Weeellll...the shuffling of teams and schedules is going to make it difficult and expensive for me to find out what's going on and continue this column. Two of the three teams where I went to see the league in action have gone kaputski, including the one in my local calling area. Oh, joy. Accordingly, AHL info is going to be limited, but I will be able to get you started with a summary of off-season action in the league. Beyond this, we'll just have to see.

New Faces, New Places: Several teams moved around either in location or in divisional placement and nearly everyone got a new coach. Hamilton was rewarded for its surprising playoff performance with a divisional change - rather than continue in a division with the Maritime teams, creating a travel expense hell, the Bulldogs were switched into a division with the New York State teams, much more to Hamilton's liking. The AHL also opted to avoid the odd situation of last season wherein the Calder finalists, Hershey and Hamilton, hadn't seen each other prior to the playoffs. Hamilton will kick off Hershey's season schedule on October 4 and stop by again later in the year. Hershey will reciprocate with a weekend in Ontario in March.

The Capitals were soundly raided by the Nashville expansion team, who swiped longtime AHL coaching tandem Barry Trotz and Paul Gardner from Portland to become Nashville's coaches when play begins next season. Stepping into Trotz and Gardner's very large shoes (figuratively speaking) are Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, tackling his first head coaching position after three years as an assistant in Pittsburgh; and 18-year NHL veteran Jay Wells, who accepts his first coaching position after his retirement this summer. Portland also changes divisions, leaving their fellow New Englanders for a grouping with the Maritime teams.

Meanwhile, replacing John Tortorella in Rochester won't be much easier than replacing Trotz & Gardner, but the Sabres tapped Brian McCutcheon for the job after the Sabres' firing of GM John Muckler. As Tortorella is Muckler's son-in-law, the Sabres didn't like the idea of him continuing in the organization in Muckler's absence.

The Rangers pulled up stakes from Binghamton (who promptly replaced the Rangers with a United Hockey League team) and moved their farm club to recently vacated Hartford, where they showed a pack mentality and became the Hartford Wolfpack, named for a common submarine attack formation as submarines are built in the Hartford area. E.J. Maguire will be in charge of the baby Rangers, although Binghamton assistant coach Mike Busniuk will return in the same capacity.

The Boston Bruins wanted someone new in Providence, so they picked someone old - or at least with a heck of a lot of experience - in frequent former NHL coach Tom McVie. In a fit of irony, McVie left the head coach position with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers to take the job and one of his first acts was to dismiss Providence assistant coach/player Peter LaViolette. LaViolette landed on his feet - as the head coach of the Wheeling Nailers. Go figure.

The Carolina Monarchs ceased to exist in Greensboro, but reemerged in a 'beastly' fashion in New Haven, now as a dual affiliate of Florida and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Whalers/Hurricanes were of course affiliated with Springfield last season, and Falcons head coach Kevin McCarthy was under contract to the Whale, so McCarthy now heads up New Haven. (Replacing McCarthy in Springfield will be longtime Ranger/Jet Dave Farrish). New Haven got the team in exchange for two years to prove the city was a viable site for a permanent team, especially as their building may or may not be up to standard. For those whose curiosity is piqued by the team's name (the Beast of New Haven), the city of New Haven has an unusual number of gargoyles and similar structures and decided to honor that particular civic quirk.

Pittsburgh's search for a landing pad for its dormant AHL franchise continued as the Penguins failed to strike a deal to place the team with either Binghamton or Hartford, but were able to swing a deal and purchase the forthcoming Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania franchise. Look for some legal wrangling to take place as the purchase of Wilkes-Barre gives the Penguins ownership of two different AHL franchises - a league no-no. An additional catch is no building to play in, so the deal will go into effect in 1999 and in the meantime the Penguins struck an agreement with Vancouver to share space in Syracuse. Do not expect to see defense from this team.

Another defensively-challenged team will be the Fredericton Canadiens. Los Angeles expected to have its own affiliate in Lowell this season, but construction problems (read: building isn't ready) have made it impossible for the team to function in Lowell this year and accordingly the Kings will send some of their prospects to Fredericton this season. The Kings will also send former Capitals assistant coach John Perpich to the Canadiens to keep an eye on the LA prospects. And while it's not as formal an arrangement, the Kings are also sending a few players to the Springfield Falcons. By the way, only the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars do not have at least a partial affiliate in the AHL this season.

Charting a Path: To make it all a little simpler, the new lineup of divisions, affiliations and head coaches.

