Chirps from Center Ice

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

Derrick Pouliot Traded for Andrey Pedan; Other Stuff

Comments Off on Derrick Pouliot Traded for Andrey Pedan; Other Stuff Posted by on October 3, 2017

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Derrick Pouliot to the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday for Andrey Pedan in a defenseman for defenseman swap. The Penguins also get a 4th round pick from the Canucks in 2018.

The Penguins weren’t going to keep experimenting with Pouliot any longer. This article from Pensblog last week explains it all and the writing was on the wall for Pouliot regarding his future with the Penguins.

Andrey Pedan heads the other way and he’s a depth defender who has already cleared waivers from Vancouver. Here is what some had to say about the Penguins newest acquisition:


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Tom weighed in on the size of the WBS blueline should Pedan make it down to Coal Street:

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Pittsburgh already has eight defensemen on the roster currently. They would need to put Patric Hornqvist on injured reserve which I think they may have already to get to the 23 man roster limit. So seemingly as soon as Hornqvist comes off IR, Pedan gets sent down, doesn’t have to clear because he cleared already, and we are ready to roll.

That is, provided there aren’t any injuries to anyone on the NHL roster in the coming days / weeks / months.

Pensblog also had a WBS Preview of sorts you can check out here. tl;dr version, Wilkes-Barre is stacked deep at all positions and is a strong Calder Cup contender.

Here are some updates from practice at Coal Street today…

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My AHL Previews have started if you haven’t seen already. I checked off the Pacific and Central Divisions so far with the North and Atlantic to come tomorrow and Wednesday. Please do check them out.

Pittsburgh, WBS

AHL Previews: Central Division

Comments Off on AHL Previews: Central Division Posted by on October 3, 2017

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Back for Day 2 here in the Chirpos from Center Ice AHL team previews with a look at the Central Division. A division who loses a team to the Eastern Conference in the Charlotte Checkers. So it’s seven teams for four playoff spots.

The Penguins play the Grand Rapids Griffins, Milwaukee Admirals and the Rockford IceHogs in home and home action this upcoming season. Feels weird to be on Day 2 of the AHL Previews and explain to you that the games against the Penguins at home shall be featured in bold.

Here we go.

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NHL Affiliation: Vegas Golden Knights

Record: 44-19-8-5 (101 pts., 1st place Central Division)

Playoffs: Lost in Round 2 in five games to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Head Coach: Rocky Thompson

Arena: Allstate Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Quad City Mallards

Offseason Moves: Chris Casto, Paul Thompson, Alex Tuch, T.J. Tynan

The Case For: Wolves should contend this season, as they do every year.

The Case Against: How will serving as the primary affiliate of an expansion NHL franchise affect the Wolves?

Social Media: @ChicagoWolves // /ChicagoWolves // chicagowolveshockey

Broadcaster: Jason Shaver

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 39-29-4-4 (86 pts., 5th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: John Madden

Arena: Quicken Loans Arena

ECHL Affiliation: None.

Offseason Moves: Andre Benoit, Carter Camper, Cameron Gaunce

The Case For: Solid offseason moves made by parent Columbus for a Cleveland team that won the Calder Cup two seasons ago and failed to make the playoffs last season.

The Case Against: As with so many teams, will these improvements made by this team be enough to get them back into playoff contention?

Social Media: @MonstersHockey // /MonstersHockey // monstershockey

Broadcaster: Tony Brown

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Detroit Red Wings

Record: 47-23-1-5 (100 pts., 2nd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Won Calder Cup. Beat Syracuse Crunch in six games.

Head Coach: Todd Nelson

Arena: Van Andel Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Toledo Walleye

Offseason Moves: Turner Elson

The Case For: Defending champs look like a lock for Central Division leaders again. Re-signed a lot of the core that led them to their second Calder Cup.

The Case Against: Defending champs rarely repeat.

Social Media: @griffinshockey // /grgriffins // griffinshockey

Broadcaster: Bob Kaser

vs. WBS: 3/2, 3/10

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NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Record: 36-31-7-2 (81 pts., 6th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Derek Lalonde

Arena: Wells Fargo Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Rapid City Rush

Offseason Moves: Landon Ferraro, Alex Grant, Cal O’Reilly, Ryan Murphy

The Case For: Iowa loaded up this offseason in a big, big way. These signings have got to be enough to get the WIld to the playoffs, don’t they?

