Roster news

Jonathan Grebosky

The USHL roster-freeze deadline was yesterday, and a number of teams made trades and roster additions.  The Stars made two moves that I'll hightlight below.  This information has been posted on the official Stars website.

First, the Stars sent forward Jonathan Grebosky to the Corpus Christi IceRays of the North American Hockey League (NAHL).  Grebosky will join former Stars defenseman Frank Misuraca on the IceRays' roster.  Stars affiliate forward Trevor Cope is also on the IceRays' roster.

Grebosky started the 2011-12 season for the Stars on the injured reserve list, and has since played 14 games scoring 3 points (2g, 1a).  Grebosky will be moved to the Stars' affiliate list, so there is a very good chance that he will play in Lincoln next season.  Good luck to Jonathan in Corpus Christie!

Vinni Lettieri

Secondly, the Stars have put affiliate forward Vinnie Letteiri on the regular roster.  Lettieri is a junior on the Minnetonka (MN) high school team, and is a former futures draft pick for the Stars.  Lettieri played two games for Lincoln this season, both back in November.  Vinni was called up to play two games over the course of a home weekend before he started his high school season at Minnetonka.  In those two games (both Lincoln wins), Lettieri scored two points (both assists) and was +2.  Through 21 games for Minnetonka this season, Lettieri has scored a whopping 51 points (20g, 31a).

Lettieri is expected to report to Lincoln after his high school team's season has concluded, which will probably be in March sometime.

Lettieri is a player I've highlighted a few times on this blog.  He is considered by many to be one of the top high school players in the state of Minnesota.  As a 16 year old, Lettieri committed to play hockey for the University of Minnesota.  His grandfather, Lou Nanne, is thought of by some to be the godfather of hockey in the state of Minnesota.  Nanne played over 600 NHL games for the Minnesota North Stars, and later was the team's general manager.  Nanne also played his collegiate hockey at the University of Minnesota.

There have been some rumors floating around that Lettieri is planning on skipping his senior season at Minnetonka next year to play full-time for the Lincoln Stars in 2012-13.  It's a good sign that the team brought him up from the affiliate list to the regular roster.  In my opinion, that shows that the team has talked to him and he's interested in playing here full-time next season.  This would be a huge pickup for the Stars.  Lettieri is definitely the real deal, and should provide a late-season spark to an already lethal Stars offense.