Agent Neil Sheehy reports that Aaron Ness accepted his qualifying offer. He probably won’t be the team’s most-experienced AHLer again, but as of now he still stands to be the “veteran” defenseman. Sheehy also said Anders Lee accepted his qualifying offer, as Arthur Staple said Lee would.
Meanwhile, all indications are an Oct. 11 home opener for the Sound Tigers. That’d be six years in a row with the home opener on opening Saturday. Just once in the previous five have they opened on the road the night before, and that in Hartford. (They did it in both Year 2 (at Binghamton) and Year 3 (at Hartford), too, before a first-Saturday-night opener.) They haven’t opened with a three-in-three since the year before this streak, Year 8 (at Philly, at Albany, at Hartford).
(“The full schedule is expected in August.”)
The Admirals announced that Jarrod Skalde will be their next coach, which we missed earlier. That would’ve finished off the table for the moment, except the Maple Leafs named Steve Spott an NHL assistant:
TEAM | Old | New |
BPT | Scott Pellerin (5/2) | Brent Thompson (5/2) |
MCR | Mark Morris (5/7 – later FLA ass’t) | Mike Stothers (7/1) |
HER | Mike Haviland (Colorado Coll., 5/9) | Troy Mann (7/2) |
ADK-a | Troy G. Ward (6/7) | Ryan Huska (6/23) |
SPR | Brad Larsen (CLB ass’t, 6/16) | Jared Bednar (6/16) |
TEX | Willie Desjardins (VAN, 6/23) | Derek Laxdal (7/3) |
NOR | Trent Yawney (ANA ass’t, 6/23) | Jarrod Skalde (7/11) |
TOR | Steve Spott (TOR ass’t, 7/11) | — |
a-Former Abbotsford Heat and new Adirondack Flames.
Assorted while we’re here: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan on elbows. Hope Masahiro Tanaka’s is OK with rehab and treatment. And Twelve Mile Circle on Wyoming, beginning in and around Wilkes-Barre.
And I guess some basketball player signed today? I should see if anyone’s written anything about it all.