SAVANNAH, Ga. – One day into February and the Savannah Ghost Pirates’ roster has taken on an entirely new form. With so much happening in the course of a single day, it can be easy to get lost and miss something. That is where I come in; below I will break down all of the recent roster moves by category to assist everyone in understanding what is going on with Southeast Georgia’s premiere hockey club.

Assignments

It has been no surprise to anyone following the Savannah Ghost Pirates this season, or even the Henderson Silver Knights, that injuries throughout the entire Vegas Golden Knight umbrella have caused massive shifts in team rosters. With the majority of NHL and AHL prospects that Savannah had been hosting for the season ending up recalled back to Henderson.

It does seem however that as the organization gets healthier across the board that those reinforcements are headed back down to Savannah once again.

Pat Guay, Daniel D’Amato, Peter DiLiberatore, and Mason Primeau were all announced to be joining the ranks of the Ghost Pirates on February 1st by the Henderson Silver Knights organization.

Savannah fans will be familiar with most of these names as Guay, D’Amato, and DiLiberatore all spent considerable time in Savannah earlier in the year. Primeau remains the new face from Henderson joining Savannah, but if his name sounds familiar it may be that you recognize the NHL lineage Primeau hails from as both his father (Wayne Primeau) and his uncle (Keith Primeau) had 15-year careers in the NHL. 

Statistically speaking, while in Henderson, Guay notched 2 goals and 2 assists in 12 games played; while D’Amato added 3 assists in his 20 games. Including this beauty below that shows off the chemistry Guay and D’Amato have been able to build upon with each other during this season.

this goal is automatic!
it's systematic!
It's hydromatic!
it's greased lightnin! pic.twitter.com/U62uuObZBc

— Henderson Silver Knights (@HSKnights) January 19, 2023

Furthermore, Primeau himself had 5 goals and 3 assists in 27 games played, and DiLiberatore added 3 more assists from the blue line.

Trades 

Savannah also made a blockbuster trade with the Heartlanders on February 1st by sending the first player to ever put ink to paper with a Savannah contract, goalie Darion Hanson, to Iowa in exchange for 2 year Heartlanders forward Cole Stallard. 

BREAKING: The Ghost Pirates have acquired forward Cole Stallard from the Iowa Heartlanders in exchange for goaltender Darion Hanson.

Welcome to Savannah, Cole! #TheHauntBegins

— Savannah Ghost Pirates (@SavGhostPirates) February 1, 2023

Hanson’s year in net for Savannah saw himself with a GAA of 2.97 while hosting a .913 save percentage. He also had two call ups to the Cleveland Monsters throughout the season where he got the chance to start a game in net for them against the Laval Rocket.

In Savannah, due to immense goalie depth, Hanson was not able to get in too many games as of recent. His addition in Iowa should help blossom him further in his career, and allow him to add more minutes under his belt.

Stallard spent the years of 2019-2021 playing in the SPHL before joining the Heartlanders for their 21/22 season. In his first year in Iowa he posted 12 goals and 13 assists in 60 games; while this year he seems poised to break his career ECHL goals record as he has scored 9 so far in half the amount of games (31). His addition in Savannah will be a breath of relief for a team that has dealt with injuries to their forward groups all year long.

Cuts

In the last manners of business for Savannah they released Connor Graham, who is now subject to ECHL waivers. It is also worth noting that in the final two days of January Savannah also released Sacha Roy, Jake Pappalardo, and Ian Mackey.