BUSY DAY 

As expected, Wolf Pack forward Dane Byers, a restricted free agent, has resigned with the New York Rangers organization and will compete in training camp for a position on the fourth line.

Byers is a solid talent who had his season drastically cut short in ‘08-‘09 by a severe knee injury. However he was able to make his way back in time to play in the playoffs where he had an immediate impact. The Nipawin, Saskatchewan native finished tied for the team lead in goals (three) and second in points (four) in six playoff games.

Here’s the official release:

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with restricted free agent forward Dane Byers.

Byers, 23, has skated in 165 career regular season games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), registering 44 goals and 58 assists for 102 points, along with 421 penalty minutes.  He established a career-high in goals (23) and plus/minus rating (plus-23) during the 2007-08 season.  Byers tied for third on Hartford in goals and finished fourth on the team in plus/minus rating.  He also posted a career-high, six-game scoring streak from February 8 at Providence to February 20 at Lowell, recording nine points (six goals and three assists) during the stretch.  In addition, Byers made his NHL debut with the Rangers on February 5 against Los Angeles.

In 2006-07, he set career marks in games played (78), assists (30), points (47), and penalty minutes (213).  He ranked second on the Wolf Pack in assists, third on the team in points and penalty minutes, and fifth in goals.  Byers notched his first career AHL hat trick on March 31 against Manchester.  As an AHL rookie in 2005-06, he collected an assist in his professional debut on April 7 vs. Portland.

The 6-3, 195 pounder appeared in nine games with Hartford (AHL) last season, recording four goals and three assists for seven points, along with 18 penalty minutes.  He registered six points (three goals and three assists) in a five game span from October 22 at Worcester to October 31 against Worcester, before missing the last 71 games of the regular season to injury.  Byers returned to the lineup for the playoffs, and finished tied for the team lead in goals (three) and second in points (four) in six games.  His three goals and four points both established playoff career-highs.

The Nipawin, Saskatchewan native was originally the Rangers’ second round selection, 48^th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

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The AHL also concluded their four days of the Board of Governors meetings and made some pretty key changes for the upcoming season. among them:

• The format for the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs will feature the top four teams in each of the AHL’s four divisions competing in best-of-seven series with one possible exception: if the fifth-place team from the Atlantic Division finishes with more points than the fourth-place team from the East Division, the Atlantic’s fifth place team would advance to the playoffs and compete in the East Division playoffs. That’s only fair. Perhaps someday they will go as the NHL does and just rank the Top Eight and match them up that way.

• The shootout format has been changed so that no player will shoot twice until all eligible players have gone once. Last season five shooters per team would participate for the entire shootout. It was kind of ridiculous the way it was. If things were tied after five shooters, you’d see the same guy come out two sometimes three times. This allows more players to develop their skills and makes it more fair all the way around.

• The hideous rule of One-minute minors during overtime has mercifully been eliminated. Again, penalties in overtime will be served in full as they should be. The move will force players to play it closer to the vest in OT. There were a lot of times where an OT penalty was taken because the time was so short to actually kill it off that it was worth the risk. That should stop now. It will also prevent penalties being taken near the end of regulation where teams got shortchanged on power play time and lost scoring chances in regulation because of the whole risk/reward factor.

These are all excellent moves made by AHL President and CEO David Andrews and the Board of Governors.