Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Can the Chicago Wolves do it again?
They’ve polished off the Texas Stars in the Central Division semifinals, going the distance in that series. Texas had gone 7-1-0-0 against the Wolves, and six of those wins came between March 7 and the end of the regular season. None of that mattered. Chicago stepped into the Calder Cup Playoffs and handled an opponent with a core that had reached the Western Conference Finals a year ago.
Then came the big, bad Grand Rapids Griffins, the team that had opened the season 29-1-1-1. But Chicago took that challenge, answered it, and came through it. They went to Grand Rapids, won the first two games of the series there, and then finished off the Griffins in four games.
Chicago, the Calder Cup champion in 2022, is back for more. The next step comes tonight with Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Eagles. Blue FCU Arena is a most challenging environment for visitors. But so was Texas. Grand Rapids, too. Yet the Wolves started both of those series away from home and are 3-1 on the road this postseason, two of those wins coming in overtime.
Together with the parent Carolina Hurricanes, it has been a bountiful postseason so far across the organization. The last time that the same NHL organization won the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup in the same year was 1995. That’s 31 years ago that the New Jersey Devils and Albany River Rats accomplished that double-championship. Now the Hurricanes, one game away from the Stanley Cup Final, are positioned well to pursue a title.
The Wolves are trying to keep up with their parent team in that pursuit. Cayden Primeau leads them in net. At 26 years old, he’s an old pro at these long postseasons. He took the Laval Rocket to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and 2025. Now he’s trying out the Western Conference. Primeau has gone 6-3 with a 2.31 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.
It can be dangerous to rely on the power play, but the Wolves have come alive on the man-advantage this postseason. Finishing 24th in the AHL at 16.9 percent in the regular season, they have bumped that number up to 21.2 percent so far in playoff competition. With Primeau in net, that extra offensive boost has given them the edge needed; five of their six playoff wins have been by one goal.
Up front there is Felix Unger Sörum, a 20-year-old in his second AHL season, continues to deliver after a 66-point regular season. The 2023 second-rounder has eight points (three goals, five assists) in nine games. There’s another member of that 2023 group, first-round pick Bradly Nadeau. All of 21 years old, Nadeau is coming off a 27-goal campaign and has shown an ability to dish the puck with seven assists plus a goal in his eight playoff games. Justin Robidas, a potential fifth-round steal from the 2021 NHL Draft, has 20 or more goals in each of his first two AHL seasons. Noah Philp came over from the Edmonton Oilers via waivers back on Dec. 28 and ended up with Chicago. His two goals last Thursday night helped to eliminate the Griffins. The back end can distribute the puck as well.
It has been a year of swings for the Wolves. At 11-7-3-1 on Dec. 12, the Hurricanes elected to replace head coach Cam Abbott with Spiros Anastas, who took his first-time AHL head-coaching role. By that point, the Griffins had already pulled away from the rest of the Central Division, so taking that second-place spot became the prize for the bunch. Anastas and the Wolves controlled that spot, but a 1-7-0-1 slide in March nearly put that in danger. But they finished strong, taking five of their final six games to earn that home-ice meeting with the Stars.
Now they have a chance to do further damage. The Eagles are going to be another massive challenge. But so were Texas and Chicago. All four regular-season division winners are home now while the Wolves play on.
This is the Calder Cup Playoffs, and the Wolves have sent a message to not count them out.
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
