Dustin Tokarski offers yet one more instance of why depth is so very important to an NHL group.
He has carried out that earlier than. All over the place, it appears. That significance extends nicely past the NHL roster as nicely. 5-and-a-half years in the past, Tokarski helped a gaggle of Carolina Hurricanes prospects discover their strategy to a Calder Cup championship. Now he might be positioned to assist one other wave of younger Hurricanes expertise discover its method within the AHL.
First return to the 2018-19 season. Tokarski, 29 years outdated on the time, had come to the Charlotte Checkers late within the 2018-19 season in a take care of the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Checkers had rising prospect Alex Nedeljkovic in internet that season on their strategy to a 51-17-7-1 regular-season end. However the crew wanted a bit of additional insurance coverage in internet and to lighten Nedeljkovic’s workload, and Tokarski supplied precisely that type of assist. Down the stretch he went 7-0-0 | 1.14 | .956 for the Checkers after which went 5-0-0 | 1.74 | .935 through the Calder Cup Playoffs. Including Tokarski ended up being probably the greatest late-season AHL trades of the previous decade.
However that Charlotte roster has lengthy since scattered. For one, the Hurricanes-Checkers affiliation itself formally ended simply 15 months after Charlotte had lifted the Calder Cup. Charlotte ended up in an affiliation with the Florida Panthers that has discovered success. The Hurricanes ended up affiliating with the Chicago Wolves – the crew that fell to Charlotte within the 2019 Finals whereas partnered with the Vegas Golden Knights – and received the 2022 Calder Cup. Then the Hurricanes-Wolves association got here undone. The 2 sides spent final season aside earlier than getting again collectively this season.
From that 2019 championship roster, Martin Necas has gone on to turn out to be a pressure with the Hurricanes, rating third in NHL scoring. Nedeljkovic, Jake Bean, Morgan Geekie, Steven Lorentz, and Nicolas Roy all have turn out to be NHL regulars. Head coach Mike Vellucci is now an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ryan Warsofsky, an assistant coach with the Checkers that season, went on to win one other Calder Cup in 2022 and now guides the San Jose Sharks. Patrick Brown, Trevor Carrick, Roland McKeown, Andrew Poturalski, and Dan Renouf are among the many base of that Charlotte crew who nonetheless are contributing on the AHL degree. Others discovered roles in high-level leagues throughout Europe. A handful of gamers have retired.
As for Tokarski, his path took him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rochester, again to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and as soon as once more one other cease in Rochester. Alongside the best way, he additionally ended up taking part in a mixed 46 video games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres, together with a career-high 29 on the NHL degree in 2021-22.
However now Tokarski is 35 years outdated. After getting caught in a crowded goaltending image final season in Rochester, no jobs materialized through the summer season. It was a tough job marketplace for veteran goalies generally. Malcolm Subban went unsigned earlier than ultimately ending up with the Belleville Senators following a fast cease with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Tokarski needed to accept a training-camp invitation with the Ottawa Senators that in the end didn’t pan out. Michael Hutchinson and Kasimir Kaskisuo, two confirmed goaltenders at this degree are nonetheless unsigned after temporary NHL training-camp stints again in September.
When the season opened, Tokarski didn’t have a job. And shortly the Wolves would have all types of questions in internet.
Spencer Martin had been despatched to Chicago going into the season. Martin is a dependable 29-year-old who might deal with the number-one job for the Wolves and new head coach Cam Abbott. Yaniv Perets, who had been with the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals final season, in the meantime might compete with 2023 fifth-rounder Ruslan Khazheyev for added work behind Martin. That plan made sense and adopted a longtime association that many NHL organizations make the most of on the AHL degree.
That plan shortly unraveled for the Carolina group, nevertheless. An harm to Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen prompted Martin’s recall from the Wolves simply two weeks into the season. Pyotr Kochetkov took management of the Carolina internet with Martin in a back-up position.
Again with the Wolves, Martin’s departure brought on its personal points.
All of this occurred as Hurricanes prospects discovered themselves making an attempt to deal with the adjustment to the AHL and to one another. After having a number of prospects scattered throughout the hockey map final season, an necessary factor of reuniting with the Wolves was having an opportunity to deliver that younger expertise underneath the Carolina group’s personal day-to-day management once more. Have them taking part in the identical system, listening to the identical coaches, and starting to gel collectively.
And it’s a significant crop of gamers that the Hurricanes have positioned with Chicago. Domenick Fensore, Noel Gunler, Aleksi Heimosalmi, Scott Morrow, Bradly Nadeau, Ronan Seeley, and Felix Unger-Sorum all assist to make up a robust prospect group. Ryan Suzuki has had an up-and-down begin to his professional profession, however he’s nonetheless solely 23.
