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Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Owen Sillinger, Olivier LeBlanc To PTOs

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July 22: Another day, another tryout in Columbus. This time, it’s Cleveland Monsters defenseman Cole Clayton that will get an invitation to the NHL camp, according to CapFriendly. Clayton had 16 points in 55 games as an AHL rookie this season.

July 21: Per CapFriendly, the Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Owen Sillinger (yes, Cole’s brother) and defenseman Olivier LeBlanc to professional tryout contracts. Both players spent parts of last season with their AHL affiliate in Cleveland.

Owen, 24, had a strong 2021-22 campaign with 47 points in 39 games at Bemidji State University during his senior year. He had a strong first professional stint, too, notching nine points in 17 games with Cleveland. He’s on an AHL contract for next season, so he’ll be within the organization no matter what, but a strong training camp performance could earn the older Sillinger brother an NHL contract.

LeBlanc, 26, is entering his third professional season but hasn’t played a whole lot since finishing his career at the University of New Brunswick. He’s still looking for his first AHL goal, tallying three assists in 28 games over the last two seasons split between Cleveland and the Belleville Senators. He spent more time last season in the ECHL, scoring a goal in five assists for six points in 19 games with the Kalamazoo Wings. He’s also on an AHL deal with Cleveland for next season, and now the former captain of the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles will attend an NHL camp.

Arttu Ruotsalainen Signs In Switzerland

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Despite specifically denying intentions to go to Switzerland this offseason, Arttu Ruotsalainen has indeed signed overseas, inking a one-year deal with EHC Kloten. The young forward received a qualifying offer from the Buffalo Sabres, meaning they will retain his exclusive NHL rights.

Ruotsalainen, 24, signed out of Finland in 2020 as an undrafted free agent after lighting up the professional ranks there, and quickly established himself as a depth option for the Sabres. In 2020-21 he scored five goals and six points in 17 NHL games, and this past season it was more of the same, with four goals in 18 matches.

Where he really stood out was in the AHL, where Ruotsalainen had 76 points in 80 games including an outstanding playoff run with the Rochester Americans this spring. In ten games, he scored eight goals and 12 points, picking up some of the goal-scoring slack for a young core that at times looked a bit overwhelmed. With Jack Quinn and Peyton Krebs failing to score even a single goal in the postseason (though Krebs did have 11 assists) it was up to Ruotsalainen and J.J. Peterka to carry the load.

Now, with him heading back overseas, it’s unclear where Ruotsalainen’s future with the Sabres lies. It appears that he was hoping for a full-time NHL opportunity when he came to North America, something that will be difficult to accomplish as Buffalo’s roster is filled more and more by top young talent. The fact that he stands just 5’9″ won’t help his case there either, despite the top offensive ability he has shown at basically every stop. Even his NHL numbers–seven goals in 35 games despite averaging fewer than 13 minutes a night–suggest that he could be of use at the highest level, but we’ll have to wait and see if he ever gets that chance again.

Minor Transactions: 07/21/22

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Not only are there several minor transactions to cover today but the AHL also released its full schedule for the upcoming season. Of note, the Calgary Flames affiliate–which still doesn’t have a name–is playing out of the Saddledome this year and will open things up against the new Coachella Valley Firebirds franchise. While each team prepares, there are plenty of spots to fill on rosters across the league. As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

  • The Colorado Eagles have signed Mitch Vande Sompel to a one-year AHL contract, after he became a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. The 25-year-old has played the last four seasons with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and recorded 18 points in 56 games this year.
  • The Iowa Wild have signed Tanner Kaspick and Ty Ronning, both players that failed to receive qualifying offers from their respective NHL teams this offseason. Kaspick, who had been part of the St. Louis Blues organization, scored ten points in 45 games last season. Ronning, who had been with the New York Rangers, had 39 points in 69 games.
  • Overseas, Vegas Golden Knights prospect Martins Dzierkals signed a new one-year deal in the Czech league. The Golden Knights received Dzierkal’s exclusive rights in the original Robin Lehner trade and will hold them indefinitely as he continues to play in Europe. The 25-year-old participated in the Olympics and World Championship for his country this year after putting up 30 points in 49 games for HC Plzen.
  • Former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Ian Scott has announced his retirement on Instagram, after going through multiple major injuries the last few years. The 23-year-old goaltender was the 110th pick in 2017 but managed just eight professional appearances in the years since.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Winnipeg Jets Hire Brad Lauer, Marty Johnston

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The Winnipeg Jets have finished their staff, naming Brad Lauer and Marty Johnston as the new assistants under head coach Rick Bowness and associate coach Scott Arniel. Nolan Baumgartner will be joining the Manitoba Moose as an assistant, taking over the role that Johnston held the past five seasons.

