The NHL season is well on its way and the start of the AHL season is right around the corner, not to mention an ongoing ECHL and NCAA season, several leagues in Europe already entering the stretch run, and North American junior leagues starting to work toward a return. Yet, there are still players out there looking for a place to play this season, many of whom are familiar to NHL fans. Keep up with those moves right here over the course of the day:
- Veteran forward Matt Lorito has found a new AHL home for the coming campaign. Lorito, who has spent the past four years under NHL contracts, has instead inked a one-year minor league deal with the San Diego Gulls, the team announced. Lorito recorded 23 points in 50 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last season, but finished the year with the Toronto Marlies after the Islanders traded him to the Maple Leafs for defenseman Jordan Schmaltz. A veteran of two NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Lorito has been a highly productive scorer in the AHL with 215 points in 283 games over six seasons.
- Victor Hadfield, the grandson of New York Rangers legend Vic Hadfield, will get his first taste of the pro game on a tryout with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, per the team’s training camp roster. The Barrie Colt, who was selected No. 1 overall in the inaugural OHL U-18 Priority Selection Draft, got off to a slow start to his major junior career, but started to show signs of potential last season with 26 points in 46 games. The Moose want to see for themselves in camp if Hadfield might be a later bloomer who is ready to keep growing in the pros. Hadfield’s grandfather, whose number is retired by the Rangers, played in over 1,000 NHL games for New York and Pittsburgh in the 60’s and 70’s, including a 106-point 1971-72 campaign.
- After spending last season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, defenseman Anton Karlsson has been back home in Sweden playing for the SHL’s HV71. However, on the eve of a new AHL season, Karlsson and HV71 have agreed to mutually terminate his current contract, the team announced. Coincidence? Keep an eye out for more on Karlsson, who carved out a nice role for himself with Cleveland last year despite battling for ice time with a number of NHL talents on the blue line. At 27, Karlsson may still have NHL ambitions.
- The AHL’s San Diego Gulls have received some reinforcements from their ECHL affiliate, the Tulsa Oilers. The ECHL transactions register indicates that the Anaheim Ducks, parent club to both, have reassigned forwards Bryce Kindopp and Maxim Golod and goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek to San Diego.