The Stars held a practice this afternoon in Frisco in front of a reportedly fairly large crowd.

The big news of the day was Sean Avery "re-joining" the team and then immediately being placed on waivers so he can be hopefully assigned to an AHL team. In case anyone was wondering here is how it works:

If a team claims Avery on waivers on his way to the minors then that team takes on not only the player but also the entirety of his remaining contract. I don't expect any team is willing to make that kind of commitment at this point. However, if the Stars then call Avery back up from the minors he is put on re-entry waivers and any team claiming him would split the remaining contract with the Stars. This would work out for both the Stars and the other team.

The rumors currently circulating are that the NY Rangers are in serious discussions to pick him up on re-entry.

Chris Conner was also sent down to the AHL to make room for Avery on the roster. Expect Conner to get called back up once Avery clears waivers. In the meantime, Mark Parrish is most likely going to take his spot on the Modano and Neal line. Fabian Brunnstrom is listed as questionable after tweaking his ankle late in last nights game when he got tangled up with a Ranger and went awkwardly into the boards. He skated today but didn't make it through the entire practice.

Landon Wilson is still a few days away from being available.

Anaheim won their game today and Edmonton was walloped by Detroit, so Dallas momentarily slides back into 6th place in the West.

And for those that are interested, Tobias Stephan is playing right now for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. I'm listening to the game on internet radio and Stephan has just allowed two quick goals in the second period; both goals have been one on ones between shooter and goalie and Stephan came up short each time.

Just as I was posting, the Norfolk Admirals started to really put on the pressure and Stephan made several spectacular saves to keep his team in the game.

[UPDATE] Stephan led the Sound Tigers to a 3-2 come from behind victory over Norfolk. He stopped 30 of 32 shots in the win.