Chirps from Center Ice

There was a ton of news scattered about the hockey world today. Lots to get to. In no particular order:

• Stand-up job by Eric P at the Wilkes-Blog doing individual player previews of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. I thought about doing something here, but not only did Eric beat me to it, he did a better job that I could have imagined. Eric previewed the Forwards and Defensemen. Goalies are later this week.
• Dustin Jeffrey was sent to Wilkes-Barre today. Impeccable analysis from Jonathan Bombulie here. Further discussion regarding fringe players on Pittsburgh is found by Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer Rob Rossi here. Reading into it, WBS could potentially have a combination of Lovejoy, Engelland, Hutchinson sent to Wilkes-Barre or all three. Check it out.
• Check out this goal from Kaspars Daugavins of the Binghamton Senators. Make sure you are watching it on an empty stomach because you will certainly lose you lunch after watching this sickening goal. If Daugavins tries this against WBS, and I am in attendance (which I will be if it isn’t the Thanksgiving game) I am standing up and applauding. Damn the consequences.
• Great season preview of the Hershey Bears by a fan of theirs here (loaned to the Wilkes-Blog) Very in depth analysis.
• This next bit of news should come as no surprise: Danny Richmond was waived today. If not claimed, (he won’t be) he’ll be assigned to the Toronto Marlies.
• Staying in T-O Dot, ex-WBS Pen Luca Caputi was sent to the Marlies as well. This does come as a surprise to me. Caputi is NHL ready in my opinion and does legitimize the Marlies somewhat in the North Division this year. They do have Richmond acting on defense, so maybe it evens out?*
• Devils goaltender and loyal Twitter user Mike McKenna was assigned to Albany today.
• Alexandre Giroux was cut by parent Edmonton today. Man can’t catch a break. He’ll score a billion goals in the AHL but can’t hack it in the NHL? He makes the OKC Barons serious contenders.
• Staying with Bears alumni, Chris Bourque has defected from the KHL and is now playing with Lugano in the Swiss League. As long as he stays far far far far away from North America, because Washington retains his rights through December. (The link is in Swedish. Have some fun and find a translator – even better – when you find it, cut and paste it in the comment section!)
• Hate to go all Bears on you, but they revealed their alternate jerseys they will use for certain games in commemorating the AHL’s 75th anniversary today. Good stuff.

Pittsburgh has to have 23 guys on their roster by tomorrow. Stay with me on Twitter for reaction and check back here tomorrow afternoon for reaction way over the 140 character limit allowed over there.

* – of note, Nazem Kadri was also assigned. Toronto could do some damage in the North this year. And, if you are wondering why the negative tone on Danny Richmond, I could not stand him in Wilkes-Barre when he played here. Awful defenseman. Probably one of the worst ever to put on a Penguins uniform. Made players around him like Jon D’Aversa worse. D’Aversa is a point a game player now over in Germany. He could have been that here.

I was off the grid for a good part of the day today. So lots to get to.

Preseason game vs. Syracuse tomorrow, then up in New York the day after. I will be at the home game tomorrow. I’m live-tweeting all the games this year. Home and away, from Abbotsford to Albany and everyplace in between. Lend a follow to me on Twitter. Couple that with the blog and you’ll be in the know every day.

Nice write-up from out of Pittsburgh on Mark Letestu.

Bombulie with his thoughts of training camp here.

Hershey signed Matt Hendricks today. He was a Bruce Boudreau student in Hershey in 2006-2007.

Hershey also got a six-pack of bodies from parent Washington in time for their camp, which starts tomorrow.

I have Gameday blog posts at the ready, but since preseason games technically don’t count, will not be rolling these out for the four preseason games this week.

Depending on how late the game goes tomorrow, I may be back here on the blog afterward. If not, we’ll see you Wednesday.

Just a few things to get to today:

• Scott Stuccio sat down with Dave Andrews recently. Andrews instantly becomes one of the smartest men in the room in most cases. He has tremendous vision. Stuccio did a superb job interviewing the President and CEO of the American Hockey League.
• There is a pre-season game in Pittsburgh tonight. Official Pittsburgh live-blog here. (Scroll to the bottom for lineups) Follow Eric P over at the Wilkes-Blog here for the tweet-by-tweet.

This is a sight for sore eyes……….

(credit: Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins)

On the alternative, my All-Star Classic Tickets came in the mail today. I have officially been infiltrated by the enemy………

If you missed last weeks AHL Previews, here they are again:

West Division / North Division / Atlantic Division / East Division.

A few quick notes from around the American Hockey League today:

• Widely reported that Penguins prospect Casey Pierro-Zabotel broke a finger. He’ll be out at least 3-4 weeks. Credit multiple sources, Bombulie one of them. This has to suck for Casey because it is definitely a “fish or cut bait” year for him.
• Sarah Connors over at Something’s Bruin caught up with ex-Pens goaltender Nolan Schaefer, who is back in North America tending the Bruins nets this year.
• Time may be running out on the Springfield Falcons.
• Bad news for Anaheim / Syracuse: Jason Jaffray tore his ACL and sprained his MCL in his left knee during a scrimmage Saturday.
• Lindsay Kramer has a twitter feed now. He has openly questioned the intentions of management of calling Denis Hamel, who captained the Binghamton Senators last year and ended up having to take a job in the LNAH after none of the 30 AHL teams he sent faxes to called him for a tryout. Apparently, any interest has been downplayed.
• The Hartford WolfPack are going to change their name to the Connecticut Whale mid-season. Queue the Brass Bonanza!

Pittsburgh’s first exhibition game is tomorrow. Being it is the first ever competitive hockey of importance being played at the new Consol Energy Center, the big names like Crosby and Malkin are expected to dress. I don’t think it will be televised in the Wilkes-Barre area or shown by FSN Pittsburgh so that means I’ll probably read about it in the paper tomorrow or just follow along on Twitter. Drop me a comment if you know where the game will be televised locally. (as in, Wilkes-Barre)