Wolves open AHL home season vs. Milwaukee Saturday
Like the Blackhawks, the Chicago Wolves made a lot of roster changes in the hockey offseason after they advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals and were knocked out by Texas.
And like his counterpart on the Blackhawks, Wolves captain Jason Krog isn't worried because there's still a solid core in place.
“We lost some talented players, Krog admitted before quickly noting that general manager Wendell Young kept some key players and brought in some younger but talented players as well.
“It's nice to have (Darren) Haydar back, Krog said. “Playing with Darren is a great opportunity. (Jared) Ross is a dominant player and (Fredrick) Pettersson came from Sweden.
“The young guys are more mature, and (guys like) (Spencer) Machacek are going to take a bigger role. We also added more experience on the defensive end. That's probably going to be our strength.
The hometown fans will get a chance to see for themselves as the Wolves take on the Milwaukee Admirals in a home-and-home series Friday night in Milwaukee and then Saturday night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Last weekend the Wolves opened the 2010-2011 season splitting a two-game road trip by defeating the Oklahoma City Barons 2-1 and falling to the San Antonio Rampage 6-3.
Last season the Wolves got off to a rough start, which didn't sit well with team officials. After firing Don Granato as head coach just 7 games into the season, Don Lever took over and led the Wolves to Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, where they fell 6-5 in overtime to the Texas Stars.
Since then, a lot of changes have been made to the roster. The Wolves lost a lot of offense in Tim Stapleton, Brett Sterling, Johnny Pohl, Anthony Stewart and Joey Crabb, but they bring back Krog, Machacek and Riley Holzapfel.
Just as Krog is excited to begin the season, Haydar is exited to be back in Chicago.
“Chicago was the place I wanted to be in the AHL, he said. “When you come to the rink this organization expects to win, and I want that.
Young was concerned had with the lack of toughness on last year's team, and the general manager believes that has been addressed this season.
“We added some toughness and size with (6-foot-4) (Andre) Deveaux and (6-foot-5) (Ian) McKenzie, the former Wolves goaltender said. “We didn't have that last year.
With Lever taking over during the season last year, a lot of time was taken for players to get acclimated to his system. This season, Lever was able to run his own training camp and is helped by his returning players willing to teach the new additions.
“It's definitely beneficial (to run training camp), Lever said. “Things get into place sooner and hopefully guys buy in.
Lever said he believes the team started to come together on the first road trp. After a poor first 2 periods in San Antonio, the Wolves finished the 3rd period strong and played a strong game against Oklahoma City.
The Wolves still had some issues that Krog would like to eliminate, such as critical mistakes that led to giving up odd-man rushes, but Lever knows it will take time for all of the new defenseman on this year's roster to come together.
If the Wolves are going to contend for the Calder Trophy, they're going to need to take care of business within the Western Division, a division that includes the Texas Stars, Peoria Rivermen, Houston Aeros and Milwaukee Admirals.