Chirps from Center Ice

In the first hour of NHL Free Agency Friday, names were flying across the National Hockey League and some of those moves may have a direct affect on the American Hockey League affiliate in the near future.

Breaking the moves down as they affect the AHL’s Atlantic Division as things stand as of about 8 p.m. Friday…

   Pittsburgh / Wilkes-Barre / Scranton   

Perhaps the biggest movers on Day 1, the Penguins announced the re-signings of Tom Sestito and Steve Oleksy before noon. Sestito brings much needed toughness in a pinch for the NHL team and Oleksy did hint on exit day that he would be open to returning.

Then the signings started.

First signing was Stuart Percy, a former first round pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs who was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Leafs. Best described as a two-way defenseman. Has battled injuries. 64 points (10-54-64) in 177 games with the Marlies.

Then Pittsburgh re-signed David Warsofsky. You will remember Warsofsky starting the season in Wilkes-Barre, getting called up and concussed in a freak accident with referee Tim Peel in an NHL game, his recovery and exposure to waivers where the New Jersey Devils claimed him and kept him on their NHL roster.

Third signing was Cameron Gaunce. I had Gaunce as 58 on my AHL Big Board. Gaunce was named a replacement to Derrick Pouliot in the AHL All-Star Classic in Syracuse. Gaunce led the Portland Pirates defenders in points last season.

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Gaunce played with Percy for a season in the Ontario Hockey League.

The fourth signing was yet another defender (!!!) in Chad Ruhwedel. I didn’t have Ruhwedel ranked in the Top 100 on the Board but he is at least a half a point a game player for Rochester last year. A bit undersized, he will likely see a good majority of time with Wilkes-Barre. Back to back 10 goal seasons for Ruhwedel.

So the Penguins defense is stacked for next season:

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   Washington / Hershey   

The Caps lost more than they gained today depending on who you talk to. They signed Christian Thomas, Joe Cannata and Darren Dietz. A forward, goaltender and defender, respectively. Thomas was a non-qualified Arizona piece that is a good skater. He had 10 goals between St. John’s and Springfield last season. Joe Cannata, the fourth best goaltender o by Big Board, is a calm, cool goaltender that had 20 wins in a split role with the Utica Comets. There are only a handful of goaltenders that won 20 games last year in the AHL. Solid signing by Hershey in my opinion. The other signing, Darren Dietz, is a two-way defender that saw some NHL action last year with Montreal. He, too, was not qualified by Montreal.

Hershey lost Justin Peters to Arizona and Carter Camper to New Jersey. No linking there, just trust me on those.

   Boston / Providence   

Signed Anton Khudobin, a goaltender that was with them a few years ago. He won 19 games in 31 games for a stacked San Diego Gulls team. Khudobin will replace Jeremy Smith, who signed with Colorado.

Tommy Cross re-signed and the Bruins also signed Tim Schaller. I had both in the 60 range on the Big Board.

   New York Rangers / Hartford Wolf Pack   

Adam Clendening came over from Calgary. Clendening had a few games with Wilkes-Barre during a conditioning stint. When he was called up to Pittsburgh and then exposed to waivers, he was claimed. It will be interesting to see if Clendening finds his way to Hartford this season.

Michael Paliotta was a non-qualified defender from Columbus. I didn’t have him ranked in the Top 100.

   Philadelphia / Lehigh Valley   

The Flyers made the biggest noise with some of the biggest signings this afternoon. They signed Andy Miele, Will O’Neill and Greg Carey, all Top 50 names on the AHL Big Board. Miele was the best forward available and O’Neill was the second best defenseman available. Carey was in the Top 50 and second in points on a terrible Springfield team.

Miele is a one way contract. That just means that he makes the same no matter where he plays. If he doesn’t get picked up on waivers should the Flyers expose him to them, he should bolster a Phantoms team that really disappointed last season.

The Florida Panthers and New York Islanders were silent on Day 1 as far as signings go for their AHL teams in Springfield and Bridgeport, respectively.

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Some other out the door stuff…

Jim Rutherford signed a three year extension as General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Winning the Stanley Cup is like the fountain of youth.

Jonathan had a blog post on the guys that Pittsburgh signed today. Seth too.

Patrick Williams had a roundup of all the moves today affecting all 30 AHL teams worth a look.

My 2016 Offseason Moves List will be updated.

