Welcome to Wolves Insider, presented by Are You Really Winning?: The weekly report that gives you an inside look at the latest Chicago Wolves news and happenings. Look for a new edition of Wolves Insider each week.
A CONVERSATION WITH WOLVES GM WENDELL YOUNG
Following the conclusion of the Wolves’ season, general manager Wendell Young discussed what he deemed a “disappointing” 2023-24 campaign.
How would you describe the season?
“It was a hard season. It started in the summer trying to get guys signed who weren’t under NHL contracts and wanted to come play on an American Hockey League contract.
It was tough and where we finished in the standings was disappointing. If you look at our lineup on paper, you’d think we were a lot better than where we finished.
But there were a lot of positives. At one time, we were first in power play and third in penalty kill, had the second-leading scorer (Rocco Grimaldi) and (Matt) Donovan was (tied for ninth) in scoring among defensemen. Put all of those things put together and if you didn’t know our record and you asked somebody they’d say, ‘you must be at the top of your division.’ But that wasn’t the case.”
So what went wrong?
“It was our five-on-five play more than anything that was disappointing. I don’t know what it was; we just didn’t have it. When you look at the power play and the penalty kill being successful it’s clear the talent was there but for whatever reason we just seemed to falter five-on-five.”
Another problem area was giving up goals late in periods and games. Any idea why that came to fruition?
“Sometimes you learn to win and sometimes you learn to lose and I never thought we got over that hump where we had the confidence to win games. It got to the point where you were almost expecting something bad to happen.
That’s a mindset that goes when you have confidence you’re going to win. We saw it a few years ago when we would be down and we knew we were going to come back. This year, if we were up a goal or two, we couldn’t relax. That was never there this year. It’s something that’s unheard of in hockey to lose four games in the last second and have more than six goals scored against in the last second of a period. That’s crazy stuff.”
What did you learn about yourself during a difficult season?
“I learned that if I could handle this year, I can pretty well handle anything. Things have been for the most part really good here with this organization and with me as GM. But this year was a really trying year just to get the players available and get them on the team. You have to remember, almost every guy on this team came from a different organization so we were trying to blend quite a mix of guys. It’s not like there was a group of 10 and then with turnover you bring in some more guys to fill holes. We brought in 25 guys and it took us a while to come together as a team.”
Which players made positive strides this season?
“The standouts for us were Cavan Fitzgerald, who was perhaps our best player, Rocco Grimaldi had a good year and lived up to expectations, Nathan Sucese over-exceeded what I thought he was going to do this year and Adam Scheel was really consistent this season and played really well and gave us a chance to win every night. Scheel and Fitzgerald are getting interest from NHL teams now.
Does not reaching the postseason motivate you to come back strong in 2024-25?
Yes. The game humbles you. We were on such a high a couple of years ago. That’s the great thing about the sport: Not everyone wins every year. You try to win every year but when you’re humbled like this it lights the fire. In the back of your head, you never want to have a season like this again. That will motivate you even more.”
When do you start preparing for ’24-25?
“I started looking at next season last year. You look ahead as to who will be available. We’re trying to get some stuff done with a possible NHL affiliation very soon. Hopefully, it all falls into place again and we get back to some normalcy of the Chicago Wolves and winning.”
Would being affiliated with an NHL team make your job easier?
“A lot easier, just because there are NHL contracts and prospects and first-rounders and guys like that. It would make my life a lot easier.”
IMPACT PLAY OF THE WEEK
Wolves defenseman Alex Green was on the receiving end of this pretty passing sequence with teammates Josh Melnick and Rocco Grimaldi during Saturday’s game at Allstate Arena.
REPUBLIC BANK SAVE OF THE WEEK
The Wild’s Adam Raska was awarded a penalty shot during the second period of Saturday night’s game at Allstate Arena and Wolves goaltender Keith Kinkaid was up to the task with this sensational save.
C.D.E. COLLISION CENTERS’ COLLISION OF THE WEEK
During Sunday’s season finale, the Wolves’ Kyle Marino collided with the Rockford IceHogs’ Brandon Baddock along the boards and the forward decided to drop the gloves.
Weekly rewind (0-2-1-0)
FRIDAY, APRIL 19
IceHogs 5, Wolves 2: Rocco Grimaldi and Ronan Seeley scored and Josh Melnick had two assists but the Wolves came up short in the 11th of 12 meetings between the Central Division rivals this season.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20
Wild 3, Wolves 2: Rocco Grimaldi had a goal and an assist and Alex Green also scored for the Wolves but Jack Peart notched the game-winner in the third period to lift the Wild.
SUNDAY, APRIL 21
IceHogs 3, Wolves 2 (OT): Josh Melnick and Chris Terry scored and Hudson Elynuik chipped in two assists but the Wolves’ rally from a two-goal deficit fell short when Rockford’s Louis Crevier scored 37 seconds into overtime.
First Star of the Week
Where we FINISHED
23-35-7-7, seventh in the Central Division.
2024-25 season
The schedule for the 2024-25 regular season is expected to be announced in July. For information on Wolves tickets for the ’24-25 campaign, visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.