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Minor Transactions: 07/02/21

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Game three of the Stanley Cup Finals is on tap tonight, as the Montreal Canadiens try to claw their way back into the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “You’re not in trouble until you lose on home ice” reads the old hockey saying, something Montreal will try to avoid at the Bell Centre tonight. As all eyes focus on that game, we’ll keep track of all the other notable minor transactions around the hockey world.

  • The Providence Bruins have signed Eli Zummack to a two-year AHL contract, bringing him in from the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. The 21-year-old undrafted forward was an unrestricted free agent after scoring 22 points in 21 games this season. Undersized, Zummack dominated the competition in 2020-21, scoring 86 points in 64 games.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Calgary Flames Re-Sign Colton Poolman

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Saturday: The Flames have confirmed Poolman’s re-signing.

Friday: It may not be the surprise deal that brother Tucker Poolman got with the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, but defenseman Colton Poolman has signed a new deal of his own. CapFriendly reports that Poolman and the Calgary Flames have come to terms on a one-year extension. Poolman’s new contract actually carries a lesser NHL salary at the minimum $750K compared to his $842.5K entry-level deal, but he earns a raise in the AHL from $70K to $80K.

Poolman, 25, is older than your average second-year pro, but his long-term development path has produced a defender with a well-rounded, intelligent game. A highly sought-after NCAA free agent last off-season, the Flames knew that they were getting a polished product when they emerged as the lucky winners for his services. The former University of North Dakota standout took his lumps early in his first AHL season, but improved as the year went on. A capable puck-mover and solid defensive player, Poolman is a reliable presence on the back end.

Poolman may not have much upside beyond what he has already showed, but is still a nice depth option. The Flames are deep on the blue line and it would be a surprise to see Poolman among the initial seven or eight names on the opening night roster. However, Poolman will be one of the top call-up options and in his second season with the team should make his NHL debut at some point.

Boston Bruins To Name Maine Mariners As ECHL Affiliate

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June 30: The official announcement has been made. Maine will be the new affiliate of the Boston and Providence Bruins.

June 29: The Boston Bruins are set to bring their ECHL prospect much closer to home. The Portland Press Herald’s Glenn Jordan reports that their city’s ECHL franchise, the Maine Mariners, will soon become the official affiliate of the nearest NHL team, with the Bruins expected to make an announcement on Wednesday. This will mark the end of the Mariners’ relationship with the New York Rangers, Jordan notes, as well the break-up between Boston and the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators.

This is just the latest shake-up in the ever-changing minor affiliation landscape. A relatively stable set of relationships for quite a while during the 2000’s and into the early 2010’s, the last several years have brought a number of changes to the AHL and ECHL and their associations with NHL parent clubs. Maine, a 2018 ECHL Expansion team, did not play this past season due to COVID-19 but are set to return in 2021-22 with an exciting new partnership. Ironically, Atlanta also did not play this season due to the pandemic and the Bruins sent their ECHL prospects to the Jacksonville Ice Men. Even more ironic is that Jordan reports that Jacksonville will now become the new affiliate of the Rangers in place of Maine. This will displace the Winnipeg Jets, who will need a new ECHL affiliate with the Gladiators, Allen Americans, and Norfolk Admirals to choose from. The Jets could also opt not to partner with an ECHL team, as several other NHL teams have.

There is a bit of history to this move as well. The original Maine Mariners were an AHL team from 1977 to 1992, at which time they relocated and became – the Providence Bruins. There is also a long-standing relationship between not only Boston sports teams and Maine but the Boston-Providence-Portland trifecta. The Boston Red Sox for decades housed their AAA affiliate in the Providence suburb of Pawtucket and their AA affiliate in Portland. While the Pawtucket Red Sox relocated to Worcester this year, the Portland Sea Dogs are still standing. The Boston Celtics’ G-League affiliate, the Maine Celtics (formerly Red Claws) also play in Portland. The Mariners will have some stiff competition for Maine’s most popular minor league team, but between the multiple iterations of the Mariners sandwiching a long run by the AHL’s Portland Pirates and previous QMJHL teams in the state, Portland has always belonged to hockey and excitement will be at a new high with the Boston affiliation.

