NHL Lockout: 6 AHL Matchups Fans Can Enjoy Following for the Time Being

The American Hockey League’s 2012-13 season will only be two nights old when the two top affiliates of the NHL’s reigning Stanley Cup finalists cross paths. The Albany Devils will host the Manchester Monarchs this Saturday with a few locked-out players from the Los Angeles-New Jersey championship bout taking part.

With some NHL games already deleted from the schedule, the best-case scenario for the major league circuit may end up being a shortened, restructured slate with most, if not all, matchups confined within a given team’s conference. In turn, Saturday’s tilt in Albany and the Jan. 11 Devils’ venture into Manchester could be as close as one gets to a rematch of the 2012 Stanley Cup series.

With that said, the presence of actual participants in that series will inevitably lend an element of intrigue to those AHL contests. The same concept will apply to an even greater extent in a multitude of matchups that mirror a given pair of NHL foes with their respective development teams.

The six rivalries worth looking forward to the most, especially if familiar NHL youngsters are going to be involved, are as follows.

Adirondack vs. Albany

An Empire State rivalry pitting the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils child clubs will be renewed a dozen times this regular season. Depending on the length of the lockout, a smattering of participants in the New Jersey-Philadelphia playoff series from last spring will take their bad blood to the AHL level.

On Albany’s side, there will be the likes of Adam Henrique, Jacob Josefson, Adam Larsson and Tim Sestito. They figure to be reacquainted with such Flyers-turned-Phantoms as Sean Couturier, Erik Gustafsson, Zac Rinaldo and Eric Wellwood.

Bridgeport vs. Connecticut

The all-Connecticut clash is the AHL’s answer to the all-New York Islanders-Rangers rivalry and has been more relevant of late than its NHL counterpart.

The Sound Tigers will be vying for redemption after being swept in three games by the Whale last spring. The mutual intensity should only be emboldened by the presence of a few established and/or rising NHLers on either end, such as Bridgeport’s Travis Hamonic and Connecticut’s Chris Kreider.

Depending on how the Islanders progress over, say, the next half-decade, the key faces in this year’s Bridgeport-Connecticut rivalry could be a preview of a resurgence in the all-NYC animosity.

Also note that the Whale and Sound Tigers cohabit in the AHL’s Northeast Division with the aforementioned Devils and Phantoms, all farm clubs of NHL Atlantic franchises. This will mean regular meetings between Albany and Connecticut in a virtual rematch of the NHL’s 2012 Eastern Conference championship round.

Chicago vs. Rockford

The Chicago Wolves stoked their competitive fire with the neighboring Blackhawks last season when they latched on with the Vancouver Canucks as their new parent club.

As if the two organizations had not been enough of an odd couple since the Wolves arrived in 1994 and managed to survive and thrive, likely due in part to years of poor ownership and on-ice performance estranging a portion of the Hawks' fanbase.

Fans of the not-too-distant Rockford Ice Hogs, who have functioned as Chicago’s farm club since entering the AHL, now have a twofold reason to hate the Wolves.

As it happens, the Wolves are the only Midwest Division team not affiliated with an NHL Central Division team. Everybody else―Grand Rapids (Detroit), Milwaukee (Nashville) and Peoria (St. Louis)―is partnered with a part of the four-headed Central Division monster that made the last Stanley Cup playoffs, leaving no shortage of intense dislike for the Hogs and each other.

Yet the Wolves are not so out of place so long as they are linked to the team that recently met the Blackhawks in three consecutive postseasons. In fact, the buildup to the back-to-back Wolves-Hogs games this weekend is in full swing.

Hamilton vs. Toronto

Like the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, the Bulldogs and Marlies constitute a divisional, all-Canada feud.

A multitude of promising Maple Leafs prospects will vie to defend their Western Conference crown and redeem their Calder Cup championship loss. Blake Geoffrion and Louis Leblanc figure to be among the key Montreal farmhands in Hamilton, which will host the Marlies in their home opener a week from Friday, then return the visit to Toronto the next night.

Hershey vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Here is another rematch from the 2012 Calder Cup playoffs and another extension of a healthy hatred in the NHL, namely the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins saga.

The Hershey Bears, featuring the likes of Braden Holtby, will engage in 12 bouts with the intrastate rival Baby Pens, featuring Simon Despres and Philippe Dupuis.

Manchester vs. Portland

The northern New England border battle features the affiliates of the two reigning Western Conference finalists. In addition, like the Coyotes and Kings, the Monarchs and Pirates finished merely two points apart in last year’s standings.

Participants in the 2012 Campbell Bowl series who will be passing the lockout in the AHL include L.A./Manchester’s Slava Voynov and Jordan Nolan and Phoenix/Portland’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson. They could cross paths in either New Hampshire or Maine up to 12 times in the coming campaign.