Spaling Reassigned to Milwaukee

Nick Spaling was returned to Milwaukee today after playing well in his 21 game stint in Nashville. Barry Trotz indicated after last night's game that Marcel Goc would be ready on Tuesday so a move was needed.

It is somewhat surprising that it was Spaling that was sent down as opposed to Cal O'Reilly. Spaling has be racking up plenty of minutes on the Predator's penalty kill and has been one of the better players during the recent Pred's slide.

Here is the full release from the Predators...

NASHVILLE PREDATORS REASSIGN FORWARD NICK SPALING TO MILWAUKEE

Nashville, Tenn. (January 31, 2010) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has reassigned forward Nick Spaling to Milwaukee (AHL).

Spaling, 21 (9/19/88), was recalled for the first time in his career on Dec. 15, and has appeared in the Predators last 21 games, posting three assists – including one last night in a 4-3 victory over Atlanta – while averaging 10:42 of ice time. Nashville’s third choice, 58th overall (second round) in the 2007 Entry Draft is also averaging 1:40 of shorthanded ice time in his inaugural NHL campaign, fifth-best among rookie forwards. The Palmerston, Ont., native has seven points (1g-6a) in 27 games for the Admirals in 2009-10.

The Predators will look to make it two-for-two on their current four-game homestand when they host the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The home stretch continues Thursday against Colorado, and wraps up Saturday vs. the NHL-leading San Jose Sharks. Tickets these games, and all other regular season contests, are on sale and can be purchased by logging onto nashvillepredators.com. Tickets are also available by calling (615) 770-PUCK and at all Ticketmaster locations.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass