Chirps from Center Ice

Before you read this, please read my Third Quarter Grades which published Monday at noon.

Now, onto the Trade Deadline. For Pittsburgh, nothing happened. Some nuggets from today which directly or indirectly affect the team in Wilkes-Barre Township:

1. Dustin Jeffrey was called up again and this time “for good” per Ray Shero.
2. Eric Tangradi was never in any discussion for trade talks.
3. Brent Johnson did not practice today due to a “lower body injury.” If a call-up is needed, it will probably happen tomorrow as Pittsburgh plays Wednesday and it will be Brad Thiessen.

$64,000 question is what about Eric Tangradi and Nick Johnson? Both are on injured reserve with Pittsburgh and you can’t send hurt guys down. But, you had to be on the AHL roster today in order to be on next Monday’s AHL clear day roster. No one seems to know for sure. I tweeted Leone and he doesn’t know. Bombulie is going to e-mail the Pens. My initial thought is there is probably a loophole someplace which would allow for it. Once I get confirmation, as in read Bombulie or someone else, I will let you all know.*

As for the rest of the East Division, the following happened:

1. Hershey needs a goaltender. No way Doug Yingst and the rest of the Hershey brass fly with Todd Ford / Jared DeMichiel from here on out and wait for Braden Holtby’s knee to decide when it wants to heal. Look for the Bears to go after Providence’s Nolan Schaefer. From CapGeek.com, Schaefer is an affordable $75,000 AHL.
2. More from The Champs: Jay Beagle was not on reassigned to Titletown, so he cannot be on the Clear Day roster. Same with Tyler Sloan. However, Mathieu Perreault is still in Hershey and will be on the clear day roster for the Bears in all likelihood. For more discussion on this, read Tim Leone’s story on the matter here.
3. Brett Carson was claimed by Calgary on waivers from Carolina. Carson was a stud on D for the Checkers. That hurts.
4. The Binghamton Senators opened eyes today when parent Ottawa acquired Ryan Potulny from Chicago / Rockford. Also, Ottawa claimed goaltender Curtis McElhinney from Tampa Bay, which means the B-Sens will have the stout goaltending duo of Barry Brust and Robin Lehner standing on guard for thee in net going forward. Also, Bobby Butler and Erik Condra were briefly assigned to Bingo today, meaning they will be eligible for clear day rosters too.
5. For these stories and more, the AHL put together an all encompassing “what’s it mean to my team” article together you can check out here.

Suffice to say, it’s looking more and more like a team on I-81 is taking home a Calder Cup this year. That is, as long as no other team jumps up and steals it, right? **

Bombulie had some Q&A with John Hynes after the deadline on his blog.

Chatted briefly with Nick Petersen in the autograph line. He told me he is about 10 days from returning. Which means 25, the way the training staff wants to make absolutely sure you are 100%.

That’s about it. AHL teams can still make AHL trades and loans between now and next Monday’s clear day. Tomorrow brings my East Division Third Quarter Grades. Be on the watch for that.

* – Michael Fornabaio, who covers the Sound Tigers beat in Bridgeport and is an encyclopedia of information mentioned on his blog that emergencny recall players do not have to be in the AHL at the 3 p.m. cutoff to be eligible to be returned to the minor league affiliate. So that would at least give us all our answer on Tangradi and Johnson. All that’s left is them getting healthy.

** – See Monarchs, Manchester. ManchVegas quietly goes about it’s work as the second best team overall in the AHL. Shhhhh…..