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Minor Transactions: 06/24/21

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The playoffs rage on with the Vegas Golden Knights facing elimination this evening. The Cinderella run by the Montreal Canadiens continues, this time with a chance to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. While most of the eyes will be focused on the Bell Centre, there’s still plenty more happening around the hockey world. We’ll keep track of the day’s notable minor transactions right here.

  • Vincent LoVerde, a two-time Calder Cup winner and minor league veteran will take his talents overseas for next season. The 32-year-old defenseman has signed with EC Salzburg in the Austrian ICEHL for the 2021-22 season. LoVerde took home the Calder with Manchester in 2015 and again with Toronto in 2018, but recorded just three points in 23 games as captain of the Hartford Wolf Pack this year. The undrafted defenseman never did play in an NHL game during his time in North America.
  • Dmitry Sokolov, who has spent the last few seasons with the Iowa Wild, is headed back to Russia. The 23-year-old winger was a seventh-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2016 but never played a game for them, instead spending his entire career thus far in the minor leagues. Now he has inked a deal with Omskie Krylia of the VHL for next season, meaning in order for the Wild to retain his rights, they’ll just need to extend him a qualifying offer. In 14 games for Iowa this season, Sokolov scored three goals and recorded four points.
  • Among the group of players extended by the AHL’s Ontario Reign today was Adam Johnson, who arrived late in the season under strange circumstances but appears to have found a fit in SoCal. After three seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Johnson had been playing in Sweden this season with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. He then left abruptly just before the NHL trade deadline, leaving Malmo without one of its best players with the playoffs approaching, leading many to assume he had an NHL contract lined up. Instead, Johnson joined Ontario and will now stick around for another year in the AHL. Long-time captain Brett Sutter and journeyman grinder Jacob Doty were also re-signed, all to one-year contracts.
  • 2021 NHL Draft prospect Hugo Gabrielson is changing teams and moving up. After years spent developing at the junior level for Frolunda, Gabrielson has signed his first pro contract, joining Vasterviks IK of Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan on a one-year deal. The mobile blue liner is expected to fall in the third or fourth round next month.

Minor Transactions: 6/23/21

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As we cross the middle of the week, many minor transactions are coming up on the wire. Many teams are trying to solidify depth for the 2021-22 campaign as a return to normal operations is expected throughout the hockey world. You can keep up on today’s slate of minor transactions right here:

  • The AHL’s Rockford IceHogs announced today via their team website that they’ve re-signed goalie Cale Morris to a one-year contract. After four seasons (three as the starter) for the University of Notre Dame, Morris, who went undrafted, signed with the IceHogs prior to the 2020-21 campaign. As Rockford faced goalie uncertainty this year with expected starter Kevin Lankinen working his way up to the Chicago Blackhawks, Morris impressed in a backup role. Playing in seven contests, Morris amassed a .923 save percentage in spite of a 2-3-0 record. The Larkspur, Colorado native will likely split time between Rockford and the ECHL’s Indy Fuel next season as Chicago’s goalie depth chart is replenished.
  • Another AHL club made moves today as well, as the Cleveland Monsters made two additions on offense, announced today on the team’s website. One of them was Justin Scott, who’ll return to the team for a sixth straight season. Signing with Cleveland after his last OHL season, Scott’s been a member of the club since 2016-17. He served as an assistant captain this past season, posting seven points in 18 games. Scott should be a solid voice in the room, as the Blue Jackets will rely heavily on Cleveland in the coming seasons to develop their next generation of players. The team also announced the re-signing of Tristan Mullin, who got into 15 games with Cleveland last year after his college career ended with the University of Vermont. The 6′ 2″ forward showed flashes of potential, scoring three goals, but still might spend time in the ECHL next year with a restocked Cleveland roster.
  • A rather large trade was announced this morning in the QMJHL via the league’s Twitter account. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan acquired Washington Capitals first-round selection Hendrix Lapierre and a 2023 seventh-round draft pick from the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in exchange for forwards Julien Bourget and Alexis Dubé along with a myriad of draft selections, including first-rounders in 2022 and 2023. Lapierre was one of the most highly-regarded prospects in the 2020 draft before a season laced with injury limited him to just 17 points in 19 games. Lapierre, healthy this season, improved mightily on the scoresheet, scoring 31 points in a shortened 21-game season with Chicoutimi. He’ll now spend his last season in the OHL with Acadie-Bathurst as he continues his development.
  • Teams will be adding a couple of names to their draft boards soon, as CapFriendly clarified the draft re-entry status of two NHL prospects. Mathew Hill, a former sixth-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, and Eemeli Rasanen, a former second-round selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will both re-enter the draft in July. One of the last selections taken before Kyle Dubas became general manager, Rasanen appealed with his physical presence and 6′ 7″ frame. However, the Finnish defenseman has struggled immensely overseas, posting no points this year with HPK in the Liiga. He’ll re-enter the draft as a 22-year-old overager, and it’s unlikely he’ll be selected at this point. Hill, just 20 years old, has also failed to pan out in the way Anaheim wished. With his Barrie Colts not playing a season this year in the OHL, and Hill seeing just three games of action in Demark’s junior league on loan, his future in the NHL remains extremely uncertain.

