Despite the changes, it’s a season for optimism in Syracuse

Well, if we can predict an entire season after just one game, things are going to be just peachy for the Syracuse Crunch. They opened their 2024-25 season with a convincing 5-0 win on the road at Utica. Brandon Halverson continued to show that he can be a top goaltender in the league as he stopped all 26 shots that he faced. Meanwhile, rookie Dyllan Gill had two goals while fellow rookies Niko Huuhtanen and Dylan Duke also found the back of the net. Max Groshev rounded out the scoring with his first of the year as well.

While it’s not a bad way to start the season, the road back to the playoffs for the Crunch will be long and twisted. After surprising a few folks by making it to the second round of the playoffs in their first year under coach Joel Bouchard, the time will look to build on that success with a completely revamped roster. In their starting line-up on Friday there were nine players that weren’t on the roster last year, along with another four that played in less than a handful of games in Syracuse.

While the only constant in the AHL is change, the Crunch haven’t been helped out by the injury gods. Gabriel Dumont, Daniel Walcott, Jack Finley, and Gabe Fortier are all out with long-term injuries. Those aren’t just random AHL guys, either. Dumont and Walcott are practically synonymous with this era of Crunch hockey, while Finley and Fortier are essential parts of the team. Oh yeah, and last year’s leading scoring, Gage Goncalves, is also dealing with an upper-body injury he suffered in training camp with the Lightning.

The good news is an influx of young talent is heading The Salt City. It started with the playoffs when Dylan Duke, Milo Roelens, and Niko Huuhtanen joined the team. Dyllan Gill, Roman Schmidt, and Gabriel Szturc are all slated to join them in having large roles on the team this season. There is a nice group of NHL-caliber players starting their careers with the Crunch right now. It might not rival the original TampaCuse Era of prospects, but there is some real talent getting their careers underway right now.

With all of that youth heading to the roster the team needed to bring in some veterans as well, especially on defense. Steve Santini, Tobie Bisson, and Derrick Pouliot all have more than 200 games in the AHL and were brought in to balance out that inexperience. General manager Stacy Roest and Lightning GM Julien BriseBois also worked well to bring in some players that are young and experiences in Jesse Ylonen, Lukas Svejkovsky, and Joel Teasdale.

A lot of folks were expecting the youthful changes to be led by Conor Geekie. Unfortunately, the 20-year-old had other plans and decided to start his career at the NHL level. Roest dealt with that last-minute swerve by bringing in old friend Gemel Smith on a PTO. There is an excellent chance that Smith turns the tryout into an AHL contract, especially considering he centered the top line on opening night.

While it seems like a lot of change, that’s the life of a team in the AHL. As an affiliate league to the NHL, one of their primary roles is to develop talent for the NHL team. That means the players that they have on their roster can come and go at a moment’s notice (case in point Jack Thompson at the trade deadline last year). Coach Bouchard was probably looking forward to having Geekie as one of his top centers, but will have to adjust on the fly now.

One of the reasons it would have been nice to have Geekie, outside of the fact he is good at hockey, is that the Crunch are dealing with the fact that they lost a lot of offense this summer. By our calculations 212 points and 85 goals walked in free agency. Key players from last season like Cole Koepke (20 goals), Waltteri Merela (34 points), and Sean Day (23 points) are wearing different uniforms this year.

Losing players who accounted for 38% of your goals in the previous year is enough to make any coach toss and turn at night. For a team that finished in the middle of the league in terms of scoring (Syracuse was 17th with 3.07 goals per game), it’s enough to cause an ulcer. The good news is that the young players joining the team should be able to put the puck in the net. Huuhtanen has proven to be a scorer in Europe. Dylan Duke scores the types of goals that are needed in the AHL. Jesse Ylonen has 34 goals in 121 career games. Offensively, the Crunch should be equal to or better than last year.

Defensively, they were a top-tier team last season as they finished with a 2.82 goals against average on the season. So, of course they went out and swapped four of their top six defensemen, including their top-pairing. Thanks for being good enough to stick in the NHL Emil Lilleberg. The loss of Lilleberg, Sean Day, and Phil Myers is a big reason why the bulk of the veterans brought in were on defense. Pouliot and Santini should provide a pretty stable environment until the likes of Crozier and Schmidt are ready to take over.

Surprisingly, the most stable part of the team is the goaltending. Yes, Hugo Alnefelt is back in Sweden for the season, but Matt Tomkins and Branden Halverson are back for their second year. During the Lightning affiliation, it seems like there has been a nonstop carousel of netminders from year to year, so seeing the same faces under the masks is almost unsettling.

In the end, Roest put together a team that has a pretty good blend of veterans and young players that should be competitive in a tough North Division. If they can hold on until December it could get really interesting as that is when the injured players are scheduled to start returning. With the addition of Finley, Dumont, Fortier, and Dumont, this team could be one of the top teams in the league.

The need of the NHL affiliate is the cloud of uncertainty that constantly hangs over an AHL team. The Crunch saw it last year when the Lightning raided their defense in order to fill their needs when injuries ripped through the blueline. Hopefully, the Bolts can avoid spending time on IR and allow this version of the Crunch to gel together over the next few months.

The schedule over the first few months isn’t too stressful as they have just one three-in-three weekend and two other weeks where they have three games. That should give the coaching staff plenty of time work on getting the new players adapted to their system. It should also keep the players pretty well-rested for the crush of games down the stretch.

It hasn’t been easy to be the Lightning’s top affiliate over the past decade. Their constant need to win now has drained the organization of any true top-flight prospects. The last first-round pick from the Lightning to play for the Crunch was Cal Foote. There haven’t even been that many second-round picks. Fortier, Finley, and Goncalves are the only ones since the 2018 draft. The lack of high-end talent coming through the system means that the Crunch have had to grind out a lot of goals and really embrace a team-centric approach. The fact that they’ve continued to make the playoffs on a consistent basis really is a credit to the coaching staffs of Ben Groulx and Joel Bouchard.

A possible silver lining is that the Crunch could see two of the Lightning’s better prospects as early as this spring. Ethan Gauthier is likely in his final season in juniors and Isaac Howard could leave Michigan State after this season. They could provide a most welcome boost in the playoffs prior to becoming full-time players next season.

While there is plenty of talent on the roster this year, the Crunch aren’t in a position where they’re going to blow teams out on a nightly basis. They are going to have to grind out a lot of their wins against opponents with better-pedigreed players in their line-ups. Luckily, draft position only sometimes translates to wins on the ice. It will come down to work rate and execution. If the Crunch can stick to the game plan, they have a chance at having a pretty special season.

Here is the roster on opening night. The number of AHL games is in parentheses. Players in italics are on AHL contracts. Technically, Jack Finley and Gabriel Fortier are still with the Lightning due to their injuries, but they are Crunch players for all intents and purposes. The “scratches” are based on Friday night’s game.

The Forwards:

Injured: Gabriel Dumont (731), Daniel Walcott (434), Jack Finley (121), Gabe Fortier (235)

Defense:

Scratches: Roman Schmidt (1), Tyson Feist (38)

Goaltending