passes out front for dangerous scoring chances .. has fairly soft hands for stickhandling, one-touch passes and feather passes if necessary .. also possesses a decent shot, be it slap, snap or wristshot .. hand-eye coordination is above average to control airborne pucks .. played on the powerplay .. has decent speed for applying pressure on the forecheck and finishes his checks .. at this juncture, he appears to have the potential of a superior third-line NHLer.

Riley Holzapfel (Atl), LW/C, Chicago Wolves

Skating needs a little work, but still a physical presence .. has a wide track to his skating, as he does not bring his legs in all the way in the recovery phase of the stride .. stride extension from wide track is good, but not as long as it could be if corrected .. turning radius is only okay .. coasts into the apex of his turns, then uses quick feet crossing over, but lacks power doing so .. despite these skating flaws, he still wins his share of 50/50 battles .. also makes his fair share of big hits, both along the boards and in open ice .. fairly tenacious forechecker who makes it difficult for opponents to break the puck out .. strips more than his share of opponents of the puck on the forecheck and backcheck .. able to create some offense with his effort and can snipe the puck a bit, too .. played on the powerplay .. appears to be a likely candidate as a future third-line forward for the Thrashers.

Boris Valabik (Atl), D, Chicago Wolves

Big defenseman known for big penalty minute totals now playing a much more disciplined game .. did not engage in the after-whistle extra-curricular activity he has been known for .. is not a major physical force between the whistles .. does still play with some intensity, just lacks the speed, balance and skating to be a truly physical presence in a Scott Stevens sense .. one encouraging aspect for Valabik was how he consistently made very crisp breakout passes .. was able to connect on a number of long-distance outlet passes .. occasionally led his man on the pass a little too much, but still a very encouraging breakout passing game .. did use his long reach to his advantage with stick checks .. played on the penalty kill and in the final minute of the game .. now playing a more disciplined game and reducing dumb penalties, Valabik is starting to look like a serviceable sixth or seventh defenseman for Atlanta.

Grant Lewis (Atl), D, Chicago Wolves

The 6-foot-3, 193-pound blueliner looking a little more poised and a little thicker in 2008-09 .. appears to be making a conscious effort to play a more physical game .. engaged physically and attempted to stand-up opponents .. lacked thrust to knock opponents on their can, but did separate them from the puck on occasion .. still struggles some in gaining physical position over opponents in 50/50 battles and can be shielded from the puck too easily .. guilty of backtracking too much backwards at times .. a bit upright accelerating backwards .. fairly smooth skater backwards and can stop and start or change directions fairly quickly .. must be careful not to lose positioning on opponents along the boards and get walked out of the corners by skilled opponents .. Wolves' top defenseman offensively and double-shifted on powerplay .. makes quick, accurate passes, be it breakout, in the neutral zone, or set up in the offensive zone .. an able passer on the backhand .. also an adept saucer passer .. has a decent shot from the point, but not ultra hard .. did play on the penalty kill to help develop that part of his game further .. may top out as a top-four defenseman in the AHL, but could still develop into an NHL defenseman that sees regular time at even strength and on the second powerplay unit.

Jordan LaVallee (Atl), LW, Chicago Wolves

In his third year in the AHL and not looking much closer to the NHL than last season .. has a little dangle with the puck and is fairly confident with the puck, but still loses control too often to be considered a truly adroit stickhandler .. has a decent shot, especially when he hits the net .. must make sure not to reduce his own angle .. saw some time on both the powerplay and penalty kill .. if it hasn't happened already, Machacek and Holzapfel will pass him on the Thrashers' depth chart soon .. does have the tools to become a third or fourth-line NHLer.

Arturs Kulda (Atl), D, Chicago Wolves

May lack speed, but still steps up on opponents in the neutral zone and at the blueline often .. not particularly physical stepping up on opponents, but separated opponents from the puck or stick-checked it away .. willing to engage physically down low and block shots .. a wide-tracked skater with average speed .. strides had a little power, but were slow .. typically makes crisp, accurate passes .. passing game still needs a little polish, though .. has a fairly hard shot from the point that he keeps low .. does have a little playmaking in him to set up teammates for prime opportunities around the net .. needs to work on fast-twitch muscle fibers, it would appear, but 20-year-old Latvian still has time to develop into an NHL-caliber defenseman.

Dan Turple (Atl), G, Chicago Wolves

Gigantic 6-foot-6, 213-pound goaltender finds ways to stop the puck .. not the most technical of goaltenders .. a bit of a throwback in his use of double-pad stacks, but does have very long legs to make those saves .. also uses long legs for kick saves .. lacks crease mobility .. fairly slow down and up and not particularly quick getting across, although his long legs can rescue him some .. does take up a lot of space in the net from the butterfly position .. makes a lot of "spectacular saves," but that comes from his slow crease movements, lateral and vertical .. able to launch the puck to spring teammates offensively .. needs to work on crease movements to allow him to play a more technical game and to try to stop the puck more often with his massive body .. this was his first career AHL start and only gave up one goal on 21 shots.

Tomas Pospisil (Atl), LW, Chicago Wolves

Played the bulk of 2007-08 with Gwinnett in the ECHL and is slotting into a defensive role with Chicago in 2008-09 .. showed a little cruising speed on the forecheck and finished his checks with some force .. skating is a little different, as his legs angle from his knees down to make an upside-down "V," giving him short, quick strides .. demonstrated some poise with the puck in not panicking with bouncing pucks and calmly corralling it .. also demonstrated some offensive vision to spot teammates breaking for the net .. needs to make sure he doesn't make a small circle when he should stop and start defensively .. currently a long shot to have a career in the NHL, but would still benefit from making corrections to his skating, as he might become a capable checking or energy-line forward at the NHL level.

Scott Lehman (Atl), D, Chicago Wolves

Third-year pro still does not appear to be an everyday AHL defenseman .. speed of the AHL seems slightly overwhelming .. makes passes to "Ghost Wolf" too often and takes ill-advised shots at the point that are easily blocked out of the zone .. hot-potatoes the puck at times, rushing it off his stick .. can make a fairly crisp pass, though .. when given a little time handling the puck, will sometimes make that one extra handle of the puck before moving it .. does try to engage physically, but loses too many of these battles .. can execute a nice hip check on slower AHL opponents .. skating is a little wide-tracked forward and gives him average speed at best .. can stop backwards quickly to stick with opponents who attempt to hold up .. looking more like a career Double-A caliber player.