Kraken Sign Kim Saarinen To Entry-Level Contract
The Seattle Kraken have signed goaltender Kim Saarinen to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal will carry an NHL annual average value of $975K. Saarinen notably becomes the first goaltender from the 2024 NHL Draft to sign his first NHL contract. He was the eighth goalie off the board when Seattle took him with the 88th overall pick.
Saarinen spent his draft season bouncing around HPK’s system in Finland. He spent the bulk of the year with their U20 club, where he posted 14 wins and a .917 save percentage across 23 appearances. He carried that production into spot starts at the U18 level – with eight wins and a .945 in nine appearances. It also carried into his first two games in the Liiga, Finland’s highest league, where Saarinen saved 50 out of 55 shots en route to one win and a .909 save percentage.
Saarinen is a distinctly responsible goaltender, excelling at never pushing the bounds of his positioning and always staying square to shooters. He uses his size to take up the net and follows pucks to his pads. With that said, Saarinen is still missing the fine tunings of a true top-flight goaltender, notably needing to improve his aggression and agility in such a big frame. He’ll get plenty of chance to hone those talents now on an NHL deal, joining a goalie room that’s already seen strong development out of Niklas Kokko. The pair will serve as Seattle’s top goaltending prospects moving forward, vying for roles over Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord.
Utah Exploring Extension Or Trade With Victor Söderström
The Utah Hockey Club is reportedly exploring the possibility of either an extension or a trade of defenseman Victor Söderström, shares Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). Söderström is Utah’s only remaining restricted free agent after the team extended both Barrett Hayton and Egor Sokolov last week.
Söderström’s contract is a bit harder to work out. The 2019 11th-overall pick failed to earn a consistent NHL role on his entry-level deal. He’s instead muddled between the NHL and AHL lineups, with his playing time becoming somewhat of a spectacle for Coyotes fans. Söderström has spent plenty of time with the NHL roster since his debut in 2021, though routine healthy scratches have limited him to just 53 games since. He’s done little with the chances, netting just one goal – scored in his third career game – and 10 assists at the NHL level. He similarly struggled to score in the AHL early in his career, with just 50 points through his three seasons and 108 games in the minor leagues. Söderström started to buck that trend this year, though, playing through his first full season spent in one spot since 2019-20. He posted nine goals and 32 points in 62 games with the Tuscon Roadrunners this season – career-highs in every category.
It was a promising year for the 23-year-old defender, even if his stat line didn’t jump off the page. Still, fans got a strong glimpse of what Söderström offers at a top level. He showed a strong ability to champion transition up the ice, with heads-up passing and strong positioning, helped along by an improving ability to close down opponents as they enter the attacking zone. While not high-scoring, Söderström showed he could bring those positives on a nightly basis, underlined by added confidence in stepping into space in the offensive end.
Söderström showed glimpses of a former blue-chip prospect this season, though he still seems far off from vindicating his top-15 draft selection. There are reasons to hold onto hope, though, as he showed distinct improvement under a consistent role. Matching that at the NHL level could pay dividends – and Utah has an open spot on their second pairing that Söderström could push for. But he’ll face distinct competition from Michael Kesselring, Juuso Valimaki, and top prospect Maveric Lamoureux for the role – having already lost a fight for minutes with the former two last season.
That competition is enough to have Utah gauging that Söderström may garner on the open market. It’s hard to think many teams would be quick to pay up for a former top prospect yet to vindicate his draft capital – nor is Utah likely too eager to make a move that won’t favor them with a signing still a possibility. This has all of the makings of trade winds bound to drag on for a while, but with an attractive offer, a new team could land the talents of a former top pick with plenty of room to grow next season.
Hurricanes Sign Dominik Badinka To Entry-Level Contract
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed 2024 34th-overall selection Dominik Badinka to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal will carry a league-minimum $775K salary at the NHL level, an $85K salary at the AHL level, and $282.15K in signing bonuses. Badinka becomes the third player from this year’s second round to earn his first NHL contract, joining Pittsburgh forward Tanner Howe and Washington defenseman Leon Muggli.
