{"id":972517,"date":"2026-08-01T01:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/972517\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T01:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:46:13","slug":"snapshots-thunderbirds-mamin-rykov-jatkola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/972517\/","title":{"rendered":"Snapshots: Thunderbirds, Mamin, Rykov, Jatkola"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues) shared that<\/a> Brandon Wildung<\/b><\/a> has been named their new goaltending coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old advances to the professional rank as replacement of Dan Stewart<\/b><\/a>, who had been with the Blues organization since 2020. Wildung will hope to follow the same sort of trajectory as Stewart, who earned a promotion<\/a> to the NHL as goaltending coach of the New Jersey Devils.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A native of Minnesota, Wildung played in net for Mercyhurst University (NCAA DI) from 2014-18. Upon wrapping up his collegiate career, he played in seven ECHL games for the Utah Grizzlies and Manchester Monarchs before hanging up his pads in 2019. Wildung takes a big step into the AHL having been an associate head coach of the USHL\u2019s Sioux Falls Stampede for the past two seasons. The Stampede, 2026 Clark Cup champions, offered several NHL prospects during his tenure, including goaltender Carl Axelsson<\/b><\/a>, a recent fourth round selection of Utah.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for who he\u2019ll help mentor next, the Thunderbirds offer an impressive goalie for next season with NHL pedigree in Georgi Romanov<\/b><\/a>, a 26-year-old who played in 10 games for the Sharks before ending up with Springfield. The Russian took the crease for 28 games last year, not jumping off the page statistically but getting red hot in the playoffs which helped earn a contract extension<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elsewhere:<\/p>\n