Nick Christensen

Fri, Jul 30, 2004 (10:21 a.m.)

Wranglers coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan said Thursday he and Calgary Flames general manager Darryl Sutter have agreed in principle to extend the Wranglers' affiliation with the NHL's Western Conference champions, and he expects to have the deal signed by Aug. 15.

He said he expects to get a few younger offensive players to fill the holes created by free agent losses by way of an extended Double-A affiliation.

This time last year, the Las Vegas Wranglers were an expansion team without a player. Heading into their second August, they're not doing much better.

Glen Gulutzan, the team's coach and general manager who assembled last season's 43-22-7 team, said he was surprised by the low number of players he has signed for 2004-05 -- so far, two forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender.

But in at least three cases, it doesn't seem as if there was much he could do to bring back key components of last year's team.

Forward Chris Kenady, who led the team in plus-minus last season with a plus-32, signed with Long Beach last month. Now, two players on the Wranglers' protected list, center Greg Day and defenseman Dave Cousineau, have signed to play in Europe, and forward Eric Schneider and center Morten Ask look headed that way, too.

Day led the team with 64 points and 44 assists last season. Cousineau had a hot start as a rookie defenseman and also racked up 32 points. Ask, traded from Toledo in March in a series of complicated deals that involved players who didn't want to be traded, had 25 goals and 34 assists last season. His time with time with the Wranglers, however, was cut by injury. Schneider, another midseason acquisition, logged 21 goals and 20 assists.

So far, the Wranglers have signed brothers Jason and Mike McBain, goalie Marc Magliarditi, center Jeff Attard and forward Doug Wright.

The Wranglers' losses are part of a notable increase in the number of players going to Europe this offseason. While some attribute it to the impending NHL labor problems, Gulutzan, a former European player himself, said he doesn't fault the players.

"They're making pretty good money, two or three times what they'd make here," he said. "There's less games ... it makes sense."

Above Gulutzan's desk is a white board with the names of prospective players written in different sections and different colors. He said he's not looking for anything in particular at this point, and that he expects to have most of the roster put together in the first two weeks of August.

The Wranglers also have one remaining roster spot to offer to a veteran player, with the McBains and Magliarditi filling three of the team's four veteran spots. At a celebrity hockey game last week, NHL players Luc Robitaille and Jeremy Roenick both joked that if their season was off, they'd consider coming to the Wranglers.