Ice Chips 05'-06'

Ruid ramblings

The Fort Wayne Komets are in contract negotiations with left wing J.C. Ruid, a prolific scorer who has played for coach Pat Bingham before with Asheville and Adirondack of the UHL, plus Wheeling of the ECHL.

"We're still talking to (Ruid)," Komets general manager David Franke said. "I don't think we'll have an answer from him until the end of the week. We're getting close but nothing's finalized."

With Adirondack in 2002-03, Ruid tallied 40 goals and 96 points in 71 games. Ruid, 32, played last season in Austria. Were he to sign with the Komets, the team would have eight players of veteran status, one more than they're allowed to play on a nightly basis.

"I think there's a good chance we would do that," Franke said, meaning the Komets would have to sit at least one veteran every game.

• I'm still pretty amused by the reader, a Missouri fan or possibly disgruntled ex-employee of the River Otters, who chimed in on my last post and decided to blast Fort Wayne. Let's face it, folks: If you're judging UHL cities on the stability of their franchise, the strength of their fan base, the history of their teams and their arenas, there are only a handful of teams that belong in the conversation: Muskegon, Fort Wayne, Quad City and Kalamazoo. Perhaps I could be persuaded Rockford does, too. Missouri? Uh, I don't think so.

Kaminski gets a job

Just over a year ago, I thought Kevin Kaminski was destined to become the Komets' next coach. He was with the Missouri River Otters, an upstart team that gave Fort Wayne all it could handle in the first round of the 2005 playoffs.

Last season, though, the River Otters were horrible and Kaminski didn't last the season. Then the Komets needed a new coach and wound up with Pat Bingham. But Kaminski, 37, has landed on his feet, it seems. He has been hired to coach the Youngstown Steelheads of the Central Hockey League.

Funnily enough, the press release on Kaminski being hired makes no mention of his work last season, when the River Otters went 11-27-3.

On the Hounds' roster are former Komets defenseman Mark Lindsay and forward Joey Sewell.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

More signings

The Fort Wayne Komets’ torrid pace of signing players continued with the additions of right wing Bogdan Rudenko and goaltender Daniel Ljung to the roster Wednesday.

Training camp for the Komets opens Oct. 2.

Rudenko, 29, played 67 games last season in the ECHL with Pensacola and Florida, tallying seven goals and 15 points.

But he clearly has scoring punch.

In 2000-01, while playing for Komets coach Pat Bingham with Asheville of the ECHL, he had five goals and 13 points in 11 playoff games as his team reached the Colonial Cup Finals. In 2002-03, Rudenko totaled 34 goals and 65 points in 74 games with Adirondack of the UHL.

The Komets already have a crew of accomplished scorers with Daniel Goneau, Jonathan Goodwin, K.J. Voorhees and Bruce Richardson, so the addition of Rudenko should solidify the Komets’ top lines.

Ljung, 26, played for Lawrence University from 2002 to 2005. He is the third goalie on the Komets’ roster, joining incumbent starter Kevin St. Pierre and rookie Dan McWhinney.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Larocque comments

Here's what Mario Larocque has to say about signing with the Komets.

On joining the Komets: "All I've heard about the Fort Wayne Komets and the town have been good things. They always have a winning team and hopefully this will be another one."

On his style of play: "I would say I bring a little bit of everything to the game. I'm a physical kind of guy who's really good defensively. I can also bring a lot of offense. I've been around for awhile and hope I can help with the younger guys."

On playing for Pat Bingham again: "I was wishing for him to be the coach there. I really think he's the kind of coach that everyone wants to have. I'm not there to make publicity for him, but I know he's a great coach."

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

The beef

A reader last week made a fun comment when he wrote, "Where's the beef."

First off, why don't they make good commercials like that Wendy's gem from the 1980s? More to the point, though, it summed up that some fans were distressed that the toughness the Komets promised to add hadn't been shown yet.

With today's signing of defenseman Mario Larocque, the Komets took another step in the right direction.

I know the reviews of Larocque have been mixed. I don't recall that he made a particular impression on me either, when I saw him play in the International Hockey League or the UHL. But the guy's got a pretty impressive resume, so I have to believe he will be the kind of player the fans have been calling for.

Larocque, 28, was a first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning (16th overall) in the 1996 draft. He was taken just ahead of players like Marco Sturm, Daniele Briere and Jesse Wallin, all now NHL mainstays. I've got to believe Larocque has got some pretty serious skills; he couldn't have fooled that many scouts. And he played in five NHL games.

The question is, now that he's gone from the gong show that was the Danbury Trashers, can he be a valuable player? Or will he be in the penalty box all the time? Since coach Pat Bingham had Larocque in Wheeling of the ECHL a few years back, he must believe Larocque will help the team.

If nothing else, with Larocque (6-foot-4, 210 pounds), Pascal Morency (5-foot-10, 196 pounds) and Bruce Richardson (5-foot-9, 175 pounds) in the fold, the Komets will have plenty of fun for the Komets' fans to watch. A heck of a lot more than when the Komets had only Lance Galbraith and seldom-used Jeff Worlton to give the fight-happy fans somethig to coo about.

I still expect some more physical players to land on the Komets' roster before Oct. 2 rolls around. Even if it doesn't, the Komets have brought in some beef, er, bright physical stars.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Franke feeling good

With training camp just a few weeks away, Komets general manager David Franke feels good about where his team is headed.

"We'd like to find maybe another rookie defenseman or two," he said. "And I think we'd like to find a couple of second-line players. But I think we've got a really good first line and hopefully some people will come into training camp and impress us."

Of course, the specifics will be decided by coach Pat Bingham later, but it looks as if the first line will consist of newcomers Bruce Richardson and Daniel Goneau, along with returning leader Jonathan Goodwin.

The Komets expect to sign some more players next week. And they plan to keep a close eye on what happens in NHL, American Hockey League and ECHL training camps.

"We know there's been a lot of over-recruiting by ECHL teams," Franke said of the other AA minor-league circuit.

He added that in recent years, the Komets have gotten star players like Tom Lawson, Dustin Virag and Goodwin after they were cut by ECHL franchises.

• The Komets have given up on trying to re-sign forward Jamie Milam, who was promising as a rookie last season. Franke said the Komets called him about a dozen times without hearing back.
• Last week, The Journal Gazette reported the Komets had looked into acquiring the rights to Mike Kinnie from the Flint Generals. Kinnie also did not call the Komets back, so they've given up on that avenue, Franke said.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette