Dropping The 20's

With DS busy this afternoon, I knew I'd be by a computer and be able to update. Huzzah.

However, your Tri-City Americans had to get down to their three 20-year-olds today and they did it, starting in confusing fashion. It was mainly due to the trade to start off with, as the Ams acquired defenseman Zac Stebner from the Calgary Hitmen, who is an overager. From the Ams release

Stebner, listed at 6’3 205 pounds, is moving to his fifth WHL team in his fourth full season. Originally a second round (32nd overall) selection by the Red Deer Rebels in 2005, Stebner has appeared in 218 career games while totaling 25 goals, 80 points and 294 penalty minutes. In addition to the Rebels and Hitmen, the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native, who has notched 11 goals and 30+ points over his past two seasons, has also played for the Prince Albert Raiders and Kamloops Blazers. Last season, Stebner was traded to the Calgary Hitmen in mid-January, appearing in 30 games and collecting four goals, 17 points and was a plus-10 while leading the Hitmen to a 2010 WHL Championship and an appearance in the semi-finals of the MasterCard Memorial Cup. Coincidentally, Stebner is expected to be in the Tri-City line-up on Tuesday, October 19 when the Americans play host to the Hitmen in a re-match of the 2010 WHL Finals.

“It was obvious that the area we needed to improve on the most was defense,” explained Tory. “Zak is a top-4 defenseman, with Memorial Cup experience, and has the proven ability to contribute offensively. His presence will add tremendous depth to our blue line.”

In order to get back down to the maximum three overagers, the Ams put Mike Brown and Alex Pechurskiy on waivers:

Meanwhile, Brown and Pechurskiy, who were integral parts of the Americans’ run to the 2010 WHL Finals last season, will go through the WHL Waivers Draft later this afternoon. Any of the WHL clubs with open overage spots can participate in the Draft. All players that go unselected in the Waivers Draft will be declared free agents.

“It’s obviously an unfortunate situation, as both Alex and Mike are strong players that we would gladly keep if the rules allowed it,” Tory clarified. “Unfortunately, this season, there are more quality 20-year-old players than there are spots available, so we were unable to arrange a trade for either player. We thank both men for their hard work and dedication to this team and wish them nothing but the best.”

Granted, now the Ams have three active overagers-- Kruise Reddick, Tyler Schmidt, and Stebner, with Neal Prokop still on the IR. So what to do when Prokop comes back is anyone's guess.

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In other moves, GM Bob Tory re-assigned Riley Guenther to the Calgary Northstars AAA Midgets and released Nikita Kardashev. The moves put the Ams at 24 players on the roster.

Again, Schultzie will have more insight to this with her take later on, but figured this needed to be up here now.