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Minor Transactions: 05/10/23

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The eyes of the hockey world are on two significant NHL contests tonight. The Toronto Maple Leafs are fighting to keep their season alive against the Florida Panthers, while the Edmonton Oilers are looking to tie their series against the Vegas Golden Knights at two games a piece.

While the NHL playoffs continue on, teams across the hockey world are getting significant offseason work done. We’ll keep track of any notable moves those teams make here:

  • Minnesota Wild 2022 first-round pick Liam Ohgren has transferred to Farjestad BK of the SHL, according to a team announcement. Ohgren spent this past season in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan looking to help his longtime club Djurgardens IF achieve immediate promotion back to the SHL. While Djurgarden ultimately failed, falling in a seven-game promotion series final to MoDo, Ohgren himself had a strong season. The 19-year-old scored 19 goals and 33 points in 53 combined regular-season and postseason games. He’ll now join the 2022 SHL champions for next season, and then potentially head to North America to play in the NHL or AHL with the Wild organization in 2024-25.
  • Former NHL bottom-sixer Frederik Gauthier has signed a one-year contract extension with Swiss National League side HC Ajoie. Gauthier signed with Ajoie last summer after spending seven seasons as an NHL-AHL tweener in North America. He has nearly 200 NHL games on his resume, and scored 23 points in 52 games last season. Now 28 years old, this contract extension ensures Gauthier will spend another season in Switzerland before potentially contemplating making a return to North American ice.
  • David Warsofsky, a former NHL defenseman and AHL All-Star, has signed a one-year contract extension to remain with his current club, the DEL’s Augsburg Panthers. The 32-year-old blueliner was never quite able to overcome the disadvantage his five-foot-eight frame presented when attempting to establish himself in the NHL, though he nonetheless became a quality player at the AHL level. Warsofsky’s 2016-17 season was his best, as he scored 47 points in 58 games for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and he now two years removed from his most recent AHL game Warsofsky has become a solid DEL offensive defenseman. He scored 21 points in 36 games last season at Augsburg and represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
  • Reigning Liiga champions Tappara Tampere issued updates on the contracts of quite a few players today, including one on a quality NHL prospect. Calgary Flames 2022 second-round pick Topi Ronni has signed a two-year extension to remain with Tappara until the end of the 2024-25 season. Ronni split the season between Tappara’s main team and their U20 team, scoring 25 points in 19 U20 games and 5 points in 22 games in Liiga. In addition to the news on Ronni, Tappara also announced that they have signed a two-year deal with former Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Otto Somppi, 25. He had 19 points in 59 for Lukko this past season and will now head to Tampere to join the league champions. They have also signed former Florida Panther Anton Levtchi to a three-year extension, locking him down after he scored 25 points in 29 games after returning mid-season from the Panthers organization.
  • Former Philadelphia Flyer Linus Hogberg has signed a two-year contract with the SHL’s Frolunda HC. Hogberg, a 2016 sixth-round pick, is a left-shot defenseman who spent several seasons developing his game with Vaxjo and HC Vita Hasten in his home country before crossing the pond in 2021 to play in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Hogberg’s time with the Phantoms was decent, and he even earned five NHL games, though he didn’t fully establish himself in the organization’s plans. As a result, he left in the middle of this past year to re-join the SHL, and now has his club for the next two years of his career.
  • Sergei Kostitsyn, a former 50-point scorer with the Nashville Predators, has reportedly signed a one-year extension to remain with Metallurg Zhlobin, the champions of the Belarusian Extraleague. Kostitsyn has had quite the journey since leaving the KHL after 2018-19. The 36-year-old has had stops in Romania and Ukraine before signing back in his native Belarus for this season. Now, he’ll stay with Zhlobin looking to help them defend their recent title.
  • 2015 third-round pick and former Soo Greyhounds star Blake Speers will not return to HockeyAllsvenskan’s Vasteras IK for next season. Speers’ debut in Sweden was a difficult one, as he managed only four goals and 14 points in 38 games. He did help Vasteras reach the second division’s playoffs, but ultimately now will have to look elsewhere to continue his professional career. Part of the trade that landed Taylor Hall with the Arizona Coyotes, Speers has five NHL games on his resume.
  • Arvid Henrikson, a former Montreal Canadiens and (briefly) San Jose Sharks prospect, has signed with Vasterviks IK in HockeyAllsvenskan. The 25-year-old was a 2016 seventh-round pick of the Canadiens and was part of the trade that net the team a fifth-round pick when they acted as a “cap broker” to facilitate the trade of Nick Bonino to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Henrikson only played in one game as a member of the Sharks organization, an April 15th win over the Tucson Roadrunners, and did not see his ATO converted into a full-time opportunity. Now he begins his pro career in earnest overseas.

