The Hartford Wolf Pack made a rare foray north of the border this week and came home with a pair of points, though they continued to chase the elusive “W” in the standings.

Both Saturday’s match-up with the Hamilton Bulldogs and Sunday’s tilt against the Toronto Marlies required extra time to decide a winner, and despite being tied for tops in the league in overtime victories, the Wolf Pack came away the loser in both: Saturday in a shootout, and Sunday with just 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime.

A pair of new faces were on hand for the latest round of losses, while some old friends moved on to greener pastures, victims of the NHL Trade Deadline. New York Rangers General Manager Glen Sather made two moves at Wednesday’s deadline, both with the goal of shoring up weak spots in the Wolf Pack line-up.

The first deal brought 27-year old center Kris Newbury to Connecticut’s capital. A veteran of 48 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, Newbury was brought in to fill a gap down the middle that’s been an issue for the Pack since Tyler Arneson left for the KHL and Patrick Rissmiller was dispatched to Grand Rapids of the AHL in October. Newbury paid immediate dividends, potting a goal and an assist in his first weekend with the Pack.

Newbury didn’t come cheap, however, and in exchange for the hard-nosed center, the Wolf Pack sent 23-year old heart-and-soul winger Jordan Owens — recipient of last season’s Fan Favorite Award — to the Motor City.

The second addition was Anders Eriksson, a 34-year old veteran defenseman with almost 600 NHL games under his belt. Eriksson helps shore up a defense corps that’s been depleted by injuries all season, and suffered its latest when Michael Sauer went down with season-ending shoulder injury last month. And while the front office didn’t know it when they acquired him in exchange for goaltender Miika Wiikman and a sixth round draft pick, Eriksson’s arrival would prove fortuitous. On Thursday Matheiu Dandenault, who returned to the Pack line-up only a week ago after spending the majority of the season nursing a groin injury, opted to call it quits after learning he would not receive an NHL contract from the Rangers.

Read the rest of my weekly recap over at SNY Rangers Blog…

Photo: Hartford Wolf Pack

Wednesday’s trade of Jordan Owens to the Detroit Red Wings for veteran center Kris Newbury is a minor league deal, nothing more.

Since Tyler Arnason fled the country in early autumn and Patrick Rissmiller was excised like the cancerous tumor he was not long after, the Hartford Wolf Pack have been short on centermen.  To fill the hole, New York Rangers 2005 third round draft pick Brody Dupont was moved into the middle from his natural position at left wing.  The results have been so-so: while Dupont has performed admirably as a checking line center, his offensive production has suffered, stalling his development.

Newbury, a 28-year old center, gives the struggling Wolf Pack another option down the middle, while adding veteran experience and a player who’s not afraid to drop the gloves.

The cost, Owens, will be a tough pill for Wolf Pack fans to swallow.  The 23-year old Niagra native is a speedy, heart-and-soul player who initially signed an AHL deal with the Wolf Pack prior to the 2007-2008 campaign and worked his way up the development ladder from Charlotte of the ECHL to become a critical piece of the Wolf Pack’s checking line and penalty kill last season.  His hard work was rewarded with an NHL deal with the Rangers last summer.

This season, with last year’s linemates gone to greener pastures (Tommy Pyatt to Montreal in the Scott Gomez deal and Mike Ouellette to Europe), Owens has struggled to regain the level he attained last season. Never an offensive dynamo, Owens is well off last season’s 37-point pace, while the Pack penalty kill, of which he’s a major part, is second to last in the league. Owens’ struggles culminated in a seat in the press box on Saturday as a healthy scratch.  Yet despite all that, today’s move is likely to be unpopular among fans, as Owens, who won the Pack’s Fan Favorite award last season, remains well-liked for his scrappy style and never-say-die attitude.

This was written Tuesday, but appears to have gotten lost in the trade deadline shuffle over at SNY’s Rangers Blog, so I’m re-posting it over here.

The losses continued to pile up for the Hartford Wolf Pack last week, but there were a few silver linings to be found amidst the black clouds that have hovered over the franchise in recent weeks.

The Pack lost all three of the games it played, each by single goal, to fall below the .500 mark to 26-27-4, but two of the defeats came in overtime, earning the Pack two extremely valuable points. And so as the AHL enters its final full week before Clear Day rosters must be submitted, the Wolf Pack finds itself in the seventh spot in the eight team Atlantic Division, 11 points behind the fourth place Lowell Devils. Yet thanks to the lopsided division alignment in the AHL’s Eastern Conference this season, and the poor play of the bottom half teams in the East Division, the club remains only two points out of the final cross-over playoff position.

The week started on a high note, with the Wolf Pack welcoming veterans P.A. Parenteau and Mathieu Dandenault back from extended absences. Parenteau returned from a concussion — his second in less than a year — that had kept him out of the lineup for 16 games over a five week span. Without its top offensive producer, Hartford’s record was a dismal 4-10-2-0. Dandenault, meanwhile, had been missing since Thanksgiving weekend with a groin injury, an absence of 36 games.

With Parenteau and Dandenault back in the fold, the Wolf Pack started the week the closest they’ll be to full health for the remainder of the campaign. Only Michael Sauer (shoulder), Brent Henley (knee) and Mike Hoffman (shoulder) remain sidelined, but all three have undergone surgeries that have brought a premature end to their season.

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