Minor Transactions: 7/2/16

Here is where we’ll keep track of today’s minor transactions:

• St. Louis announced a total of nine signings, mostly players who will play for their AHL affiliate in Chicago.  Most prominently among them is D Chris Butler, who re-signed a one year contract; financial terms were not disclosed.  Butler played in just five games with the Blues last season but has played a total of 387 NHL games in his career.
• Buffalo has signed C Derek Grant to a two-way contract, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.  Grant played in 15 games with Calgary last season, recording one assist while averaging 10:53 per game.  He also recorded 26 goals in only 37 games with AHL Stockton last year.
• The Canadiens signed D Philip Samuelsson to a one year, two-way deal, according to a team release.  Samuelsson spent most of last season with Arizona’s AHL affiliate in Springfield but suited up for four games with the Coyotes in 2015-16.  Montreal also announced they have signed winger Chris Terry to a one year, two-way deal.  Terry had eight goals and three assists in 68 games with Carolina last season.
• Winnipeg announced the re-signing of D Julien Melchiori and G Jamie Phillips to two year, two-way contracts.  Melchiori would earn $625K at the NHL level while Phillips would get $675,000 in the NHL.
• The Predators announced that they have inked C Trevor Smith to a two year, two-way deal.  The deal carries a cap hit of $612K at the NHL and guarantees him $475K over the two seasons according to General Fanager.  He last played in the NHL with Toronto in 2014-15 and spent last year with Bern of the NLA.
• In a separate release, the Preds also have signed winger Harry Zolnierczyk to a one year, two-way contract.  He’ll earn $575K in the NHL and $150K in the AHL.  Zolnierczyk played in 24 games with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate last year as well as suiting up for one game with the Ducks.
• Edmonton’s has signed D Ethan Bear to a three year, entry level deal according to their Twitter account.  Bear was the Oilers’ 5th round pick (124th overall) in 2015 and spent last season with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL.
• James Mirtle of TSN tells us that the Maple Leafs have signed D Justin Holl to a three-year entry level deal, following his strong season for their AHL affiliate last season.  Holl put up 21 points in just 60 games on the AHL’s best regular season team.
• After extending their new number one goaltender, the Lightning have re-signed AHL netminder Kristers Gudlevskis to a two-way deal. The 23-year old made his NHL debut last season, starting one game for Tampa Bay where he allowed one goal on 32 shots.