Seattle Kraken Announce AHL Partnership For 2021-22

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The Seattle Kraken will have an AHL team all to their own, but it won’t happen until 2022-23. That’s when the Palm Springs AHL franchise is set to start play, meaning the Kraken needed to find a partnership for the upcoming season. That agreement has now been announced with the Charlotte Checkers, the primary affiliate of the Florida Panthers. The Checkers will serve as the development stop for both Kraken and Panthers prospects next season.

Rick Olczyk, the Kraken assistant general manager, explained that his team will supply between eight and 12 players to the Checkers, including one goaltender. Those players will come from the initial expansion draft as well as free agent or trade acquisitions. Most of the players selected in the upcoming entry draft will not be eligible for AHL action, provided their respective leagues get underway as planned.

This was an obvious connection, given Kraken GM Ron Francis’ history with the Checkers during his time with the Carolina Hurricanes. For years, the Checkers were the AHL affiliate for Carolina, and Charlotte CEO Michael Kahn expressed his excitement about this new agreement:

We are excited to work with Ron Francis again as we help develop the inaugural group of Seattle Kraken prospects. We feel the partnership between ourselves, the Kraken and our primary affiliate, the Florida Panthers, will give the Checkers a strong pool of players for the upcoming season.

This is the same setup that the Vegas Golden Knights went through in their first year, before buying and relocating an AHL franchise to Henderson. Expansion teams do not have long enough depth charts to really fill out an AHL roster in the first year, meaning a development partnership like this is more than enough. Obviously, once Palm Springs is up and running it will be more beneficial to have their prospects and depth options closer to Seattle, but for now, those names will be playing on the other side of the country in Charlotte.

Minor Transactions: 06/28/21

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The Stanley Cup Finals will start this evening, with the Tampa Bay Lightning defending their crown against the Montreal Canadiens. That means 30 NHL teams (welcome, Seattle) are working on the offseason already, not to mention all the other organizations around the world that will be tweaking rosters and inking deals. Like always, we’ll keep track of the notable minor moves right here.

  • The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are set to bring back two familiar faces, as Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey reports that the team will soon sign Cal O’Reilly and Garrett Wilson. Both will be returning on AHL deals after serving in the major leadership roles this season. O’Reilly, 34, was the team’s captain, scoring four goals and 23 points in 32 games, while Wilson wore an “A” and provided his usual physical presence.
  • The Laval Rocket have signed Kevin Poulin to a one-year AHL contract for 2021-22, giving them some extra goaltending depth for next year. Poulin, who many will remember served as the starting goaltender for Canada at the 2018 Olympics, spent last season in Sweden playing for IF Bjorkloven. A veteran of 50 career NHL games, the 31-year-old Montreal native will be coming home for next season.
  • Jermaine Loewen has earned an extension with the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports that Loewen has inked a new one-year deal with the team following his second pro season. The Jamaican-born forward has mostly played an enforcer role in the pros, but is hoping to tap into that scoring ability he showed in the WHL.

Montreal Canadiens Extend Forward Brandon Baddock

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Their surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final is not stopping the Montreal Canadiens from continuing to look toward the future. Even with the series set to begin tomorrow, the front office is hard at work today. Montreal has come to terms on a new contract for forward Brandon Baddock, the team announced. The 26-year-old forward had been slated for Group 6 unrestricted free agency again this off-season, which is how the Canadiens were able to sign him last year in the first place, but will instead stay put with this extension.

While Baddock did not actually suit up for Montreal this season and has yet to play in the NHL at all in his five-year pro career, his new deal does represent a raise. This is partially due to the increase in the league’s minimum salary, as Baddock will go from $700K this year to $750K in 2021-22. However, the Habs also increased his AHL salary from $110K to $150K and guaranteed him $175K even if he again is held out of NHL action.

