Trade Deadline Day Plays Major Role In Shifting AHL's Landscape

Today's the day.

The NHL's Trade Deadline.

While the big blockbuster trades garner most of the attention in the hockey world, it's the underlying results of those big moves that helps shape the American Hockey League (AHL) rosters before the final stretch of the regular season and into the postseason.

Some general notes every AHL fan should be aware of today:

The trade deadline passes at 3 p.m. ET on this Monday, February 26th - meaning NHL teams won't be able to execute trades moving forward the rest of the 2017-18 season.

While no NHL trades can be made after this afternoon, the AHL has its own trade deadline day one week after the NHL's trading deadline. Players eligible to be moved include players on AHL-only contracts, while players in the AHL on NHL contracts can be reassigned to an AHL club different than their own affiliate too.

Another significance of the trade deadline is that any player on an NHL roster at the time the deadline passes is ineligible to play in the AHL the rest of the 2017-18 season - including the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs. This leads to a lot of transactions by NHL clubs assigning players to the AHL for the sole purpose of their AHL-eligibility, and then calling them back up. This also leads to fan outrage from those unaware that these moves are merely paper transactions.

This story will serve as a running update of trades with a direct impact on the AHL, as well as a place to make note of which players are/aren't reassigned to the AHL  before the deadline passes.

For all the latest up-to-the-minute updates on today's AHL-related trades/moves, follow me on Twitter -> @TonyAndrock