It’s another week in the American Hockey League (AHL), and the Chicago Wolves have a few more games under their belts. After five games into the 2024-25 AHL season, the Wolves sit 1-3-1-0 and three points in the Central Division. They picked up a huge win the week before on Oct. 19 vs the Hershey Bears 3-2. Currently, they sit nine points behind division leaders the Milwaukee Admirals who they just played in a home-and-home back-to-back over this past Friday night (Oct. 25) in Milwaukee and Saturday (Oct. 26) at home at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. Unfortunately, those two games did not go their way but they did manage to pick up a point in the process. Before we jump into the games, let’s jump into what else is going on around the Wolves.
Slavin. Captain, Josiah Slavin.
The Wolves during their back-to-back versus the Admirals unveiled that Josiah Slavin, brother to Carolina Hurricanes defenseman, Jaccob, was going to wear the “C” on his sweater. It is not known if it’s temporary, however, it is good to see the younger of the Slavin brothers within the organization be given this type of responsibility, especially with how young this Wolves roster is coming into the AHL season. Naming Slavin the captain can hopefully give this young team and voice to listen to along with following the example of someone who is no stranger to being around amazing leaders on and off the ice. Huge congratulations to Josiah for being rewarded the honor of being the Wolves’ captain.
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So far after five games, Slavin has no points. He has bounced around the lineup over the last couple of games seeing him go from the first to third and even the second line. Head coach Cam Abbott has been doing a ton of line shuffling early this season to see what spark he can come up with to get the line going as they want to start collecting the wins, even if it’s only five games into the season.
While there has been a plethora of line shuffling going on, the youngsters have been stepping up for the Wolves to start collecting points, and hopefully some confidence as the early season games roll on.
These Kids Are Alright
When they say youth runs wild, they did not expect this young Wolves team to already be coming out swinging. After five games, defenseman Scott Morrow is tied for the team lead in points (three) with Ryan Suzuki and Bradly Nadeau. Furthermore, he leads the Wolves in goals as the only one with two. Nadeau is tied with Suzuki for the team lead in assists (two). It has to give the Hurricanes some hope to see the prospects they want to see thrive already have multiple points so early in the season that even saw them sit for over a week between games one and two to start the season. Morrow alone has already put up some highlight-reel goals, almost all of them top-shelf wrist shots that show off his NHL-ready shot as a young defenseman.
It’s good to see Suzuki thriving early after dealing with injuries over the last couple of seasons. Also, after bouncing around the Springfield Thunderbirds lineup during the 2023-24 season. Hopefully, this is the turnaround that Suzuki and the Hurricanes were hoping for, especially after being drafted in the first round back in 2018.
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Nadeau is already showing why he flew up the draft boards and the Hurricanes’ prospect list after his seasons with the Penticton Vees and the University of Maine Black Bears. While he doesn’t lead the team in any points category right now, it’ll only be a matter of time before Nadeau flips the switch and starts dominating on the ice, which people knew that he could do. As the AHL season goes along, hopefully, these three plus some other big names in the prospect pool can start to take off and right the ship for the Wolves as they look to turn around the season soon after a slow start.
Wolves Drop Set to Admirals
The Wolves on Friday and Saturday had a two-game set versus the Admirals on a back-to-back with both teams hosting. The first game went decently for the guys from Chicago as they managed to snag one point in the contest. Morrow scored his second goal of the season during the second period to give the team a lead. It was a power-play goal, which the team went 1-for-3 in the game. His goal was assisted by Nadeau and Justin Robidas. Unfortunately, that was their only goal of the game as the Admirals tied it up over six minutes later, on their own power-play opportunity. Eventually, the Admirals went on to win in overtime 2-1 but the Wolves did secure a point.
After the game, Abbott told the media, “It was a close game and Spencer kept us in it at times. We’re going to need that at times. We’ll just keep building on the good things and continue to improve in the areas that gave them chances against.” Netminder Spencer Martin saved 30 of 32 shots in the contest.
The following night at home back in Allstate Arena, it did not go well for the Wolves. They scored only one goal in a 5-1 routing by the Admirals to go 0-2-1-0 against the Central Division leaders. The Admirals capitalized on one of their two power-play chances, while the Wolves were 0-for-6 on the night on the man advantage. It was 3-0 after one period before Joakim Ryan scored the lone Chicago goal 12:54 into the second period. After that, the Admirals scored two more to complete the rout. Milwaukee outscored the Wolves 7-2 in the two-game set on back-to-back days. Wolves netminder Yaniv Perets saved 15 of 20 shots that he faced in the contest.
While it is still early into the 2024-25 AHL season, the hope is that the team can right the ship and start to get back in the win column. Being 1-3-1-0 isn’t panic button time, it’s just a time when things hope to start clicking right away and bounces go their way. Plus, the prospects are making an impact already which can be a good sign for the Wolves and Hurricanes front offices who want to see these guys develop. There are so many games left in the season, 67 to be exact, so there is plenty of time to right the ship and continue the hunt for the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. While it isn’t ideal, do not count out this young Wolves team who can turn it around at any time and go on a run.
The Hunt Continues at Home vs. Wild
The Wolves are back in action at home at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. They will take on the Iowa Wild for a noon Eastern puck drop. Fans can watch the game on AHL TV per FloHockey. Can the Wolves get back in the win column after starting the season 1-3-1-0 (three points) in five games? What helps them is that the Wild are 0-6-1-0 (one point) after seven games.