The Case Against: They don’t play these games on paper.

Social Media: @IAWild // /IAWild // iowawild

Broadcaster: Joe O’Donnell

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Record: 29-37-5-5 (68 pts., 7th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Pascal Vincent

Arena: Bell MTS Place

ECHL Affiliation: Jacksonville IceMen

Offseason Moves: Buddy Robinson, Cameron Schilling, Mike Sgarbossa, Brody Sutter

The Case For: Manitoba is going to have to work if they want to improve on their 7th place overall showing they put up in the Central last year. These signings could nudge them to a playoff spot.

The Case Against: There are more people picking Manitoba to finish last they there are to finish first.

Social Media: @ManitobaMoose // /ManitobaMoose // manitobamoose

Broadcaster: Mitch Peacock

vs. WBS: Do not play.

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NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Record: 43-26-4-3 (93 pts., 3rd place Central Division)

Playoffs: Swept in Round 1 in three games by the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Head Coach: Dean Evanson

Arena: UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Norfolk Admirals

Offseason Moves: Bobby Butler, Matt OConnor, P-C Labrie

The Case For: Admirals alway put forth a strong hockey product and this year should be no different.

The Case Against: In a crowded pool of Chicago, Grand Rapids and Iowa, will the Admirals have enough horses to compete for a playoff spot?

Social Media: @mkeadmirals // /mkeadmirals // mkeadmirals

Broadcaster: Aaron Sims

vs. WBS: 12/1, 3/4

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NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 25-39-9-3 (62 pts., 8th place Central Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Jeremy Colliton

Arena: BMO Harris Bank Center

ECHL Affiliation: Indy Fuel

Offseason Moves: J-F Berube, Jordan Oesterle

The Case For: Only way is up for what was a sorry season in Rockford.

The Case Against: Almost feels like they are restarting from the beginning in Rockford, and with the top heavy Central Division, it looks like the IceHogs have an uphill battle against them.

Social Media: @goicehogs // /RockfordIceHogs // rockfordicehogs

Broadcaster: Bob Mills

vs. WBS: 2/23, 3/3

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Back tomorrow for a look at the North Division.

The AHL

AHL Previews: Pacific Division

Comments Off on AHL Previews: Pacific Division Posted by on October 2, 2017

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Back for yet another year are the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Team Previews. I have been doing previews for as long as I have maintained this blog. It’s just my quick snippet of every team in the American Hockey League, broken down into divisions.

I start in the Pacific Division, will have the Central on Tuesday, the North on Wednesday and then the Atlantic on Thursday.

I tweaked some things this year. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are all consolidated in “Social Media Coverage” and I am altogether nixing the media coverage otherwise. Most teams don’t have a full time beat anymore and these newer teams in Laval and Belleville just have general coverage that I have seen so far. If you are a fan of a team not named, “Penguins” that happens to read this blog, you know where to get your team coverage.

One more thing before we start, the St. Louis Blues don’t have a full time affiliate this season. St. Louis is splitting placing their prospects in Chicago and San Antonio. It will balance out next season with 31 NHL teams being serviced by 31 AHL clubs, but not this year.

Here we go, starting in the Pacific. The Penguins don’t play anyone here. Note: The social media tags are Twitter first, Facebook second and Instagram third.

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NHL Affiliation: Edmonton Oilers

Record: 33-29-5-1 (72 pts., 5th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Gerry Fleming

Arena: Rabobank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Wichita Thunder

Offseason Moves: Yohann Auvitu, Mitch Callahan, Eddie Pasquale, Ryan Stanton

The Case For: Bringing in proven veterans should bolster the Condors and push for a playoff spot.

The Case Against: Other teams upgraded too, so are the Condors keeping up or catching up?

Social Media: @Condors // /BakersfieldCondors // condors

Broadcaster: Ryan Holt

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NHL Affiliation: Los Angeles Kings

Record: 36-21-10-1 (83 pts., 3rd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in Round 1 in five games to the San Diego Gulls.

Head Coach: Mike Stothers

Arena: Citizens Business Bank Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Manchester Monarchs

Offseason Moves: Jamie Devane

The Case For: Ontario always puts out a good product and are extremely well coached. Reign will be looking to get back to the top of the Pacific Division this season.

The Case Against: Pacific looks loaded this year. Reign may not be a top four team this year.

