The Cleveland Monsters struggled out of the gate, and their slow start had them chasing teams in the North Division. They won only three of their first 10 games and just couldn’t seem to find the offense needed to get into the win column. “We just couldn’t put the puck into the net,” Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber noted in a conversation with Hockey Hot Stove.
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Fast forward a few months, and the Monsters have won seven of their last 10 and sit in third place in the division. The turnaround is impressive and a credit to multiple factors. It’s not a coincidence that their rebound happened around the same time that the Columbus Blue Jackets, their NHL affiliate, had theirs with the new head coach bump.
“There’s been some slight systematic adjustments,” Vogelhuber mentioned about the impact of the Rick Bowness hire on the American Hockey League (AHL) team. The coaching change is one thing but a lot has gone into turning the Monsters into a juggernaut, one that many expected them to be before the season, and now they are, as things heat up.
Monsters Have Four Forward Lines Coming At Teams in Waves
“We’re just balanced, we have four lines,” Vogelhuber noted about what’s changed the most in recent games, adding, “I don’t really feel like it’s a first or a fourth line.” With a handful of players joining the team from the Blue Jackets during this Olympic break, the Monsters suddenly can overwhelm teams with multiple scoring lines.
Luca Del Bel Belluz centers the top line and has made everyone around him better while Luca Pinelli and Mikael Pyyhtiä are on the same line and have 20 goals and 42 assists combined. For the Monsters, it allows them to keep the lines fresh for the game and find out who is hot to lean on late.
The Monsters are built from the forward unit out, where that group is their strength. It helps them play the game differently and match up well against many AHL teams. “From an offensive standpoint, when we get the pucks on our sticks and forecheck, it’s definitely an advantage over time,” Vogelhuber added. The Monsters have a forward unit that can play in any type of game, and it shows with the way they’ve looked lately.
The Monsters Coaching Staff Helps
Vogelhuber is a fascinating coach, someone who, by AHL standards, is young yet has been around for a while. The 37-year-old has been behind the bench since 2022, making him one of the longest-tenured coaches in a league known for turnover.
His background built him for this role. “I was a player in the American League until I was 30. I was always team first and always reliable, and those things can be taught,” Vogelhuber noted about his playing days. Like many coaches, he wasn’t a star during his career and instead was asked to do it all as a player. Those traits translate and allow him to send the right message to the Monsters, especially the prospects looking for a door into the NHL (scoring alone won’t cut it).
Vogelhuber is the right coach to get the most out of this group, and it shows in how the Monsters play. It’s what he’s done in the past, and how he’s helped them rebound from a season that looked lost early on.
The Compete is There
The Monsters outplayed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and it was obvious that they had a higher compete level. They only had five shots on the net in the first period and trailed 2-1. The Phantoms took their foot off the gas while the Monsters kept pressing, and it resulted in a 5-2 victory.
They flipped the switch and played better down as the game went on. In many ways, the latest game embodied the season where they stumbled early but finished strong. Vogelhuber wants the team to play a certain way and knows it might take time to get to that point but slowly, they are looking like the team he envisioned they’d be when the season began.
The Monsters are winning games because of their competitiveness. They aren’t a better team than the Laval Rocket or most of the teams in their division. From a talent standpoint, the Phantoms were the better team. Yet, the Monsters climbed up the standings thanks to their effort and overall buy-in.
Where The Monsters Are Still Looking to Improve
The Monsters know how long the season is. Certainly, Vogelhuber knows how long it is and is well aware of how hard it is to make it over the finish line. The Monsters took the Hershey Bears to the brink in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, coming up short in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. While the roster is different, the same head coach is behind the bench and it’s why this is the time of the season when he’s looking for the team to play the right way.
“We’re pushing the details that will win a seven-game series,” Vogelhuber stated. The Monsters must forecheck and come at teams in waves if they want to win a Calder Cup but they must check off every box, including proving that they can win with elite defense and goaltending. The players are buying in, and the wins are following.
It’s turned the Monsters into an exciting team in a division that has plenty of them. They are now in the mix when they weren’t a few months back. “We were down in the standings but I really liked our game,” Vogelhuber added, and now that everything is coming together, the Monsters look like the force that teams want to avoid.
