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NOLLY'S NOTES - BLOG #35

Nick Nollenberger

Jun 21, 2023

Nick Nollenberger (aka Nolly) is the voice of the San Jose Barracuda. 2022-23 was his seventh year with the club. During the season, he can be heard at SJBarracuda.com, via the Sharks Audio Network and on AHLTV.com. A native of Santa Cruz, CA, Nolly played for the San Jose Jr. Sharks as a kid. His broadcasting career began while in college at the University of Arizona.

Happy first day of summer, Cuda Country.

Game 7

An AHL champion will be crowned Wednesday night at Acrisure Arena as the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Seattle Kraken) host the Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals) in Game 7 of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals.

It will be just the 12th Game 7 in Calder Cup Finals history and the first since 2018 when the Toronto Marlies took down the Texas Stars, 6-1. The home team is a perfect 6-0 so far in the series after the Firebirds shutout the Bears by a combined score of 9-0 in the first two games, then the series shifted to Chocolatetown for the next three as the 11x Calder Cup winning Bears were able to sneak out three seperate one-goal wins, including a 1-0 victory in overtime of Game 5. On Monday, with the series back in Palm Desert, the Firebirds forced a Game 7 with a 5-2 win.

Coachella Valley is 5-0 when facing elimination during these playoffs, as Wednesday marks their fourth winner-take-all contest.

The Firebirds are trying to become the first team since the Stars (2013-14) to win a Calder Cup in its first year of existence and their head coach Dan Bylsma is trying to become the ninth head coach to win both a Calder Cup and Stanley Cup (Penguins, 2009).

Todd Nelson, the head coach of the Bears, who helped knock off the Barracuda in the Western Conference Finals in 2016-17 and went on to win the Calder Cup that year with the Grand Rapids Griffins, is just one of three people to have won an AHL championship as a player (Portland, 1994), an assistant coach (Chicago, 2008), and a head coach (Grand Rapids, 2017).

Game 7 is set for 7 p.m. PT and can be watched on the NHL Network, AHLTV.com and you can listen on NHL Network Radio (SiriusXM 91).

Bystedt Signs

The Barracuda will have a different looking team in 2023-24, which is par for the course in the AHL from year to year. But one intriguing piece of the potential group in 2023-24 could be 2022 first rounder Filip Bystedt who signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Sharks on June 12. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that the Swedish center could go back home and play again in the SHL where he was the Rookie of the Year last season, but if the Sharks were to follow a similar route to fellow-Swede William Eklund last year, he could spend the season with the Barracuda. As long as he plays under 10 games with the Sharks, his contract with will slide to the following season. Similar to Eklund, who played just eight games with the Sharks last year and the rest with the Barracuda.

MacEachern Signs

The Barracuda added to its AHL-contracted forward-depth on June 13, signing Conner MacEachern for the 2023-24 season. MacEachern joins Anthony Vincent (F), Roman Kinal (D), and Ethan Frisch (D) as players who the Barracuda have signed to AHL contracts this summer. Nathan Burke and Chase Gresock remain the only two players not to sign with the Barracuda after appearing in games with the team near the end of last year while playing on professional tryouts. At the very least, MacEachern can provide some offensive depth for the Barracuda in the event the team needs an extra body. He can also give the Barracuda’s ECHL affiliate, the Wichita Thunder, a potential piece to deploy. A year ago, the Cuda sent seven players [Billy Constantinou (D), Zachary Emond (G), Dillon Hamaliuk (F), Timur Ibragimov (F), Mark Liwiski (F), Strauss Mann (G), Mitchell Russell (F)] to the Thunder at various points. By the end of the year, just one was left on the roster (Liwiski) because of either injury or trades.

Opening Night

The Barracuda announced it’ll open the 2023-24 season at home on Friday, Oct. 13 (114 days away). SJ is 4-4-1 all-time in season openers and 1-1 at home. Oct. 13 will mark the first time the Barracuda will begin the year at Tech CU Arena. A year ago, San Jose played its first two games on the road at the Iowa Wild.

NHL Draft

We are exactly one week away from the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville (June 28-29). The Sharks are slated to make 12 picks, including two in the first 32.

That’ll do it for this edition of Nolly’s Notes. The next time we talk will be post draft. Looking forward to breaking it all down. If you haven’t listened to the latest episode of Cuda Confidential with Magnus Chrona, check it out below!

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