Clear Day.  One of my least favorite days of the year since I started writing about the Admirals.

In the AHL, Clear Day was the day that the teams needed to send a list of 22 players to the league, and then those 22 players would be the only guys who were eligible to play the rest of the season and in the playoffs.

Then there was the fine print.  Injury rules.  ATO contracts.  NHL call-ups.  Suspensions. So guys like Ryan Maki and Kevin Henderson could be left off of the Clear Day list of their respective campaign, yet still play every single game for the rest of the season and the playoffs.

Eric Kent, of the old Short Shifts blog, coined the phrase “Voodoo Rosternomics” to describe post-Clear-Day roster and lineup management.

And today, I’m proud to share with you….that Clear Day doesn’t exist anymore.  It’s nothing but a memory.  The kind the lights the corners of my mind.  Misty water-colored memories…of the way we were…

Enjoy…from an AHL release…

The AHL’s playoff roster deadline will be Monday, Apr. 22, at 3 p.m. ET, by which time all 16 playoff teams must submit to the league a list of playoff-eligible players. Only those players on a team’s playoff eligibility list, plus signed draft choices and players signed to amateur tryout contracts, are eligible to compete in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Players from lower professional leagues can also be added if they played in at least eight games in the AHL and/or a lower league in 2012-13.

AHL Clear Day roster restrictions have been removed. Any eligible player on a club’s roster may participate at any time during the remainder of the regular season and the Calder Cup Playoffs.

And per National Hockey League rules, only those players who have been recalled from an AHL club following the NHL trade deadline (Wednesday, Apr. 3 at 3 p.m. ET) may be returned to the AHL during the remainder of the season.

I would like to clarify a thing or two with the league… From the sound of that last paragraph, it sounds like the NHL trading deadline is kind of a Partly Clear Day.  After that point, an NHL team wouldn’t be able to send their guys on two-way contracts down for the playoff run if the NHL team doesn’t graduate to the post season.  And if that’s the right interpretation, I kind of like that.  It might even out the playoff playing field a bit.  A team wouldn’t be able to stash four or five NHL guys on the clear day list as they had in the past, and then send them down as soon as the NHL season is over to kick some butt and take some names down here.

I’ll update when I get some clarification.  But no more Clear Day?  No more need for Voodoo Rosternomics?  Celebrate good times.  Come on.