Bonus content! (Kind of)

You might have noticed… space in print has been at a premium lately. Lots going on all at once. So a story I wrote up Thursday, after a brief morning chat with Dave Baseggio, had to be held; it’s probably out of date. But the salient points were that, pretty much, he’s been impressed all around with the guys that might come here or will come here. The exact words: “Honestly, everyone has really acquitted themselves very well, which is really nice to see.”

He said Robert Nilsson has flashed all that skill we’ve heard so much about; at least now the Isles will have the chance to keep an eye on him, throw him into all situations, give him the time to see what he can make of himself. Petteri Nokelainen is a “workhorse,” with skills and shot and hands as advertised. He’s the kid I’ve been dying to watch play, myself, after hearing so many raves.

Kevin Colley and Luciano Aquino had just thrown down in the first fight of camp when we talked, and Baseggio was impressed with both; Colley had been “energetic” as usual. Aquino — whom Evan Grossman reported today has signed — had shown something: “(Aquino) is a little energy guy. … He reminds us a little bit of Blaine Down: go, go, go, with some skill.” Hope he’s as much fun to deal with as Blaine Down, one of the many players I’ll miss this year. (Said it before and will say it again: Not many bad eggs have come through here in four years. Pretty nice.)

On that note, madcap Ex-Files recently: Vinny Ferraiuolo returns to the AHL with Cleveland as equipment manager; Edmonton assigned short-term Tiger Tim Sestito to Hamilton; and gutsy perpetual-tryout winger John Morlang signed with Reading of the ECHL, which is probably a good spot from which to get himself called up.

And today, southwestern Connecticut’s own Peter Zingoni was assigned to Providence.

Michael Fornabaio