Chirps from Center Ice

I’ve decided to scrap the “NHL” part of the headline because I am really not “covering” the NHL per se, simply wrapping up who did what where for their AHL farm clubs.

Pittsburgh was quiet. One other team in the East Division wasn’t. Here we go:

–> The Hershey Bears have returned fire. They re-signed Kevin Marshall and also brought in Garrett Stafford. Stafford was number 54 on Jonathan Bombulie’s big board. He is an offensive defenseman, power play quarterback type of player.

Nathan Mallett is a San Antonio Rampage fan and has seen a lot of Stafford in Texas. Here’s what he freely offered when seeing the news:

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–> The Bears then dropped another big bomb by bringing in Jeff Taffe, Jon DiSalvatore, Alex Berry and Steve Oleksy to AHL only contracts today. DiSalvatore was #11 on Bombulie’s big board and Taffe was #12. Berry and Oleksy were not rated. DiSalvatore was the Houston Aeros captain and an all-star this year. Bombulie had this to say about him:

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Taffe, as you know, is a premier top line center. DiSalvatore could put 20 goals in his sleep.

Analysis: It’s an arms race. Hershey is a contender every year, as is Wilkes-Barre. Neither team is going to sit and watch the parade go by.

Bombulie also has a recap of the Bears signings today. He notes that WBS has three open vet spots available. Starting my own rumor with this next tweet. I would personally defy my own logic and start buying streamers to haul off of roofs for the Calder Cup parade if WBS went out and signed this guy, who apparently is a free agent:

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I probably have a better chance of growing a full head of hair again than seeing Keith Aucoin in a Penguins jersey. But, I can dream, can’t I?

Elsewhere:

–> Want to know more about the guys Pittsburgh signed yesterday? Click here.

–> Wheeling sent qualifying offers Chris Barton, Cody Chupp, Paul Crowder, Cam Fergus, Denver Manderson, Tim Priamo, and Zack Torquato. I’m not polished on how things work in the ECHL. I also think that Crowder signed in Europe.

–> The Syracuse Crunch revealed a new logo today.

–> Ex-WBS Penguin Chris Conner signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes minor league affiliate is the Portland Pirates.

–> Brandon DeFazio and Colin McDonald signed with the New York Islanders today. Ben Street signed with Calgary. Still no official news on Geoff Walker and Bryan Lerg, but it looks like Colorado for them.

–> Jonathan noted in today’s update that Wilkes-Barre has lost its top five scorers from last year. That fact takes a bit of the shine off of all the good news, no matter how you look at it.

–> The 2012 Offseason Moves Chart has been updated accordingly.

Still waiting on Norfolk, Syracuse and Binghamton to make some noise. As always, Twitter and Facebook have the latest and the blog will be updated as news warrants.