Komets Sign Chwedoruk, Waive Whitehead

On Thursday, the Komets announced that they had placed forward Travis Whitehead on waivers and had signed (pending league approval) 25-year-old winger Justin Chwedoruk. Chwedoruk, who is 5'9" and 170 lbs., played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 for the St. Albert Saints and Spruce Grove Saints respectively. He also played one season for the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2003-2004. He spent the 2005-2006 season in the CHL where he played 5 games for the Lubbock Cotton Kings, tallying 1 assist, and 54 regular season games for the Oklahoma City Blazers, where he was credited with 10 goals and 15 assists. In 7 playoff games for the Blazers, he notched 2 goals and 2 assists. He joined the UHL's Quad City Mallards for the 2006-2007 season, tallying 24 goals and 44 assists in 71 games. In 2007, he attended the Edmonton Oilers NHL rookie camp and was in camp with the AHL's Springfield Falcons. He divided the 2007-2008 season between the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors (19 games, 7 goals, 11 assists) and the Wheeling Nailers (47 games, 10 goals, 9 assists) as well as playing 3 games for Springfield on a call-up (1 goal). In 2008-2009, he again played in the ECHL, appearing in 27 games for the Dayton Bombers, with a record of 6 goals and 16 assists, and 34 games for the Stockton Thunder, where he managed 8 goals and 6 assists.

In other roster moves, defenseman Kevin Bertram is expected to return to the line-up this weekend. Goalie Nick Boucher has been placed on the 30-day IR retroactive to Monday and defenseman (and sometimes forward) Blair Stayzer is listed as week to week due to a shoulder injury. He is not expected to play this weekend.