An Overview Of NHL Head Coaching Candidates

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With the NHL Draft Lottery behind us and the second round fully underway, it is an appropriate time to provide an overview of the current crop of candidates for the NHL’s head coaching vacancies. The Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals are all without head coaches.

These vacancies each present their own challenges and opportunities. Washington, New York, and Calgary are teams with talented veteran cores and the desire to compete immediately, while Columbus and Anaheim are clubs with top 2023 draft picks and some exciting young players. With an eye to these vacancies and any vacancies still to come, here’s a look at the current crop of NHL head coaching candidates:

The Veteran Coaches

Gerard Gallant (Former New York Rangers head coach)

Perhaps best known for guiding the “misfit” expansion-year Vegas Golden Knights to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, Gallant finds himself again on the open market after a two-season stint with the Rangers.

The positive aspects of Gallant’s resume are clear: he’s a three-time Jack Adams trophy nominee and one-time winner, a Memorial Cup champion, and has compiled a career record of 369-262-70.

But it’s notable that Gallant has not finished a third season behind the bench of any of his stops as an NHL head coach, leading to questions over whether he is the right coach for a team looking for someone to lead a long-term project.

He’s undoubtedly one of the most qualified names on the market, but there are, as with any head coaching candidate, some question marks in his profile.

Peter Laviolette (Former Washington Capitals head coach)

Like Gallant, Laviolette is an experienced head coach with an established track record of leading winning teams. Laviolette has led two franchises to the Stanley Cup final since winning it all with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and has won the eighth-most games of any head coach in NHL history. Since the beginning of his tenure with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2009-10, Laviolette’s teams have missed the playoffs just twice. If a team wants a capable, experienced hand to stabilize their franchise and guide them to winning, Laviolette would be an ideal candidate.

But it’s also worth noting that while Laviolette has won a lot of games, playoff success has eluded his teams in recent years. He was hired by the Capitals to bring Washington the playoff success their former coach Todd Reirden couldn’t manage, but ended his time with the Capitals having lost both playoff series they competed in. While his standout resume speaks for itself, Laviolette’s teams have won one playoff series in the last half-decade, which is definitely something for teams to consider.

Bruce Boudreau (Former Vancouver Canucks head coach)

While Boudreau’s tenure as the head coach of the Canucks ultimately ended in disappointment, the 2008 Jack Adams Award winner remains among the most accomplished head coaches still active in coaching today. Boudreau’s .626 career points percentage ranks second in NHL history among head coaches with over a decade of NHL coaching experience, behind only two-time Stanley Cup champion Jon Cooper.

Boudreau’s track record of consistent regular-season success sets him apart. But while he is an AHL and ECHL champion, his teams in the NHL have largely failed to make noise in the playoffs, save for a run to the Western Conference Final with the Anaheim Ducks in 2015. If a club wants to make the playoffs, though, installing Boudreau behind their bench could be the way to go.

Darryl Sutter (Former Calgary Flames head coach)

Among the names on this list, Sutter has the the most championship experience with two Stanley Cup championships on his resume. He has the ninth-most wins of any head coach in NHL history, but after leading his teams to the playoffs in 13 of 14 seasons behind an NHL bench, Sutter’s teams have failed to qualify for the postseason in four of his last six campaigns as an NHL head coach.

The 2022 Jack Adams Award winner is a highly demanding coach who can help win a lot of games, but also can have a corrosive effect on a team’s off-ice environment, as Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reported happened late in his second tour with the Flames.

As Francis wrote: “No coach prepares players as well as Sutter, few work a bench as brilliantly as he does,” but “his tear-em-down, build-em-back-up approach sucked the love of the game out of many players, including franchise cornerstones Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri.”

A team looking to compete immediately with their next head coach would be foolish to not consider Sutter for their vacancy, though they would have to weigh the very real positives and negatives of his resume and whether his style is compatible with modern NHL players.

Claude Julien (Former Montreal Canadiens head coach)

The 2011 Stanly Cup champion has taken on international duties for Hockey Canada as he awaits his next head coaching job. He’ll be behind the bench for the Canadians at the upcoming IIHF World Championships in Riga and Tampere, and very well could be behind an NHL bench after that.

Julien helped steward some poor Canadiens teams to respectability and will always be beloved in Boston for winning the Bruins their first championship since the days of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. But he also has not been behind the bench of a team winning a playoff series since 2014, and more and more teams could be opting for younger head coaches. He’s a safe choice for a team looking for a widely-respected bench boss, but maybe not the most exciting candidate given some of the other available names.

The Rising Stars

Andrew Brunette (New Jersey Devils assistant coach)

The Florida Panthers passed on Brunette, a 2022 Jack Adams Award nominee, after his team was swept in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brunette was then hired by the New Jersey Devils in a move many believed to be succession planning for the eventual departure of head coach Lindy Ruff, only Ruff led the Devils on an extraordinary year that saw them exit their rebuild and defeat their arch-rival New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.

His work on Ruff’s staff this season is another feather in his cap as a head coaching candidate, and if the Devils are committed to Ruff as their leader moving forward, it’s possible another team poaches Ruff with the hope that he can help lead a third consecutive strong season behind an NHL bench.

Ryan Warsofsky (San Jose Sharks assistant coach)

While Warsofsky, 35, has just five seasons of head coaching experience on his record he’s among the most promising candidates on the market due to how successful he’s been in recent seasons. After two seasons behind the bench in the ECHL for the South Carolina Stingrays that included a run to the Kelly Cup Final, Warsofsky took the reins of the Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, leading the Charlotte Checkers to a winning season and the Chicago Wolves to a 71-25-13 record across two seasons that included a Calder Cup championship. He was also a top assistant for the Checkers during their Calder Cup championship run in 2019.

This past season was his first behind an NHL bench, as Warsofsky took a role as an assistant on David Quinn’s San Jose Sharks staff. While the Sharks as a whole had a miserable season, Warsofsky’s work running the team’s penalty kill drew plaudits as the unit finished as the eighth-best in the NHL.

Spencer Carbery (Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach)

Like Warsofsky, Carbery is currently on his first opportunity to coach behind an NHL bench. He’s on head coach Sheldon Keefe’s Toronto Maple Leafs staff, helping the team to impressive regular-season records as well as a long-awaited playoff series victory. Before taking the job in Toronto, Carbery was the head coach for the Hershey Bears in the AHL, going 104-50-17 across three seasons.

Carbery doesn’t have championship experience yet like some of the other names on this list, although he did come close with the ECHL’s Stingrays in 2015, just as Warsofsky did two years later with the same club.

Mike Vellucci (Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach)

The longtime head coach and general manager of the Plymouth Whalers, a now-relocated OHL team, Vellucci has spent the last three seasons as an assistant on head coach Mike Sullivan’s Pittsburgh Penguins staff. He has some championship experience, winning an OHL title in Plymouth in 2007, as well as with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL and the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors in the NAHL. Vellucci’s best work was likely in 2019 with the Checkers, as that team tore through the AHL en route to a Calder Cup.

