A Year in Review: The Chicago Wolves

A postmortem, of sorts

After a year away between the two teams, the Chicago Wolves and Carolina Hurricanes came together and found a resolution. After a down year where the Wolves were independent, the first time in almost 30 years that an AHL team went independent, and the Hurricanes relied on the Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL and the Tucson Roadrunners and Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL to help play prospects, both sides decided it was better to affiliate.

With a surplus of prospects making the jump to professional hockey, and a few that were ready for something more than the ECHL, the Wolves were poised to be a super young team. Hiring Cam Abbott, who had success with a younger team in Rogle in the SHL, was the right choice. He was instrumental in helping the Wolves go back to playoffs and helping quite a few prospects make their NHL debuts, or NHL re-debuts. Special shoutout also goes to Spiros Anastas, who molded the penalty kill into a unit who killed at a near 83% clip.

This team was young, there is no doubt about it. The age of their top 5 scorers were 23, 19, 21, 22, and 27. Again, credit to Cam Abbott and the coaching staff for molding the young guys into good players, getting the most out of their blossoming talent and helping them with key development.

The Positives

Bradly Nadeau, the 30th overall pick in 2023, had one of the best U20 AHL seasons in the past 20 years. His 32 goals has him tied for 4th for single season goal scoring by a U20 player. His 58 points has him 12th for all time points in a U20 season. He finished 2nd in rookie scoring. He was undeniable on the power play, if the puck came to him in the left circle and it was in his wheelhouse, it was going in the back of the net more times than it wasn’t. His play off the puck came along nicely, along with his playmaking.

Justin Robidas was unbelievable in what was his rookie season in the AHL. He finished 4th in rookie scoring with 55 points. He was a key penalty killer, he was a key power play player, he played center at times, he played wing at times. Whatever Cam Abbott asked Robidas to do, Robidas did it and did it well. He even made his NHL debut and looked really solid in those game. I was bullish on Justin Robidas’ NHL future at the beginning of the season and continue to remain steadfast in my belief in Robidas becoming an NHL player.

Charles-Alexis Legault’s defense was spectacular. He was one of the first defenseman over the boards anytime a penalty kill happened and his even strength defense was stellar. His hockey IQ is insanely high, and his offense has become better at the professional level. His physicality is key in his ability to defend, using his God-given size to just move people. He’s not unwilling to answer for his hits, but maybe a couple fighting lessons with Georges St-Pierre would do him well.

Ryan Suzuki was healthy for the first time in years and just look how good he was. Tied for 2nd in the AHL in assists and led the Wolves in points. Finally making his NHL debut and being named an AHL All Star, basically everything went right for Suzuki this year and he finally got to show the potential he has.

I almost can’t even count Scott Morrow (I definitely can and will) as an AHL player this year because he spent a hefty chunk of the season with the NHL roster, but when he played in the AHL, he was an unreal player. His passing was crisp and quick, his skating was next level, and his offensive ability was second to none. The defense has improved and he should be competing for an NHL spot going into next year.

Domenick Fensore was arguably the Wolves best defenseman this season. He was a true 200 foot player that did everything to a high level every time he stepped on the ice. He also made his NHL debut this year and looked really, really good. I’m glad that most (but not all, sadly) put the “he’s too small” qualms to rest because it really didn’t affect him at the NHL level.

You didn’t hear much about Ronan Seeley, but in his case, that’s a good thing. Seeley is a shutdown defender that did a good job in that role. He played a big part on the PK and helped stabilize Morrow when Morrow played in the AHL.

Noel Gunler falls into the “got a month of game time taken away right before the playoffs” category as he got injured right before the playoffs. Other than that, he was really solid for the Wolves, his shot being a big boost on the second power play unit.

Felix Unger Sorum

Yes, Felix gets his own category. Most people were immediately wondering why Felix didn’t put up more points than he did in his first season in the AHL, some even called him a bust (very few). Here’s the thing with Felix, this season wasn’t great. Obviously, the points weren’t there, but that wasn’t for a lack of ability. When you watch the games, you can see that the same traits that Felix flashed in the SHL that allowed him to play elevated minutes as a 17 and 18-year old were still coming through. His puck luck was just downright awful. Also, keep in mind that Unger Sorum played the first half of the season at center, a position that he hadn’t played in almost a decade.

I thought Felix had a good season but was just unlucky. He’s still incredible with the puck on his stick and he has the innate ability to create offense almost out of nothing. He still gets bullied off the puck from time to time, which can be fixed by adding some weight during the offseason. Again, the points indicate it was a bad season for Felix, the eye test indicate different.

The Incompletes

Gleb Trikozov had started to put together a game that found success, and then he got hurt. A nasty looking leg injury took away almost the entire season away from the Russian, but he persevered and came back in enough time before the playoffs to refind that game and be a contributor. A higher being didn’t want to see that apparently, as a second lower body injury took that away as well. Hoping for a full recovery for Gleb and a return to the game that he played right before the injury.

Dominik Badinka got the most run out of any late season adds for the Wolves and I liked his game for the most part. He showed good play at times, especially defensively, but took some unfortunate penalties.

I thought Joel Nystrom looked good enough to play in the playoffs. I thought his game translated really well in the few games he played before the season ended.

Ruslan Khazheyev

You knew it was coming. Look, Khazheyev’s counting stats are downright ugly to look at. I will remind everyone that Ruslan was playing against U20 players over the past two years and his only senior experience was (1) game at the VHL level. It wasn’t even that he had an awful year with no good starts, but the shaky ones outweigh the good ones.

I’ve said it multiple times that the vision with Khazheyev is clear. A big, lanky goalie that has great movement in the crease is someone that you try and mold because those types don’t grow on trees. But he came over about as raw technically as you can imagine and he relied on his athletic ability more than he should’ve. He needs more time and he’ll get it.

Aleksi Heimosalmi

There were moments with Heimosalmi where he looked really good. Whole games worth of moments, but the issue is that they were just moments. “Salami”, as some teammates called him, really struggled with consistency as the season went along. There were good moments and then there were bad, never finding a level of steady play. Interested to see what happens with him because the Canes have 3 RHD with AHL experience signed through next season, and that’s not even including Bryce Montgomery in that conversation.

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Overall, I think this season was a success for the Wolves. Obviously, making the playoffs after missing last season is a big reason to be happy with success shown, but the way that Abbott had these players ready to make the jump to the NHL when called or even molding these guys into better versions of themselves both on and off the ice is a success.

To finish up, let me make a fool of myself with a Super Duper Early Projected Wolves Lineup.

???-Robidas-???

???-???-Unger Sorum

Gleb-???-???

Slavin-???-???

???-Legault

???-Nystrom

???-Badinka

Miftakhov

Khazheyev

As we can see, there are a lot of question marks because the Canes have a lot of guys to make decisions on. Ryan Suzuki, Domenick Fensore, Ronan Seeley, Noel Gunler, (and a ton of other guys that I don’t consider as prospects) are all free agents and I don’t have a clue what they plan on doing there. Amir Miftakhov will be coming to North America (confirmed reports from 2 different Russian media members) and I don’t believe he’s the only Russian making the move, but I’m not 100% sure who will yet so I don’t want to speculate wildly.