Whale Watch

The AHL Connecticut Whale are back at it tonight as they head to Springfield to take on a team that’s just 2 points behind them in the division standings. With the Rangers enjoying a day off (sort of) – before getting into an early tussle with the Flyers on Sunday – it’s a game worth keeping an eye on because of the Rangers prospects involved.

Front and center of all those is Evgeny Grachev who has started to string some good performances together and who finally seems to be getting a real grip on the pro game – leaving legitimate hope that he may be a Rangers candidate next season. The big Russian has played 54 games for the Whale this year and is two points off matching last years 28 which he achieved in 80 games. More importantly however is the consistency. During Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over today’s opponent Grachev had an assist and was +2 as well as having 2 shots. While he was a non factor the Saturday before in a 1-0 loss to Charlotte (everyone was), he did manage to collect an assist in a 5-1 loss to the same Charlotte side the Thursday prior. Before that and Grachev collected a goal, a +1 rating and 5 shots as the Whale edged a 2-1 victory over Portland. The game prior to that and he had another assist. The thing is, the Whale aren’t scoring a lot, or at least consistently but Grachev is often involved in the offense they do generate. He’s definitely in need of staying Connecticut for the time being but it seems he’s finding a way of being more of a presence and that bodes well for the future.

Other Ranger candidates are also acquitting themselves well in the AHL. There’s the classic ‘tweeners such as Jeremy Williams and Kris Newbury (which every good, deep organisation needs) who are leading the team offensively but players such as Dale Weise, Chad Kolarik (‘tweener or legit prospect?…) and Tomas Kundratek are becoming – or already are – important pieces for the Whale. While Weise has an unattractive -11 blotch on his record he is close to averaging a point/game for the Whale. One wonders whether Weise may fall into the ‘tweener category but it’s hard to believe he won’t have one more camp next season to convince the Rangers staff he’s deserving of more NHL time.

With this bunch of prospects and the ever changing goalie situation at the Whale (not to mention the likes of Pavel Valentenko) it’s a team that’s worth keeping an eye on as their season heads into the stretch run. The Whale may not seem as deep or as full of prospects as they did until recently but there’s a legitimate reason for that; just look at the Rangers roster for the evidence. With the likes of Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello playing solid roles for the Rangers the Whale have had to fill in with PTO’s and ECHL players here and there. Doing an admirable job after a bad start to the year, 2 points against Springfield tonight will help the Whale aim for the AHL playoffs once more.