A Crumb or Two of Off-Season News

Finally - a little tidbit of news comes from the ECHL that actually relates to the Grizzlies! (Yes, we're a little slow on it, but hey, it's summer.) According to an article on ECHL.com, the teams have announced their protected lists. There are a lot of words explaining this in that article, but what it boils down to is a list of who the Grizz are retaining the rights to sign in the 2010-2011 season. This kind of gives us an idea of what the team might look like at training camp in October.

Here's who is on the list:

Dov Grumet-Morris

Brock Wilson

Matt Sorteberg

Justin Suda

Brian Kilburg

Tim Maxwell

Tim Crowder

Matt Clarke

Lance Galbraith

Steve McJannet

Dylan Hunter

Brett Parnham

Jadran Beljo

AJ Perry

Marcus Carroll

Malcom MacMillan

Tom May

James Sixsmith

Ryan Kinasewich

Looks pretty familiar so far. We're not complaining.

We do have to point out that this doesn't mean everyone on this list will be returning. For example, we already know that Ryan Kinasewich is headed to the cold wargrounds of the KHL, but by retaining his rights, if he ever does return to the ECHL, the Grizzlies would have first dibs. Some of the guys may end up starting in the AHL, or have their rights traded before the season starts. Or we could get some players from the AHL to start the season. And we may see some new faces at training camp looking for a contract. Or some familiar ones - we noticed Mark Pavli wasn't on Stockton's protected list, and I believe we've made it clear on this site that we'd take him back any day. (That's a hint, in case anyone with any authority is reading this.)

There's still a long way to go before we'll know what next season's Grizzlies will look like, but we're desperate for news right now, so we'll take any crumbs we can get.

Speaking of news, USA Hockey announced the dates for next year's Hockey Across America Weekend. It will be held February 18-20, 2011, and will feature the same themes as last year. The 18th will be Wear Your Favorite Hockey Jersey day, the 19th will be Bring a Friend to the Rink day, and the 20th will be Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes day. Good news for us - the Grizzlies will be hosting Las Vegas that weekend at the E Center, so Utah hockey fans can celebrate in grand fashion.

Adrian Denny has been keeping up with various members of the team and Coach Colley during the summer, so be sure to check out his blog, which he updates every Friday.