Morning Notes: Van Ryn, Sedgwick, Salomaki

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The Arizona Coyotes are still conducting a search for their next head coach, but it won’t be Mike Van Ryn. The St. Louis Blues assistant is officially out of the running according to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. It’s not clear whether that decision came from the team or the coach.

It made sense that Van Ryn would be a candidate, given the fact that Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong was with the Blues for nearly two decades before joining Arizona. The Blues assistant also actually started his NHL coaching career with the Coyotes organization, serving as a development coach in 2016-17 after a stint in the OHL. Arizona has also spoken to candidates including Todd Nelson, Benoit Groulx, Jay Leach and Andre Tourigny as they look to find their next bench boss.

  • The Montreal Canadiens have reached a three-year contract extension with their resident capologist John Sedgwick, who serves as Vice President of Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs. Sedgwick has been with the team since 2013 and has been a big part of bringing the Canadiens minor league teams—the Laval Rocket and the Trois-Rivieres Lions—closer to home. The extension quickly came with a wave of media members lauding the move, with Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com calling Sedgwick “one of the brightest minds in the game.”
  • Minor league forward Miikka Salomaki has signed a two-year contract with Orebro in Finland, leaving the NHL behind for the time being. The 28-year-old spent the entire 2020-21 season in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles, scoring just two goals in 26 games. Salomaki was once a regular in the Nashville Predators lineup, but has just five NHL games played since the end of 2018-19.

Expansion Primer: New York Islanders

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Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.

In 2017, the New York Islanders were one of the few lucky teams not to lose a player in the Expansion Draft, as the Vegas Golden Knights selected free agent goaltender Jean-Francois Berube. They paid dearly for that privilege though, trading a first-round pick, second-round pick, and defenseman Jake Bischoff (as well as the contract of Mikhail Grabovski) in order for Vegas to take Berube. The team was also the only one to protect three forwards and five defensemen.

This time around, the Islanders are unlikely to pay a heavy price to keep their unprotected players from being selected in the NHL Expansion Draft and they are also expected to go with a more orthodox protection scheme. Will they lose a good player? Sure. However, two-time reigning GM of the Year winner Lou Lamoriello has left his team in decent shape as expansion approaches.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:
Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Kieffer Bellows, Cal Clutterbuck, Austin Czarnik, Michael Dal Colle, Jordan Eberle, Ross Johnston, Otto Koivula, Leo Komarov, Andrew Ladd, Anders Lee, Matt Martin, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Dmytro Timashov

Defense:
Sebastian Aho, Thomas Hickey, Nick Leddy, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Parker Wotherspoon

Goalies:
Ken Appleby, Semyon Varlamov

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents

F Casey Cizikas, D Braydon Coburn, D Andy Greene, F Kyle Palmieri, F Travis Zajac

Notable Exemptions

D Johnny Boychuk (Inj.), D Samuel Bolduc, D Noah Dobson, D Robin Salo, G Jakub Skarek, G Ilya Sorokin, F Oliver Wahlstrom

Key Decisions

When you miss the playoffs or even exit early, it is easier to look toward the future when it comes to making difficult decisions in regards to the Expansion Draft (see: Philadelphia Flyers). However, when it comes to the Islanders, their current deep playoff run could make that difficult. The team faces several decisions in which they must choose between a top veteran or a younger future piece and must sort that out.

However, there are some no-brainers to start. In goal, the team specifically signed Appleby only to expose him, allowing them to protect starter Varlamov. On defense, the tongue-twisting top pair of Pelech and Pulock are locked in for protection. At forward, young core pieces Barzal and Beauvillier and captain Lee are also guarantees.

After that, things get difficult. The seemingly easy call is to protect their other top-scoring veteran forwards. Bailey, Nelson, Eberle, and Pageau are all key pieces to this season and playoff run and are all signed long-term. However, Bailey and Eberle will both turn 32 next season and carry expensive contracts for several more years, but have shown signs of decline in recent seasons. They will both certainly be contributors for another year or possibly longer, but are they worth losing another forward and missing out on using the cap space elsewhere?

If any of that core group of top-nine forwards is not protected, other candidates include reliable fourth liners Clutterbuck and Martin. However, the player who deserves the most consideration is young Bellows. The 23-year-old forward is a 2016 first-round pick who produced with the USNTDP, in the NCAA, the WHL, and most recently the AHL. His scoring has yet to translate to the NHL, but it seems like a safe bet. With more time and opportunity, Bellows could easily be a top goal-scorer for an NHL team. Do the Islanders risk that team being the Seattle Kraken?

One thing that is certain is that the depth up front will ensure the Islanders use the 7-3 protetion scheme. On defense, behind Pelech and Pulock, it may seem like top-scoring defenseman Leddy should be the final pick and he very well may be. After some down years, Leddy impressed this season and was invaluable to the Islanders’ success. He also plays a key leadership role as an experienced, long-time member of the team.

