Breaking news out of Portland this morning is Felix Schutz is no longer a member of the Portland Pirates.

Schutz is currently awaiting assignment according to Pirates head coach Kevin Dineen.

The German native is likely heading for a club in the German Elite League, but Dineen wouldn’t confirm or deny only saying that he was “awaiting assignment”.

Things went downhill for Schutz after what appeared to be a solid camp in Buffalo, however, in his first practice at Portland Ice Arena, he and forward Travis Turnbull nearly went to blows on the ice and things degraded from there.

Schutz played 145 games for the Pirates in two years.

His best season was in his rookie year in 2008-‘09 where he scored 15 goals, 27 assists for 42 points with a plus-7 rating.

Last season was a down year for Schutz in production, only scoring 27 points (13g, 14a) in 67 games and often found himself in Dineen’s doghouse.

Schutz spent the off-season in Germany where he played for the German National Team in the World Championships, scoring the winning goal in overtime against the United States in front of nearly 80,000 people in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

With the departure of Schutz, it opens a roster spot for Brian Roloff and Maxime Legault, who are both still in camp, despite not have an AHL contract. It’s expected they’ll be signed to PTO’s later this afternoon.

Lines for tonight’s game should remain the same as they practiced yesterday.

Ellis-Adam-Mancari
Parrish-Byron-Stuart
Whitmore-Roloff-Legault/Lagace
McCauley-Turnbull-Tropp

Biega-Brennan
Schiestel-Persson
Conboy-Crawford

Enroth is getting the start in goal.