Sean Day to the solar bears? I thought he’d be a solid AHL guy. Good to see McDonnel and Dureau in Orlando, I liked those draft picks. Also Jack Finley and Gage Goncalves are playing in the AHL this year? I would think they'd play juniors.

I believe the agreement is that all players who would normally be in a NA junior hockey league that is not currently playing is exempt from the AHL age requirement until their junior leagues resume play. So, that's where Finley, Goncalves, and a few others come into play.

Day predominantly played in the ECHL last year, and with the 3 LHDs Florida sent the Syracuse, I'm not sure there's much playing opportunity for him with the focus of the season being development. Maybe Schmienmann gets sent to Orlando instead since he still more of a prospect who would be better served getting consistent playing time in Orlando than holding up the bottom of the LHD depth chart. Same line of thinking goes for Dureau and McDonnell, as they both would probably be towards the bottom of the Syracuse depth chart. With that said, I'm not sure if there's an age requirement for the ECHL and if there's exemptions this year. Also, I think ECHL teams can only roster like 6 NHL affiliated players, so, that's another factor.

Ok makes sense. Seems to me as if partnering with Florida is a disadvantage for us as we have less spots on the Crunch that can be occupied by our players for their development purposes. What was the logic behind partnering with them?

Cash. Neither Vinik, Syracuse, nor the Panthers are exactly swimming in cash.

Also, once/if the Canadian leagues start back up we'd be pretty bare as a team without the Florida players, and also one of the worst. Mixing 2 pools of prospects will give the team a better chance to win and compete. And there could still be a playoffs.

Ok I was thinking it was more of a financial decision. Anyways, any prospects you are watching to make a jump at the AHL level?

No, it was purely financial. Florida needed a place to put their players and Tampa and Syracuse probably appreciate splitting the bill with them. I personally prefer a competitive AHL team, as I think that builds good tendencies.

As for prospects who are normally allowed in the AHL, Green and Fortier are newcomers I'm interested to see. Abbandonato is the closest thing to being the next undrafted guy (i.e. Johnson/Gourde/ABB), but he's got to take a step forward.

As for the guys who have exemptions, I'd like to see if Goncalves and Finley can immediately stick in the starting lineup. The quicker they can get to the NHL at a competitive level, the better our cap and competitive situations will look like.

Everyone else, not including the usual suspects (Raddysh, Katchouk, ABB, Colton), will probably find it hard to beat out any of our guys or the Panthers players.