ALONE. Ville Meskanen is the only Scandinavian left on the Hartford Wolf Pack roster after the last few days. Photo: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire
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Breaking away from the Wolf Pack – only one Scandinavian left in Hartford

Rosters change quickly in the AHL, and the Hartford Wolf Pack’s trio of European forward talent has been split three ways just six weeks into the regular season.

Top prospect Lias Andersson earned a promotion to the parent New York Rangers on November 5th, and the only question for him now is how long it will take him to establish himself as a full-time act in Manhattan. The Rangers chose the forward seventh in the 2017 NHL Draft, and he has delivered on his potential so far.

Years of trading away draft picks had eroded the Rangers’ farm system considerably. Management in New York has attempted to fast-track the rebuilding process by signing free-agent talent out of college hockey and Europe rather than waiting exclusively for the long grind of stocking talent via the NHL Draft.

PLANS CHANGE

But the offseason makeover made to further that objective and brought a pair of high-end veteran forwards from Europe to the Connecticut capital has started to fray for the Rangers and Wolf Pack. While forward Ville Meskanen, a sniper from Ilves in Finland’s Liiga, continues his shift to North America, Michael Lindqvist is back in Europe after 16 games in the AHL.

The Rangers put Lindqvist on unconditional waivers on November 12th, a move that to allow the team and Lindqvist to terminate the contract that they had signed this past May.

The 24-year-old Lindqvist arrived in New York this summer full of hope after a wildly successful 2017-18 Swedish Hockey League season with Färjestad BK. He posted 20 goals and 34 points in 33 regular-season games and was a force on the power play.

Lindqvist, who’s back in Färjestad, has company joining him for the trip back to Europe. Forward Dennis Everberg of the Manitoba Moose went on unconditional waivers with Lindqvist that same day. A few hours later, Hershey Bears forward Axel Jonsson Fjällby elected to return to his native Sweden for the season, and the parent Washington Capitals granted his wish with a loan to Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League.


Michael Lindqvist. Photo: Ronnie Rönnkvist

THOSE THREE-IN-THREE WEEKENDS

Just before the Rangers recalled him from Hartford on November 5th, Andersson had pushed through the demands of playing three road games in a span of 48 hours. That followed a busy October schedule for the Wolf Pack.

He departed Hartford with 4-8-12 in 14 games, the enthusiastic support of head coach Keith McCambridge, and few more lessons. McCambridge is a devotee of video, something that Andersson tapped into to further his hockey education.
“I’ve learned a lot, watching a lot of video and trying to soak everything up,” said Andersson, who was playing on a line with Lindqvist and NHL veteran Matt Beleskey.

McCambridge, a former captain at the AHL and ECHL levels during his own playing days, is a stickler for even the smallest details, and that extends off the ice for a 20-year-old trying to find his way through life in North America.

Although the AHL has shifted toward a more speed- and skill-oriented game recently, it still remains a tough, physical league full of busy weekends spent on smaller ice surfaces. That is a transition that every European-trained player faces in the second-best league in North America.
“It’s a different game, I’ll say,” Andersson said of his adjustment as he continues to learn the responsibilities that differ with breakouts, puck support, and neutral-zone play that differ on a smaller ice surface.

Even though he was fewer than 24 hours away from receiving a phone call from the Rangers at the time, Andersson delivered a humble self-assessment while still catching his breath after a 2–1 shootout loss at Hershey on November 4th.
“I think I have to be better overall,” Andersson said. “Stronger, and my conditioning has to be better. A little bit quicker. I’m working on that every day.”

In many ways, however, Andersson is built for the North American game. At 5’11” and 205 pounds, his sturdy frame is well-suited for the board battles and in-tight play that characterize the North American game.

McCambridge provided a more enthusiastic scouting report, however.
“For Lias, it’s about consistency. He has a really high ceiling on his skill level. The [competitiveness] is through the roof. The protection of the puck down low. It’s just that consistency.”
“We’re building off the strengths [that got] him drafted and working on some of the deficiencies in his game, but I like where his game is at.”


Lias Andersson. Photo: Bildbyrån

FINDING HIS WAY

Meskanen delivered a two-goal game for the Wolf Pack on November 9th. His second goal that night would look familiar to anyone who watched him skate with Ilves, where his 24 goals last season placed him third in the Liiga.

With an ability to drift away from opponents undetected in the high slot, Meskanen is able to set himself up to deliver a powerful one-time shot that has handcuffed many opposing goaltenders. Even on the smaller ice surface, he was able to take a pass from veteran forward Peter Holland and unleash that shot. Through his first 16 AHL games, he went 4-4-8 for a Wolf Pack team still trying to establish itself in the Atlantic Division.

With Lindqvist now gone, and Andersson’s status uncertain, the Hartford line-up could use that kind of skill from Meskanen.

Meskanen, who turned 23 on October 2nd, says that the AHL and Liiga compare well to each other. But the similarities end there between the patient Liiga style and the more chaotic AHL game.
“I think the players are pretty much at the same level, but the game is so much different,” Meskanen said. “The smaller rink makes it so much faster.”

An easygoing personality, Meskanen has not found the off-ice transition difficult in Hartford.
“I’m at home playing my video games and talking to my friends,” Meskanen said laughing while pointing to his head to pantomime headphones. “It’s a small world these days.”

With the Rangers in a state of transition, Meskanen sensed an opportunity could be found in New York. The Rangers’ storied history only made it more alluring.
“An Original Six team, and what’s a better way to get the first [NHL] game than at Madison Square Garden?”

AN AHL HEAD COACH’S TO-DO LIST

One could argue that the AHL’s hectic weekend schedules are a feature rather than a bug of the player development process that seeks to convert raw talent into an NHL player. The process is not always pretty, and it sometimes requires a player to simplify his game in order to make it through a weekend, but it can be revealing for an NHL front office.
“You learn a lot about individuals through adversity,” McCambridge said. “In these 3-in-3 [weekends] that we all know are a part of the AHL, it’s finding ways to win games,

McCambridge is familiar with the process of guiding top-tier young talent like Andersson. He had Czech top prospect Filip Chytil as an 18-year-old last season in Hartford.

Before Lindqvist departed, he had impressed McCambridge, and Meskanen’s play has been encouraging as well. Growing pains as players become more familiar with the AHL game are to be expected, and McCambridge tries to walk a thin line between trying to tailor a player’s game for the North American style without sacrificing the talent that put him there in the first place.
“You try not to take away the skill level, creativity, and gifts that they have, but help them on what can give them a chance to have the puck more,” McCambridge said.

That work continues off the ice.
“Sometimes people don’t realize how young they are,” McCambridge said. “Just your day-to-day dealing with life. I know that it’s something that doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something that as a staff from top to bottom, coaches and trainers and veteran players, we look to help those guys make it through the day and feel comfortable away from the rink.”

When a player arrives in New York from Hartford, the Rangers expect him to be ready to go on and off the ice. McCambridge’s job is to make sure that a young talent like Andersson – and perhaps Meskanen later — is equipped to do so.
“You almost look at it like a parent, like you would with your kids,” McCambridge explained. “You want to make sure that they give themselves the best chance to never come back to the American League.”

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