As the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to push toward the playoffs, their American Hockey League (AHL) counterpart, the Syracuse Crunch, are doing the same. They currently sit in second place in the North Division with 63 points. The Crunch are five points behind the division-leading Cleveland Monsters, with a game in hand, and find themselves with the fourth-best record in the conference. There have been some standout performers on the Crunch this season, with a few of them even seeing some action with the Lightning.
With the Lightning dealing with injuries and players that are not meeting expectations, a few young talents, like Emil Lilleberg, have made the jump to the NHL and have been able to stay afloat. With how things are going in Syracuse, there is reason to believe that there might be a few more prospects that can do the same. By all accounts, this has been a great season for the Crunch, both in their on-ice performances as well as their ability to help prospects become NHL-caliber players.
Season Overview
As previously mentioned, the Crunch are in second place in their division and look primed for the playoffs. How have they been in the first two months of the new year? In January, they went an impressive 8-2. They started the month off strong with back-to-back wins over the Toronto Marlies in the form of 6-3 and 4-3 victories, respectively. The Springfield Thunderbirds bested the Crunch on Jan. 12, but they did not lose again until Jan. 27. During that time, they were able to obtain five straight wins. What is even better is that they were able to beat the conference’s third-best team, the Monsters, and the second-best team, the Providence Bruins. After having their winning streak snapped on Jan. 27, the Crunch quickly bounced back with a 2-1 win over the Rochester Americans on Jan. 31.
February was not quite as strong, as the Crunch finished the month with a 5-5 record. The Belleville Senators had their way with the Crunch and beat them on back-to-back nights at the start of the month. They also handed them an additional loss on Feb. 14, which means that three of the five losses the Crunch had in the month of February were at the hands of the same divisional opponent. On a much better note, they picked up three wins over the Americans last month, who are also divisional opponents. The other two wins were a 2-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Feb. 17 and a 2-1 victory against the Utica Comets on Feb. 23. While the month of February was a mixed bag, the team has still performed quite well over the course of the season and put themselves in a great position heading down the home stretch.
There are three matchups in particular to watch out for this month. On March 16, the Crunch will take on the conference-leading Hershey Bears on the road. Then, on March 24 and 30, they have showdowns against the Bruins. These matchups are the last times this season that they will see either opponent, both of which are ahead of them in the standings. As they jockey for a higher seed, those matchups will be pivotal.
Forwards
There have been a number of forwards who have looked great for the Crunch this season. Perhaps the biggest standout is Mitchell Chaffee, but he is already with the Lightning, so let’s take a look at some of the other forwards instead. Gage Goncalves and Cole Koepke are two names that Lightning fans should be fairly familiar with by this point. The pair have been in the Lightning’s farm system for a few years now, and both of them have had NHL call-ups before, with Goncalves making his NHL debut this season and Koepke making his during the 2022–23 season.
Goncalves has collected seven goals and 34 assists so far this season, which comfortably makes him the team’s scoring leader. He has not scored a goal since late December, but he is still racking up plenty of assists and had five during his 10 games played in February. Koepke’s stats are a bit more well-rounded, even if the total is not quite as high. He has notched 13 goals to go along with 12 assists. That makes him the leading goal scorer for the Crunch, even if just by a single goal. During the month of February, he had five goals, including a two-goal game against the Senators on Feb. 3. These two are not the only forwards that have been performing for the Crunch, though.
Three other forwards deserve a mention: Felix Robert, Maxim Groshev, and Jack Finley. Robert currently has 11 goals and 17 assists, and by the looks of it, it should beat his previous AHL best of 34 points. AHL newcomer Groshev has 10 goals and 14 assists. After a hot start, he has cooled down, but he is certainly a prospect with a bright future. Finley has managed eight goals and 13 assists, and all but one of his goals has been scored after the clock turned to 2024. He is not getting talked about as much as the others, but with him heating up at the right time, he might be a player to keep an eye on.
Defense
The good news is that the Lightning swooped in and took a chance on a couple of Crunch defensemen in Lilleberg and Max Crozier, who generally look solid at the NHL level. Unfortunately, that does mean there are a couple fewer current Crunch players to talk about here. With the Lightning calling up those two who fit more of the defensive defenseman mold, let’s look at a few guys who have more of a knack for getting involved in the offense. First, there is Jack Thompson, who is the team’s leading scorer among defensemen. So far, he has five goals and 27 assists, which is nothing to scoff at. In fact, he is actually the second-leading scorer on the team.
At the tail end of December and at the start of January, he put together an eight-game point streak that ended with 10 points for the defenseman. At present, he has started another streak that sits at three games. Then there is Declan Carlile, who has the most goals of any defenseman with six. He also has an impressive 18 assists. He has an eight-game point streak and, during that time, has recorded 10 total points. During the month of February, he averaged a point per game, which is not too common for a defenseman. Lastly, there is Sean Day, who has a respectable four goals and 13 assists. He is a little bit older than other prospects and made his NHL debut in 2021, so his time to make the jump up to the Lightning is likely short. He is playing well, though, and had two games in February where he both scored a goal and got an assist.
Goalie
When it comes to goalie prospects, all eyes are on Hugo Alnefelt. The Swede has been touted as a netminder with NHL potential for some time. This season, he has 11 wins, six losses, and four overtime losses. His save percentage (SV%) sits at .910, and his goals-against average is at 2.32. In his last 10 games, he has had a SV% of .920 or higher in six of them. While he has not been perfect and there have been some ups and downs, he is helping his team get wins, and he is making progress. He is not going to be challenging for a starting job in the NHL anytime soon, but it is not unreasonable to expect that in the not-too-distant future, he could become a reliable backup. From there, anything can happen.
Final Thoughts
The entire Lightning organization sits at a juncture. The future has looked bright for a long time, and for most of the ride, the team’s direction has seemed pretty clear. For the first time in a long time, things are looking a bit murky. That is not to say that the current core does not have any good years left, just that things are getting complicated. It is hard to say what the team will even look like in a year. What decisions can and should be made to dictate where the franchise goes next is anyone’s guess. What makes me feel more certain is that regardless of what happens, the Crunch are going to get more attention from Lightning fans in the coming seasons.
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There is going to be a growing reliance on players coming out of Syracuse in a way that has not been seen for a number of seasons. Pundits are not too high on the Lightning’s prospect pool, but the good news is that the cupboard is not quite as bare as it initially seems. While it is unlikely there are any future superstars in Syracuse today, it looks like there are several prospects who have the potential to be solid NHL players. Given how far back the Lightning tend to pick in the draft and the overall lack of picks that they have had recently, it is hard not to be impressed with what the Crunch are doing. As a team, they look capable and could make some noise in the playoffs, and as individuals, they are punching above their weight and ready to prove the world wrong. Do not sleep on the Crunch.
