Well, Scott Howes is now available.

The winger and reigning Kelly Cup MVP, who was so clutch and dominating for the Alaska Aces on their run to the ECHL's Kelly Cup last spring, is free because his Bridgeport Sound Tigers were swept out of the AHL playoffs today in a 4-3 OT loss to Connecticut that gave the Whale a three-game sweep of the opening-round, best-of-5 series.

Howes played today for the first time in the series, going even and without a point, but with four shots on goal.

The Aces have Howes on their reserve list -- he started the season with the Aces before former Aces bench boss Brent Thompson, who guided the Aces to that Cup and then got the head job in Bridgeport, summoned him to the Tigers and eventually gave him an AHL contract.

In any event, Howes is eligible for the ECHL playoffs, and he loves Alaska. So, we shall see. The Aces are traveling home from Stockton, Calif., today after eliminating the Stockton Thunder on Saturday night, so Monday we'll sniff around and see if there's any chance Howie might be heading here.

As readers point out, erstwhile Aces defenseman Russ Sinkewich, also with Bridgeport, is also on Alaska's reserve list, but The Blog has seldom heard his name uttered lately around the team. Just sayin'.