NORTHERN CONFERENCE

CANADIAN DIVISION			     NEW ENGLAND DIVISION

Fredericton Canadiens (Mon/LA); M. Therrien  Hartford Wolfpack (NYR);EJ Maguire
Portland Pirates (Was); Bryan Trottier       New Haven Beast (Car/Flo); Kevin McCarthy
Saint John Flames (Cal); Bill Stewart        Providence Bruins (Bos); Tom McVie
St. John's Maple Leafs (Tor); Al MacAdam     Springfield Falcons (Pho); Dave Farrish
				             Worcester Icecats (StL/Ott); Greg Gilbert

MID-ATLANTIC DIVISION                        CENTRAL DIVISION

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (Ana); Moe Mantha    Adirondack Red Wings (Det/TB);G. Merkosky
Hershey Bears (Col); Bob Hartley	     Albany River Rats (NJ); John Cunniff
Kentucky Thoroughblades (SJ/NYI); Jim Wiley  Hamilton Bulldogs (Edm); Lorne Molleken
Philadelphia Phantoms (Phi); Bill Barber     Rochester Americans (Buf); B. McCutcheon
				             Syracuse Crunch (Van/Pit); J. McIlhargey

How to Dismantle a Championship Team: No, I'm not kidding. The Hershey Bears, aided and abetted by the Colorado Avalanche, celebrated their Calder Cup victory by completely dismantling the team. The only regulars who were expected to return to Hershey are center Rob Shearer, winger Cory Banika, defensemen Dan Smith and Steve Lingren, and prodigal goaltender Petr Franek. Fortunately for the Bears team captain Mike McHugh decided against retiring and Eric Veilleux opted to return after an unsuccessful tryout with the Ottawa Senators. The rest of the team went something like this:

League MVP, etc, JF Labbe: left as free agent, signed with Edmonton, now with Hamilton (!).

Doug Friedman: Ditto.

Richard Brennan: left as free agent and signed with San Jose.

Leading scorer Blair Atcheynum: left as free agent and signed with St. Louis.

Roger Maxwell: left as free agent and signed with Grand Rapids of the IHL.

Kurt Miller: left as free agent, signed with San Antonio of the IHL.

Nic Beaudoin: loaned to Canadian National Team.

Kevin MacDonald: free agent, signed with Baton Rouge of ECHL.

Mark Pivetz: Left as free agent, signed with Dallas, assigned to Michigan (IHL).

Sinuhe Wallenheimo: Signed with ECHL's Mississippi Sea Wolves.

Paul Jerrard: Retired, will become a college coach.

Team Captain Mike Hartman: Retired.

Steffon Walby: Released, signed with Fort Wayne of the IHL.

Blair Scott: Asked for release, unsigned to date.

Josef Marha: Expected to be in Colorado.

Eric Messier: Ditto.

Wade Belak: Ditto.

Pascal Trepanier: Ditto.

While head coach Bob Hartley will return, he's only coming back because the Bears won the Calder Cup...and winning the Cup wasn't even the actual reason. The Montreal Canadiens wanted to hire Hartley as their new head coach, but to avoid team distractions (not to mention tampering charges) Hartley declined to talk with the Habs until Hershey's season came to an end. Of course, Hershey's season was much like the Energizer Bunny - it kept going...and going...and going until Montreal decided not to wait any longer to talk to Hartley and went searching elsewhere for their hiree.

The Bears do acquire some new faces and some slightly new faces - blue-chip prospect and playoff participant Marc Denis will take over between the pipes this season. After much contract maneuvering, the Avalanche finally landed Brad Larson and assigned him to the Bears. Although Larson had been traded to Colorado from the Maple Leafs, Larson couldn't come to terms with the 'Lanche, went back into the draft and was drafted by Colorado again. This time he signed. Also coming to town are former Team USA member Luke Curtin and touted prospect (and former Army cadet) Dan Hinote. Filling out the roster is an assortment of AHL veterans, including Peter Ambroziak (Cornwall/Rochester), Patrick Traverse (PEI/Worcester), Brian Mueller (Springfield) and Brian Corcoran (Baltimore).

Some Things Don't Change: While the Bears' roster may have turned over, their relationship with former tenants the Philadelphia Phantoms hasn't. In a pre-season game between the two teams, a total of 17 fighting majors were handed out. Also handed out were four suspensions: Philadelphia's Travis Von Tighem and Hershey's Trevor Converse will each sit three games for leaving the bench to fight, Hershey's Ville Niemenen picks up two games for antics in the same brawl, and Philadelphia's Andre Payette gets three games for abusing an official in the same game. Different cast of characters, same result. By the way, Hershey's only other preseason game, against the Syracuse Crunch, was also good for double digit fights (including a full scale brawl and an abbreviated tilt between the goaltenders) and Syracuse's Garrett Burnett left the penalty box to have at it with Hershey's Corcoran. Yeesh. Burnett's actions earned him a three-game suspension.

Team Turmoil Strikes Again: What with all the other problems surrounding the Buffalo Sabres lately, you'd think the last thing they'd want to do is pick a fight with their farm club. Apparently not, because that's precisely what they did.

When Dane Jackson signed with the Sabres two years ago, he expected to eventually get a shot in Buffalo. Since he never got that opportunity, Jackson left the Rochester Americans and his captaincy behind to sign with the New York Islanders, but the Islanders opted to return Jackson to the minors, the only question being where. The Amerks remain quite fond of Jackson, so they asked the Islanders to loan him back to Rochester, an arrangement which was acceptable to everybody - they thought.

The contract between the Sabres and the Americans calls for the Amerks to provide half the players for the team in whatever manner the Amerks can find them, including a second NHL affiliation. Consequently the Amerks and Islanders saw no problems with Jackson coming back. But the Sabres have objected strenuously to the point of threatening to end the relationship with Rochester, claiming they never granted permission for the Amerks to receive players from another team. The problem appears related to the fact Buffalo GM Darcy Regier is an ex-Islander employee. For the time being, Jackson remains an Amerk.

Gone But Not Forgotten: The AHL said goodbye to three of its more prominent personalities over the summer. Portland Pirates' owner Tom Ebright died in Hershey in July while waiting for a heart transplant. He was 53 and had recently developed a serious heart condition secondary to another disease. Ebright originally owned the Baltimore Skipjacks, but after financial problems and a dispute with the City of Baltimore he moved the team to Portland, where they won a Calder Cup in their first season. Ebright had also been a member of the AHL Board of Governors for twelve years, with an active role in the league's scheduling. His wife, Joyce, takes over his position as team owner.

The Hershey Bears lost a longtime player, as Yanick Dupre lost a battle with leukemia on August 16 at age 24. Dupre had played most of three seasons with the Bears from '93-'96, occasionally appearing in Philadelphia with the Flyers, prior to his diagnosis in March of 1996. Despite spending 16 days in a coma due to a lung infection, Dupre dodged a bone marrow transplant in 1996, and by spring of 1997 was close to playing condition and had visited both the Flyers and Phantoms with the intention of being in training camp this season. But the disease returned in May, necessitating a transplant in June, and Dupre was struck by a series of infections which caused his death shortly after a charity golf tournament he had organized to benefit leukemia research. Dupre played in 35 games for the Flyers in addition to his three seasons in Hershey and had been expected to be a beneficiary of expansion.

Lastly, AHL senior vice-president Macgregor Kilpatrick passed away in early September at the age of 90. Kilpatrick had been an active and influential member of the AHL's board of directors for 27 years and also served as the League's primary legal counsel. Kilpatrick originally became part of the AHL as the owner of a New Haven franchise and won the Hendy Memorial Award as the AHL's top executive in 1976. He was honored over the summer at the League's summer meetings with the addition of the Kilpatrick Award, to be given the the AHL team with the highest point total in each season.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Last season I had the opportunity to talk with quite a few of the league's top players. Most of those players have landed their gear for the season, so let's see what happened to these guys.

Wade Belak: Made the Colorado Avalanche out of training camp as an enforcer after pounding former 'Lanche Chris Simon.

Jason Bonsignore: Declared a major disappointment by the Oilers and returned to Hamilton on the last chance program.

Dennis Bonvie: Made the Edmonton Oilers.

Curtis Bowen: Was loaned to the Canadian National Team - again.

Sean Brown: Suspended three games in the exhibition season, sent back to Hamilton for more work.

Andrew Brunette: Second in NHL in preseason scoring, sent back to Portland anyway.

Dan Cloutier: Sent to the Hartford Wolfpack for more seasoning.

Chris Ferraro: Rangers assigned him to the Wolfpack, but had to pass him through waivers first and he was claimed by the Pittsburgh Penguins

Peter Ferraro: Ditto. Both twins remain with the Penguins.

Greg Gilbert: Returns to the IceCats.

Daniel Goneau: Injured in training camp, assigned to Hartford.

Ralph Intranuovo: Became a free agent and signed with the IHL's Manitoba Moose.

Ladislav Kohn: Returned to Saint John by the Calgary Flames.

Bob LaChance: Returned to the Worcester IceCats.

Daniel Laperriere: Possibly playing in Europe but unconfirmed.

Marty Murray: Made the Calgary Flames.

Anders Myrvold: Returned to the Providence Bruins.

Zdenek Nedved: Returned to the St. John's Maple Leafs.

David Nemirovsky: Won gold for Canada over the summer in the Maccabi Games in Israel; made the Florida Panthers.

Brent Peterson: Left camp with the Lightning but then loaned to Milwaukee (IHL).

Jamie Ram: The obvious was made official: Ram signed with the Sharks and was sent back to Kentucky.

Jamie Rivers: Made the St. Louis Blues out of camp.

Reggie Savage: No word on his whereabouts.

Robb Stauber: Signed with the Rangers, will back up Cloutier in Hartford.

Jaroslav Svejkovsky: Four goals against Buffalo in final game last season earned him a spot on the Capitals' roster.

Brian Wiseman: Let go by the Maple Leafs, signed with the IHL's Houston Aeros.

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