Chirps from Center Ice

I am on vacation from my big boy job this week, but the AHL news cycle was as active today as its been in weeks.

No, the schedule isn’t out yet. More on that in a minute.

No, the AHL All-Star Classic venue hasn’t been announced yet either.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced today the signing of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, a 6’2, 210 pound behemoth of a man that can absolutely throw. Some of his work…

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The signing creates a massive logjam in the toughness department because you have Steve MacIntyre, Zach Sill, Letourneau-Leblond and quite possibly Harry Zolnierczyk all under contract for the Penguins this Fall.

Anyway, Letourneau-Leblond played for the Norfolk Admirals last season and went 3-5-8, a +7 with 98 PIMs. 1-2-3 of that 3-5-8 came in a game from outer space against the Penguins in February that saw Letourneau-Leblond score a goal and assist on two others and tough guy Jay Rosehill score two goals and assist on another.

Both Rosehill and Letourneau-Leblond scored on goals which were assisted by the other.

Letourneau-Leblond was ranked 80th on the Jonathan Bombulie / Michael Cignoli big board, by the way.

The 2013 Offseason Moves List has been updated appropriately.

Not to be outdone, but our friends in Hershey were active on the wire today as well, signing Brandon Segal, which gives the Bears the top-six right wing need they were looking for. He’s a vet, putting Hershey one over to start the year (Derek Whitmore, Jeff Taffe, Jamie, Johnson, Dane Byers and Tyson Strachan being the others)

There were other Penguins related page two’s worth noting:

— Ian Altenbaugh’s story from the other day on WBS D Reid McNeill, who is training with Gary Roberts for this upcoming season.

— Mike Bales, who worked this season with the departed Brad Thiessen and current WBS goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, was promoted to Pittsburgh as their goaltending coach.

— On Zatkoff, he was spotted in North Carolina practicing with Carolina Hurricanes players / prospects. Photoset here. Zatkoff summers in Raleigh, N.C.

So on the, “You Decide” part of the blog headline. A question. Do you like the offseason haul that the Penguins have reared so far? Does it put Wilkes-Barre / Scranton among the league elite? Four players, Chris Conner, Nick Drazenovic, Andrew Ebbett and Brendan Mikkeslon are all in the Top 50 on the aforementioned Big Board. All quality players. But how do they matchup against the other divisional heavyweights in Syracuse and Hershey and the AHL overall? Vote…

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Finally, I have the sense that the AHL schedule will be released this week. Only problem is, I am traveling to New York City on Thursday for my brothers wedding for the weekend. I’ll likely not have enough time, enraptured with the marital activities, to tweet or blog up a proper analysis. So I have enrolled the services of Jenni Probst, head cook and bottle washer of the blog Chasing Checkers to pinch hit for me while I am away in the Big Apple. Look for her piece Thursday, or Friday, depending on how quickly or slowly Springfield gets its act together.

Stay cool.