| | The term March Madness is already taken, so the annual rites of spring when AHL and IHL teams prepare for the playoffs have to be called something else. March Mayhem, perhaps?
This year's "Clear Day" roster filing, which establishes a list of players eligible for the postseason, was unusually frenzied. NHL teams made deals designed to strengthen their affiliates; AHL and IHL teams dealt inter-league; and teams in the same league, but in different divisions, were active, too.
While recalls and injuries allow some room for teams once the playoff roster is set, the trading is done for this particular session of the talent exchange. Here are some highlights and key deals, with which teams seemed to have improved the most:
AHL
Defending Calder Cup champion Providence was busy, as owner Ed Anderson generally is. The Bruins traded their captain, Sean Pronger, and Keith McCambridge to Manitoba of the IHL for veteran defenseman Terry Hollinger. Anderson, good friends with Islanders GM Mike Milbury, also got veteran defenseman Aris Brimanis and Hobey Baker Award winner Jason Krog from New York. With Boston probably out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Providence will get some key players when the NHL season ends.
|  | | Eric Fichaud, shown in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform, is on the move once again. |
When Montreal picked up goalie Eric Fichaud on waivers and then sent him down to Quebec, that allowed the Citadelles to deal goalie Dan Murphy to the Philadelphia Phantoms for winger Chris Albert. The deal filled needs on both sides. Murphy was selected to the All-Star team last month. The Citadelles also did business with Grand Rapids of the IHL, trading their captain, Jason McBain, to the Griffins and getting forward Jeff Shevalier in return. McBain had the same thing happen last year, when he went from Las Vegas of the IHL to Providence at the deadline. Shevalier is on his fourth team this year.
Like Providence, Syracuse figures to get much stronger when the NHL season ends and Vancouver sends back players like Harold Druken. Ahead of that, the Canucks put big forward Harry York through waivers and sent him to the Crunch and moved goalie Corey Schwab back there from the IHL, where he had been in Orlando. Syracuse traded disappointing veteran forward Martin Gendron to Springfield in exchange for steady, classy defenseman Sean McCann.
The Falcons also got Philippe Audet down from Phoenix after the Coyotes got him in an NHL deal. Audet had been with Cincinnati.
Rochester, which has clinched first place in the Empire Division, got gifted forward J.P. Dumont courtesy of parent Buffalo, which acquired him in a trade with the Blackhawks.
Cincinnati got college defenseman Dwayne Zinger from Alaska-Fairbanks when his season ended. Louisville lost forwards Chris Wells to Hartford and Kirby Law to Philadelphia as a result of NHL trades. Law just changed dressing rooms. The Panthers were hosting Philly the day he was dealt.
Lowell, which gets players from both the Kings and Islanders, got rookie goalie Roberto Luongo back from the Isles in advance of the roster deadlines and Mike Watt just before the deadline. The Lock Monsters also swapped forward Dave Hymnovitz to Houston of the IHL and got Jeff Dawe, also a forward, in return.
IHL
Grand Rapids, a strong team throughout the regular season, added some experience on defense in the McBain deal. The Griffins also swapped youth for experience with the Detroit Vipers, getting smooth veteran Dave Baseggio for Erich Goldmann.
The Orlando Solar Bears got solid veteran goaltender Rich Shulmistra from Louisville of the AHL. The Solar Bears sent goalie Scott Fankhouser and forward Wes Mason, who has spent a lot of his career in the ECHL, to Louisville.
The Kansas City Blades swapped goalies with Wilkes-Barre of the AHL, in a deal between two teams that are in line to miss the playoffs. Wilkes-Barre got Tyler Moss from KC, with the Blades picking up Ryan Bach.
Cleveland, Utah and Chicago also made deadline deals. The Grizzlies swapped Gord Dineen to the Wolves and got Brendan Buckley and Sean Berens in return. Utah then packaged Berens in a major trade with the Lumberjacks. Cleveland sent defenseman Ted Crowley to Utah and got goalie Ian Gordon, Berens and forward Joe Frederick in return.
On-ice playoff positioning
As all this was happening off the ice, the games were helping to sort out the playoff picture. Although no team in either league has been officially eliminated, here's how things are beginning to sift through in the two leagues:
With seven teams in the East and six in the West, the IHL uses a crossover to determine the five qualifiers in each conference. If the sixth-place team in the East has more points than No. 5 in the West, the Eastern team crosses over and plays in the West. That looks unlikely this season. Michigan, sixth in the East, is well behind fifth-place Houston in the West. Barring major comebacks, Michigan, Detroit and Kansas City will miss the postseason. But KC is still within reach of Houston.
The top three teams in each conference get a first-round bye. Fourth and fifth seeds play a best-of-three series for the right to play the first-place team in the conference semis, which is a best-of-seven as are all subsequent series.
The AHL, with two conferences broken down into two divisions each, also uses the crossover in the Eastern Conference. The New England Division has five teams, and the Atlantic has four. Springfield, currently fifth in the New England Division, is well ahead of St. John's, the fourth-place team in the Atlantic. The Falcons will probably cross over to the Atlantic for the Calder Cup playoffs. That will actually be good for Springfield since the entire Atlantic Division is just at, or below, the .500 mark. Whoever finishes first in New England (Portland or Hartford) will have a tougher opponent (Worcester or Providence) than Springfield will in its first round.
The Western Conference has two five-team divisions, so no crossover is necessary. Wilkes-Barre won't make it in the Empire Division and, at present, Cincinnati is in trouble in the Mid-Atlantic. The Mighty Ducks, however, would be in second place if they played in the Empire Division.
Bill Ballou covers professional hockey and baseball for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. | |
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