NHL Returns SATURDAY
January 15, 2013 | View Comments

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER!
After a long-awaited CBA agreement finally became official over the weekend, NHL teams began the rapid scramble to get things in place for January 19 - when the league will open up the 2013 season.
With this announcement, the flood of call-ups began for teams in the ECHL and AHL. Perhaps the most common questions asked on Twitter and Facebook is "How will this affect the Cyclones?" For the time being, not a ton...
We've already seen guys like Bitetto, Aronson, Shalla, and Morrissette get summoned to the Admirals. While other teams have been loaned guys like Chris Reed to fill voids.
For now, though, nothing else has happened. While everyone on the Nashville side of the family tree has gone up...the Florida affiliation hasn't made any calls...yet.
*******
In non call-up news, it appears that Josh McFadden and Mattias Lindstrom are getting close to returning...the timing of these returns couldn't be any better. Both can be immediate impact players once they're back out there.
*******
Here's who the Florida Panthers invited to Training Camp...which opened today:
4 - Keaton Ellerby
9- Stephen Weiss
11 - Jonathan Huberdeau
12 - Jack Skille
13 - Mike Santorelli
14 - Tomas Fleischmann
17 - Filip Kuba
18 - Shawn Matthias
19 - Scottie Upshall
20 - Sean Bergenheim
22 - George Parros
23 - Tyson Strachan - Was in San Antonio
25 - Jerred Smithson
27 - Alex Kovalev
30 - Scott Clemmensen
32 - Kris Versteeg
35 - Jacob Markstrom - Was in San Antonio
40 - Marek Svatos
41 - James Wright - Was in San Antonio
42 - Quinton Howden - Was in San Antonio
43 - Mike Weaver
44 - Erik Gudbranson
50 - Drew Shore - Was in San Antonio
51 - Brian Campbell
52 - Jon Rheault - Was in San Antonio
55 - Ed Jovanovski
57 - Marcel Goc
60 - Jose Theodore
62 - Michael Caruso - Was in San Antonio
72 - Alexander Petrovic - Was in San Antonio
82 - Tomas Kopecky
88 - Peter Mueller
*******
San Antonio's next game isn't until Friday (Jan 18)...so there won't likely be a need for any extra bodies until Thursday at the earliest. But that's all speculative at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.
*******
In a precautionary move, the Clones have added goalie Shane Owen, who has played for a few teams during his young professional career. If Houser or Foster were to get recalled, Owen could serve as a more than serviceable back-up.
They've also added another defenseman, as we talked about yesterday on the Cyclones Radio Network -- Mike Kavanagh. He had played a couple game for the Solar Bears after starting the season in the SPHL. He'll wear #18 and make his Cincy debut tomorrow night (Tuesday).
*******
On the Nashville side of things, here's who the invited to camp...
FORWARDS: Martin Erat, David Legwand, Mike Fisher, Nick Spaling, Craig Smith, Chris Mueller, Brandon Yip, Brian McGrattan, Matt Halischuk, Patric Hornqvist, Paul Gaustad, Colin Wilson, Sergei Kostitsyn
DEFENSE: Ryan Ellis, Shea Weber, Jonathon Blum, Kevin Klein, Scott Hannan, Roman Josi, Hal Gill
GOALIES: Chris Mason, Pekka Rinne, Zoltan Hetenyi (PTO)
*******
Speaking of Nashville...they've named Martin Erat as the alternate captain today.
*******
Meanwhile, the Panthers will reportedly name their captain within the week...
*******
More news here when it breaks....







