Chirps from Center Ice

So I have a bunch of links to share with you:

–> Jonathan Bombulie Tuesday blog update. He talks about Bobby Farnham, Jeff Zatkoff, Brian Gibbons and pot odds.

–> Michael Cignoli, who covers the Adirondack Phantoms like a snuggie for The Saratogian, had a nice feature on ex-WBS Penguin G Scott Munroe. Couple of interesting things there. His wife can probably kick his rear-end and Munroe was close to re-signing with WBS this past summer. Interesting.

–> The AHL’s Weekly Release has WBS / Syracuse as one of the five games to watch this week. It will definitely be a litmus test for both teams.

–> Ex-WBS Penguin Luca Caputi was shipped to the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets today from Norfolk. I find that shocking, really.

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I’ll have the Penguins First Quarter Grades tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on bringing them back this year, but it was a matter of happenstance with the Penguins not playing until this Friday and me having nothing to really write about. Check those out Wednesday at noon.

I just realized that I have not blogged any non-gameday content on the blog in several weeks. I apologize about that, the fodder that is out there is really scarce. I have, however, found enough to offer the following:

–> We are in November Movember, and that means that hockey players all across the country will be growing out mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer. Our own Joey Mormina will be growing one out this month. Here are all the details on the Penguins website.

–> Jonathan had some content this week including the returns of both Robert Bortuzzo and Jayson Megna, who are with the team this weekend for the games in Manchester and Bridgeport.

–> Speaking of Manchester, if you have a satellite radio, you can listen to the game on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (Sirius, 207, XM 92)

–> Speaking of Bridgeport, Sound Tigers beat writer Mike Fornabaio broke the news that the Sound Tigers game on Sunday vs. the Penguins will be free admission to the public. Superstorm Sandy really did a number all up and down the Atlantic Coast, so this is a genuinely nice gesture by the Sound Tigers to allow free admission.

Elsewhere…

–> No suspension for Trevor Smith from Sunday’s game misconduct for checking from behind. I would have fell out of my chair if the AHL even thought of suspending him. No link here because it hasn’t happened, and won’t.

–> The Oklahoma City Barons have a superteam. Former #1 NHL draft pick Taylor Hall signed an AHL contract with the Barons today.

–> Ex-Penguin Bryan Lerg named captain of the Lake Erie Monsters.

–> Ex Penguin Ryan Schnell assigned to the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL by the AHL St. John’s IceCaps. Schnell has not appeared in a single game for the IceCaps yet this season.

–> Here’s something which I find a shame. Locked out by his NHL team and unable to sign an AHL contact, NHLer Brandon Dubinsky signed an ECHL contact with the Alaska Aces and was recently named ECHL Player of the Week. Dubinsky is an Alaska native. I get wanting to keep your legs and staying sharp hockey-wise but, you can’t sign a contract an play overseas? You are going to sign with a “AA” league and cherry-pick on those developing their skills to get to where you are someday? What a shame. Dubinsky should be embarrassed to even accept the award and shame on the ECHL and the Alaska Aces for even allowing him to be named. Being player of the week in the ECHL isn’t going to rank high on Dubinsky’s resume in my opinion. Give the award to someone who will still be in the ECHL once the NHL lockout ends.

End rant. Gameday for tomorrow’s game in Manchester will be up on the blog Friday at 3 p.m.

Jonathan Bombulie had some interesting notes from practice today that I wanted to put up here in case you are here for the AHL Divisional Previews currently ongoing and want something else to spice up your Chirps from Center Ice blog reading.

Those Previews, by the way, are below, or are above on the drop down menu, depending on how you got to what you are reading.

Anyway, back to the Penguins:

–> Jayson Megna and Dylan Reese left the special season ticket pickup practice the Pens put on last night with injuries, apparently. They are either questionable or day to day. They join Robert Bortuzzo in that category.

–> Steve MacIntyre is in town, but may not be in good enough game shape to get in game action Saturday in Binghamton.

Jonathan seemed to think due to the injuries that call ups from Wheeling are apparent. I guess time will tell. Thankfully, Wilkes-Barre plays one game this weekend then is off until next Friday when they travel to Springfield.

There is other news to mention:

–> John Curry, yes that John Curry, signed an ECHL contract with the Orlando Solar Bears. Wow. The list of goaltenders in the AHL to win 100+ games is pretty short. To see Curry in the ECHL is baffling to me. I’m interested in what others think.

–> Ben Bishop is apparently headed to Binghamton. I doubt the Penguins see him Saturday, but it’s still worth noting.

–> Know your enemy Hershey edition: Tim Leone twit-bombed a ton of Bears articles last night. Interesting stuff, as always, from Chocolatetown.

–> Know your enemy Binghamton edition: New beat writer in town, his name is Matt Weinstein, he’s on Twitter and he’s got a blog.

–> Know your enemy Adirondack edition: Michael Cignoli. Mr. Cignoli is a local product and a disciple of the Jonathan Bombulie school of how to cover an AHL team. He’s on Twitter and has a blog, too. He already has one up about ex-WBS Penguin Scott Munroe.

The new beat guys are up on the blog roll to the left and are included in the AHL Previews.

Here’s a picture of a mystery WBS jersey to be debuted at some point this year:

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Worth noting that the Penguins were tight beaked regarding when this particular jersey will debut this year. Players seemed to think it was either an alternate or a warmup jersey. Fans seemed to think it was the Outdoor Classic jersey the Pens will wear in Hershey in January 2013.

East Division Preview drops tomorrow at noon.

Couple of things worth mentioning and to keep myself sharp:

–> The Wheeling Nailers announced what their jerseys will look like for this upcoming season and what jersey they will wear on opening night.

–> They also renewed with the Montreal Canadiens (NHL) and Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) and will continue to split the affiliation with Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre.

–> Jaroslav Janus, part of the Calder Cup winning Norfolk Admirals team and a Tampa Bay prospect, is headed overseas.

–> Hershey signed forward Joel Champagne.

–> Wilkes-Barre had a feature on incoming goaltender Jeff Zatkoff.

–> The Penguins also had preseason and Penn State hockey ticket purchase information.

Finally, the AHL had a Q&A session they opened up on Twitter Tuesday evening. The salient points are as follows:

1) The AHL schedule will be out in less than two weeks.
2) You want a schedule matrix? You get nothing and like it this year.
3) Schedule diversity is not the leagues call. You want more Western Conference teams? Find the WBS honchos and tell them.

I am running out of content. This may, save for a huge signing or otherwise, be the last blog entry before the schedule comes out.

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.