The Tucson Roadrunners closed out the regular season winning six of their last seven games, yet, whether one of AHL’s hottest teams entering the 2023-24 Calder Cup Playoffs this week needed it or not, reinforcements have returned to Southern Arizona.
On Friday the five players who were with the Arizona Coyotes through the end of the NHL’s regular season this past week trekked back Tucson to join the Roadrunners for the playoffs.
Defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok and right winger Aku Räty came back to the Old Pueblo after recent NHL, call-ups, but the other three had been up longer.
The NHL team’s management — right as the franchise’s hockey operations unit was sold and effectively moved from the Phoenix area to Utah — also sent to Tucson forwards Dylan Guenther and Josh Doan — both AHL All-Star selections — and defenseman Michael Kesselring, who has been in the NHL since October.
Tucson Roadrunners right wing Josh Doan (91) looks for room surrounded by Calgary center Cole Schwindt (10), left, left wing Brett Sutter (7) and defenseman Mark Pysyk (13) in the first period of their AHL matchup at Tucson Arena on March 5.
“Those guys are here for a purpose. They’ve got to experience playoff hockey and meaningful games,” Tucson head coach Steve Potvin said. “It’s the organization’s plan to win the Stanley Cup at some point so we gotta put our prospects in positions to be able to earn that one day. They’ve got to be able to feel this type of temperature, what every sequence means in the playoffs, how you prepare, how you mentally handle it.”
After spending most of the 2023-24 season with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona Coyotes forward Josh Doan, right, smiles as he celebrates his two-goal NHL debut with teammates Juuso Valimaki (4) and fellow former Roadrunner Matias Maccelli (63), after a 6-2 Coyotes win over Columbus in late March in Tempe. Doan is back with Tucson for the upcoming AHL playoffs.
A potential Stanley Cup someday for this group will no longer be connected to the Phoenix area — or the Arizona Coyotes brand after the team’s hockey assets were sold as part of a $1.2 billion deal that culminated last week. The NHL club affiliated with the Roadrunners moving forward is the still-to-be-named Salt Lake City-based franchise.
Doan was the first Arizona native to play for the Coyotes. With the team moving to Utah, the AHL playoffs provide one last chance for Doan and his counterparts to make a playoff run in the state of Arizona (that’s presuming they spend more time in the NHL than the AHL in coming years as the Roadrunners are slated as the AHL affiliate of Utah’s new NHL team).
“I think the goal is to bring back a championship to Arizona hockey,” Doan said. “I think if we can do that here it’s gonna be amazing and that’s the plan right now.”
At the time of their respective call-ups, Guenther, with 28 points for Tucson this season, and Doan, with 46, were the Roadrunners’ leading scorer. In the NHL this year, Guenther had 35 points in 45 games, and Doan had nine points in 11 games.
Doan said they have been welcomed back to Tucson with open arms.
“I was planning on coming back the whole time but to get Gunts back and get Kess is obviously huge and those are two guys that are going to help us win games,” Doan said.
Potvin said he isn’t worried about them altering team chemistry of a side that’s been on a roll.
“They’ve been here. Our plan, our system — it’s virtually the same,” Potvin said. “We have the same thought and commitment to the guys in the locker room as they do up top and so I think that they’re gonna fit in just well.”
The Roadrunners are also adding center Conor Geekie to their playoff roster. The 6-3 19-year-old played for the Wenatchee Wild of the major junior Western Hockey League this season before getting traded to the Swift Current Broncos. The 11th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Coyotes had 43 goals and 56 assists for 99 points in 57 WHL games this season.
“I talked to Geeks the other day and he’s pretty exciting he’s gonna be joining us, I’m pretty excited to have him,” Doan said.
Calgary Wranglers defenseman Mark Pysyk (13) and Tucson Roadrunners right wing Aku Raty (35) reach for the puck along the boards in the second period of their AHL matchup on March 5 in Tucson. Raty now has the distinction of being the last player to ever make his debut for the NHL's Arizona Coyotes. After spending the 2023-24 season as an offensive catalyst for the Roadrunners of the AHL, Raty played in his first NHL game (earning one assist) last Wednesday. It was during the last game the Coyotes would play in Arizona, with the team's hockey assets sold Thursday to a group out of Salt Lake City.
Potvin coached Geekie in the Rookie Faceoff Challenge in September (along with Guenther and Doan).
“He plays well in the D zone. He plays well offensively. He’s got a great personality and I think he’s a kid that is going to pay attention to details and he can drag you into a fight,” Potvin said. “He works, he works, he works. He’s relentless on pucks. He’s hard in the corners. He can make the next play and he can kill penalties and be on the power play, so he’s a good 200-foot player and he’s definitely gonna bring another element to our game.”
Guenther played 29 games for Tucson this year after playing 33 for the Coyotes last year. On Jan. 6, Guenther was an emergency call-up for Arizona but stayed.
“You never know,” Guenther said. “I think it’s obviously where you want to be. (The NHL is) the league you want to be, and I thought that I prepared myself with my time in Tucson to start well so when I got up there, I was ready to go.
“It wen’t well” with the Coyotes, “so I’m looking forward to getting after it here now.”
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Michael Kesselring (5) plays the puck during the first period of a matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 25 in Tampa, Florida. Kesselring, who has played 19 games with the Tucson Roadrunners over the past season, is back in Tucson for the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs.
Kesselring played 13 games for Tucson as an acquisition near the trade deadline last year. He played six with the Roadrunners this season before getting called up.
Adding in prospects and NHL players to Tucson’s lineup, however, means bumping players who have been on the ice of late for the Roadrunners out of the lineup.
“It’s difficult because you care about all the guys in the room and the guys that fought here all season long to help us secure home ice, and they put us in a great position,” Potvin said. “So, of course, it’s great to have players come back, but it’s also hard to see some of the guys that obviously put everything they had into it and now may not be a part of Game 1.
“With that being said, we’re gonna need everybody and where everybody is gonna play a part in this there’s no doubt about it,” Potvin added. “So it’s important that guys understand that and they keep a clear mind about everything and they put their best efforts at being a good teammate and being prepared for the challenge.”
Slap shots
On Friday, in their 71st game of the year, the Roadrunners won their 43rd game of 2023-24 — a victory that gave them 91 points (they earned their 92nd in Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss to San Jose) Those numbers are now both franchise records. The prior records (42 and 90) came in 2017-18 during a 68-game schedule.
Saturday’s Fan Appreciation Night drew a team-reported tally of 6,205 fans for Tucson’s regular season finale, the second time this season Tucson had more than 6,000. Attendance was 6,087 for Star Wars Night on Dec. 30.
Conor had us Geeking out about his second hat-trick of the season - February 6, 2024. (WHL YouTube)
