Category Archives: Monsters

Four players assigned to Monsters by Blue Jackets

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The Columbus Blue Jackets assigned four more players Sunday to the Cleveland Monsters.

Prior to the Columbus Blue Jackets finalizing their roster, they had to make some more roster moves. Those moves including assigning four more players to the Cleveland Monsters. Columbus assigned Justin Danforth, Liam Foudy, Gavin Bayreuther, and Daniil Tarasov to Cleveland. Foudy, Bayreuther, and Tarasov all spent time with Cleveland previously.

Danforth is new to the Blue Jackets organization, playing for Podolsk Vityaz of the KHL last season. in 58 games Danforth totaled 55 points on 23 goals scored and 32 assists. If the 28-year old forward can do anything slightly resembling this type of performance it would be a welcome addition to the Monsters roster.

Blue Jackets assign seven players to Monsters

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned seven players to the Cleveland Monsters.

The regular season is fast approaching and with that the Columbus Blue Jackets had to make some final roster decisions. The team announced that seven players have been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters. Those players are Tyler Angle, Josh Dunne, Brendan Gaunce, Carson Meyer, and Tyler Sikura. Gaunce is the only player who was not on the Monsters roster last season as he spent time in Sweden with Vaxjo HC.

Cam Johnson assigned to Cleveland Monsters

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned the goaltender to the Cleveland Monsters.

When the 2021-22 season begins for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Cam Johnson will be in Cleveland. The team assigned the goaltender to the Monsters after reportedly not meeting fitness standards. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported the news Friday.

Additionally, Portzline also mentioned that Brad Larsen stated that “He’s pretty far on the outside right now” in regards to a return to Columbus.

Cam Johnson has played the last three seasons with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. During his time in Florida, Johnson saved an increasingly higher number of shots, with a 0.915 save percentage in 2018-19 to 0.941 in 2020-21.

Kole Sherwood to become unrestricted free agent

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will not be extending a qualifying offer to the 24-year old forward.

Kole Sherwood will not be receiving a qualifying offer from the Columbus Blue Jackets and will enter unrestricted free agency.

Kole Sherwood has spent the majority of his time in the Blue Jackets organization with the Cleveland Monsters, their AHL affiliate. Sherwood has only appeared in 11 games with Columbus, totaling 1 point which came on an assist. During his time in Cleveland he was much more productive as he ended up with 29 goals and 13 assists in 110 games.

Kraken select Gavin Bayreuther in expansion draft

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The Seattle Kraken conducted their expansion draft and selected the Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Monsters defenseman.

The NHL Expansion Draft took place Wednesday and the Seattle Kraken got to work filling out their roster. Seattle selected one player from the Blue Jackets organization, defenseman Gavin Bayreuther.

The selection was a bit of a surprise as there was some chatter about the Kraken possibly selecting Max Domi rather than Bayreuther.

Gavin Bayreuther spent only one season with the Blue Jackets, but actually appeared in more games with the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate for Columbus. Bayreuther appeared in nine games for Columbus and 14 for Cleveland, compiling 12 points (3 G, 8 A) with the Monsters and just one goal with the Blue Jackets.

Monsters sign Schemitsch, Fonstad, Sweezy

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Thomas Schemitsch, Cole Fonstad, and Billy Sweezy signed AHL contracts with the Cleveland Monsters for the upcoming season.

The Cleveland Monsters have announced that they have signed three players to AHL contracts for the upcoming season. The club agreed to terms with Thomas Schemitsch, Cole Fonstad, and Billy Sweezy.

This will be the second season with the Monsters for Schemitsch. Schemitsch appeared in 28 games with Cleveland last season finishing with 18 points, 16 of which came on assists.

Cole Fonstad appeared in just two games for the Monsters last season, tallying one point on an assist. Fonstad previously spent time in the WHL wit hate Everett Silvertips and a stint in the SJHL with the Estevan Bruins.

Last season was the first in the AHL for Billy Sweezy as he was a member of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Sweezy appeared in 22 games for the Penguins finishing with four points, all on assists.

Matiss Kivlenieks passes away at 24

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The Cleveland Monsters and Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender passed away following a tragic accident.

Matiss Kivlenieks has passed away at the age of 24 following an accident. Aaron Portzline confirmed the reports that originated in Lativa early Monday morning.

Portzline would later add that Kivlenieks’ death is ruled as accidental with fireworks mortar blast, chest trauma being the cause of death after initially being reported as a head injury.

The Columbus Blue Jackets released a statement about the passing of Kivlenieks. Alison Lukan tweeted the statement from the organization.

The NHL also released a statement about the passing of Matiss Kivlenieks, which Lukan tweeted as well.

Matiss Kivlenieks appeared in eight games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first being on January 19, 2020. Kivlenieks spent the majority of his career with Columbus’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland, a total of 85 games dating back to the 2017-18 season.

Monsters sign Justin Scott and Tristan Mullin

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The Cleveland Monsters have brought back both forwards with AHL contracts for the upcoming season.

A couple of familiar faces will be back for the Cleveland Monsters for the 2021-22 season, forwards Justin Scott and Tristan Mullin.

This will be the sixth season for Scott with the Mosnters. During that time Scott compiled 87 points on 40 goals and 47 assist in 260 games.

Last season was Mullin’s first with the Monsters, finishing four points (three goals, one assist) in 15 games.

AHL approves schedule unification plan

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The American Hockey League Board of Governors approved the proposed plan for schedule unification starting in 2021-2022.

Things will be returning back to normal for the AHL starting next season. The AHL has announced that the league in conjunction with the Board of Governors have approved a season unification plan resulting in all teams playing 72 games in 2022-23. For next season teams in the Atlantic, North, and Central divisions will have the option to play 76 or 72 games and teams in the Pacific will play 68 games. There is also a plan in regards to the Calder Cup Playoffs with an increase of teams qualifying for the postseason with details coming later this year.

Impact on the Monsters

It will be a 76 game season for the Cleveland Monsters as they will play a balanced 38 home and 38 away game schedule.

The Cleveland Monsters will be returning to the AHL North Division after spending last season in the Central. Cleveland finished in second place with 35 points in 29 games and an overall record of 16-10-1-2.

Belleville, Laval, Syracuse, Rochester, Utica, and Toronto will also be returning to the AHL North Division for the upcoming season.

Monsters drop final game of season to Griffins

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The Cleveland Monsters were not able to end the season on a high note, losing their final game of the season 4-1 to Grand Rapids.

After winning their final home game of the season Friday, the Cleveland Monsters attempted to close out the season with a win, but were unable to do so. Grand Rapids handed Cleveland a fairly decisive 4-1 loss in the what was the final contest of the 2021 season.

The Griffins got on the scoreboard early in the 1st period, 46 seconds into the game actually and held that 1-0 lead into the 3rd period. The Monsters were able to tie things up about four minutes into the final period on a goal from Gavin Bayreuther, his third of the year. Assisting on the goal was Dillon Simpson who got his 11th of the season.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, Grand Rapids rallied over the final five and a half minutes and tallied three goals. Two of the goals scored were empty netters with about a minute and a half remaining the game, sealing the Monsters fate in the contest so only two of the goals scored came against Cleveland’s goaltender Daniil Tarasov. Tarasov managed to save 41 of 43 shots on goal when he was on the ice.

The Monsters finished the season in second place in the AHL Central Division with 35 points and a record of 16-10-1-2. Considering the rough start for the club, this was a pretty impressive finish when it is all said and done.