Badinka earned a near-first-round selection with a standout season in Sweden, where he fought his way into routine SHL ice time with the Malmo Redhawks on the back of 13 points in 17 U20 games. That production didn’t carry to the top flight, though, with Badinka posting just four points in 33 SHL games. Still, his aggressive edge and strong puck skills shined through despite the low scoring. He didn’t shy away from physicality, either, showing no fear engaging in puck battles with players 10 or 15 years his senior. He’s at his best with the puck on his stick, a knack for carrying the puck into the neutral zone and joining the rush. Badinka knows how to match the pace of a pro game – and did well at using quick passes and sharp skating to create space in the offensive end. But his aggressive positioning and naive fundamentals are both apparent drawbacks, and will no doubt be Badinka’s key areas of improvement as he prepares for North American pros.
Badinka is currently committed to joining Malmo for next season, surely hoping to take his first step forward in the SHL after planting his feet last year. But this entry-level contract could be enough to sway the young, feisty defender towards making a move to America before the end of the season. Badinka shared his eagerness to move to North Carolina with Chip Alexander of The News & Observer, saying he feels he can be NHL-ready within a year or two. He’ll become the next in a long string of Hurricanes defenders to jump to the pro level should that hold true, joining Scott Morrow and Ronan Seeley in the fight for NHL ice time.
Steven Kampfer Expected To Sign In KHL
Utah Hockey Club defenseman Steven Kampfer is expected to sign a one-year deal with the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk, per Craig Morgan of Go PHNX Sports and Mikhail Zislis of Russia’s Sport-Express (Twitter link). The deal will take him out of unrestricted free agency in the NHL, after not re-signing with Utah. Kampfer will be returning to Russia after spending the 2021-22 season with the Kazan Ak-Bars. He proved plenty productive on the international trip, posting 30 points – a career-high in Kampfer’s professional career.
Once a stout seventh defenseman in the NHL, Kampfer’s role has since dwindled into a starring role in the minor leagues. Utah, then Arizona, traded for Kampfer ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline, sending future considerations in return for the Tuscon Roadrunners’ new top defender. That’s exactly the role that Kampfer assumed, totaling 29 points in 60 games with the club since the trade and donning their captaincy this year.
Kampfer, 35, kicked off his pro career with a fourth-round selection in the 2007 NHL Draft, hearing his name called by the Anaheim Ducks though he’d begin his career three years later with the Boston Bruins. He showed stout defense and good grit in a 38-game rookie season in 2010-11, though Kampfer quickly struggled to score at the top level. He’d go on to spend the next 11 seasons bouncing between strong AHL minutes and minimal NHL minutes, ultimately slotting into just 231 career games and posting a measly 39 points. He’s bucked that trend a bit in the minors, with 170 points across 378 career games, though it’s clear that Kampfer’s best offense came overseas. He’ll return to that well next season, looking to make the most of the final years of his career.
Hurricanes Sign Joakim Ryan
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed defenseman Joakim Ryan to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal carries a league minimum $775K salary at the NHL level and a $110K salary at the AHL level. Ryan rejoins the Hurricanes organization after spending the last three years with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. He filled a prolific role with the Swedish club, appearing in all 156 games and totaling 64 points. That includes Ryan’s 31-point season in 2021-22, which marked the second-highest scoring of his professional career, behind a 49-point year in the 2016-17 AHL season.
Ryan’s move to Sweden marked his first time playing hockey outside of the United States, after playing through juniors in the USHL, college hockey with Cornell University, and then being drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2012 NHL Draft. Ryan closed out the final two years of his collegiate career before turning pro, ultimately totaling 78 points in 123 games with the Big Red. That production proved strong momentum as Ryan moved to the AHL, where he managed 28 points in 66 games as a rookie in 2015-16. He followed that with a career year in his second pro season, ultimately doing enough to earn a full-time NHL role in 2017-18. But Ryan didn’t do much with the opportunity, posting just 12 points through 62 games as an NHL rookie and slowly losing his grip on a daily role over the next three seasons.
That grip didn’t become stronger even as Ryan moved clubs, with one-year, league-minimum contracts pulling Ryan through stints with the Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes. He’s since totaled 24 points in 145 career games. Ryan showed flashes of rediscovered offense in Sweden, though he’ll need to continue developing that knack should he want to hold onto his returning role in North America.
