Pirates bounty

Given the sometime revolving door of affiliation of American Hockey League teams, one would think this Portland Pirates practice jersey would be loaded with signatures by now. Since 2004-05, when I began following the team during the NHL lockout, the Washington Capitals Anaheim Ducks and, these days, the Buffalo Sabres have sent their top prospects to Maine for seasoning.

Unfortunately, it's remained something of an afterthought, though it's been getting a bit more attention this season. Through early December it's gained another five signatures to it, matching the entire output of the 2008-09 campaign.

To date, the former Portland Pirates to sign, from left, are: Edmonton's Ladislav Smid (during the 2009-10 campaign), Tampa Bay's Zenon Konopka (2009-10), Colorado's Brian Willsie (2009-10), Edmonton's Dustin Penner (2009-10), Tampa Bay's Jeff Halpern (2008-09), Washington's Alex Semin (2008-09), then-Tampa Bay's Matt Pettinger (2008-09), Washington's Tomas Fleischmann (2008-09), then-Columbus' Aaron Rome (2008-09) and San Jose's Kent Huskins (2009-10).

Here's the wish list for the rest of the 2009-10 campaign: Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan, Buffalo's Nathan Gerbe, Calgary's Curtis Glencross, Montreal's (not Philadelphia's) Glen Metropolit, the Islanders Brendan Witt, the Rangers' PA Parenteau, Ottawa's Ryan Shannon, Vancouver's Shane O'Brien (our favorite Pirates player) and Washington's Brooks Laich.