Chicago Wolves

The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the Central Division of the Western Conference of the American Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois and are owned by Chicago business owners Don Levin and Buddy Meyers. They do not have a minor league affiliation with any NHL team as of June 2020, but that will likely change in the coming seasons.

Chicago Wolves
2019–20 AHL season
CityRosemont, Illinois
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceWestern
DivisionCentral
Founded1994 (In the IHL)
Home arenaAllstate Arena
ColorsBurgundy, gold, black, white
                   
Owner(s)Don Levin, Buddy Meyers
General managerWendell Young
Head coachVacant
MediaMy50
The U
AHL.TV (Internet)
AffiliatesUnaffiliated
Franchise history
1994–presentChicago Wolves
Championships
Regular season titles1 IHL (1999–2000)
Division Championships4 IHL (1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01)
8 AHL (2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19)
Conference Championships3 IHL (1997–98,
1999–00, 2000–01)
4 AHL
(2001–02, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2018–19)
Turner Cups2 (1997–98, 1999–2000)
Calder Cups2 (2001–02, 2007–08)

Originally a member of the International Hockey League, the Wolves joined the AHL after the IHL folded in 2001.

History

The Wolves won the Turner Cup twice (1998, 2000) in the IHL and the Calder Cup twice (2002, 2008). The Wolves qualified for all but five postseasons (2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, and 2015–16 seasons), appearing in seven league championship finals (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2019) in their 22-year history.

The team's great star was forward Steve Maltais, who until his retirement after the 2004–05 season, had played every season of the franchise and holds most of its scoring records. Other notable players include goaltender Wendell Young, ex-Pittsburgh star Rob Brown and long time Chicago Blackhawks stars Troy Murray, Chris Chelios and Al Secord. The Wolves had their best season start in their 14-year history, during the 2007–08 season, winning 13 of the first 14 games, with an overtime loss. The Wolves finished the season with 111 points, and first in the Western Conference.

2007–08 Wolves with the Calder Cup

The Wolves were the AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers from 2001 to 2011. The Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in June 2011 and added the St. John's IceCaps (formerly the Manitoba Moose) as their new AHL affiliate, leaving the Wolves and the NHL's Vancouver Canucks to find new affiliates. On June 27, 2011, the Wolves and Canucks agreed to a two–year affiliation agreement.[1]

On April 23, 2013, the Wolves and St. Louis Blues reached a three-year affiliation agreement. The deal was struck after the Canucks and Wolves decided not to renew their existing affiliation agreement and purchased the Peoria Rivermen franchise from the Blues creating the Utica Comets.[2] In November 2016, it was first reported the Blues would not renew their affiliation with the Wolves and were planning to move their affiliation to Kansas City for 2017.[3] However, this was unconfirmed and then denied by the announced potential owner in Kansas City, Lamar Hunt Jr., in a press release from his ECHL team in the area, the Missouri Mavericks,[4] and further denied by AHL commissioner, David Andrews, after the January 2017 Board of Governors meeting.[5]

After the 2016–17 season, the Wolves became the first affiliate of the NHL's expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights.[6] The Blues did not re-sign with the Wolves to be their primary NHL affiliate for the 2017–18 season. However, Blues' general manager Doug Armstrong confirmed they would still send prospects to the Wolves for that season.[7]

During the first season of their affiliation with Vegas, the Wolves set a pair of franchise records in earning points in 14 straight games from December 9 to January 6[8] and 13 consecutive home wins from December 6 to February 15. In the 2018–19 season, the Wolves made the Calder Cup Finals, in which they lost to the Charlotte Checkers in five games.[9] During the 2019–20 season, the Golden Knights stated it was looking to own and operate its own AHL team in the Las Vegas region in 2020–21, but it would not be the Wolves.[10] The Golden Knights agreed to purchase the San Antonio Rampage franchise and move it to Las Vegas.[11]It is rumored that the Carolina Hurricanes will become the Wolves' new NHL affiliate.[12]

Television

The Wolves are the only AHL team with a full television package. All 76 regular-season games, plus playoffs, are broadcast on WPWR-TV (My50), and WMEU-CD (The U). As the Chicago Blackhawks' late owner Bill Wirtz had refused to allow Blackhawks home games to be televised locally, the Wolves were viewed and embraced as an alternative; the Wolves took advantage of this, going so far as to promote themselves with the slogan "We Play Hockey The Old-Fashioned Way: We Actually Win". After Judd Sirott served as the team's play-by-play announcer for its first 12 seasons, starting in the 2006–07 season broadcast announcers were long-time Blackhawks commentators Pat Foley and Bill Gardner; Foley ultimately returned to the Blackhawks for the 2008–09 season after Bill Wirtz died and his son Rocky took over the team, reversing many of his father's policies, one of which allowed the Blackhawks' games to be aired locally on TV.[13] Since 2008, Jason Shaver has handled the play-by-play duties for the Wolves, along with Gardner.

