The lines and pairs looked identical to the way they finished last night for Bridgeport today, except for the big new defenseman wearing No. 19. Andrey Pedan — he said they went with “PAY-den” in Guelph, and he’s good with that, though he said it’s, if I got it right, more like “Puh-DAHN” back home. Stuff from him in the paper. (And probably on the Web earlier. Shh. Buy a paper. Thanks.) To be determined if he’ll play tomorrow morning.
After the drive home came word that the Islanders did clear David Ullstrom medically, and they sent him to Bridgeport. The preliminary indication is that it isn’t just on paper; if he hadn’t been cleared today, sending him down wouldn’t have been an option.
We’ll wait to see what, if anything, the Big Club does in the last 20 minutes here, and then if they make anybody else available to come down at some point. Edit: Sounds like they have not. Nobody who’s up right now is eligible to be sent down.
Elsewhere, a deal of recent AHL all-stars: Cory Conacher for Ben Bishop. Meanwhile, a blockbuster pending: Marian Gaborik, reportedly, to Columbus.
Quinnipiac’s Eric Hartzell, a pupil of Steve Valiquette’s, is a Hobey Baker finalist, along with St. Cloud’s Drew LeBlanc and redacted American hero Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College.
And with the three Metro locals battling for position, hard to forget that this was 25 years ago today.