Edit2: ECHL transactions report says Andrey Pedan is coming back up from Stockton. So make it eight again.
Edit: Bridgeport sent Mike Cornell down to Florida (ECHL) this afternoon. Presumably a further casualty of the numbers (see below), though interesting as one of the only two righty shots left (if you count Scooter Vaughan as a forward). Not that it ever bothered Bridgeport before. As also noted below, a lot can change over the next few weeks.
Another new face at Sound Tigers practice this morning: Joel Broda, non-veteran veteran of 132 AHL games (most with Houston, except eight this year with Oklahoma City). A point-a-game guy in the ECHL this year with Bakersfield, a guy apparently developing his two-way game.
He was a fourth man on the Clark-Quine-Persson line for today, with 14 forwards on the ice. A little more depth can’t hurt at this time of year, with the trade embargo lifted Sunday night and the deadline coming swiftly after that, and especially with Frans Nielsen recovering from a broken hand and John Tavares out at least for this week. The Islanders returned to practice this afternoon, but all hands were still on deck here in their usual combinations.
Joe Finley had his first full-contact practice. He was champing at the bit last weekend, and that hasn’t changed. Scott Pellerin termed him day-to-day at this point. Finley was paired with Donovan.
So that means eight defensemen, including Finley and Jake Newton, at the moment, part of why Mike Keenan went to Stockton yesterday. “Mike played very well. He was an important part of our team for a long time,” Pellerin said. “When we had injuries in the early part of the season, he was in Stockton, and he jumped in and played an important role. He wasn’t in the lineup (last weekend), he missed two games, and I didn’t see him getting back in this weekend.”
A scoring change from Sunday swapped out a goal (was Sundstrom’s, now Mayfield’s) and added an assist, giving Scott Mayfield a three-point game.
A few other moves around Stockton: Bridgeport reassigned Nick Larson from the Thunder to South Carolina, then traded Greg Miller to Oklahoma City for Nicolas Tremblay, a Boston draft pick who’s had but cups of coffee in the AHL. He’ll remain in the Coast with Stockton, while Miller goes to Bakersfield (whence came Broda. And round and round they go).
And sorry to see Latvia go out. A tough out. (Did enjoy seeing a few people on Twitter talking about how the Sound Tigers put six by Gudlevskis last month, ignoring that he shut them out in October.) But it yields one of the matchups we’ve all been waiting for Friday at noon. (Discovered last night: If you put “‘United States’ Canada” into Google, the autocomplete is “Mexico Panama.”)