Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Patience usually is a wise strategy in the AHL season’s opening months.
Easier said than done, though.
The Springfield Thunderbirds lost nine of their first 13 games under new head coach Steve Konowalchuk, the long-time NHL forward who has gone on to a lengthy coaching career as well. The St. Louis Blues hired Konowalchuk in the offseason, and a hiring like that made for high hopes entering the season.
But early struggles with test a team’s confidence. On Nov. 11, the Thunderbirds sat at 4-8-1-0. They ranked 27th in the league in scoring at 2.54 goals per game, and their power play was struggling to generate much of anything, going 4-for-44 out of the gate. That lack of scoring put considerable strain on Springfield defensively as well; the Thunderbirds were allowing 32.9 shots on goal and 3.38 goals per game, and their penalty kill ranked 22nd in the AHL at 79.6 percent.
So sometimes all it takes is a goaltender to pull the rest of the team into contention. For the Thunderbirds, the duo of Vadim Zherenko and Colten Ellis have held the team in games until the rest of the roster could find its collective cohesion. Since their shaky start, Springfield is 8-1-0-0, allowing 2.33 goals per game. After dropping four of their first five home games, they have made MassMutual Center a difficult place for opponents, winning seven of eight at the “Thunderdome.” Now they have to work on establishing strong road play as well, as they open a string of five consecutive road games on Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Ellis, who is top-10 in the league in save percentage (.921), minutes played (778) and wins (8), joined the Blues organization as a 2019 third-round draft pick but this is his first full season at the AHL level, spending most of his first three years in the ECHL. For much of that time he had to play behind the likes of Joel Hofer and Charlie Lindgren on the St. Louis depth chart.
But opportunities will open eventually in this league. St. Louis traded Malcolm Subban to Columbus on Mar. 8, opening a spot in Springfield for Ellis. He had a .918 save percentage in 10 appearances down the stretch as Springfield tried to grab a postseason berth, including a 47-save effort in a 5-1 win over Toronto on Mar. 9, one day after the Subban trade. The playoff bid fell short, but Ellis had shown enough to earn a new one-year contract.
Turning around a team also sometimes requires tweaking the roster, which the Thunderbirds did by adding forward Matt Luff on Nov. 7. Coming off an injury-interrupted season split between the Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins, Luff has thrived in Springfield, providing five goals and five assists in nine games with the team. That type of veteran offensive help eased some of the early-season pressure when goals were hard to find.
These Thunderbirds also have some exciting young talent. Dalibor Dvorsky, taken 10th overall by the Blues in the 2023 NHL Draft, has thrived as a 19-year-old with a team-leading 10 goals in his first 22 games. Another new forward, 20-year-old Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, is second on the team with 15 points. Offseason signing Marcus Sylvegard, a forward coming off a career-best 23-goal season in the Swedish Hockey League, has fit in well, and rookie Dylan Peterson has put up 11 points in 22 games after completing his collegiate career at Boston University.
There are more than four months to go in this regular season, and a tough road trip is up next. But this is a Thunderbirds team that has shown it could have staying power.
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.
