By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
The 91 points earned by the Rochester Americans last season looked good on the stat sheet and even in the American Hockey League standings.
But in reality, it’s difficult to consider the season a success. The talk had been about rebuilding the stature of what once was a cornerstone AHL franchise. And while progress was made in restoring pride in the Amerks crest, the season ended in a first-round playoffs sweep.
“That just raises our expectations to the season,” third-year defenseman Brendan Guhle said. “We’re going in with the mindset to go a lot deeper.”
Here are eight points to ponder as the Amerks head into Friday’s 7:05 p.m. season opener against the Charlotte Checkers.
The defense appears to be stacked
If defense wins, then the Amerks will be just fine. There’s a perfect mix of experience with Zack Redmond, Taylor Fedun, Nathan Paetsch and Andrew MacWilliam, and young prospects in Guhle, Jack Dougherty and rookies Will Borgen, Brandon Hickey and Lawrence Pilut.
In some ways, it’s a trip back in time to when the Amerks defense always had that mix of talented veterans and NHL prospects (think 1999-2000 Mike Hurlbut and Doug Houda alongside Brian Campbell, Dmitri Kalinin and Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre).
Amerks coach Chris Taylor can certainly draw parallels because he played on those perennial playoff powers of the late 1990s and into the 2000s.
“That’s what you need to groom those young defensemen,” Taylor said. “But it’s not just the experience back there, it’s the youth; Dougherty and Borgen and Pilut.”
Who’s stopping the puck?
The Amerks believe it usually will be Scott Wedgewood, with Adam Wilcox again serving as the backup. Linus Ullmark, the mainstay in goal the past two seasons, has graduated to the parent Buffalo Sabres.
Wedgewood is starting his seventh pro season and is intent on re-establishing himself as a goalie with NHL skills. He missed most of 2016-17 with a shoulder injury and last season was traded twice and never really felt at home anywhere.
The Sabres signed him on the first day of free agency, an indication they believe in his ability.
Who’s going to score goals?
This won’t necessarily be a goals-by-committee approach. Left winger C.J. Smith will build on a very good rookie season, when he produced 17-27-44 in 57 games, and center Danny O’Regan needs to rebound from a so-so sophomore season..
Right winger Justin Bailey has 30-plus goal potential. He certainly didn’t plan to be starting his fourth season in the AHL, but if he’s going to play in the NHL, then he needs to dominate here.
The top rookie to watch
Baseball fans love the home-run hitters and hockey fans love the goal-scorers. Which means left winger Victor Olofsson should be pretty popular.
Olofsson piled up 27 goals in 50 Swedish Hockey League games, best in the league and the highest total in the SHL in three years.
He has the advantage of experience, since he’s coming to North America at age 23.
“We expect the same thing,” Taylor said. “We expect a little bit of adjustment but that shouldn’t take away from his goal-scoring. And he’s a really good passer.”
Does Alex Nylander emerge as a legitimate prospect?
He’d better, because this is Year No. 3 for the player chosen eighth overall in 2016. He scored 8-19-27 in 51 games last year after 10-10-18-28 in 65 games as a rookie.
The thing is, the organization isn’t saying it’s make-or-break time. Nylander is still just 20. While his brother, William, was playing NHL games at age 19, there is no chart that says every player matures at the same rate.
He has dominated against his age all throughout his career, so there is a school of thought that says he’ll be just fine in time.
“Everybody’s their own person,” Taylor said. “You can’t judge on siblings or on this guy or that guy. Every individual is different.”
A large leadership group
Taylor named 32-year-old Kevin Porter, an 11th-year veteran, his captain again. But instead of two players wearing the “A” as alternate captain, he named five, opting to rotate the A’s among Redmond, Fedun, MacWilliam, Paetsch and center Kyle Criscuolo.
Will the Amerks be better on Fridays?
Taylor hopes so, because the team was pretty awful in a lot of Friday first periods on home ice a year ago. They often found themselves trailing by two or three goals.
Taylor said he had his team practicing harder early in the week, then tapered toward Friday. “I’m kind of going the other way on that this year,” he said.
New at the arena
A video board with a screen that is 10 feet high and 16 feet wide. It’s the same board that is used in nine NHL arenas.
Delaware North has replaced the SMG subsidiary as the concessionaire.
Fans to all events in the arena will be subject to search wanding upon entry.
The glass partition the separated the ticket windows from the lower concourse has been removed, opening up the lobby somewhat.
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