Top Prospects Could Give Penguins One Last Push
The Pittsburgh Penguins have, over the last two years, missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time in Sidney Crosby‘s career. The team has ground to a screeching halt, on the back of one of the oldest rosters in the league and a slim supporting cast for team legends Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. Even the addition of Erik Karlsson wasn’t enough to pull Pittsburgh back into the postseason – leaving the team a bit stuck in the mud with little cap space and even less roster space. With no major free-agent additions in sight, Pittsburgh’s search for an X-factor will have to turn towards their recent crop of strong draft picks.
Brayden Yager notably headlines this group, with the Penguins already sharing that Yager will receive a shot at the NHL lineup next season. That opportunity certainly seems timely, with Yager coming off the back of a resilient season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. Serving as the team’s captain, Yager marched his way to 35 goals and 95 points in 57 games this season – adding an additional 27 points in 20 playoff games. He proudly served as Moose Jaw’s top-line centerman and starring playmaker, excelling at making plays at top speed – a style that thrived on a team costarred by fellow NHL prospects Jagger Firkus, Denton Mateychuk, and Matthew Savoie. Yager’s tempo and poise were enough to dodge much physicality this year, leaving him a clear heft barrier between him and the NHL, though his ability to dish the puck is clearly reaching a pro level.
Yager isn’t the only starring prospect capable of a pro push – with top WHL defender Owen Pickering also gearing up for a big year. Pickering signed his entry-level contract at the end of 2022-23, though he opted to return to the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos this season.
That proved to be the right choice, as Pickering managed a career-high 46 points in 59 games this season – one more point than he totaled last year – while serving as the team’s captain for a second year. The hefty, sharp-moving defender appeared in eight AHL games last season, though he wasn’t able to record his first pro point. That will be his immediate goal entering the 2024-25 campaign, though his size, physical edge even with the puck on his stick, and quick taste of pro hockey could give him the tools needed to quickly adjust to the next level. Pickering undoubtedly faces a long road to the NHL lineup, sat behind a bolstered left-side with Pittsburgh’s additions of Matt Grzelcyk and Sebastian Aho. But injuries or slow starts could be enough to encourage Pittsburgh to see what they have in their top defense prospect.
Wingers Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen, as well as centerman Vasili Ponomarev, round out Pittsburgh’s list of capable youngsters – with each player managing strong scoring through last season, in the NCAA, Liiga, and AHL respectively. Each of the trio boast strong individual talents – Broz his drive with the puck, Koivunen his shot, and Ponomarev his grit – though they’ve struggled to put their talents to consistent effect. Ponomarev sits as the closest to the NHL lineup, having scored two points in two NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes last year in addition to his 30 points in 45 AHL games. It was clear he knew how to use his hard-nosed drive to good effect, which could go a long way towards boosting his NHL odds. Koivunen carries a similar physical edge – not seeking out contact like Ponomarev but doing well at making plays through traffic – while physical play will be Broz’s biggest adjustment.
The Penguins have made just three first-round picks since 2015 and are now heavily feeling the effects. Luckily, two of those top picks are hoping for smash beginnings to their pro careers next season. Lucrative trading and late-round successes have given Yager and Pickering a strong supporting cast. Each prospect will look to take important steps towards the NHL lineup at Pittsburgh’s training camp, while the Penguins keep their fingers crossed that young energy is enough to return them to the postseason before Crosby calls it quits.
Minor Transactions: 7/13/24
The hockey summer has entered a standstill, with moves around Europe headlining much of the news. We’ll keep track of the notable signings here:
- Starting in North America, former St. Louis Blues forward prospect Keean Washkurak has signed a one-year, minor league deal with the Belleville Senators. Washkurak entered unrestricted free agency this summer, after not receiving a qualifying offer from St. Louis. He didn’t have much to show prospective new teams, with just four goals and 10 points in 63 AHL games last season. It was another low-scoring and low-minutes year for Washkurak, who’s totaled a measly 46 points across 176 AHL games since turning pro in 2020. He’s so far spent his career on two two-way NHL contracts with the Blues – a status that he’ll now have to work his way back to with Belleville.
- Goaltender Zane McIntyre has signed a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL, Germany’s top league. The move ends McIntyre’s nine-year tour around the AHL; a trip that took him through stops with six different clubs, including the Providence Bruins and Iowa Wild. McIntyre has generally filled a backup role throughout his career, ultimately totaling 153 wins and a .908 save percentage in 300 AHL games. He’s now set for his first full year in Europe, though he did spend a brief six games with the KHL’s Dynamo Riga during the 2020-21 season.
