Monday's Catch Up & Links 8/21/17

Tony Androckitis

Aug 21, 2017 — 3 min read

Editor's Note: Monday means it's time to start the work week, but also time to check in to make sure you haven't missed anything in the hockey world, and specifically our AHL content here at Inside AHL Hockey. Our weekly Monday lunch links will be free to all readers!

Weekly Top Stories

Reports out of the midwest indicate that the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL will become the AHL's 31st team beginning the following season in 2018-19 and be the affiliate for the Colorado Avalanche. The article, from the Denver Post's Mike Chambers, also goes on to say that the Avs' current AHL affiliate in San Antonio will house the St. Louis Blues' prospects as their AHL affiliate in 2018-19.

Bringing the league to 31 teams to match the NHL's landscape isn't unexpected, but what effect the decision of having another AHL club out west does for the AHL and possible future relocations west will be interesting to see played out over the next few years. These NHL teams on the west coast want their AHL affiliates closer by for numerous reasons, and now several of them have AHL teams based in the western half of the United States.

Transitioning to Inside AHL Hockey from our grass roots with Highland Park Hockey has seen some trouble with formatting to our annual AHL Free Agent Tracker and new this year AHL Team Lists.

We plan to have a full team preview for all 30 AHL teams in September with accurate rosters and a look at how the offseason treated each team - their notable additions and subtractions - and much more.

Phantoms Bolster Roster Depth

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have spent the past few weeks further bolstering their depth after Philadelphia's free agent splashes brought in Phil Varone and re-signed Corban Knight to an NHL contract.

With this past week's additions, Lehigh Valley currently has nine players on AHL contracts for the upcoming season. Here's who is signed and penciled in on the Phantoms' roster in our latest update:

Goaltenders (3): Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon and John Muse (AHL)

Defensemen (10): Mark Alt, T.J. Brennan, James De Haas (AHL - 2 years), Mark Friedman, Frank Hora (AHL), Sam Morin, Phil Myers, Will O'Neill, Reece Willcox and Nolan Zajac (AHL)

Forwards (17): Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Cole Bardreau, Greg Carey, Chris Conner (AHL - 2 years), Radel Fazleev, Tyrell Goulbourne, Derek Hulak (AHL), Corban Knight, Alex Krushelnyski (AHL), Taylor Leier, Danick Martel, Colin McDonald, Steven Swavely (AHL), Phil Varone, Mike Vecchione, Mikhail Vorobyov and Matt Willows (AHL)

Weekly Links

Every Friday is 'Feature Friday' where in addition to our AHL game coverage to kick off the weekend, there will also be a regular weekly feature to get fans through the day until our game previews and game night coverage.

This past Friday was a prospect profile on Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Radel Fazleev, who despite playing in a majority of his teams' games in his rookie season was a healthy scratch for all five of the Phantoms' playoff games this past spring.

Back on August 11th, our first Phantoms' prospect profile story was on forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel, another first year pro last season in Lehigh Valley looking for a larger role this fall.

Every week, readers will have the chance to get their questions answered in our Tuesday's Talk feature. Any AHL, hockey-related or other inquiries within reason will be answered along with possible talking points each week depending on what the hot topics are at the time.

Here's what last week's Tuesday Talk feature churned up. Two weeks ago, there was talk about the Olympics and eligibility of AHL players.

You can send your questions on Twitter, Facebook, email or even in the comments of this or any story on our website. If you feel like you're missing out on something, let us know and we'll be happy to inform you or take a deeper look into something.

Speaking of ways to connect with Inside AHL Hockey this season, here's a list of places you can follow us!