The offseason has slowed to a crawl with just a few arbitration hearings to come and a handful of free agents to sign. With the news that the AHL and some junior leagues are targeting February as a start date, however, things will likely pick up in the way of minor signings. We’ll keep track of the notable ones right here:
- The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have signed four players, agreeing to terms with Seth Helgeson, Jeff Kubiak, Erik Brown and Nick Pastujov on AHL contracts. Helgeson, the only one of the four with any NHL experience, has played the last three seasons with Bridgeport, wearing an “A” and lending a veteran presence to the blue line. The 30-year-old defenseman played in 50 NHL contests with the New Jersey Devils between 2014-17. Pastujov, 22, was a seventh-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2016 but was not signed by the team this offseason when he left the University of Michigan.
- Hubert Labrie, Jack Dougherty, and Cole Cassels have all signed one-year AHL contracts with the Belleville Senators, returning to the organization they played for last season. Cassels is the son of longtime NHL forward Andrew Cassels, who played more than 1,000 games at the highest level, racking up 732 career points.