Why the promotion for a 26-year-old with no NHL experience and little AHL production? Despite his seemingly unimpressive resume, Baddock was actually a name that drew a fair amount of interest as a free agent last off-season after walking away from the New Jersey Devils – and none of it has to do with his offensive ability. The 6’3″, 221-lb. forward plays a heavy checking game, is a fearless defensive player, and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves. Baddock led the AHL in penalty minutes in 2018-19, finished fifth in 2019-20, and has at least 100 PIM in each of his three full AHL seasons. While the NHL has largely moved away from these enforcer types, Baddock spent time on Montreal’s taxi squad this season and they were ready to let him loose on the league. Other teams had the same idea in mind last off-season as well. Baddock will never be more than a fourth liner in the NHL at best, but there is value in having a menacing physical presence on call to plug into the lineup. If Montreal wins the Stanley Cup, they will be public enemy No. 1 next season and now will come prepared if the opposition want to try to push them around.

Snapshots: Coyotes’ Coach Search, Nylander, Ak Bars

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With head coaches flying off the market and one of the top available names being the guy they just let go, the Arizona Coyotes’ hunt for a head coach is in an interesting spot. From the get-go, the word was that the ’Yotes and GM Bill Armstrong could be looking for a fresh voice, perhaps even a first-time NHL coach, so they may be unfazed by the recent run on big names. Yet, insider Craig Morgan reports that one of their top candidates is in fact a seasoned veteran. Morgan writes that Dallas Stars assistant Todd Nelson is scheduled to have his third interview for the vacancy, by all accounts the most of any candidate. Nelson has been in the NHL (or AHL) since 2006, including a brief stint as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He has found great success in the minors, winning two Calder Cups, and never really got a fair shake as the bench boss in Edmonton, so in a way he would be somewhat of a first-time NHL head coach. He has picked up experience in Dallas over the past three years under Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness and could be ready for another shot at the top job.

Morgan considers Nelson’s greatest competition to be Andre Tourigny, the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and most recently an assistant for Canada’s gold medal World Championship entry. Tourigny briefly coached in the NHL as an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators over three years, but has mostly coached at the major junior level and has been the bench boss of Canada’s World Junior team the past two years. Tourigny has found immense success working with young players; he has been named OHL Coach of the Year (twice), QMJHL Coach of the Year, and the overall CHL Coach of the Year, not to mention medals at four World Juniors. Can he translate that ability to the pros and lead a Coyotes team that needs to take a step forward rather than continuing to tread water? That is the question that Armstrong must answer. According to Morgan, he has already decided that St. Louis Blues assistant Mike Van Ryn and AHL Providence head coach Jay Leach are not the men for the job.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks just gained some Expansion Draft flexibility. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Alexander Nylander has been declared exempt from the impending selection process. In order to be eligible for the draft, a player must have three pro service years. Nylander, who has been playing professionally in North America for five seasons, may seem like an impossibility to avoid that label, but somehow he does. Despite playing in 116 AHL games between 2016-17 and 2017-18, he played in only seven combined NHL games and his rookie contract underwent the entry-level slide each season, meaning service time did not accrue. He then played countable NHL season in each of the past two years. However, this season – in what was meant to be his third year of service – Nylander missed the entire campaign due to injury. This means that, again, his service time will not clock. After five years in and out of the NHL, Nylander will be considered a second-year pro and untouchable for the Seattle Kraken. As Powers notes, Nylander was expected to be protected by the Blackhawks next month. Now off the board, it will allow the team to protected another forward that they may not have expected. He suggests deadline addition Adam Gaudette or reliable fourth-liner David Kampf could be the pick, while young, high-upside assets Brandon Hagel and Henrik Borgstrom should now be locks.
  • The KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan has succeeded in keeping a pair of drafted prospects away from their NHL teams for a while longer. The team announced that they have re-signed Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov and Anaheim’s Artyom Galimov to multi-year extensions. At their age, this is not an NHL career death sentence for either player, but it is likely disheartening to their teams who would like to get them on North American ice as soon as possible. 20-year-old Voronkov, a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, has signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars after setting career highs across the board in the KHL this season. The impressive youngster has already played two full seasons in the KHL and has been dominant for Russia on the World Junior stage as well. Voronkov’s name carries weight as a prospect and the Jackets undoubtedly hope that he will follow WJC teammate Yegor Chinakhov to Columbus as soon as his new contract expires. There is a bit more cause for pause when it comes to Galimov. The 21-year-old was an overage pick by the Ducks just last year and despite his age has signed a three-year extension with Ak Bars. Galimov is a grassroots product of Kazan and has loyalty to the club, as they do to him after two successful seasons to begin his KHL career. Galimov has actually outpaced Voronkov to this point, showing that he too is a serious NHL prospect. However, Galimov will be 25 years old before he could ever step onto Anaheim ice and will have that much more attachment to Ak Bars. His ability should keep him interested in the NHL and the Ducks in him, but it is not a guarantee.

