Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Category Archives: The AHL

East Division Trade Deadline Wrapup

Comments Off on East Division Trade Deadline Wrapup Posted by on February 27, 2012

All quiet on the Penguins front today. Brad Thiessen and Eric Tangradi were assigned to Wilkes-Barre which make both eligible to be listed on the Clear Day rosters which will be out next Monday.

Here is a recap of what all teams in the AHL’s East Division did:

Pittsburgh / Wilkes-Barre

No moves.

Washington / Hershey

No moves. Keith Aucoin was re-assigned yesterday and Dmitri Orlov was assigned today also, but was immediately recalled.

Ottawa / Binghamton

Goaltender Ben Bishop was acquired by the Senators yesterday from St. Louis. He will start tomorrow for the B-Sens but should be up with Ottawa next week.

Anaheim / Syracuse

RW Dale Mithell for D Mark Fraser and D Sebastian Erixon for RW Andrew Gordon. 

Tampa Bay / Norfolk

Tampa Bay traded for D Mike Commodore for draft picks. This shuffled Brandon Segal to Tampa and Evan Oberg, Mike Angelidis and Trevor Smith back to Norfolk. They also traded F Carter Ashton for D Keith Aulie. The plan is to keep Aulie in Tampa.

Analysis

1) The moves made by Anaheim today pretty much spell out they don’t think that Syracuse is a playoff team.

2) It’s safe to say that the Norfolk Admirals mean business. Early favorites to win the Calder Cup? Maybe.

3) I am shocked Washington didn’t do something to help itself. The Capitals are struggling.

Trades can still be made on the AHL level until next Monday’s Clear Day.

Here’s Jonathan Bombulie’s take on the deadline moves.

Jonathan makes light of the fact that the Penguins are off tomorrow but no worries! My Third Quarter Grades will be up on the blog tomorrow at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

Briefly…

Comments Off on Briefly… Posted by on February 22, 2012

Just hit me that I am doing my readers who don’t have a Twitter account a disservice by at least blogging about these three quick things covered on the feed today:

1) Brad Thiessen was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre.
2) Hershey played tonight in Rochester and lost 5-2. They remain in third, two points back of Norfolk and the Penguins.
3) Bombulie had a Wednesday update, mainly about the trade deadline.

Gameday for tomorrow’s meeting with Manchester will be here at 3 p.m.

Pittsburgh, The AHL

Wednesday Morning Leftovers

Comments Off on Wednesday Morning Leftovers Posted by on February 22, 2012

I didn’t want to get in the way of the East Division Roundtable Discussion I ran yesterday on the blog with a post on Tuesday evening recapping the days events, so I humbly submit this blog post of “old news” for your perusal on this Wednesday morning:

–> Brad Thiessen was called up. Reports out of Pittsburgh said that backup Brent Johnson was ill hence the recall. So I would expect Thiessen back sooner than later.

–> Patrick Killeen was not immediately recalled from Wheeling yesterday, but he didn’t have to be. Wilkes-Barre was off and Wheeling doesn’t play until Friday. Pittsburgh plays again Saturday. If by chance Killeen is on his way up today, here are his ECHL stats:

–

Elsewhere:

–> Hershey’s Christian Hanson is having wrist surgery. That’s kind of a big loss for Hershey. Hanson was a third line center and a huge penalty killer for the Bears.

–> I tweeted Monday night that I had to start paying more attention to what the Tampa Bay Lightning, parent club of the Norfolk Admirals, are doing these days. I picked a good time to start paying attention. Since I started following:

1) Trevor Smith got called up.
2) Mike Angelidis too.
3) They traded Matt Fornataro to Chicago (NHL) for Brandon Segal. Essentially a minor league deal as Segal played for Rockford.

Tampa Bay also traded Steve Downie to Colorado. This means that either Smith or Angelidis stays up, but as Jonathan Bombulie pointed out, could be back for playoffs.

Finally, AHL Clear Day is set for March 5. Let us hope as Penguins fans that Tangradi or Thiessen don’t get hurt.

I’ll probably be back later with another blog post of more fresher, Wednesday news.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

East Division Discussion

Comments Off on East Division Discussion Posted by on February 21, 2012

Definitely the closest race in the AHL for a division lead, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals are all battling to be at the top of the East Division at the end of the season. With the AHL switching to Conference seeding for playoffs, the division winners are seeded 1 through 3 with the next five best teams taking up the final spots.

