Cleveland Monsters

The Monsters began in 2006 when the dormant Utah Grizzlies AHL franchise was purchased on May 16, 2006, by a Cleveland ownership group led by Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans. A new AHL team was awarded to Cleveland following the departure of the Cleveland Barons to Worcester, Massachusetts, after the 2005–06 season. With Quicken Loans Arena established as the team's home venue, the Colorado Avalanche was announced on December 17, 2006, as the franchise's first NHL parent club with a five-year agreement.[2]

The franchise was officially announced on January 25, 2007, as the Lake Erie Monsters, referring to Bessie, a creature of local folklore. The name was chosen from researching focus groups around the Cleveland area and the logo incorporated the geographical connection in the region with Lake Erie.[3] The Monsters do not recognize any past links to the Grizzlies (including the Grizzlies' two Turner Cups) and promote themselves as having begun in 2007.

Former NHL player Joe Sacco was named as the Lake Erie Monsters first head coach. The Monsters opened their inaugural 2007–08 campaign at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins on October 6, 2007, with Craig Billington acting as the Monsters General Manager.[4]

At the end of the 2010–11 season, the Monsters qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time in team history. After gaining a 3–1 series lead over the Manitoba Moose in the opening round, the Monsters proceeded to lose the next three consecutive games, losing the series 4–3.[5]

Monsters with the Calder Cup in 2016

On April 17, 2015, the Monsters announced the signing of a multi-year agreement to become the AHL affiliate for the Columbus Blue Jackets, which took effect in the 2015–16 season. The affiliation was among several that offseason that brought AHL and NHL franchise affiliations geographically closer together.[6] The multi-season affiliation was extended in 2019.[7]

The Monsters finished the 2015–16 season by setting a franchise record in points (97) and qualified for the playoffs for the second time in team history. On April 23, 2016, the Monsters defeated their first round opponent, the Rockford IceHogs 5–3, capping a three-game sweep of their opponent in a best-of-five series. The Monsters advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals to play the Grand Rapids Griffins in a best-of-seven series, defeating them 4–2 in six games. They then swept the defending Calder Cup Champion Ontario Reign in the Western Conference Finals to reach their first Calder Cup Final in franchise history.[8] On June 11, 2016, the Monsters won the franchise's first Calder Cup in a four-game sweep of the Hershey Bears, with Oliver Bjorkstrand scoring the Cup-winning goal in overtime.

This marked Cleveland's first AHL title since the Barons won their last Calder Cup in 1964, and 10th overall for a Cleveland-based AHL team. The Monsters won Game 4 before a sellout crowd of 19,665 people at Quicken Loans Arena — the second largest crowd for a professional hockey game in Ohio behind the 19,941 in a Cleveland Lumberjacks game against the Minnesota Moose in February 1996, and the second largest in Calder Cup playoff history behind the 20,103 Philadelphia Phantoms game four victory in the 2005 Calder Cup Finals over the Chicago Wolves.[9]

On August 9, 2016, the Lake Erie Monsters changed their name to the Cleveland Monsters.[10] The team's Calder Cup winning head coach, Jared Bednar, was then hired by the Colorado Avalanche on August 25.[11] Under their new name and coach John Madden, the Monsters failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2016–17 season. In 2017–18 season, the Monsters were the first team eliminated from playoff contention, failing to make the post-season for the ninth time in 11 seasons, and earned last place in the Western Conference. The team returned to the playoffs following the 2018–19 season as the fourth seed in the North Division where they upset the division champion Syracuse Crunch before being swept by the Toronto Marlies in the division finals. Head coach John Madden then left the team[12] and was replaced by Mike Eaves.

Updated February 4, 2021.[15]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace	Contract
21		Tyler Angle	C	L	20	2021	Niagara Falls, Ontario	Monsters
7		Gavin Bayreuther	D	L	26	2021	Concord, New Hampshire	Blue Jackets
22		Jacob Christiansen	D	L	21	2021	West Vancouver, British Columbia	Blue Jackets
28		Zac Dalpe (C)	RW	R	31	2017	Paris, Ontario	Blue Jackets
64		Trey Fix-Wolansky	RW	R	21	2019	Edmonton, Alberta	Blue Jackets
25		Brandon Fortunato	D	L	24	2021	Albertson, New York	Predators
44		Brett Gallant	LW	L	32	2015	Summerside, Prince Edward Island	Monsters
90		Nathan Gerbe (A)	C	L	33	2018	Oxford, Michigan	Blue Jackets
14		Adam Helewka	LW	L	25	2020	Burnaby, British Columbia	Monsters
29		Zach Jordan	RW	R	24	2020	Collinsville, Illinois	Monsters
36		Nick Lappin	RW	R	28	2021	Geneva, Illinois	Monsters
72		Ryan MacInnis	C	L	24	2018	St. Louis, Missouri	Blue Jackets
5		Connor McDonald	D	R	25	2021	Westerville, Ohio	Monsters
17		Carson Meyer	RW	R	23	2020	Powell, Ohio	Monsters
37		Luke Moncada	C	L	20	2021	Markham, Ontario	Monsters
40		Wyatt Newpower	D	R	23	2020	Hugo, Minnesota	Monsters
10		Evan Polei	LW	L	24	2021	Wetaskiwin, Alberta	Blues
63		Cliff Pu	RW	R	22	2021	North York, Ontario	Blue Jackets
26		Thomas Schemitsch	D	R	24	2020	Thornhill, Ontario	Monsters
20		Justin Scott	RW	L	25	2016	Burlington, Ontario	Monsters
88		Kole Sherwood	RW	R	24	2017	New Albany, Ohio	Blue Jackets
16		Tyler Sikura	LW	L	28	2020	Aurora, Ontario	Monsters
18		Dillon Simpson (A)	D	L	27	2018	Edmonton, Alberta	Monsters
19		Matthew Struthers	C	L	21	2020	London, Ontario	Monsters
39		Brad Thiessen	G	L	34	2015	Aldergrove, British Columbia	Monsters
35		Veini Vehvilainen	G	L	23	2019	Jyväskylä, Finland	Blue Jackets

No Monsters player has had his number retired. However, the team has retired the numbers of players who have played on past Cleveland franchises to honor the city's hockey history.[13]