Management Notes: Hardy, Gilman, Johnson

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Today’s seen quite the front office shuffle around the NHL. As teams move forward from disappointing seasons, they’ll examine what they can do to improve at every level of the organization. It’s bound to be an interesting summer as teams compete to snap up available talent, doing everything they can to rectify issues and cement internal development.

  • Despite the playoffs not being over, the Toronto Maple Leafs are making multiple moves this offseason. After re-signing Jason Spezza not too long ago, the club announced today the addition of Ryan Hardy to the front office. Hardy will serve as the team’s Senior Director of Minor League Operations, which includes being the general manager of both the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers. Hardy leaves behind a very successful run with the USHL’s Chicago Steel, making it to the league finals in 2018-19 and winning the championship in 2020-21. He’s assembled an incredible amount of high-end draft-eligible players this year for a non-USNTDP USHL team, including sniper Matthew Coronato. Replacing Hardy for the Steel in the interim is Noelle Needham, who’s worked closely with Hardy and could also be in line soon for an NHL job.
  • With Hardy taking over the reins as general manager of the Marlies, Toronto had to make a corresponding move within the organization. The Athletic’s James Mirtle is reporting that Laurence Gilman, who was serving as the Marlies’ GM, has been reassigned. Gilman will remain as an assistant general manager to Kyle Dubas, but will now also take on the role of senior vice president of the Marlies. In Gilman’s only year at the helm for the Marlies in which the playoffs were held, the Marlies lost in the conference finals. He’s been with the organization since 2018-19.
  • Moving over to the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks have confirmed that former player Ryan Johnson will remain as the general manager of their AHL affiliate as it relocates from Utica to Abbotsford. Since his retirement after the 2010-11 campaign, Johnson’s been active in the Canucks organization. First joining the team’s front office in 2013-14 as a development consultant, he quickly worked his way up the ranks of the franchise, being promoted to director of player development after just two seasons. He’s maintained that title ever since and was given the general manager position for Utica in 2017-18.

Minor Transactions: 06/25/21

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The Montreal Canadiens have punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games. Artturi Lehkonen was the hero, scoring less than two minutes into the overtime period sending the Bell Centre (and the surrounding area) into a frenzy. While Montreal waits to see which team they’ll face for the chance to lift the chalice, the rest of the hockey world isn’t sitting on their hands. We’ll keep track of all the notable minor moves right here.

