Barracuda vs. Rockford IceHogs Preview
Oct 9, 2015
The San Jose Barracuda, (41-29-4-2, 88 pts)* the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, will begin their inaugural season Friday night against the Rockford IceHogs, the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks (46-23-5-2, 91 pts)* at 7:30 pm at SAP Center.
Gameday Center | Game Notes
Barracuda to Watch:
Sharks’ 2014 first round draft pick and highly-touted prospect (F) Nikolay Goldobin will play in his 10th AHL game on Friday night. The 19-year-old Russian notched 5 points (2g, 3a) last season in his brief stint in Worcester. In the 2013-2014 campaign he put up 38 goals and 56 assists in 67 games played with the Sarnia Sting (OHL). Goldobin will look to have similar success with San Jose this season.
20-year-old Swiss defenseman Mirco Mueller will begin the season with the Barracuda. The 2013 first round pick played in 39 games with the big club last year and recorded 3 assists. Mueller also represented Team Switzerland at the World Junior Hockey Championships 2014-15. In addition, he scored his first NHL goal Oct. 30, 2014 at Minnesota.
Ice Hogs to Watch:
NHL veteran (LW) Daniel Paille will play in his first AHL game since 2004. Paille signed a professional tryout with Rockford on Sept. 30. The long-time Boston Bruin registered 13 points last season (6g, 7a) in 71 games. Paille was instrumental on the penalty kill in Boston’s playoff run in 2011 and also scored the game-winning goal in Game 2 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.
Slovakian right winger Marko Dano was acquired by the Blackhawks organization in the Brandon Saad blockbuster deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Dano was a first round pick of Columbus in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and played 35 games at the NHL level. In his first NHL game he scored a goal and potted an assist against the Buffalo Sabres. Dano finished last season with the Springfield Falcons and potted 11 goals and 8 assists in 39 games.
About the AHL: The AHL is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining three are in Canada. More than 88 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and in 2014-2015 more than 6 million fans attended AHL games across North America.
*Stats from 2014-2015 season