Lauer, 55, recently won the WHL championship as head coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings, finishing a four-year run with the club that saw nearly unprecedented success. The Oil Kings went 154-46-23 over his tenure, as he helped top prospects like Dylan Guenther and Jake Neighbours reach entirely new heights. He returns to the NHL where he coached for seven seasons as an assistant with the Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The 34th overall pick in 1985, the Saskatchewan native played more than 300 games in the NHL, retiring in 2002 after a short stint in the UK.

Johnston, meanwhile, is being promoted from the AHL where he served as an assistant since 2017. Before that, he was the head coach at Carleton University for seven seasons, where he led the school to a 129-49-12 record. This will be his first opportunity to coach in the NHL, a nice jump for a coach who will be one to keep an eye on in the future.

The staff will also include goaltending coach Wade Flaherty and video coach Matt Prefontaine.

Detroit Red Wings Sign Chase Pearson

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July 21: The Red Wings have officially announced the contract.

July 20: Detroit Red Wings forward Chase Pearson accepted his qualifying offer today, per PuckPedia. The one-year contract is worth $917,831 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level.

Pearson, 24, played in his first three NHL games this season without registering a point. He had just 18 points in 50 AHL games this year, too, a big step back from his 22 points in 28 games during the 2020-21 campaign.

A fifth-round pick of the team in 2015, Pearson’s had an up-and-down development path with the team. He’s shown enough promise at points, though, that the team has decided to keep him retained in the hopes that he becomes a late bloomer.

Pearson does have appealing size, standing at 6′ 3″, 203 pounds, and uses that frame to deliver clean hits as evidenced by his rather low penalty minute totals. His NHL upside will likely come in a defensive bottom-six role, and since he can play both center and wing, that does give him a bit of an edge on the organizational depth chart.

San Jose Sharks Linked To Spencer Carbery

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The San Jose Sharks are late to the head coaching search party. After firing Bob Boughner and his staff later into the offseason, most marquee coaching options are off the market, leaving the Sharks to get creative with their search. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, multiple sources confirmed to him that the team has interviewed Spencer Carbery for the open position.

Carbery spent 2021-22 as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was responsible for the team’s power play, which finished first in the league during the regular season. 40 years old, Carbery was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year in 2021, his last of three seasons as the head coach of the Hershey Bears. He also won the same award in the ECHL in 2014 during a five-year run as head coach of the South Carolina Stingrays. You might recognize them for being the team where Stanley Cup Champion coach Jared Bednar got his head coaching start.

Carbery would certainly help San Jose’s goal output if his time in Toronto is any indication. San Jose’s power play clocked in at 19% last season, 22nd in the NHL, while they scored just 211 goals in total, which was third-last. He could be the key to an offensive resurgence from players like Erik Karlsson and help get the most out of youngsters like William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau if they make the team.

Washington Capitals Sign Gabriel Carlsson

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The Washington Capitals have added some defensive depth, signing Gabriel Carlsson to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K and an AHL salary of $400K.

Carlsson, 25, was one of the players that did not receive a qualifying offer this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent after playing sparingly for the Columbus Blue Jackets the last several years. Originally selected 29th overall in the 2015 draft, he has just 75 games played at the NHL level.

While 38 of those games did come this year, there’s not a lot of track record to go on for Carlsson, given he has averaged fewer than 13 minutes a night in his short career. He’s huge–6’5″–and can skate well enough, but hasn’t ever been much of a puck-mover and offers very little offensive upside. In his minor league career, which spans 146 games in the AHL, he has just 32 points.

Still, in terms of depth signings, a 25-year-old first-round pick that has size and (some) NHL experience certainly isn’t the worst option. The Capitals have enough at the position between their returning veterans and younger prospects that Carlsson shouldn’t be asked to play regularly, and will likely spend a good bit of the year in the minor leagues.

Minor Transactions: 07/20/22

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We’re now a week out from free agency and Nazem Kadri still hasn’t signed. NHL fans are patiently waiting on the decisions of several key free agents, though plenty of other moves are happening around the hockey world. As always at this time of year, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor moves right here.

  • Jeremy Bracco, a former top prospect of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has signed a one-year contract with Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL after putting up 54 points in 54 games this season in the DEL. The 25-year-old second-round pick has incredible playmaking ability, even leading to a 79-point season in the AHL a few years ago but never did make it to the NHL.
  • He’ll actually be joined by another NHL draft pick, Jesse Graham, who is coming over from a different team in the DEL. The 28-year-old defenseman was a sixth-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2012 and last played in the AHL during the 2018-19 season.
  • Another player that will be joining Barys is Kirill Maksimov, whose entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers was terminated last October. The 23-year-old was a fifth-round pick of the Oilers in 2017 and played just 53 games at the AHL level before going back home. He’ll be playing this season on loan from CSKA, who own his KHL rights.
  • Fresh off winning the Kelly Cup with the Florida Everblades, goaltender Cam Johnson has signed a two-way AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers. The 28-year-old had actually been on an NHL deal the past two seasons in order to provide some emergency depth for the Columbus Blue Jackets but never did enter a game.