  • Colin Campbell (the player, not the league executive) has signed a new contract with the Augsburger Panther in Germany for the upcoming season. Now 30, Campbell left his AHL career last year to play for the Vienna Capitals in Austria, and will now continue his European sojourn in the DEL. In 2019-20 with the Colorado Eagles, he scored 26 points in 48 games.
  • David Ullstrom, who once played 49 games for the New York Islanders isn’t coming back to North America anytime soon. The 32-year-old forward signed a contract with HV71 as they load up to pursue promotion. A fourth-round pick in 2008, Ullstrom had multiple stints on this side of the pond, most recently in 2018-19 with the Tucson Roadrunners. Though he has always done extremely well at the AHL level, his career has taken him all over the world, with stops in Sween, Russia, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Latvia, and Switzerland just in the past eight years.
  • Iowa Wild defender Turner Ottenbreit re-signed on a one-year AHL deal today, the team announced. Now entering his fourth professional season, the 23-year-old Canadian has struggled offensively at the AHL level. After serving as the captain for the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds in 2017-18, Ottenbreit showed decent flashes of production in the ECHL, including 11 points in 17 games with the Allen Americans in 2019-20. However, Ottenbreit’s offensive numbers declined at all levels this year, making this a rather important season for his professional development.
  • Veteran minor league defenseman Matt Register is making an interesting career move. The 31-year-old rearguard initially made the rare jump from the Junior-A level in Canada to pros, moving from the Alberta Junior Hockey League to the then-Central Hockey League in 2011 (after taking a year off nonetheless). After a decade and 472 ECHL games, as well as 43 AHL games, Register is making another unorthodox transition. The Iowa Wild defenseman has signed with the Cardiff Devils of the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League, a major change in the caliber of competition from North America. However, if Register is looking for any way to extend his unique career, he may as well become a star in the UK.

Coaching Notes: Vincent, Hakstol, Boudreau, Tocchet

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New Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen is adding to his staff. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Blue Jackets are set to hire Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent as an assistant to Larsen. Vincent had previously left Paul Maurice’s Winnipeg Jets staff in favor of being the head coach for their AHL affiliate, but seemingly is back to being open to an NHL assistant role. Vincent has spent the past decade with the Jets organization and the previous dozen years as a head coach and GM in the QMJHL. With an impressive resume, Vincent may see this Columbus opportunity as a way to get his name out there beyond the confines of Winnipeg in hopes of attracting NHL head coach attention of his own down the road. Vincent will re-unite with Jack Roslovic in Columbus; he previously coached him as a prospect with the Moose but he has now become the No. 1 center for the Blue Jackets. That relationship should be mutually beneficial for the pair.

  • The big coaching news of the day was of course the hiring of Dave Hakstol as the first head coach of the expansion Seattle Kraken. And while Hakstol’s role will be in the locker room and not the front office, GM Ron Francis will certainly take his opinions into consideration. After all, it was the Florida Panthers, the former team of Vegas’ inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant, that were swindled the worst by the Golden Knights in the last Expansion Draft. Florida traded Reilly Smith and a fourth-round pick so that Vegas would select Jonathan Marchessault over the likes of Alexander Petrovic and Mark Pysyk. While no teams should be fooled so badly this time around, Hakstol’s knowledge of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadephia Flyers – not to mention the numerous University of North Dakota alumni around the league – could come into play. The Flyers in particular are expected to have many well-known names exposed in the draft, some of whom played their best seasons under Hakstol, and the coach may know exactly how to target the team.
  • The Maple Leafs now have a vacancy on their coaching staff in the wake of Hakstol’s departure, but the club’s fans think they have already figured it out. Yahoo’s Thomas Williams writes that there has already been an outpouring of support for veteran coach Bruce Boudreau to be hired as the team’s newest assistant. The Toronto native and former Maple Leafs player spoke out this off-season as a free agent that he would like to coach his hometown team and fans seem to agree with the match. Boudreau has had a long and successful coaching career and some feel that head coach Sheldon Keefe could use the veteran support on the bench. With that said, Boudreau has never served as an assistant in the NHL and interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach vacancy late last month. Despite any personal feelings and fan support, Boudreau will take the top job for the struggling Sabres over a No. 2 role for Toronto.
  • Of course, Boudreau is not the only candidate for the Sabres’ job, as Rick Tocchet is also among the names who interviewed for the position. Tocchet interviewed multiple times with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Seattle Kraken, only to lose out on all three jobs. He has reportedly only interviewed once with Buffalo, who may not have been his top choice at first, but they are the only landing spot left, as the other remaining NHL head coach position is the post he vacated with the Arizona Coyotes. Tocchet is clearly a well-regarded and sought-after coach, so now that they are his last hope at a top job this season, perhaps the Sabres and Tocchet will get serious about a potential match.

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