- Kyle Keyser is joining the string of goaltenders moving internationally, signing a one-year deal with the Kunlun Red Star, China’s KHL club. Keyser has spent the last six seasons with the Providence Bruins, though he’s split his time between the roles of AHL backup and ECHL starter. The 25-year-old Keyser has totaled 29 wins and a .902 in 73 AHL games and 16 wins and a .891 in 42 ECHL across his career. He’ll fight for better production in a more prominent role with Kunlun.
* This post will be updated throughout the day.
Sabres’ Arttu Ruotsalainen Signs In SHL
Forward Arttu Ruotsalainen has terminated his contract with Lugano of Switzerland’s National League and signed a one-year contract with the SHL’s Frolunda HC.
Ruotsalainen signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres in 2019, joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Finland. His deal slid for one year, formerly kicking into gear when Ruotsalainen joined the Sabres for the delayed 2020-21 season. He kicked off his North American career in the AHL, though he earned a quick call-up with 13 points through his first 13 games. He continued the year as Buffalo’s extra forward, ultimately slotting into 17 NHL games and scoring five goals and six points.
Ruotsalainen continued on as a go-to depth forward in 2021-22, netting four points in 18 NHL games and 51 points in 57 AHL games. But finding his scoring groove wasn’t enough to convince Ruotsalainen that Buffalo was the right home, and he forwent the last year of his NHL contract in favor of a move to Kloten HC of the National League in 2022-23. Ruotsalainen maintained his strong production through the change, netting 42 points in 52 games, though he struggled to carry it in his move to Lugano – with just 14 points in 43 games this year. It was an unusually low-scoring year for the dynamic centerman, who’s managed at least 40 points in three of his last five European seasons, dating back to his six-year career in Finland’s Liiga spanning from 2015 to 2021.
Still just 26, Ruotsalainen is now moving to his third European league looking to rediscover his scoring spark. He’ll be helped along by a tactical and high-skill Frolunda offense, which stomped to the semi-finals this year before losing a seven-game series against the eventual champions, Skelleftea AIK. He should be an immediate top forward in the lineup, though he’ll have to compete with captains Max Friberg and Nicklas Lasu for the role of first-line center.
Snapshots: Henrique, Brandsegg-Nygard, Luoto, Eriksson
Before he ultimately re-signed with Edmonton, the Jets took a run at signing center Adam Henrique on the opening day of free agency, notes Postmedia’s Scott Billeck. Winnipeg was eyeing the 34-year-old as a replacement for Sean Monahan, who turned down an offer from them to ink a five-year deal with Columbus. Henrique had a solid showing last season, notching 51 points in 82 games between Anaheim and Edmonton and could have slotted in behind Mark Scheifele to anchor the second line but opted to return to play a lesser role with the Oilers.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- After inking his entry-level deal on Thursday, Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard told Nitten’s Wegard Bakkehaug that no decision has been made regarding where he’ll play next season. The 18-year-old acknowledged that breaking camp with Detroit isn’t realistic but he is eligible to play with AHL Grand Rapids or play with SHL Skelleftea. Brandsegg-Nygard suggested his preference might be to play in Sweden and that Detroit will give him a chance to have a say in where he winds up.
- Former NHL winger Joona Luoto is expected to sign with HV71 of the SHL, reports Johan Svensson and Jacob Johannesson of Sport Expressen. The 26-year-old has 23 career NHL contests under his belt between Winnipeg and Columbus but became a Group Six free agent in 2023 and elected to sign a contract in Switzerland over another two-way deal in North America. Luoto had 18 goals and nine assists in 47 games with SC Bern last season.
- Generally speaking, NHL prospects typically prefer to play at the top level possible overseas. However, that’s not the case for Panthers youngster Linus Eriksson who told Hockey Sverige’s Uffe Bodin that he turned down interest from multiple SHL teams to remain with Djurgarden in the second-tier Allsvenskan. The 18-year-old was the 58th-overall pick by Florida after he put up 11 points in 29 games at that level last season. Eriksson was much more productive at the junior level, collecting 21 points in 25 games with them and added seven points in seven games for Sweden at the World Under-18s.
PHR Mailbag: Golden Knights, Hayton, Offseason, Bertuzzi, Red Wings, Lightning, McGroarty
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what’s left to look forward to this summer after a wild start to free agency, Detroit’s surprisingly quiet offseason, and much more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in next weekend’s mailbag.