I am off to New York City for the weekend. Not to see my beloved Mets, but to visit my brother and his wife and see a Brooklyn Cyclones game on Sunday. The Cyclones are the proud Short-A affiliate of the New York Mets though and will be wearing these jerseys Sunday.

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Look at that hat!

I’ll be around tomorrow on Twitter and will update Day 2 from New York City tomorrow as signings occur and affect the AHL’s Atlantic Division.

Happy Fourth!

Good news you guys, the AHL Free Agent Big Board is, for all intents and purposes, done.

– Full list of Unrestricted Free Agents? Check.

– Full list of Restricted Free Agents? Check.

– Capsules on every Free Agent? Through the efforts of many, check!

– Full list of Restricted Free Agents tendered qualifying offers? No. A good majority of teams announced theirs before 5 p.m. today. Teams that I do not have full information on are as follows, Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.

– A Top 100? Check.

Everything that is left is just taking the Top 100 from paper to online in a table then taking the 250+ names not listed in the Top 100 and alphabetizing by last name. I did that last year manually and it was a real pain and took me a half a day to do. Not this year. I was able to search the internet on how to alphabetize a list on a spreadsheet. I tinkered with it Sunday night on a small sample size and it worked. So that means that at some point tomorrow, the 2016 Top 100 AHL Big Board and Beyond will be out at some point. I am going to gun for 5 p.m. If, it goes later than that, I may push it to no later than 8 Tuesday or if push come to shove, noon Wednesday.

So stay tuned. This was a massive project that came together rather quickly this year.

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There was news affecting Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Monday, so let’s get to that.

Tim Erixon re-signed with Pittsburgh. A one year, two way deal. Erixon was a pending RFA, and was part of the “Black Aces” crew that was called up to Pittsburgh after Wilkes-Barre’s season ended at the hands of the Hershey Bears in Game 7 of the Atlantic Division Finals in May. I took that as a positive sign and it panned out for Erixon who will be looking to crack Pittsburgh’s lineup in the fall.

Dominik Uher was the only other RFA tendered a qualifying offer. Uher has signed a deal with a team in his native Czech Republic. The Pens did this proactively to retain Uher’s North American rights.

Tyler Biggs, James Melindy, Dan O’Donoghue, Mattias Plachta, Harrison Ruopp, Justin Schultz and Anton Zlobin were not tendered offers and all are free agents. Biggs was a walking M*A*S*H unit, couldn’t ever stay healthy. Melindy and O’Donaghue were throw ins for Dustin Jeffrey in the trade with Arizona and never played a game for Wilkes-Barre. Plachta was a bit of a surprise, I thought he caught on a bit with the change of scenery. Ruopp was a dime a dozen ECHL also-ran that never made an impact to stick. Schultz may re-sign with Pittsburgh in a restructured deal and Anton Zlobin has a KHL tryout lined up.

Coal Street announced their first new player signing of the offseason.

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Depending on how he does in camp, he could be a player that sticks in Wilkes-Barre. 95 points and a +60 isn’t anything to ignore. So it’s worth watching. If not, Wheeling has themselves a hell of a player.

I’ll update my woefully outdated 2016 Offseason Moves List in a bit. In fact, it may be updated by the time you read this.

So big board tomorrow or Wednesday. Check back often.

Not really much analysis wise I can offer on the guys that the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins drafted on Day 2 of the NHL Draft. Consider this a one stop shop link off to the other areas of the internet that have knowledge and insight on the potential Wilkes-Barre / Pittsburgh Penguins.

First the picks…

Pens opened up the day at 55…

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Then they picked again at 61…

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Then a trade of a familiar face to move up to 77…

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Bennett is an injury liability who got passed over for more durable players in the likes of Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust. He returns to the GM who drafted him in Ray Shero with the Devils and the Head Coach who knows him best in John Hynes.

With the pick, the Penguins selected…

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Pens were up again at 121, 151 and finally at 181…

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Masonius attended Penguins development camp last season and left an impression enough for the Penguins to select him with their last pick in the draft.

Analysis wise, Coal Street’s blog Skating on the Susquehanna has everything you need on these guys and more.

The AHL Free Agent Big Board is about half done as of Saturday afternoon. It was crowd sourced again this season and the help is appreciated. Depending on how quickly it comes together this weekend, look for it sometime early this week. The soft goal is Wednesday, if not sooner.