Hot off the wires…
SOUND TIGERS PICK UP DEFENSEMAN IN EXCHANGE FOR FERRARO

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers loaned forward Peter Ferraro to the American Hockey League’s Peoria Rivermen on Thursday. In exchange for Ferraro, the Rivermen loaned defenseman Stephen Wood to the Sound Tigers. Wood, on an AHL/ECHL contract, has played 16 games with the Rivermen and 25 with the East Coast Hockey League’s Alaska Aces this season.

Wood had eight goals and six assists for 14 points in 25 games with Alaska and had two assists in 16 games with Peoria this season. The 6-foot-2, 211-pound 25-year-old has a right-handed shot.

A native of Cambridge, MA, Wood played four years at Providence College and made his AHL debut with the Philadelphia Phantoms in the 2003-04 season.

***Good to see this move.  Ferraro was the unlucky victim of the veteran rule a lot lately so this will give him more playing time.  Plus the Sound Tigers need a lot of help at the blue line right now, and he seems to be a good replacement for Jamie Fraser right now until Fraser gets back…

…to now former Sound Tiger, Robert Nilsson. In his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins debut he assisted on all 3 goals to lead the baby Pens to a 3-2 victory over the Binghamton Senators.

Looks like Robert Nilsson has been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Sound Tigers next game? You guessed it, @ WBS on Friday night. It should definitely be interesting when they come to Harbor Yard on March 9th on the back end of their home-and-home.

Speaking of the home-and-home, what a weird one it is: @ WBS, March 2 and then home on March 9. The AHL has been real screwy with the scheduling this year (just look at the Sound Tigers recent 8 games in 10 nights). Now they’re in the middle of 3 games in 2 weeks.

The Sound Tigers do need the rest though. They’ve looked like the walking-wounded coming out of the 8-in-10:

~Jamie Fraser is out for the next week or two with a thumb injury.

~Drew Fata is going to serve the last game of a three game suspension on Friday.

~Brandon Nolan is out for the next two-six weeks with a broken rib.

~Jeremy Colliton’s shoulder is acting up on him.

~Blake Comeau is still day-to-day recovering from an ankle injury.

From Michael Fornabaio’s blog (http://soundinoff.blogspot.com/), defenseman Dustin VanBellegooie has signed a PTO from ECHL’s Fresno Falcons to fill in the gap lost by Fraser and Fata.

Also, here’s the latest playoff race in the East division (Top 4 teams in the division qualify for the playoffs)

I get home from work and what do I see? The guys on TSN looking in shock over the fact that Ryan Smyth is now an Islander in exchange for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O’Marra and a 1st round pick. I was expecting a bigger move in the shadows of the Zednik trade, but I definitely did not see that happening.
This is a HUGE deal for the Islanders, but the key in this deal would be to resign Smyth in the offseason, or else this will be a horrible deal for the Isles.

For the Sound Tigers this does affect their roster somewhat, but with the acquisitions of Zednik and now Smyth, that will definitely pave the way for the return of Tambellini and Nielsen to the lineup, who have been sorely missed in the offensive category.

I’ll be back later tonight for more…

Looks like Richard Zednik is an Islander in exchange for a second round pick.

Could this be a precursor to a bigger move (Blake maybe?)  Let’s just wait and see what tomorrow holds…