Gulls First Round Preview

By Thomas Harrington

The San Diego Gulls are back in the Calder Cup Playoffs. They’ll face off against the Colorado Eagles in the first round, best of three series. The two teams faced off against each other eight times during the regular season, with Colorado picking up the win in five of those games.

San Diego enters the playoffs as the seventh and final seed in the Pacific Division. The series will begin Wednesday in Colorado, with game two on Friday. If needed, game three will take place on Sunday. The Eagles will host all three games. In the rest of the Pacific Division, the Henderson Silver Knights will host the San Jose Barracuda, while the Coachella Valley Firebirds will host the Bakersfield Condors. As the Pacific Division winner, the Ontario Reign have earned a bye into the next round.

In Between The Pipes

In net, the Gulls will hopefully be led by Calle Clang, with Tomas Suchanek and Damian Clara backing him up. However, Clang was injured in the final game of the regular season and it remains to be seen how much that will impact him for this series. Even if he starts game one, there’s not a guarantee he’ll be good to go for every game. If Clang is unable to play, I’d expect Suchanek to be San Diego’s starter. After struggling in the 2024-2025 season, Clang was much better this past year, with a record of 18-9-6-3 with a 2.80 goals against average, a .897 save percentage, and three shutouts. As San Diego’s backup, Suchanek played in 15 games and had a 5-7-3 record with a 3.31 goals against average and a .879 save percentage. The Eagles will likely turn to either Trent Miner or Isak Posch in net, with Miner playing in 32 games and Posch playing in 28.  Miner had a 2.62 goals against average and a .904 save percentage, while Posch had a 2.78 goals against average and a .891 save percentage. Colorado has the edge in net going into this series, but it’s not a decisive one. However, if Clang isn’t 100% healthy, the gulf in net will be considerably wider.

Battle At The Blueline

San Diego’s defense will consist of some combination of Tristan Luneau, Roland McKeown, Nikolas Brouillard, Stian Solberg, Noah Warren, Matt Basgall, Konnor Smith, and Roman Kinal. The big question is, will the Gulls get Tyson Hinds back from Anaheim? It’s a solid group, with some future NHL players. Luneau is definitely the star on the Gulls’ backend and will be counted on to play in all situations for San Diego. Colorado will likely counter with some combination of Jack Ahcan, Wyatt Aamodt, Sean Behrens, Ronnie Attard, Keaton Middleton, Alex Gagne, Jacob MacDonald, and Bryan Yoon.

Colorado has the edge in star power on defense. They have seven defensemen who recorded 12 or more points, and MacDonald only played in 16 games. Ahcan recorded 50 points, good for second in the AHL among defensemen. Luneau is San Diego’s leader, with 41 points, and McKeown, Brouillard, and Solberg all recorded more than 20 points. If the Gulls get Hinds back, that could tilt the backend in San Diego’s favor.

Get Your Fowl Towel!

Up front, San Diego is led by Sasha Pastujov, Matthew Phillips, and Ryan Carpenter. Judd Caulfield had the best season of his AHL career, while Sam Colangelo and Nikita Nesterenko both played in the NHL this year and give the Gulls some offensive punch. Nathan Gaucher has been playing the best hockey of his AHL career heading into the playoffs, while Yegor Sidorov brings a ton of skill from the wing. Also, newcomers like Roger McQueen, Herman Traff, and Lucas Pettersson could step in and make their mark in the series.

The Gulls have a lot of firepower, but Colorado will have the offensive edge in this series. They have the AHL’s second leading scorer, Alex Barre-Boulet. Jayson Megna and T.J. Tynan both hit the 50 point mark, while Tristen Nielsen and Valtteri Puustinen both eclipsed 40 points. The Gulls counter with two 50 point scorers in Pastujov and Phillips, along with two other 40 point forwards in Carpenter and Justin Bailey, but in terms of regular season success, Colorado has more offensive firepower.

Colorado is a dangerous team, and showed it in their eight games against the Gulls. In two of their three wins, San Diego was able to win the offensive matchup, with victories of 5-4 and 6-5. Both of those wins came in the shootout. In the Gulls’ lone regulation win, they were able to shut Colorado’s offense down and won 2-1. If San Diego is going to prevail in this series, they are going to need to play like they did in this game. The Eagles were limited to fewer than 30 shots and San Diego was able to shut them down.

There’s no question, going into this series, Colorado is the favorite, but the Gulls have shown that they can match the Eagles. It won’t be an easy series, but San Diego can emerge victorious if they get some great goaltending and timely scoring. The Gulls have a number of high end forwards in their lineup, to the point where some very good players were being scratched late in the season. If San Diego’s coaching staff can find the right combination of players, the Gulls will definitely give the Eagles a run for their money.

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April 21st, 2026