DirtbagBlues: What are the odds Vegas trades from their blue line depth for a top-six winger? Who could they target?
This is largely a toss-up question for me. If the Golden Knights do that, they’re weakening their back end as it’s not the depth players like Nic Hague and Zach Whitecloud who are going to bring back a legitimate top-six forward. If they don’t, their forward group isn’t going to look anywhere near as strong as it did just last season. There’s no right answer here; it comes down to which area do they think could be easier to address in-season. For me, that’s the forward group so I’d put the odds at 40%.
For the first part of the season, I suspect Vegas will want to see what they have. Can Alexander Holtz find a new gear with a new team and a new system? Can Victor Olofsson lock down a regular spot? I could see Nicolas Roy getting a chance to play on the wing in the top six as well with Brett Howden anchoring the fourth line. Maybe William Karlsson gets a shot on the wing with Roy centring the third line. Brendan Brisson could get a chance. If they hit with one of those, they’re in much better shape. They don’t have that many options defensively which is why I think they lean this way.
Now, you asked who they could target if they moved a defenseman out so I’ll play along. Personally, I feel like they’re a dark horse for Martin Necas. If they’re going after a legitimate piece, I think it costs them Shea Theodore. They have enough LTIR space remaining using Robin Lehner’s expected placement on there to cover the gap between Theodore’s $5.2MM and what Necas’ next deal should cost. It probably takes both players agreeing to new deals before a trade is finalized but that could be an interesting one.
Failing that, Nikolaj Ehlers feels like another target although that could be more of a rental-for-rental type of swap. Patrik Laine is in play but I don’t see Columbus eating half the contract and without that, he’s probably too hard to fit in. There aren’t many viable options though, not with a lot of teams likely done their heavy lifting already.
MoneyBallJustWorks: Hayton for Liljegren and a 5th, who says no?
It’s an interesting idea, two players who their current teams have been patient with but haven’t quite been able to make the consistent impact that their draft slots would suggest. For a deal like this, the late-round draft pick is largely meaningless; generally speaking, a team isn’t going to part with what they perceive is a slightly better player because they’re getting a fifth-round pick back. For all intents and purposes, the teams would be evaluating this as a one-for-one idea.
For Toronto, getting Barrett Hayton would give them some extra center depth, giving them the chance to shift Max Domi to the wing or perhaps Hayton himself. They’d have some desirable flexibility at a minimum. Perhaps more importantly, they’d have a bit more insurance down the middle with John Tavares a year away from UFA eligibility. While their right-shot defensive depth would be thinned out more – especially with Jani Hakanpaa’s deal still not yet registered amid speculation about concern over his knee injury – I think the good outweighs the bad, including $350K in cap savings. I think they say yes.
I’m less sure that Utah would, however. They have Sean Durzi and newly-acquired John Marino in their top two spots on the right side of their back end. Now, they’re parting with Hayton to upgrade their third pairing. I think they can accomplish that objective without necessarily moving Hayton to do that, especially with nearly $10MM in cap room to work with still, per PuckPedia. I suspect they’d rather explore alternate ways to fill out their third pairing or defensive depth, ones that wouldn’t see them parting with a roster forward in the process. Value-wise, it’s pretty good but I think Utah says no here.
Schwa: With most of the UFAs signed already, is this going to be a very boring offseason? Or do you foresee any big trades or otherwise coming between now and training camp?
We’re at the point of the offseason where things are going to get really slow. Yes, it’ll probably come in on the boring side most days but there are some things worth keeping an eye on.
On the trade front, what happens with Necas, Laine, Ehlers, and Trevor Zegras, among others? Those are all notable moves that could happen. I feel like Detroit (more on them shortly) has something coming. Montreal is still believed to be sniffing around a move up front. While Winnipeg could be moving Ehlers, it feels like they need to add up front as well. With no truly prominent free agents remaining, there’s no real domino that needs to fall for any of these moves to happen (Laine exiting the Player Assistance Program feels like the first possible one to get things going) so these may take a while.
I’m also intrigued about some of the extension-eligible players. What happens with Leon Draisaitl and the GM-less Oilers, especially with an implied desire to not negotiate in-season? Does Sidney Crosby get his deal done? Mikko Rantanen, Carter Verhaeghe, and Mitch Marner are all eligible as well. It’s doubtful all of these players put pen to paper on new deals by training camp but we could see a few which could make things interesting.
