The biggest news of the day is that Drew Schiestel has been assigned to the Texas Stars.  He had been an odd man out defenseman for much of the season never fully recovered from a knee injury.  He also made a few costly mistakes in games and was sat out after those were made.  Based on the clear day roster released, Nick Crawford was put in his place.  Schiestel was drafted in the 2nd round/59th overall in the 2007 draft and in the final year of his three year entry level contract.  The Amerks do not appear to be getting anyone in return for Schiestel at this time otherwise they would’ve been on the clear day roster below.

A reassignment isn’t a trade, it’s just that, a reassignment.  The Sabres will still retain his rights and before they assigned him they likely advised him or his agent that they plan to walk away from his contract at the end of the season or did this just so that he could play and not sit around.

The Texas Stars are currently in last place in the Western Conference so it could be a way to keep Drew Schiestel in action instead of just sitting around the stands in Rochester waiting for someone else to get injured, like I just mentioned above.  The Stars are in last place so it’s not as if this could benefit the Stars in the standings for their playoff push.

We’ll find out more at some point.

The AHL approved all 30 team Clear Day rosters and you can view all of them here.

If you missed it in my post yesterday, here’s what the league says about the clear day roster:

** Each Clear Day roster consists of a maximum of 22 players. According to AHL by-laws, only those players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are eligible to compete in the remainder of the 2011-12 AHL regular season and in the Calder Cup Playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension.

** Teams may also add signed draft choices and players signed to amateur tryout contracts, provided that their respective Junior seasons are complete.

I predicted the roster yesterday and the only difference is that Drew Schiestel was removed and Nick Crawford in his place.  Mike Ryan was not included because he’s likely out for the rest of the season or still long term, meaning not until after the regular season is over.

Here’s the Amerks 22 man clear day roster:

David Leggio (G)

Drew MacIntyre (G)

Luke Adam

Alex Biega

T.J. Brennan

Nick Crawford

Joe Finley

Marcus Foligno

Igor Gongalsky

Jacob Lagace

Maxime Legault

Brayden McNabb

Shaone Morrisonn

Dennis Persson

Evan Rankin

Colin Stuart

Paul Szczechura

Corey Tropp

Travis Turnbull

Phil Varone

Mark Voakes

Derek Whitmore