Happy AHL Opening Day! (About time.)
Before Albany takes the ice up north tomorrow night to start the 2014-15 season, a few notes from the week to get everyone caught up:
-On Tuesday, New Jersey cut its final roster down to 23 by reassigning Cam Janssen, Steve Bernier, and Peter Harrold to Albany, after all three cleared waivers on Monday. This will be the second tour of duty for both Bernier and Harrold, who both skated for the A-Devils during the 2011-12 season. Janssen will be skating in Albany for the third season in a row after splitting the last two seasons between both Albany and New Jersey.
-Albany released Renat Mamashev, Alexandre Carrier, and Tom Hartnett from their professional tryout deals. The current roster now stands at 28 players (17 F, 8 D, 3 G), which I expect to be reduced once an ECHL affiliate is found.
In league news:
-On Tuesday the AHL announced that Utica would be the host for the 2015 AHL All Star Classic, to be held January 25th (Skills Competition) and 26th (Hall of Fame, All-Star Game). With Utica being a less than 90 minute drive for me, I am hoping to actually go to my first All Star events this year. Well, ticket purchase and weather permitting, of course.
-And yesterday in Glens Falls, the newest AHL mascot, Scorch, was introduced to the world. I’m still shaking my head over this one.
-Our friends over at Chirps from Center Ice have a full league preview, broken down by division.
Look for the Week 1 Primer (as mentioned earlier, I will only be doing pregamers once a week this season) early tomorrow afternoon.
Thoughts Inside The Box 