While the NHL takes a brief pause to celebrate the league’s biggest stars in the All-Star Weekend, teams in minor leagues and foreign leagues are pressing forward with their respective seasons and making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- Former Detroit Red Wings farmhand Jussi Olkinoura has found his new team after securing his contract termination two days ago. Per a team announcement, the 32-year-old goalie has signed with Brynas IF, a club in the SHL. This signing marks Olkinoura’s first venture into Sweden’s top league, having already tended the crease for teams in Liiga and the KHL. Brynas’ starter this season, former NHLer Anders Lindback, has struggled to the tune of an .896 save percentage in 31 games played. He’ll now have to contend with Olkinoura, an Olympic Gold Medalist, to remain Brynas’ number-one netminder.
- Dallas Stars prospect Antonio Stranges has been re-assigned to the Stars’ ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads. This is the second time this season Stranges has been sent to the ECHL, with the first demotion coming in December. The former OHL star hasn’t played since January 14th, and will now head back to the ECHL with the hope of getting his season back on track. Stranges has been productive in his limited action in the ECHL, scoring six points in five games, but his time in the American league has been uneven.
- Former Ferris State University captain Liam MacDougall is headed overseas. The 25-year-old forward has signed with the Fife Flyers, a club in the EIHL, the top division of professional hockey in the United Kingdom. MacDougall heads to Scotland after an unsuccessful professional debut in the ECHL. He got a short cameo on an amateur tryout agreement with the Cincinnati Cyclones near the end of last season, registering a goal in six games. He signed with the Norfolk Admirals for this season to begin his ECHL career in earnest but struggled to make an impact, and after scoring just three points in 17 games he was released. Now nearly two months after receiving his release, MacDougall has a new team to continue his pro career with.
- The ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals have released netminder Michael Bullion. The 25-year-old Alaska native made his pro debut with the team last season, signing after a few years of playing at the Canadian university level. He was solid in his nine-game trial run, posting a .912 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against-average. This season Bullion and the Admirals have struggled mightily to keep the puck out of the net. Through 18 games Bullion has a 3-11-2 record, a 4.08 goals-against-average, and an .877 save percentage, and now both Bullion and the Admirals will part ways seeking other options.
- Former Boston College netminder Eric Dop has signed with the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder. The deal marks the Thunder as Dop’s fourth team of what has been quite the professional debut. After playing last season as Boston College’s starter, Dop, 24, turned pro this year and signed with the Tulsa Oilers. After three games where Dop was used only in relief for the team’s starter, he posted an .854 save percentage and as promptly traded to the Allen Americans. Dop started one game for the Americans, saving 34 out of 39 shots, and played once in relief, before he was released. He then earned a PTO with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters before signing with the Utah Grizzlies. Dop started one game for Utah, a 6-2 loss to the Steelheads, and was released a few days later. With today’s signing, he now finds himself in Wichita with a chance to back up starter Evan Buitenhuis.
- Danish forward Morten Jensen has signed a two-year extension to remain with his current team, Denmark’s Rungsted Seier Capital. Jensen is a star defenseman in Denmark’s Metal Ligaen, with 143 points in 177 career games there. The two-time Danish champion will look to help rise from their third-to-last place in the standings.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Man, looking at his record, sounds like Eric Dop’s looking to earn the nickname “Sieve.”