Social Media: @OntarioReign // /ontarioreign // ontarioreignhockey

Broadcaster: Joseph Zakrzewski and Cameron Close

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NHL Affiliation: Colorado Avalanche

Record: 27-42-5-2 (61 pts., 8th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Eric Veilleux

Arena: AT&T Center

ECHL Affiliation: Colorado Eagles

Offseason Moves: Andrew Agozzino, Sam Britain, Dave Warsofsky

The Case For: Finished dead last in the Pacific last season. Only way to go is up.

The Case Against: May be a lame duck season with the Avalanche with rumors swirling that the ECHL affiliate Colorado Eagles will be the AHL affiliate a year from now. Could be another long year in the Alamo.

Social Media: @sarampage // /sarampagehockey // sarampage

Broadcaster: Dan Weiss

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NHL Affiliation: Anaheim Ducks

Record: 43-20-3-2 (91 pts., 2nd place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in Round 2 in five games to the San Jose Barracuda.

Head Coach: Dallas Eakins

Arena: Valley View Casino Center

ECHL Affiliation: Utah Grizzlies

Offseason Moves: Reto Berra, Derek Grant, Steve Oleksy

The Case For: Gulls should be a contender out of the box looking to build on last years success and early exit to San Jose.

The Case Against: It feels like it’s San Jose’s division to lose.

Social Media: @SDGullsAHL // /SDGullsAHL // sdgullsahl

Broadcaster: Craig Elsten

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NHL Affiliation: San Jose Sharks

Record: 43-16-4-5 (95 pts., 1st place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in Round 3 in five games to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Head Coach: Roy Sommer

Arena: SAP Center

ECHL Affiliation: Allen Americans

Offseason Moves: Brandon Bollig, Antoine Bibeau

The Case For: Nothing is a given, but with a team like the Barracuda who only lost 16 regulation games and have a future Hall of Fame Coach in Roy Sommer, you can pencil in San Jose as a playoff team now.

The Case Against: With all of that said, the Barracuda got shredded by the Griffins in the playoffs and a lot of weaknesses were exposed. Did other teams take notice?

Social Media: @SJBarracuda // /SJBarracuda // sjbarracuda

Broadcaster: Nick Nollenberger

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NHL Affiliation: Calgary Flames

Record: 34-25-7-2 (77 pts., 4th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Lost in Round 1 in five games to the San Jose Barracuda.

Head Coach: Ryan Huska

Arena: Stockton Arena

ECHL Affiliation: Kansas City Mavericks

Offseason Moves: Luke Gazdic, Marek Hrivik

The Case For: If you are looking for a sleeper team in the Pacific, the Heat should be a team to watch.

The Case Against: Any string of losses to a team that only plays 68 games with five other teams that play the same amount could be a big hole to dig out of.

Social Media: @AHLHeat // /AHLHeat // ahlheat

Broadcaster: Brandon Kisker

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NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars

Record: 34-37-1-4 (73 pts., 7th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Derek Laxdal

Arena: H-E-B Center at Cedar Park

ECHL Affiliation: Idaho Steelheads

Offseason Moves: Mike McKenna, Greg Rallo, Brent Regner, Brian Flynn

The Case For: Texas is a team that missed playoffs last season in surprising fashion. With these offseason signings, don’t expect history to repeat itself.

The Case Against: Not exactly spring chickens brought in. Are the younger guys ready?

Social Media: @TexasStars // /TexasStars // txstarshockey

Broadcaster: Brien Rea

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NHL Affiliation: Phoenix Coyotes

Record: 29-31-8-0 (66 pts., 6th place Pacific Division)

Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Head Coach: Mike Van Ryn

Arena: Tucson Convention Center

ECHL Affiliation: Fort Wayne Komets

Offseason Moves: Mike Sislo, Andrew Campbell, Zac Larrazza, Zac Rinaldo.

The Case For: Last years pesky Roadrunners looked good out of the box but slowly ran out of gas. This is a team, like Stockton, worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

The Case Against: Four teams will make playoffs and four teams won’t. Right now, many have Tucson on the side that doesn’t make it in.

Social Media: @RoadrunnersAHL // /RoadrunnersAHL // roadrunnersahl

Broadcaster: Tom Callahan

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Back tomorrow with a look at the Central.

