Chirps from Center Ice

Seems that every time I load Twitter, there are live tweets of a prospect camp somewhere for an NHL team. It’s been going on for a few weeks now.

No, I am not complaining of hockey live tweets, as that’s what I base my entire social media presence on, I’m just saying that prospect development camps are open for business.

Well, the Penguins are opening theirs next week. They announced a roster today complete with player bios.

A name on the roster familiar with Penguins fans in Wilkes-Barre is Tom Kuhnhackl, who apparently is healed enough to participate in the camp. Recall that he was injured earlier this year and wasn’t seen again. This is a positive sign as I expect him to have a strong camp.

Notables such as Brian Dumoulin, Reid McNeill, Philip Samuelsson, Jayson Megna, Adam Payerl and Dominik Uher are also attending next week.

There’s a name on the list that is actually on the “Big Board” who is an unrestricted free agent. His name is Carter Rowney, a right winger who had a four game apprenticeship with Abbotsford last year. He’s unranked on the Board, noted to have “good size” – he’s 6’2 and 202. He was the assistant captain for his University of North Dakota team and also received “most improved player” in 2011-12.

The Wilkes-Barre coaching staff is going to run the camp, so it will be interesting to see if Rowney or any other camp invitee gets an invite to Wilkes-Barre’s camp in the Fall.

Elsewhere…

— Ex-WBS goaltender Ty Conklin was named St. Louis Blues Goaltender Development Coach today.

— Derek Nesbitt signed with the Oklahoma City Barons today to an AHL contract. Recall that Wilkes-Barre sat Nesbitt out at the end of last season so he can retain his, “tweener” status and not be counted as a veteran for next season. To me, seems like a lot of hoops that the Penguins jumped through for a guy that was virtually invisible for the them in the postseason. It’s the nature of the business, I get that, just because it’s the nature of the business doesn’t mean I have to like it. The 2013 Offseason Moves list has been updated to reflect the move.

— Harry Zolnierczyk signed his contract with Pittsburgh today. I maintain he will not play a game for Wilkes-Barre next season.

— The Utica Comets may be playing in the AHL’s Western Conference next season, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely ruled out that they won’t play the Penguins next year. If they do, Penguins fans may see some familiar faces on the team as Benn Ferriero and Brandon DeFazio signed contracts with parent Vancouver today.

Have a great weekend.