Camp almost over/preseason chat

This post copies this original. Please leave comments there. Hey, should we do a weekly chat again? Yes, we should. Let's start with preseason fun Thursday at 1:30. ChatBox below.

A routine 3.5-hour drive to the Island this morning. Took almost two hours to get to Westport alone. Figured I'd make it in time for Thursday's practice.

Survived, though, and arrived just in time for the end of Wednesday's practice. Pairs were apparently pretty familiar; Travis Hamonic wore a red no-contact jersey, and though Scott Pellerin still wasn't sharing specifics, he sounded hopeful Hamonic and maybe Max MacKay would at least be available Friday. MacKay skated on his own, Pellerin said. The lines were the same as yesterday's, apparently (other lines at the first tweet). The three Swedish forwards were in yellow, which drew some comment as appropriate.

Pellerin said the plan is that everybody still in camp is going to make the trip up to Bridgeport and start the season here. As far as captains, "if you look at our team, we've got a really strong leadership group," the coach said. He said he'd talk to Garth Snow and the other coaches about it, but "I'm not in any rush to name a captain at this point."

The team has a mobile app. My phone can only call people, so I'll leave the reviews to you guys.

The Rangers report that Cam Talbot won't be ready for the opener. Here's how the Whale lined up today, from Jim Cerny.

Lindsay Kramer reports that Trevor Frischmon is going to Austria. Abbotsford released Kael Mouillierat from his tryout, destination unlisted. He was on Idaho's season-ending roster. Meanwhile, Rick DiPietro's going to Germany.

Providence sent Simsbury's Tommy Cross to South Carolina, reports Mark Divver, also noting that Chris Bourque is Mike Souza's brother-in-law.

New Binghamton beat writer Matt Weinstein is on Twitter and on the blog. Did I ever link to new Adirondack beat writer Diana C. Nearhos? If not, Twitter; blog. (Tim McManus will still be writing, as it turns out.) Yes, I've got a blogroll to update.

From the Canadian Press' Chris Johnston, Brett MacLean is doing well, though he's had to retire after this summer's scare. (There's also a new look at the AHL site, as you'll see at that link. My bookmarks still work, and the page formats in Internet Explorer, so I give the redesign a big thumbs up.)

Interesting New York story from the Times.

And RIP, Budd Lynch, Larry Block (h/t Jonathan), and Alex Karras.