The AHL

Preseason Game #4 — Penguins 1, Binghamton 3

Comments Off on Preseason Game #4 — Penguins 1, Binghamton 3 Posted by on October 1, 2017

The Penguins were in Binghamton taking on the Devils in their final preseason game. They lost 3-1. They will end up in the preseason going 2-2, splitting each with Hershey and Binghamton in the four games played.

Lots of tough decisions coming for Clark Donatelli and his crew this week as the Penguins prepare for their 19th season of hockey in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is a look at the lines….

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Tristan Jarry opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

One lineup change from what you see above, swap Cam Brown for Gage Quinney.

No change in the status of Jarred Tinordi, he’s still to be evaluated. That usually means that it’s probably more than just day-to-day. Jeff Taylor was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons on the hit delivered by Connor Hobbs Saturday night in Hershey.

In the first, there was only one power play awarded and the Devils made the most of it with Nathan Bastian tipping in a Brandon Gignac shot from the point past Jarry to put the Devils on the board at 12:44. Shots were an even 8-8 heading into the second.

In the second, J-S Dea scored on a power play to bring the Penguins level with the Devils again at 4:32 for the only scoring in a hotly contested period. The Penguins had a slight edge in shots in the period; 11-9.

In the third and looking to break the tie, the Devils would inch ahead when Blake Pietila pounced on a turnover and scored to give Binghamton a 2-1 lead at 9:25.

About four minutes later, Craig Skudalski couldn’t control a bouncing puck and turned it over resulting in another goal for Binghamton when Chris Calnan scored to make it 3-1.

With the extra man on for the Penguins, they were not able to get a goal.

One note, ex-Penguin Tim Erixon figured in on all three Binghamton goals tonight, with three assists.

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So that wraps up preseason. The Penguins will have a full week of work to prepare for the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday night in their season opener.

Blog wise, where’s what I have on tap for you.

My AHL Previews start at noon Monday with the Pacific Division, with the Central Division on Tuesday, the North on Wednesday and wrapping up with the Atlantic on Thursday.

Any news out of Coal Street or up top in Pittsburgh will be met with its own separate blog post. The Gameday setup will hit the blog for the Pens opener against the Checkers on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Postgamer

Preseason Game #3 — Penguins 3, Hershey 2 (OT)

2 Comments Posted by on September 30, 2017

The Penguins were on the road Saturday night in Hershey for their third of four preseason games. They won in overtime via a goal by Frank Corrado by a score of 3-2. The Penguins couldn’t score on 11 power play opportunities.

Here is a look at the lines…

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Casey DeSmith opposed Parker Milner, who was replaced at the halfway mark by Adam Carlson.

Before the game, the Penguins cut five players from camp. To Wheeling: Hunter Fejes, Dan Milan, Kevin Schulze. Matt Petgrave is under contract with the Brampton Beast. Justin Parizek was straight up released.

Also, some injury updates, Jarred Tinordi has, “yet to be evaluated” per Mike O’Brien and Colin Smith participated in the morning skate. Both left Friday’s game vs. Binghamton.

In the first, the Penguins struck first when J-S Dea picked a corner on Milner while the Penguins had a delayed penalty that gave Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Neither team scored on the power play, the Penguins going 0/2 and the Bears 0/1.

There was a big hit when Connor Hobbs flattened Jeff Taylor with a hit that earned Hobbs an interference penalty. Taylor was OK and shook off the hit. Here it is, courtesy of our friends from Chocolate Hockey…

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In the second, Reid Gardiner doubled the Penguins lead with a big shot at 1:25 off of a face-off in the Pens offensive zone. The Penguins were running the Bears all over the rink forcing Hershey into penalty after penalty, but could not cash on the power plays that referees David Banfield an Peter Schlittenhardt were giving them.

So Dustin Gazley takes things into his own hands and scores on a n delayed penalty that cut the Penguins lead to one.

Undeterred, the Penguins continued to goad the Bears into penalties and had a perfect opportunity to extend the lead back to two again when Wayne Simpson clipped Dominik Simon with his stick that drew blood.

In the third, the 2:59 that the Penguins had on the power play to open the period came and went. That was 0/9 so far missing regular players like Daniel Sprong, Tom Kostopoulos and Zach Aston-Reese.

Still, with no consistent five on five allowed by Schlittenhardt / Banfield, every time you turned around one of the teams were on the power play.