Unclemike1526: Everybody is trying to make a big deal about Nick Foligno talking to Tyler Bertuzzi on the phone and calling it tampering. Since they’re from the same town and seem to be friends so what? I mean players talk to each other. It’s been going on in Basketball for years and nobody bats an eye. Isn’t there some sort of “legal communication” period before free agency anyway? Bertuzzi wasn’t going back where he was because of the cap so what is the real story?
Let me answer these out of order. There is no longer a pre-free agency communication period. Officially, no contact of any kind is to be had with pending free agents until July 1st at 11 AM CT. I’m not sure a single team even came close to abiding to that based on what happened on July 1st but that’s what the NHL would have us believe. (As an aside, the penalties the NBA put in for tampering the last couple of years really slowed down the start of the market in that league compared to the free-for-all it was in the past or at least slowed down the leaks of pre-arranged deals once the window opened up on June 30th.)
That Foligno talked to Bertuzzi isn’t a point of concern on its own. Players can unofficially try to recruit potential free agents by talking about all of the good things about the market, schools for their kids, how nice it is to play for a certain coach, etc. All of that is fine. Speak in general terms and there’s no issue.
But Bertuzzi’s admission that Chicago wasn’t on his radar until Foligno told him Chicago was interested isn’t speaking in general terms. As soon as Foligno allegedly told Bertuzzi before the market opened up that the Blackhawks had interest, he was relaying a message from management indicating interest to a prospective free agent before legal communication could begin. That is indeed tampering.
Think of it this way. If Foligno told Bertuzzi that he should come to Chicago, it’s a good place to play and there’s lots you’ll like, that’s fine. If he said it’s a good place to play, there’s lots you’ll like, and they’re putting together a big offer for you, that’s a problem. That’s the difference.
Having said that, there were what, 70 of these contracts that were pretty much done before the market opened up? Toronto had some of those as well so it’s not as if they can cry foul on Bertuzzi knowing they somehow had several contracts finalized mere minutes into free agency. They’re not going to make a fuss about it but if Bertuzzi’s account is truthful, there’s at least a part of it that would qualify as tampering.
tigers22 2: Could the Red Wings have had a worse offseason and the worst most confusing trade to start a year? Why do we have 20 goalies?
It can always be worse. A couple of players go and get long-term injuries while training that costs them considerable time during the regular season, a core piece could ask for a trade, stuff like that. But yes, their offseason so far qualifies as extremely underwhelming.
The Jake Walman trade was surprising on a few fronts. The first is that they opted to get rid of him in the first place over someone like Justin Holl who could barely crack the lineup. If you’re going to part with a fairly high draft pick to move off a contract, shouldn’t it have been him who moved? The second is that it took incentivization to move him in the first place; I thought he had some standalone value. And the third is that the move was made before the corresponding swap was in place.
This is pure speculation on my end but I think this was part of the Jacob Trouba speculated swap, Detroit needed to clear a spot for him and offset some of the money and the Rangers didn’t want to take him back as they wanted the cap space. Yzerman pulled the trigger early, expecting that deal to get done or to use that money elsewhere. Unless you’re counting that money as going to Vladimir Tarasenko (a nice add for them, by the way, to replace Robby Fabbri), that didn’t happen.
If there’s a small silver lining here (and I mean small), it’s that they have enough cap space left to offer long-term deals to Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. This time a month ago, I didn’t think they could do both; I expected a long-term agreement for Seider and a bridge for Raymond. If they both get long-term deals and continue to progress, that could be beneficial down the road. Like I said, that’s a very small silver lining.
As for the seven goaltenders they have under contract, it is a lot. I think they’ve decided to carry three at the NHL level again (Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon, and Ville Husso). Jack Campbell is the veteran to work with Sebastian Cossa at AHL Grand Rapids. Carter Gylander starts at the ECHL level where he can get a number one workload. That’s six and I can make sense of that. The seventh is Gage Alexander and I’m not sure he was necessarily targeted by Detroit. I think he was simply the contract they had to take back in the Fabbri swap with the Ducks getting close to the contract limit. He’s probably ECHL-bound as well but it wouldn’t shock me if he was flipped for a skater down the road.