Soundin' Off

Micheal Haley was under the weather and came off the ice early. Not out there: Bobby Hughes, for unclear reasons (that didn’t appear connected to legal issues).

Indeed out there was PTO James Sixsmith, wearing No. 21 on his helmet, skating on a line with Tony Romano and Robin Figren. Jeremy Reich (did I ever mention he’s got 17 on the lid? No? There ’tis) and Joel Rechlicz wore yellow practice jerseys along with Trevor Gillies and Pascal Morency, and they took part in the whole practice, but Jack Capuano said not to necessarily take that as a sign they’re ready to go.

(”The whole practice” included a grueling skate at the end that looked pretty painful.)

The lines otherwise looked like Sunday’s. Assuming Haley’s OK and nothing else happens, they’ll have 13 forwards and seven defensemen available for Abbotsford, since Hughes can’t make the trip.

Sixsmith said life in Utah has been pretty good; they’re playing good hockey. (Ryan Kinasewich, who’s only 16-11-27 in 12 games, got a PTO with Hamilton yesterday, too.) Shea Guthrie fans: he’s Sixsmith’s roommate, and Sixsmith said he’s doing a nice job down there.

Staffan Kronwall is off to Abbotsford for conditioning.

No personnel changes today in practice, though the lines were rejuggled, most notably with Greg Mauldin moving between Smith and Martin, and Moore between Bentivoglio and Haley.

Lots of systems work, lots of one-on-one battle drills (there’s nothing like watching Moore and Mauldin go head-to-head; it’s like irresistible force and immovable object out there). All went with one big admonition: keep the stick down.

I’ve got Bridgeport facing 94 power plays so far (the league has 93, but I’m not ready to sift through and find where we differ). Through 17 games last year, Bridgeport had faced 76 power plays. (That’s where they were through 14 this year.)

Now, that’s not an incredible number; the two seasons before last, they had already reached 105 PKs by now. But they had faced only 47 through 10 games this year, and they’ve matched that in only the past seven games. They had given up only five power-play goals in those first 10 games; in the past seven, they’ve surrendered 10.

Keep going at it in the comments, but to answer two things: Joensuu seems to be his own worst enemy since training camp, beating himself up, which almost makes whatever funk he’s in a self-fulfilling prophesy. And Reich does have the cast off, but Capuano today said he’s not all that close to returning; he said there’s no timetable yet.

Elsewhere: Interesting stuff on onetime future Rangers captain Jed Ortmeyer, with bonuses from the blog. And a Steve Yzerman story on Justin Bourne’s Twitter account.

No Haskins this morning, but Greg Mauldin and Jesse Joensuu were out there (on a line with Justin DiBenedetto), as was Dustin Kohn on defense. Do they play tomorrow? “Not sure yet,” Jack Capuano said. He sounded as if he’s considering giving them an extra day, at least some of them. The team split up into two groups for a little competition: The skaters went five-on-a-goalie, one set on each end, and the first side to score earned a point. The losing team had to skate a couple of laps at the end. Mauldin’s team lost, but he was exempted from the skating. (Joensuu did skate and looked OK.)

Have kept forgetting to mention that Jeremy Reich is in town. He still has the cast on his wrist for another week or so, but he has been skating on his own and working out.

Just spent a few minutes perusing News from 1930, which has broken format for a few days to go back 80 years instead of 79 and examine how the Wall Street Journal reported the great crash of 1929. Fascinating.

And with that, unless something crazy happens, I’ll leave you alone for a few days. Phil’s making the trip, if I recall correctly (Edit: Actually, he’s joining the team Saturday in Portland), so you’ll have a local perspective on the radio Webcast for two games, at least.

Edit: OK, I lied: back with Eric Boguniecki’s signing with Alaska.

So the Islanders finish up the preseason with a loss and three majors for Joel Rechlicz, and Jeremy Reich broke his left wrist in a fight. Yes, it’s not even this year yet, and it’s that kind of year.

Carolina assigned Rob Hennigar to the ECHL. The Devils waived Jay Leach and Tim Sestito. (Greg Moore is reportedly there, too.)

Ilya Zubov wants out of Binghamton.

Tough Adirondack hockey trivia.

The AHL re-did its Web site.

Former Nighthawk Sylvain Couturier has job security.

Filip Bondy points out danger on 161st Street. Meanwhile, it’s a good thing New York built those two baseball-only ballparks and got rid of those multi-purpose stadia, right?

And finally, Scott Adams believes China is doomed.