He hasn’t yet gotten a shot as an NHL head coach yet, but he was a head coach across different levels every year from 1995-2020. Could this hiring cycle be when he gets his chance?

Mitch Love (Calgary Wranglers head coach)

While Vellucci was a head coach from 1995-2020, Love had his first season as a head coach in 2018-19, an impressive 45-15-8 season coaching Kirby Dach and the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades. His time in Saskatoon was certainly respectable, to be sure, but it’s Love’s two-year run as head coach of the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliates that has drawn the most attention. The 38-year-old former minor leaguer has won an impressive 96 of 140 regular-season games in charge of the Stockton Heat and now Calgary Wranglers, and has helped oversee the development of superstar goalie prospect Dustin Wolf.

He led Stockton to the Conference Finals in the AHL last season and now has the Wranglers in the Pacific Division Finals against fellow AHL juggernauts the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Look out for Love as a future NHL head coach, and if he can manage to add a Calder Cup championship to his resume, he could very well be a possibility for the Flames’ current vacancy.

Jeff Halpern (Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach)

As a player, Halpern played in nearly 1,000 NHL games and by the time of his retirement was a widely-respected bottom-six center. The former Princeton University star began his coaching career relatively soon after his retirement, joining the Syracuse Crunch in time for their 2017 run to the Calder Cup final. After one more season in the Salt City, Halpern joined Cooper’s staff in Tampa Bay and ended up contributing to the team’s run that net the franchise two Stanley Cups and three Prince of Wales trophies in three seasons.

Cooper’s Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning staff has already been pillaged to an extent, with top assistant Derek Lalonde now the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. With the Washington D.C. native and six-season Washington Capital perhaps making particular sense for that team’s current vacancy, it’s unlikely that Cooper’s staff goes much longer without losing another name to an outside promotion.

David Carle (University of Denver head coach)

The 33-year-old Carle has already built an impressive resume as head coach of the University of Denver, despite his relatively young age. The 2008 Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick led the Pioneers to an NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship in 2021-22, helping numerous players earn NHL contracts.

While this season ended in disappointment with a playoff loss to Cornell, Carle’s tenure as the Pioneers’ bench boss is already opening doors for his future, such as when he was last month named head coach of USA Hockey’s team for the 2024 World Junior Championships. Could a call from an NHL team be next?

The Second (or Third) Chances

Jeremy Colliton (Abbotsford Canucks head coach)

Named as the successor to Joel Quenneville with the Chicago Blackhawks, Colliton’s tenure in the Windy City didn’t exactly go to plan. He was expected to infuse some youth and energy to an aging roster, and the team had the expectation of quickly returning to Stanley Cup contention under his watch, as evidenced by the Blackhawks’ trade for Seth Jones. That didn’t happen, though, and Colliton was fired midway through 2021-22.

A former successful AHL head coach with the Rockford IceHogs, Colliton was hired to coach the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, and has turned in solid work there, leading the team to a 40-25-7 record and a qualifying series victory over the Bakersfield Condors. He was once seen as a promising young head coaching candidate before a difficult Blackhawks tenure soured his standing in the eyes of many observers. Perhaps his strong first season in Abbotsford leads him back into “rising star” territory in the eyes of NHL teams.

Travis Green (Former Vancouver Canucks head coach)

A WHL Championship-winning head coach with the Portland Winterhawks and a respected player developer and AHL bench boss with the Utica Comets, Green had a rollercoaster run as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks that ended near the start of its fifth season. Despite the good work Green did with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, he was ultimately a casualty of the doomed Jim Benning era, unable to separate himself from the mistakes the franchise is still working to recover from.

A team with a head coaching vacancy could look at Green and see someone who nearly took the Vancouver Canucks to the Western Conference Final and had a stellar record of balancing winning and player development in the AHL with Utica. While he might need to take another job as a stepping stone before getting another chance as an NHL bench boss, it’s possible that a club buys into Green as a talented head coach who might just need another shot.

Glen Gulutzan (Edmonton Oilers assistant coach)

Unlike Green and Colliton, Gulutzan has actually already received a second chance as an NHL coach. He got that in 2016-17, when he was hired to coach the Calgary Flames three seasons removed from when he was head coach of the Dallas Stars.

Before his tenure in Dallas went up in flames, Gulutzan worked his way up from successful ECHL head coach with the Las Vegas Wranglers to Calder Cup finalist with the Texas Stars to promising young NHL head coach.

Since being fired by the Flames, Gulutzan has been an assistant coach with the Edmonton Oilers and remained on staff even as the team cycled through head coaches, going from Todd McLellan to Ken Hitchcock to Dave Tippett and then to Jay Woodcroft.

Gulutzan is charged with managing Edmonton’s power play, a unit that has stolen headlines this season as by far the league’s best, scoring at a 32.4% rate. If there is a club with some talented offensive firepower but a sputtering powerplay, such as the Ducks, perhaps Gulutzan could be an intriguing option.

Todd Nelson (Hershey Bears head coach)

Nelson is an experienced minor league head coach whose only experience as an NHL head coach came in 2014-15 when the franchise’s focus was squared more intensely on their odds of winning the Connor McDavid draft lottery than immediate Stanley Cup contention. After serving on the Dallas Stars’ coaching staff and helping the franchise reach the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, Nelson this season took the job as the Hershey Bears’ head coach and currently has them in the AHL’s Atlantic Division finals.

Nelson is already a Calder Cup champion, having managed the Grand Rapids Griffins to a title in 2016-17, and could very well add another championship to his trophy cabinet by the end of this season. He has exactly the sort of resume many teams want to see out of up-and-coming head coaches, and this hiring cycle could be the time he finally gets a real shot at being an NHL head coach.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

San Jose Sharks Prospect Benjamin Gaudreau To Re-Enter Draft

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05/10/23: Gaudreau’s agent, Eddie Mio of Octagon Sports Management, added some clarity to Gaudreau’s situation today. He told Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now that Gaudreau has decided to re-enter the draft and not sign an entry-level contract with the Sharks.

The stated reason was “because of what is developing with their goaltending prospects,” which could be a reference to the Sharks’ current situation with Chrona, Romanov, and Makiniemi already in their system. For what it’s worth, Mio disputed that notion saying “I’m confident in Ben, that he would have prevailed. We’re not afraid of competition. Just didn’t feel like a good fit.” So instead of signing with the Sharks, the 20-year-old 2021 third-rounder will now re-enter the draft process.

05/09/23: The June 1st deadline to sign prospects drafted from the CHL in 2021 is fast approaching and while many players unsigned at this point are likely going to be let go, not every team has made a final decision about whether they’ll be signing their players.  That appears to be the case in San Jose as GM Mike Grier told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that they’ve yet to decide if they’ll sign goalie prospect Benjamin Gaudreau.  A final decision will be made in consultation with Director of Goaltending Evgeni Nabokov and Goalie Coach Thomas Speer over the next couple of weeks.

The 20-year-old was a third-round pick (81st overall) back in 2021 and has spent his entire major junior career with OHL Sarnia, becoming their clear starter over the last two years.  Gaudreau played in 44 games with the Sting this season, posting a 3.07 GAA and a .889 SV%, ranking him ninth and 20th league-wide, respectively.  Gaudreau was also named to Canada’s team for the World Juniors; he got into a pair of games but posted a .828 SV% in those appearances.

On the surface, Gaudreau’s numbers, while not the strongest, are good enough to typically earn an entry-level deal.  However, San Jose will have two other prospects vying for playing time in the minors next season in Magnus Chrona and Georgi Romanov while it’s likely that they’ll want to re-sign prospect Eetu Makiniemi as well.  That doesn’t leave much room for someone like Gaudreau to come in and get some playing time.  If they decide that they aren’t going to sign him, the Sharks could be able to flip Gaudreau’s rights for a late-round pick to at least get some value from that selection.

Philadelphia Flyers President Search Reportedly Down To Two Candidates

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According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Philadelphia Flyers have reportedly narrowed their search for a President of Hockey Operations to two candidates: former NHLers Keith Jones and Eddie Olczyk.

Both men currently work as analysts on regional broadcasts, with the former helping call Flyers games for NBC Sports Philadelphia and the latter paired with John Forslund for many Seattle Kraken broadcasts. They are also both analysts for Turner Sports’ national broadcasts of NHL games. Seravalli also reports that an announcement of the team’s choice is expected to come in the next few days.

The Flyers have been searching for someone to run their hockey operations department in a similar structure to what the Montreal Canadiens employ with Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, and the Vancouver Canucks employ with Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin, to name a few. The arrangement involves pairing an experienced hockey mind as the President of Hockey Operations, typically managing general strategy and the whole of the hockey operations department, with a less experienced name to handle the day-to-day duties of general manager.

The Flyers already have former NHL star Daniel Briere installed in the general manager role, and have been widely reported to be looking for an experienced hand to help guide him, as Briere does not have extensive experience in the role of GM. Jones, 54, does not have any prior executive experience but has deep ties to the Flyers’ organization and is a highly recognizable face for the team’s vast fanbase.

As evidenced by his long career as a broadcaster, Jones’ abilities as a communicator could be something the Flyers value. Given that they plucked their current head coach out of the television ranks (John Tortorella was working for ESPN before he was hired as the Flyers’ bench boss) it is not wholly surprising that they could now fill another major front-facing organizational role with someone with television experience.

Olcyzk has similar experience, having served as a color commentator for U.S. national broadcasts for both NBC and now Turner Sports. Olczyk does also have some non-broadcasting experience on his resume since retiring from the NHL, having served as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ head coach from 2003-04 until being let go midway through 2005-06.

Like Jones, Olczyk is a familiar face for many Flyers fans whose skills as a communicator would be leaned on as the Flyers continue what has been a difficult re-tooling process.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Matt Tomkins

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed netminder Matt Tomkins to a two-year, two-way contract for next season, according to a team announcement.

For Tomkins, 28, this signing serves as his return ticket to North American professional hockey after two seasons spent abroad in Sweden’s SHL. Tomkins was a 2012 seventh-round pick who spent four seasons with Ohio State in the NCAA. After his collegiate career concluded, he spent two seasons with the Indy Fuel of the ECHL, turning in some decent performances that won him ECHL Goaltender of the Week honors four times as well the right to play eight AHL games with the Rockford IceHogs.

That run as a starter in the ECHL earned Tomkins the chance to be the IceHogs’ third goalie in 2019-20, and he ended up playing in 13 games and posting an .896 save percentage. The following year, the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the AHL’s season and Tomkins ended up the only IceHogs goalie to play in double-digit games, producing a .907 save percentage in 15 games. It was after that season that Tomkins chose to sign overseas, and he earned a role as the starting goalie for Froluda HC in the SHL.

His success with Frolunda (.908 save percentage in 33 games) established him in the SHL and got him a contract with Farjestad BK, the defending champions. It also earned him the chance to start for Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. This past season, Tomkins was Farjestad’s starter and went 20-12 with a .911 save percentage.

The Lightning only have two goalies under contract for next season, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Hugo Alnefelt. Since Alnefelt, 21, may still need some more time to develop with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning may have a need for a backup netminder, as current backup Brian Elliott, 38, could retire. It’s unlikely the Lightning have signed Tomkins with the intention of him ending up Vasilevskiy’s backup, though.

Instead, Tomkins could be the replacement for pending unrestricted free agent Maxime Legace as the veteran partner for Alnefelt in Syracuse. Legace endured a difficult season with the Crunch, producing a dismal .888 save percentage in 41 games played.

This signing of Tomkins could very well be the team acting quickly to replace Legace in Syracuse, though it is also possible, if unlikely, that Legace is re-signed and one member of the trio sees time in the ECHL.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Arvid Soderblom To Two-Year Contract Extension

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed netminder Arvid Soderblom to a two-year contract extension, per a team announcement. The deal carries a $962.5k cap hit.

Soderblom, who turns 24 in August, was the Blackhawks’ number-three netminder this past season. As Chicago number-one goalie Petr Mrazek struggled with injuries, Soderblom ended up playing in 15 NHL games. His numbers were not strong (2-10-2 record, .894 save percentage) but it must be noted that the Blackhawks team Soderblom was playing behind gave up 299 goals in 2022-23, the fifth-most in the NHL.

In the AHL, Soderblom’s form was a bit better. In 33 games he went 15-12-5 with a .905 save percentage, helping the Rockford IceHogs reach the Calder Cup playoffs. Last season, Soderblom was an impressive AHL force, posting a .919 save percentage in 38 games played. Before signing in Chicago, he had excelled as a tandem netminder for Skelleftea AIK in his native Sweden, posting a .921 save percentage in 22 starts.

With this contract extension in hand, Soderblom has the inside track to either maintaining his status as the number-three netminder in Chicago or even winning a job as a backup goalie.

With phenom Connor Bedard widely expected to be a part of the Blackhawks’ team in the fall, their timeline to contention could be shifted forward in time a bit, meaning at 23 years old Soderblom may not have as long of a developmental runway to establish himself as an NHLer as he may have had in a more extended Blackhawks rebuild.

In any case, this contract extension gives Soderblom a two-year platform to continue his development and hopefully become an NHL option in the crease for Chicago.

Leon Gawanke Signs Long-Term Deal In Germany

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Winnipeg Jets prospect Leon Gawanke signed a four-year contract with Adler Mannheim in the German DEL, The Athletic’s Murat Ates reported on Wednesday. The deal comes after the 23-year-old defender spent the past four seasons playing in the AHL for the Manitoba Moose.

Gawanke was selected by the Jets in the fifth round, 136th overall, of the 2017 NHL Draft. He played some junior hockey in Germany before moving to North America to play for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the QMJHL in his draft year, 2016-17. Gawanke would then put up impressive numbers in juniors, tallying 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 62 games in his final season with Cape Breton in 2018-19.

Since turning pro, Gawanke has played exclusively with the Moose, aside from a six-game loan to the DEL’s Eisbären Berlin in the COVID-affected 2020-21 season. He has shown flashes of his offensive potential in the AHL, recording 114 points (35 goals, 79 assists) across 207 games. However, his defensive game is still a work in progress, and he hasn’t received any NHL looks throughout his time in Manitoba.

Gawanke was a non-factor in five playoff games for the Moose this season, posting just one assist and a -5 rating. As a pending restricted free agent, the Jets now have the choice to issue Gawanke a qualifying offer to retain his NHL rights when his German contract expires in 2027. He’ll have just turned 28, making an NHL role seemingly unlikely.

Adler Mannheim is one of the most successful teams in the DEL, having won seven championships since the team’s inception in 1994, most recently in 2019. The club hopes that Gawanke can help them add to that total in the coming seasons as part of a defensive corps that includes multiple former NHLers in John Gilmour, Korbinian Holzer, and Jyrki Jokipakka.

Gawanke’s departure also means more opportunity for other Jets defense prospects at the AHL level, such as Tyler Bauer, Declan Chisholm, and Simon Lundmark.

Boston Bruins Sign Mason Lohrei To Entry-Level Contract

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The Boston Bruins have announced the signing of defenseman Mason Lohrei to a two-year entry-level contract that will take effect from the start of the 2023-24 season. The deal comes with an annual NHL cap hit of $925,000. Further financial terms have not been disclosed.

Lohrei, 22, has had an impressive rise to the professional ranks since Boston drafted him in 2020. He played for Ohio State University for the past two seasons, where he led the team’s defense in scoring in his first year with 29 points in 31 appearances. In his sophomore year, he tallied 32 points in 40 appearances, helping to lead Ohio State to the regional finals of the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four, losing to the eventual national champion, Quinnipiac. He appeared in eight combined regular-season and playoff games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins on a PTO at the end of the season, registering an assist and a -2 rating.

Before his time at Ohio State, Lohrei spent three seasons in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers. His final season with the team in 2020-21 was particularly noteworthy, leading all USHL defensemen in scoring and ranked sixth overall, posting an impressive 59 points in 48 games.

Lohrei’s size and skill set make him an exciting prospect for the Bruins and undoubtedly their best one among defenders. Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing 210 pounds, Lohrei is a strong defender, adept at moving the puck and contributing offensively. He has a natural tendency to get involved in rush plays but, at least at the collegiate level, does so routinely without getting left out to dry defensively. As usual for defenders, he’ll need some seasoning in the minors to adjust to the pro game, but he should find himself gaining some NHL looks by the 2024-25 campaign.

Otto Leskinen Signs Two-Year Contract In Finland

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Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Otto Leskinen is once again returning to his roots, signing a two-year contract with Tappara in the Finnish Liiga, as announced by the team during a YouTube live stream.

Leskinen, 26, had returned to the Canadiens in 2022-23 after one season spent in Finland but has now opted to return back to his home country. Born in Pieksämäki, Finland, Leskinen was an undrafted free agent signed by the Canadiens in the summer of 2019.

After starting his professional career with the Liiga’s KalPa back in the 2015-16 season, Leskinen would develop into an adept puck-moving defender over the next few years before signing with Montreal. Leskinen would spend most of his time in the Canadiens organization with the AHL’s Laval Rocket but did appear in six NHL games in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.

His attempt to get some more NHL games under his belt wasn’t successful. Leskinen suited up in just 24 games for the Rocket in 2022-23 before undergoing season-ending hip surgery, recording a goal and seven assists. He now returns to Tappara, where he recorded a combined 18 points in 25 games across the regular season and playoffs in 2021-22 en route to a Liiga championship.

With Leskinen back in the fold, Tappara will now look to challenge for a third straight championship in 2024. They’re on one of the most impressive contention runs of any professional team in hockey, having made it to at least the bronze medal game in the Liiga in every season since 2012-13, including nine championship appearances (five wins, four losses).

Wild Notes: Gustavsson, Reaves, Goligoski

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This is an offseason full of questions for the Minnesota Wild. A team perenially on the verge of taking the next step has now lost seven straight playoff series, and they enter the 2023-24 landscape with only $8.23MM in projected cap space and multiple players to sign.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin spoke with The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith on the unique challenges brought in by their cap situation and commented on the futures of multiple players, including breakout netminder Filip Gustavsson. The 24-year-old Swede will undoubtedly receive some Vezina Trophy votes after posting a .931 save percentage in 37 starts, but he’s also a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. Guerin told Russo and Smith “there’s always challenges” when it comes to locking in contracts on a team without much maneuverability, but said talks with Gustavsson would start “very, very soon” and he’s confident they’ll reach an agreement.

Other notes from Guerin’s interview with Russo and Smith:

  • Guerin highlighted Ryan Reaves as one of the unrestricted free agents he’s focused on retaining this summer. After an early-season trade from the New York Rangers, Guerin said he was impressed with Reaves’ on-ice and off-ice presence, viewing him as integral to the team’s locker room chemistry. Reaves scored 15 points in 61 games this season with Minnesota, his highest scoring total since the 2019-20 season with the Vegas Golden Knights. He’ll need to take a discount on his previous $1.75MM cap hit to stay in a Wild uniform.
  • One player who’s not a pending free agent is defenseman Alex Goligoski, but Guerin said he’ll still sit down and have a talk with the veteran defenseman about his future. Locked in through next season with a no-movement clause and a $2MM cap hit, Goligoski, 37, oftentimes found himself as a healthy scratch this season, including in all six playoff games. If he’d be open to a trade somewhere else for more playing time in likely his last NHL season, it would free up some much-needed cap space for the Wild.

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