Day by day, week by week, it is looking more and more that the Pens, Admirals and Bears no matter how hard they try, are just going to be unable to separate themselves from one another. Whomever wins the division will most likely not have to play another divisional opponent. Whoever loses out in the East Division race will most likely have to square off against either the Pens, Bears or Admirals.

I decided to reach out to a fan from the Norfolk Admirals and a fan from the Hershey Bears and run a five question discussion between the three of us as to the expectations of our respective teams over the final two months of the season. Find out more after the bump…

Read more of this post

The AHL

Schnell / Chupp to Wheeling; Other Tidbits

Comments Off on Schnell / Chupp to Wheeling; Other Tidbits Posted by on February 10, 2012

Announced by Wilkes-Barre this morning that Cody Chupp and Ryan Schnell were sent to Wheeling.

The official read is Schnell was reassigned and Chupp was released from his PTO and will report to Wheeling.

Elsewhere, Simon Despres did not practice today in Pittsburgh. Scuttlebutt is that he tweaked his knee.

No recall to Pittsburgh seems imminent as Jordan Staal will return to the lineup tomorrow.

I’ll be a casual observer tonight on AHL Live taking in Bears / Crunch and Phantoms / Admirals. I’ll also keep tabs on tomorrow’s opponent Portland as they are in Providence tonight.

I’ll have a RT of a final score for both the Bears and Admirals games later on the Twitter side.

Gameday for Portland tomorrow will be here at 3 p.m. on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

McDonald / Williams Return; 2013 All-Star Location Revealed

Comments Off on McDonald / Williams Return; 2013 All-Star Location Revealed Posted by on February 8, 2012

Just a quick word on the return of Jason Williams and Colin McDonald to Wilkes-Barre from Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh doesn’t play again until Saturday, so the re-assignments of Williams / McDonald make sense from a cap perspective. Whether one or both go back up this weekend remains to be seen, with Jordan Staal’s return imminent from his injury. Also, do not rule out Simon Despres returning this weekend also.

If that happens, Pittsburgh will finally be without anyone, “on recall from Wilkes-Barre / Scranton.”

Finally, as touched on yesterday on the blog, the AHL made formal the announcement of the All-Star Classic for next year. It’s Providence, Rhode Island’s turn. Nice to know where the venue will be eleven months before its commencement.

Let’s Go Pens!

The AHL, WBS

Coattails and Cuff Links

Comments Off on Coattails and Cuff Links Posted by on February 7, 2012

Riding on the coattails of beat writer Jonathan Bombulie Tuesday update with an update of my own:

–> Nick Petersen is back from his Wheeling excursion. From the Bombulie update, Coach John Hynes wanted Petersen to get game action with important minutes. He did, and thrived. Nine points in seven games. Not too shabby. Petersen is up because…

–> Jason Williams was recalled to Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh link has Arron Asham on long term IR to make room for Williams. He’s not expected to play tonight in Montreal.

–> Jordan Staal and Simon Despres should be back “within 5-10 days.” Out of this, I would expect Despres and either Williams, Colin McDonald or both back in Wilkes-Barre, hopefully by this weekend.

–> On the subject of this weekend, Bombulie noted that Alex Picard could play this weekend ad Eric Tangradi could also go too.

Here’s some links for you:

–> PA Puck had a nice article on the March of the Penguins.

–> The 2013 AHL All-Star Classic is headed to the Divine City. Announcement Wednesday.

–> Goaltender Antero Niittymaki was loaned to Syracuse today from San Jose. He’s been injured and has only played five games this season. Does Niittymaki make Syracuse contenders? Not necessarily. Does he make them relevant? Absolutely.

–> Non hockey link for you. This ship never sailed.

St. John’s hosts the Providence Bruins tonight and tomorrow. St. John’s is playing its two games in hand on Wilkes-Barre. They are a a point behind the Pens for the overall lead in the Eastern Conference.

Leading the Conference in February is irrelevant to the players and in the ultimate scope of things. However, leading the Conference is important to me, as a fan.

Penguins aren’t planning on practicing tomorrow, so I’ll be updating again possibly Thursday, as long as content allows.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS, Wheeling

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