Finally, Chris Bourque scored with the extra man on for the goalie, to tie the game to force overtime.

In overtime, teams went back and forth, then J-S Dea stripped a Bear of the puck, led a 2-on-0 with Frank Corrado, passed to the Penguins defensemen who scored to win the game for the Penguins.

Late, Pittsburgh released Jay McClement from his professional tryout agreement. Penguins have one more move to make which is looking more and more like Patric Hornqvist to injured reserve to buy more time for Hornqvist and the Penguins brass for making a decision on what they want to do with Josh Archibald / Derrick Pouliot.

Penguins conclude their preseason with a 5 p.m. start in Binghamton Sunday. Recap after the game.

Postgamer

Preseason Game #2 — Penguins 6, Devils 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #2 — Penguins 6, Devils 2 Posted by on September 29, 2017

The Penguins dressed more of a regular lineup tonight in tonight’s 6-2 win against the Binghamton Devils. So let’s jump right into the lines tweeted by Obie…

Tristan Jarry started and was backed up by Casey DeSmith and played the whole game. Scott Wedgewood opposed in the Binghamton net.

So as close to a regular lineup you will probably see for the Penguins tonight. You’ll probably see some of the other 26 players who did not dress tonight play in the road games in Hershey and Binghamton Saturday and Sunday.

The game was delayed by thirty minutes due to a compressor problem which help cools the ice.

Here is what I will say about the first period. To start, it was a much quicker pace with more established AHL guys in the line up. After the Penguins walked off the ice to the first intermission I tweeted at the time that it felt like the Penguins were playing the game in second gear, that they didn’t even go full out and still led 4-1 and made it look easy.

Garrett Wilson poked home a back door goal after nice work in the corner from Teddy Blueger to chip a puck to Tom Kostopoulos who no look passed to Wilson in front.

Kostopoulos cleaned up a point shot by Daniel Sprong that gave the Pens a 2-0 lead while Wilkes-Barre was on a two man advantage. Adam Johnson hacked and whacked one second after the other power play expired to make it 3-0.

The Devils only had one shot on goal to this point.

Devils finally punched back on a power play when a Jan Mandat shot from the point deselect off of a Penguin and past Jarry to make it 3-1.

Wilkes-Barre responded in kind with Garrett Wilson’s second goal of the night, deflecting a Zach Trotman shot to make it 4-2 heading into the second period.

In the second, each team got one goal late. Dominik Simon scored when he pounced on a loose puck and scored to make it 5-1. About a minute later Nathan Bastian scored on a ugly Penguin turnover in front of Jarry.

Tom Kostopoulos had a goal and an assist from the first period and completed his Gordie Howe hat trick after a fight with Jacob MacDonald. MacDonald cross checked Jarred Tinordi which sent Tinordi to the room holding his hand / wrist.

In the third, Kevin Czuczman added on to the Penguins lead with a blast of a shot from the point that found its way past Wedgewood that made it 6-2. There were about a million slashing calls in the game. It gets annoying and predictable after a while.

Video highlights…

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Penguins play Hershey tomorrow then rematch Binghamton Sunday. I’ll have recaps of each this weekend.

Postgamer

Thursday Notes 9/28

Comments Off on Thursday Notes 9/28 Posted by on September 28, 2017

Couple things to touch on this evening that happened today…

Tom Sestito is on waivers. Provided he clears, the Penguins will be down to 25 players. They need to be at 23 next week. It was suggested that the Penguins may cut Jay McClerment and put Patric Hornqvist on injured reserve. That gives them time to leave the window open on auditions for the 3C position and gives them time to continue to evaluate Derrick Pouliot.

Utica is getting the AHL All-Star game again, the second time in three years, last hosting in 2015. This is actually late in the game for the League to announce a host site and usually when things like this happen it means that no other team in the AHL wanted the event. That Utica gets it again for the the second time in three years pretty much speaks to it. I guess it is better than no game at all.

Coal Street cut four players today, Daniel Leavens, Tom Mele, Kenny Ryan and Danny Pick were released and sent to Wheeling. Cam Brown, Hunter Fejes, Dan Milan, Kevin Schulze, Nick Sorkin, and Colin Stevens are the Wheeling contracted players who remain in the AHL with the Penguins.

Penguins will be using more regulars in the lineup Friday against Binghamton. I’ll be there and will have a blog post after the game with a final score and write-up of the game like Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

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