STORY: COMETS STREAKING BACK INTO PLAYOFF PICTURE
Mar 10, 2025
Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Can the Utica Comets pull it off?
After starting the season winless in their first 13 games, the Comets have chipped away to put themselves in contention for a trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Utica completed the third quarter of their 2024-25 schedule with a 4-1 win over Syracuse on Friday night. They sit eight points behind Belleville for the fifth and final playoff position in the North Division, and six behind the sixth-place Crunch.
While Utica’s season series with Belleville has concluded, the Comets will still face Syracuse five more times, beginning this coming Wednesday.
Friday’s win capped off a wild day in the New Jersey Devils organization. Leading up to the NHL trade deadline, the Devils made four trades that all impacted the Utica roster; in came Daniel Sprong from Seattle, Marc McLaughlin from Boston and Jonathan Gruden from Pittsburgh, while Daniil Misyul, Chase Stillman and Adam Beckman left.
Sprong, McLaughlin and Gruden were all assigned to Utica, making them eligible to skate for the Comets for the duration of the regular season and, if they make it, the Calder Cup Playoffs. Considering the injuries that hit the Devils this week – Dougie Hamilton, Jack Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler all going down – the Comets came through rather unscathed.
Sprong is poised to get another NHL opportunity after tearing it up with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he amassed 11 goals and 25 points in 19 games. And if he does join the Comets at some point, he would be a significant boost for a team that sits 30th in the AHL in scoring at 2.69 goals per game.
Gruden and McLaughlin, meanwhile, are both established two-way forwards with NHL experience, including McLaughlin’s 12 games with Boston this season. Gruden, 24, appeared in 42 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (seven goals, six assists), while the 25-year-old McLaughlin had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 34 games with the Providence.
Plenty of work remains to be done for the Comets if they are to secure a playoff berth, of course, in a wildly winding season. They made a coaching change in the midst of their 0-10-1-2 start, with Ryan Parent replacing Kevin Dineen on Nov. 6. And since finally getting in the win column on Nov. 22, the team has gone 23-15-3-0 – the third-best record in the North Division over that span. Third-year pro Brian Halonen is a 20-goal scorer for the second straight season. Nolan Foote’s team-leading 38 points are a career high after an injury claimed most of his 2023-24 season. And rookie defenseman Seamus Casey is back after being sidelined for nearly two months.
The Comets’ final 18 games include those five meetings with Syracuse, plus two games against league-leading Laval next weekend and a home-and-home with Hershey at the end of March. Ten of the 18 are at the Adirondack Bank Center, where the Comets are 8-0-1-0 in their last nine outings.
There’s still a long climb in front of them. But the Comets have a chance now, something that did not seem all that likely four months ago.