Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
A thirtieth birthday is a significant one for nearly anyone, and it brings with it the potential for all kinds of life modifications.
Christian Wolanin is aware of that.
Wolanin, who turned 30 final March, received a Calder Cup championship, bought married, confronted a reckoning of his hockey future, and ultimately landed a contract with one of many AHL’s prime groups.
These swings in fortune formed life for Wolanin in 2025.
Final January 4, the Abbotsford Canucks discovered themselves stalled within the Pacific Division standings and feeling the sting of a 6-2 thumping by the hands of the Laval Rocket. A post-game, players-only assembly adopted. Wolanin, then a key a part of Abbotsford’s management group, and his teammates discovered themselves in peril of slipping out of rivalry. As a substitute they regrouped, went 30-9-1-1 the remainder of the common season, after which fought their approach by means of 5 rounds of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
By the point June 23 arrived, a staff that was floundering in January had grow to be Calder Cup champions. Wolanin performed a significant function in that surge, too. He had delivered a purpose and 27 assists in his last 41 regular-season video games. Then got here 10 extra factors (two targets, eight assists) in 17 playoff contests.
Going into free company, absolutely Wolanin might count on numerous wonderful affords for 2025-26 and possibly even past. He was a two-time AHL All-Star, and received the Eddie Shore Award because the AHL’s excellent defensemen in 2022-23. Add in 86 NHL regular-season video games as a simple plug-and-play recall possibility for a staff. And now he had a Calder Cup to his identify.
Everybody loves a winner.
Besides it didn’t occur.
July got here and went. So did August. September, too. Nothing.
Wolanin is frank concerning the scenario.
“You don’t actually count on it to go like that after successful, proper?” stated Wolanin, who had offseason surgical procedure to restore a sports activities hernia. “There’s not a whole lot of companies the place you’ll be able to go backwards after having success.”
The ripple impact for jobs in professional hockey is a really actual one. One participant indicators someplace, and the spin-off outcomes can impression a number of different gamers each right here in North America and abroad. All of the whereas, Wolanin nonetheless needed to keep in prime situation simply in case a cellphone name did come from a common supervisor on the market. Basing himself within the Los Angeles space within the offseason, he skated alongside fellow free brokers Chase De Leo and Matt Nieto. That meant a 90-minute commute to Toyota Sports activities Efficiency Middle, the follow facility for the Los Angeles Kings and Ontario Reign.
It was a good distance from playoff hockey and successful a championship.
“It makes you admire while you do have a staff as a result of that grind isn’t any joke,” Wolanin admitted. “I suppose it solutions the query how a lot you actually love the sport.”
Nonetheless, he had loads of pleasure to hold him by means of these lengthy commutes. For one, he bought married.
Now he simply wanted a job, as summer season slipped into the autumn months and nothing got here his approach.
“You simply attempt to perceive the scenario,” Wolanin stated. “It was sort of robust for my spouse (Emily) and I simply sitting at residence jobless. I’ve been by means of a whole lot of adversity, humbly, and I prefer to assume that I’ve all the time come out on the higher half of issues.”
Lastly his fortune modified Nov. 20. That’s when the Windfall Bruins introduced him on knowledgeable tryout. Accidents had hit the Boston Bruins, which meant that Windfall discovered itself in want of instant assist. Not a full contract, however beggars can’t be choosers, after all. And Windfall is a main touchdown spot for any participant within the AHL.
It had been a wait, however a worthwhile one.
“I used to be greater than grateful to get a name from a high-end staff with an excellent tradition,” Wolanin stated, “and so they had been already successful video games. So, it sort of made my job straightforward to only are available in and attempt to contribute and facilitate and simply hold them successful.”
Wolanin’s P-Bruins debut got here shortly. Two nights after signing, he was on the ice in Windfall for a conflict with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In his second recreation, a 5-1 win at Toronto on Nov. 26, he provided 4 assists. Then a two-assist night time at Belleville, one in all his former stops, adopted, and he shortly turned a mainstay on the Windfall again finish.
The Bruins have come away proud of the match as properly, signing Wolanin on Dec. 7 to a typical AHL participant’s contract for the remainder of the season.
“He suits completely into what we want and who we want,” head coach Ryan Mougenel stated. “And there’s alternative for him right here, for certain.”
At 22-6-1-0 (.776), the Bruins have the most effective file within the Jap Convention. Wolanin is ready to transfer the puck out of hassle in addition to distribute it. He can increase any energy play, and Windfall ranks fifth within the AHL on the man-advantage at 25.3 %. One in all Wolanin’s greatest strengths is his capacity to create offensively however to take action with endurance and poise. He doesn’t pressure performs unnecessarily.
“He’s been as marketed,” Mougenel continued. “I’ve been following his profession for fairly some time, so I’ve all the time sort of been a fan. He’s actually giving us a unique sort of dynamic again there. He sees performs earlier than they’re there. He’s calm, he’s regular, he’s energetic. And he’s been coached by some actually good coaches. I do know Todd McLellan’s had a powerful affect on him, and I’m a little bit little bit of a disciple of Todd’s.”
Now that Wolanin is settled in with Windfall, it could be straightforward to overlook what his scenario was like simply six weeks in the past. He has not.
“I’m sitting right here performing prefer it was all sunshine and rainbows, and it wasn’t,” Wolanin acknowledged. “I used to be getting impatient a little bit bit, getting a little bit pissed off with the scenario. However you learn the way a lot you actually love the sport while you’re airing out your individual gear in your trunk of your automotive.
“It simply exams your will.”
Now Wolanin is again within the recreation, and he has an opportunity to make one other cost for the Calder Cup.
“As a lot because it was irritating and a little bit bit complicated,” Wolanin stated, “I’m greater than grateful to finish up in a spot like this with an excellent group of men.
“I believe the one factor I got here out of it with is that I really like this recreation, and I’ll do something to maintain enjoying.”
On the American Hockey League beat for twenty years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is an everyday contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