More to come…

Minor Transactions: 07/19/22

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It hasn’t even been a week since free agency opened but things have already slowed to a crawl. After hundreds of NHL contracts were handed out, minor league deals are starting to come fast and furious. We’ll keep track of the notable minor transactions right here.

  • The Manitoba Moose have agreed to terms with three players to AHL deals, bringing back Evan Cormier, Thomas Caron, and Isaac Johnson. Cormier, a fourth-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2016, had a .905 save percentage in 14 games for the Moose this season.
  • In addition to first-round pick Emile Poirier, the Laval Rocket have also signed Alex Green and Kevin Poulin to AHL contracts for the upcoming season. Poulin, 32, was excellent for Laval this season, registering a .920 save percentage in 30 appearances.
  • Scott Wilson, Stanley Cup champion and veteran of more than 200 NHL games, has signed another AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers. The 30-year-old winger was a force for the team this season, scoring 24 goals and 40 points in 71 games while being his normal hard-working two-way self.
  • The ECHL’s Allen Americans have added an interesting player fresh out of college hockey. Hank Crone, 24, signed a one-year contract with the Americans after a strong final collegiate season with Northern Michigan University. In 32 games Crone had 44 points and showcased his all-around game as one of the team’s most heavily relied-upon forwards. Crone will make his pro debut in Allen and hope to translate his collegiate success to professional hockey.
  • Veteran professional winger Andrew Johnston was among the British EIHL’s top scorers in 2019-20, and now he’s returning to that league after two successful seasons in France. Johnston has signed a contract for 2022-23 with the EIHL’s Nottingham Panthers, per a team announcement. The former ECHL journeyman had 31 points in 39 games for the Rouen Dragons of the French Ligue Magnus and will join a Panthers squad eager to improve on last season’s disappointing first-round playoff exit.
  • The Minnesota Wild AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, announced that they have signed three players to one-year, two-way (AHL/ECHL) contracts: Mitchell Balmas, Kevin Conley, and Patrick Curry. Balmas, 24, is a former junior hockey star who led the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in scoring in his final season in juniors. 2021-22 was Balmas’ professional debut and he split time between the AHL and ECHL, and had five points in ten AHL games and 12 points in 17 ECHL games. Conley, 25, is the former captain of the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks and made his professional debut as well last season, with three points in six games for the ECHL’s Reading Royals. Curry, 26, hasn’t quite cut it as an AHL forward yet, with just eight points in 53 career games, but he had a lot of success as an upperclassman at Boston University and had eight points in his five-game ECHL run with the Toledo Walleye.
  • Orli Znojmo of the European ICEHL could have a tough time repeating last season’s run to the playoffs. Two days ago, the team lost their leading scorer, Anthony Luciani, and it seems they’ve lost their captain this offseason as well. Per an announcement from his new club, Radim Matus, Orli Znojmo’s captain, has signed with Eisbaren Regensburg of Germany’s second-tier DEL-2. Regensburg are looking to establish themselves in DEL-2 after being promoted from the German third tier earlier this year, and Matus should be able to help them achieve that goal.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Emile Poirier Signs AHL Contract

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Emile Poirier is coming back to North America, signing a one-year AHL contract with the Laval Rocket. He returns after two years of playing overseas, splitting time between the KHL, SHL, and Slovakian professional league.

Selected 22nd overall in 2013, Poirier would quickly make it to the NHL with the Calgary Flames after an outstanding junior career that blended offensive skill and a good level of physicality. It would be a short-lived stint at the highest level though, as after eight games in his first two professional seasons, Poirier would be stuck in the AHL for the next several years.

In 2018 he would fail to receive a qualifying offer from the Flames when his entry-level contract expired, and after two fairly unspectacular seasons with the Manitoba Moose, it was off to Europe.

Now returning at the age of 27, perhaps the 6’2″ forward can carve out a new role with the Rocket and get his career back on track. Notably, however, this deal is a two-way minor league contract, meaning he will earn a different salary at the AHL and ECHL levels. That suggests his spot with the Rocket is by no means guaranteed, quite a fall for a first-round pick.

That pick was always likely an overreach by the Flames scouting staff–a group who had made Mark Jankowski their top pick just a year earlier. Perhaps buoyed by the confidence of picking three times in the 2013 first round, the Flames took Poirier quite a bit higher than many had him ranked, with NHL Central Scouting even putting him 39th among North American skaters in their final pre-draft list.

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