Aces Add A Body (For 2 Weeks, Probably)

The Alaska Aces have added rookie right wing Anthony Peluso, who was assigned to them from Peoria of the American Hockey League.

He'll likely only be here a couple of weeks as a result of the affiliation trickle-down -- the parent St. Louis Blues sent former Aces forward D.J. King to Peoria on a two-week conditioning stint as he returns from injury, so Peoria sent Peluso this way.

Judging by his resume, the 6-foot-4, 234-pound Peluso is a mix of some skill and some muscle. In the Ontario Hockey League last season, the sixth-round draft pick earned 20-17--37 totals in 63 regular-season games, with 125 penalty minutes that included seven fighting majors.

By my count, Peluso's addition gives the Aces 28 players -- 15 forwards, 9 defensemen, 3 goaltenders.

About 48 hours remain until the Aces must submit their season-opening roster to the ECHL, so some cuts are coming shortly. Wingers Justin Johnson and Jason Ryznar probably will start the season on the 21-day injured reserve list -- both players suffered broken left hands in an exhibition game last week.

At the very least, a couple of forwards and a defenseman or two, and perhaps a goalie, will have to be jettisoned. ECHL teams can have 20 players on the active roster, one on the 3-day IR, one on the 7-day IR and an unlimited number on the 21-day IR. Customarily, teams usually have no more than one player each on each of the three IRs -- that's because 23 players is about the max a team wants to be paying at any given time.

Oh, in other Alaska-related ECHL news, former Aces goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu has been shipped from AHL Rochester to ECHL Florida.