All of that youth is there to develop, which is a long-term funding for the Hurricanes however one which comes with day-to-day problems within the current. Rapidly it grew to become obvious that Chicago’s goaltending wanted a lift. Perets surrendered 5 objectives apiece in his first two begins. Khazheyev solely turned 20 this week and got here to North America with all of 1 recreation of professional expertise behind him. To proceed to go solely with two goaltenders unproven within the AHL might danger the event of Carolina’s different prospects in Chicago. And it additionally risked the long-term well-being of two younger netminders making an attempt to determine themselves as execs.
Already Abbott has been capable of get this crew to play accountable hockey. They permit the fewest photographs per recreation within the AHL (24.8). Scoring stays a big challenge, although, as they rank second-from-last at 1.83 objectives per recreation. If the Wolves can get their scoring and special-teams play on monitor – the ability play ranks final whereas the penalty kill is twenty eighth – they might trigger issues for opponents.
That’s the place Tokarski, who has performed 80 profession NHL video games, got here into the image. The Wolves introduced the 35-year-old in on an expert tryout Nov. 2.
He has introduced instantaneous safety in internet for the Wolves. Together with that 2019 championship, he additionally took the Norfolk Admirals to the 2012 title. That Norfolk crew received a league-record 28 consecutive video games and tore by way of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Exterior of the AHL, he additionally has taken on a few of the most pressure-packed goaltending assignments that the game can supply. As a 20-year-old he helped take Canada to the gold medal on the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship, and he did it on dwelling ice in Ottawa, no much less. A yr earlier, he had carried the Spokane Chiefs to a Memorial Cup title. In 2014, he stepped in for Carey Worth with the Montreal Canadiens of their Japanese Convention Closing match-up with the New York Rangers. That position for Tokarski included two elimination video games – one at Bell Centre, one at Madison Sq. Backyard – earlier than the Rangers took that sequence. When the Habs wanted assist in internet that yr, they relied on the type of depth that Tokarski might deliver.
This can be a goaltender who can deal with strain. And a goaltender like that may quiet down a younger crew, particularly one struggling to search out scoring. In his season debut final Sunday, he shut out the Rockford IceHogs with a 29-save afternoon.
Then got here phrase on Thursday that Andersen’s well being has way more long-term implications. Carolina introduced that he can have knee surgical procedure Friday and be out between 8-12 weeks. The lengthy finish of that timeline would put Andersen’s return within the second half of February. This can be a crew that has began 14-5-0-0. It’s cheap to contemplate Carolina as a possible Stanley Cup contender. It’s much more cheap to suppose that common supervisor Eric Tulsky is perhaps busy
Proper round when the Andersen information trickled out Thursday, Tokarski was doing his job once more for the Wolves. Taking part in a morning highway recreation at Manitoba, he shut down the Moose with 25 stops in a 5-0 win. He’s 54-for-54 in stopping opponents to date, and abruptly a crew that had mustered 18 objectives in its first 11 video games now has unloaded 9 objectives in two video games. The ability play is starting to point out some life as nicely with a 3-for-14 efficiency in these two wins.
Tokarski is now as much as eleventh all-time in wins by an AHL goaltender with 218. Ought to he stick to the Wolves for a protracted spell, it’s actually conceivable that he might tie or go AHL Corridor of Fame member Frederic Cassivi’s 232 wins for seventh in league historical past. Tokarski’s two shutouts in two begins now have him as much as 30 in his AHL profession, placing him eighth in league historical past. Jason LaBarbera’s 32 shutouts could be subsequent.
Even with these accomplishments, what is perhaps subsequent for Tokarski continues to be murky. His masks nonetheless bears Buffalo’s blue-and-gold theme as do his pads, in spite of everything. If the Hurricanes exit and purchase goaltending assist, that will push Martin again to the Wolves and crowd the Chicago internet. Perhaps Perets may get a shot with Carolina. Tulsky even raised Tokarski’s title unprompted in an interview with the team website, saying that the veteran “might be an possibility for us.”
Hockey, particularly within the AHL, might be such a day-to-day existence. What the Hurricanes do or don’t do will impression the Wolves immediately. At 5-7-1-0, Abbott’s membership nonetheless has a number of work to do. However for now, a minimum of, Tokarski has work, and the Wolves look much more harmful.
2024 Chicago Wolves vs Manitoba Moose
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