Two years to the day after he was first attached in one way or another to the Tucson Roadrunners’ roster, forward Michael Carcone will step onto the ice at Place Bell on Sunday not only as the American Hockey League’s top scorer so far this season but also an AHL All-Star for the first time.
“It’s amazing just year to year how things go. There’s going to be down years, and there’s going to be really, really good years,” Carcone said earlier this week, ahead of Sunday’s AHL All-Star skills competition and Monday’s All-Star Classic mini-tournament in Laval, Quebec.
“But I’ve been fortunate to have (a) good staff to work with me and help me improve over the past two years. So I’ve enjoyed my time here, and I hope I get to spend more time here.”
Carcone doesn’t explicitly define where “here” in that statement actually is; it could be the state of Arizona as a whole, where his pro career has taken shape. He’s every bit a regular now on the Arizona Coyotes’ NHL call-up shuttle from Tucson to the Phoenix area and back.
Here could also be Tucson itself. That’s where his career blossomed after being an also-ran of sorts with the Nashville Predators organization. Entering the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s AHL affiliate, elected not to field a team for a year. That led the Predators to strike a deal to send their prospects to the Chicago Wolves, whose team was split that year with up-and-comers from both Nashville and the Carolina Hurricanes.
Tucson Roadrunners forward Michael Carcone scores his third goal of the game in a 7-2 Tucson victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Tucson Arena on Dec. 13, 2022. Video courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
But not Carcone and a handful of others whom Nashville seemingly didn’t see in its long-term plans. Nashville ended up loaning Carcone to Tucson, where he quickly led the Roadrunners in goals in the shortened scheduled. He did it again the next year, breaking Tucson’s single-season mark with 24. And this year, his AHL All-Star appearance is a direct result of him becoming one of the AAA league’s most potent offensive weapons.
Entering the Roadrunners’ series with the Ontario Reign this weekend — the teams played Friday night in Southern California and will again at 7 p.m. Saturday — Carcone leads the AHL with 61 points in 37 games played, a torrid pace of 1.65 points per game. That per-game rate, according to research by the Roadrunners’ communication department, is the highest the AHL has seen at this point in a season dating back at least 15 years.
Carcone vs. 2-time AHL MVP
Before Carcone gets to Laval, located just outside Montreal, he’ll have to go through Ontario and its scoring superstar, forward T.J. Tynan, first.
Carcone and Tynan entered the weekend first and second, respectively, in AHL scoring, with Tynan closing the gap the last couple of weeks. He’s now eight points back of Carcone, thanks to the two-time reigning AHL Most Valuable Player’s streak of 19 points in his last seven games.
Carcone hasn’t let up himself, though. He entered the weekend on a 15-game point streak — one that still counted even though it has been interrupted twice by call-ups to the Coyotes. It was the longest in the AHL this season. Neither Carcone or Tynan had a point in the Roadrunners' 2-0 victory Friday night in the series opener.
Both are expected to be in Quebec, if they can get there. Perhaps they’ll fly cross-continent together.
Carcone said he hopes to possibly take part in the fastest-skater event at Sunday’s skills competition; Tucson coach Steve Potvin calls Carcone’s skating “so elite that it gives him a chance to play at the next level.”
Carcone didn’t seem overly concerned about traveling from outside Los Angeles to essentially Montreal most likely on Sunday morning. But with a 9 p.m. expected finish Saturday night at Ontario, and the likelihood of a decent flight pushing into the morning, Carcone left open the slight possibility that things like weather or air traffic might impact whether he can actually make it in time.
“When it comes, and if I’m on that plane and I get there and everything’s good, I’ll just take it day by day,” he said.
Potvin said he knows Carcone will be quite busy leading up to — and right on through — the All-Star break. Carcone, who plays a ton of minutes at full strength and on special teams for Tucson, won’t get the same days off other players will since he’s actually taking part in the All-Star festivities himself.
Tucson Roadrunners forward Michael Carcone scores a first-period goal en route to a four-point night for the first-time AHL all-star in a 6-3 Tucson win over the Abbotsford Canucks at Tucson Arena on Jan. 28, 2023. Video Courtesy Tucson Roadrunners
Potvin said entering the Ontario series that there wouldn’t be a direct plan to manage Carcone’s ice time, even though he’s cognizant of the workload his star player is looking at before, during and after the break.
“He’s such a valuable part of this team,” Potvin said. “Obviously if we’re up in the games and we don’t need more goals and our team is playing the right way … we’ll manage his ice time. But we’ll play Mike as the team needs him.”
Not far from home
Carcone grew up east of Toronto, in the areas of Ajax and Oshawa, Ontario. It’s roughly a four-hire drive to Laval, he said.
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of people coming,” he said. “Even my billet (family) from juniors — they’re only an hour and a half away. So it will be nice to see them.
“It’ll be nice to see everyone and just get to enjoy it with the little ones, my nieces and nephews — all of that.”
How to watch
The AHL announced earlier this week two ways fans can watch Carcone, Tynan and the rest of the league’s All-Stars this weekend.
Both the All-Star skills competition (4 p.m. Sunday) and the All-Star Classic mini-tournament (5 p.m. Monday) will be televised on NHL Network. If local viewers don’t get NHL Network, the AHL will also stream video for free both nights via its own livestream network, AHLtv.com.
