Grizz undergo roster changes

WEST VALLEY CITY — Their own desire to get down to a more workable roster size, the return of two players and two moves made by the parent Dallas Stars have left the limping Utah Grizzlies with a different lineup for tonight's game in the E Center at 7 against the Manitoba Moose.

Tonight's game opens Utah's third four-game homestand of the season. Utah is 3-7-1-2, with nine standings points, and is last in the AHL's West Division. Manitoba is 6-9-3-1 for 10 points, second-to-last in the North.

Utah defenseman Trevor Daley, 20, was recalled by the Stars for the third time this season early Tuesday, and that was followed by a call-up of right wing Mattias Tjarnqvist, 24, to fill in for injured Star Aaron Downey (hip). Downey was placed on Dallas' injured list retroactive to last Saturday. That means Tjarnqvist could be with Dallas for a week or more, said Grizzlies media relations director Bob Hoffman.

Because coach Don Hay has wanted to reduce his roster to 20 or 21 players, more workable than it has been with 23 or more, two players were released from their 25-game professional-tryout contracts Tuesday morning. Gone are left wing Eric Schneider, 26, who is expected to sign with the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL, and right wing Tim Verbeek, 24. Both saw regular shifts.

At the same time, forward David Gove, 25, was signed from a tryout deal to a Grizzlies AHL contract for the remainder of the season.

Because the call-up of Tjarnqvist happened after Verbeek and Schneider were put on waivers, the Grizzlies could not recall either of them, said Hoffman, so they recalled center Warren Peters, 21, from the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Peters attended Utah's training camp last month and has scored three goals and four assists with a plus-3 rating in Boise.

Meanwhile, right wing David Oliver was to return after spending last weekend playing in Germany for Team Canada, and left wing Brett Draney is expected back from injury.

Manitoba also had a call-up, with one of the AHL's top scorers, Fedor Fedorov, pulled up to Vancouver on Saturday. He had 13 points in 14 games.

That leaves Brandon Reid (eight points) and Jaroslav Obsut, Kirill Koltsov and Ryan Kesler (seven points each) as Manitoba's top scorers. It is coming off a 3-3 overtime tie with Chicago on Saturday.

Utah has lost its last two games, 6-3 Sunday at San Antonio and 2-1 Saturday against Houston in the E Center, after what seemed like a breakout 6-1 win against Houston on Friday at home.

Center Jarrod Skalde leads Utah in scoring with seven points, and defenseman Bubba Berenzweig and wingers Justin Cox and Rob Valicevic have six points each.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com