Number, please: Thursday notes

Has it been too long since we dropped a Telephone Rock reference? It’s been too long since we dropped a Telephone Rock reference.

It’s going to take a while to glance at these new-normal, normalized numbers and know who the heck we’re talking about. 18-24-26? Oh, that’s 9-55-66. (The defense corps is status quo, at least.)

Update to the below: Bridgeport announced that all 29 players remain; no cuts yet. Jon Landry signs a PTO as the only tryout to start the year. His 25 games are up Dec. 14. Now back to the old blog post…

The AHL season begins tomorrow, so players who are here tomorrow begin getting paid, though the Sound Tigers don’t start until Saturday. The list of those players is unlimited but has to be submitted to the league by midnight for that “pay” thing. So it’s possible a few moves come down today. They’re at 15 forwards without Stephen Gionta (Brent Thompson said he doesn’t have a timetable on the availability of Gionta, injured in Islanders camp) and at two goalies, which is a logical starting point for both.

But they were still at 11 defensemen this morning. I wondered if having all three of Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock might nudge him toward keeping a few more defensemen than usual to start; yes and no was kind of the answer. “For sure by the next road trip we want to get down to a little bit less numbers, so guys can get more practice reps,” Thompson said; the road trip is next weekend after two home games this weekend. “Overall I’m happy with the group we have here right now.” They’re well aware the Islanders are carrying six defensemen right now, so Bridgeport’s situation could change as early as tonight.

On Gionta: “We’re really excited to have a player of his caliber, his work ethic, all the intangibles that don’t show up on the scoresheet,” Thompson said, “and he’s a great depth player for the Islanders.”

What they looked like this morning, in no particular order:

Dal Colle-Kearns-Fritz
Rowe – St. Denis – Ho-Sang
Winquist-Schempp-B.Holmstrom
Johnston-C.Jones-Markison
Verhaeghe-K.Jones-J.Holmstrom

Pelech-Mayfield
Toews-Pulock
Lafranchise-Burroughs
Finn-Leduc
Cullity-Graham
Landry

The latest was that they plan to announce their alternate captains tomorrow.

Michael Fornabaio