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Wolves. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Chicago Wolves seasons

Regular season Playoffs
SeasonGamesWonLostOTLSOLPointsPCTGoals
for		Goals
against		StandingYear1st
round		2nd
round		3rd
round		Finals
2014–157640296187.5722101983rd, Midwest2015L, 2–3, UTI———
2015–167633355374.4871942286th, Central2016Did not qualify
2016–1776441985101.6642512001st, Central2017W, 3–2, CHAL, 1–4, GR——
2017–187642237495.6252442081st, Central2018L, 0–3, RFD———
2018–197644226498.6452501991st, Central2019W, 3–2, GRW, 4–2, IAW, 4–2, SDL, 1–4, CHA
2019–206127265362.5081551754th, Central2020Season Cancelled due to COVID-19

Players

Current roster

Updated June 1, 2020.[14][15]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
38 Jermaine Loewen RW R 22 2019 Mandeville, Jamaica Wolves
22 Tye McGinn LW L 30 2019 Fergus, Ontario Wolves

Team captains

Retired numbers
Wolves retired numbers and honored personnel
Chicago Wolves retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
1Wendell YoungG1994–2001December 1, 2001[16]
11Steve MaltaisLW1994–2005April 15, 2006[16]

Honored personnel

Team records
Single season
Some of the Wolves banners hanging in the Allstate Arena
Type Number Player Season
Goals 60 Steve Maltais 1996–97 [18]
Assists 91 Rob Brown 1995–96 [18]
Points 143 Rob Brown 1995–96 [18]
Penalty minutes 390 Kevin MacDonald 1994–95 [18]
Hat-tricks 5 Steve Maltais 1996–97 [18]
Power Play Goals 27 Steve Maltais 1995–96 & 1996–97 [19]
Short-Handed Goals 7 Ben Simon 2002–03 [19]
Plus-Minus +47 Arturs Kulda 2009–10 [19]
Wins 38 Kari Lehtonen 2004–05 [19]
Shutouts 7 Jake Allen 2013–14 [20]
Career
Type Number Player
Goals 454 Steve Maltais [18]
Assists 497 Steve Maltais [18]
Points 951 Steve Maltais [18]
Penalty minutes 1061 Steve Maltais [18]
Hat-tricks 18 Steve Maltais [18]
Power Play Goals 195 Steve Maltais [18]
Short-Handed Goals 21 Derek MacKenzie [19]
Game Winning Goals 67 Steve Maltais [18]
Games played 839 Steve Maltais [21]
Wins 169 Wendell Young [22]
Shutouts 16 Wendell Young [23]
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See also

References
  1. "Canucks enter new AHL affiliation agreement with Chicago". The Sports Network. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  2. Blues Announce Affiliation with Wolves: Chicago Wolves will serve as the Blues' AHL affiliate for at least three seasons, NHL.com (April 23, 2013)
  3. "Report: Blues AHL affiliation to move to Kansas City". KMOV. November 30, 2016.
  4. "Missouri Mavericks Deny Reports on AHL and Kansas City". Arena Digest. December 2, 2016.
  5. "Blue Notes: Reaves moving to third line, at least to start". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. January 30, 2017.
  6. "WOLVES, GOLDEN KNIGHTS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP". AHL. May 16, 2017.
  7. "Armstrong statement on AHL affiliation". St. Louis Blues. May 16, 2017.
  8. "Gulls Stop Wovles' Point Streak at 14 Games". SinBin.Vegas. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  9. "Charlotte Checkers win Calder Cup". Carolina Hurricanes. June 8, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  10. "Golden Knights looking to buy AHL club and move it to Las Vegas". Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 27, 2020.
  11. "Golden Knights purchase AHL franchise, Wolves owner confident team will find new NHL partnership". Daily Herald. February 7, 2020.
  12. "Wolves set to become Hurricanes affiliate: reports". Chicago Sun-Times. April 29, 2020.
  13. "Pat Foley returns to Hawks" Archived 2008-07-01 at the Wayback Machine. Chicago Sun-Times. June 16, 2008. Retrieved on June 16, 2008.
  14. "Chicago Wolves Roster". Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  15. "Chiacago Wolves Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  16. "All-Time favorite Chicago Wolves moment". Chicago Wolves. 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  17. "Wolves, Anderson Agree to Part Ways". OurSports Central. June 2, 2016.
  18. Skelnik 2012, pp. 124
  19. Skelnik 2012, pp. 125
  20. LaTour, Paul (2014-04-19). "Wolves win AHL's Midwest Division". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  21. "Wolves to retire Maltais' No. 11.(Sports)". Daily Herald  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . 2006-01-27. Archived from the original on 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  22. Spellman, Mike (2001-11-30). "Ring master Wolves will honor former goalie Young by retiring his No. 1.(Sports)". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2013-01-02 – via Questia Online Library.
  23. Shapiro, Mark (2000-11-07). "Wolves' Young Blanks Grizzlies". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
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