Chirps from Center Ice

I would suppose that there is a benefit to having the head coach of your hockey team also act as the general manager.

It was announced Tuesday afternoon that the Pittsburgh Penguins have traded Ryan Haggerty to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Kevin Roy. It’s essentially a trade between two AHL teams involving NHL contracts. I wonder if there is a trade fee with NHL Central Registry and how much it is and how it compares to the one in the AHL.

Anyway, it solves the veteran problem for Wilkes-Barre as Roy does not count as a veteran. Roy has played 23 games and is tied with two other players on the Panthers AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, in points with fourteen (4-10, fourth overall) – seven of those points have come on the power play (2-5) so the Penguins 12th ranked power play (as of December 17) clicking at nearly 20% (19.1) gets better.

I don’t think it’s change of scenery for either guy per se. Haggerty was a good piece here in Wilkes-Barre. He should have been named captain when Garrett Wilson was promoted to full time NHL work last year. He remained that way this season but because the AHL limits the amount of veterans you can dress every night, became a rotating piece that came in and out of the lineup and you never knew when you’d see him again because of the overage of veterans already on the roster. Penguins Head Coach and General Manager Mike Vellucci obviously knows this and did something which improves his team.

This resets things a bit for Haggerty, who will likely start getting more regular playing time with Springfield.

In other news…

– The AHL tagged Cleveland Monsters forward Calvin Thurkauf with a two game suspension for this hit on Zach Trotman on Friday.

– Tyler reported that there weren’t any updates on any injured guys after practice Tuesday morning at Coal Street. Adam Johnson is a maybe for Wednesday vs. Providence, Trotman, Sam Miletic and David Warsofsky were absent.

– Bruins here Wednesday and Friday, here’s some pre-scout reading for you.