However, Leddy’s age and his expiring contract could make him a diminishing asset for the team. In his place, they could keep the younger, more affordable, and arguably equally valuable Mayfield. Initially more of a stay-at-home defenseman, Mayfield has rounded out his game in recent years and with that his role has increased. At $1.45MM for two more years, Mayfield is a bargain and would have a greater total impact on the team if Leddy leaves after next season, even if Leddy is the superior performer next season alone. Is that enough to make him the selection? Another outside-the-box candidate would be 22-year-old Aho, who showed potential last season but took a step back this year.

Projected Protection List

F Josh Bailey
F Mathew Barzal
F Anthony Beauvillier
F Jordan Eberle
F Anders Lee
F Brock Nelson
F Jean-Gabriel Pageau

D Nick Leddy
D Adam Pelech
D Ryan Pulock

G Semyon Varlamov

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined.  Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined.  In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (3): Cal Clutterbuck, Leo Komarov, Matt Martin

Defensemen (1): Scott Mayfield

The Islanders’ current playoff run could very likely determine their approach to the Expansion Draft. If they feel strongly about their success in winning the East Division or if they are able to advance to the next round, they may feel that they are close enough to winning a Stanley Cup that they keep all of their top-performing veterans. Yet, if they win the Cup, perhaps that focus shifts back to the future and the emphasis becomes long-term assets. Either way, the Islanders will have to expose good players and after giving up a king’s ransom to Vegas in the last round of Expansion and already with a relatively shallow prospect pipeline and missing several draft picks, they are unlikely to make any side deals.

If available, a top veteran like Leddy, Bailey, or Eberle would be an easy pick for Seattle. However, assuming they are protected, Mayfield does stick out as the top option. The only issue there could be that there will be many teams who expose solid defensemen and don’t have any quality forwards available. A young, high-upside forward like Bellows may be hard to pass up. The Kraken will have plenty of options and the Islanders will lose a good player – likely their No. 4 defenseman or top forward prospect – but they will survive.

Jonathan Davidsson Signs In Sweden

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The Ottawa Senators may have brought back their AHL head coach, but they’re losing a minor league forward. Jonathan Davidsson has signed a one-year contract with HV71 in Sweden. He’ll be joined by his brother Marcus Davidsson, a Buffalo Sabres draft pick that became an unrestricted free agent when he went unsigned at the beginning of this month.

Jonathan Davidsson, 24, was a sixth-round pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets back in 2017 and ended up in the Senators organization as part of the return for Matt Duchene. At the time, he looked like an interesting prospect who had found plenty of success at the SHL level. Unfortunately, his offensive production didn’t make the trip to North America, as the right-winger scored just five points in his 30 games with the Belleville Senators. In a six-game stint with Ottawa in 2019-20, he managed just a single assist.

The Senators will be able to retain his exclusive rights with a qualifying offer, though it certainly is no guarantee to come. The team doesn’t really have a place for him at this point in the NHL or AHL, so cutting ties may be the most likely outcome.

His younger brother Marcus Davidsson is an interesting story, given how high he was selected in the 2017 draft. The 37th-overall pick, he was actually ranked 12th among international skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Unfortunately, the offensive production that was expected never happened and the 22-year-old never ended up signing his entry-level contract. In 49 games split between the SHL and the second tier last season, he managed just 14 points.

Ottawa Senators Extend Troy Mann

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Part of building a winning program in the NHL is finding a level of consistency throughout the multi-tiered development system. For the rebuilding Ottawa Senators, the development their prospects receive at the AHL level is almost as important as the success of the NHL team in the standings. Today, they have secured some of that minor league consistency, extending Belleville Senators head coach Troy Mann for another two seasons. Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion explained just how important it was to bring Mann back:

When we hired Troy three summers ago, we knew we were getting someone who had a strong track record in developing players. With where we were as an organization at that time, and with all that has transpired with regards to stockpiling prospects since, the timing could not have been better. Troy has played a vital role in helping with both the development and preparation of countless players, many of whom have recently assumed important roles in Ottawa. We’re pleased to reach an agreement with Troy to see him return to Belleville.

Mann, 51, came to Belleville after serving for many years with the Hershey Bears. Though he is still looking for that elusive Calder Cup, he is no stranger to the playoffs, taking the Bears to the finals in 2016. That was a valuable stepping stone for young players like Chandler Stephenson and Jakub Vrana, who would end up being key parts of the 2018 Washington Capitals Stanley Cup championship.

In Belleville, there is an endless parade of high-end prospects to deal with as Ottawa continues to collect as many draft picks as possible.  The team once again has an extra second-round pick in this year’s draft and will be adding another top-10 prospect to the mix in the first round.

Minor Transactions: 06/21/21

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With both the Expansion and Entry Drafts quickly approaching, minor transactions are popping up all across the hockey world. As teams rush to meet expansion requirements and gain a more detailed idea of their organizational makeup ahead of the draft, expect this steady flow of minor deals to continue throughout the summer. You can read all about today’s transactions right here:

  • While their big sibling made bigger news today by re-signing Matt Nieto, the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda have announced a slew of moves. Per the team’s site, forwards Joe Garreffa, Krystof Hrabik, and Kyle Topping all signed one-year AHL extensions with the Sharks’ affiliate. Garreffa only got into two games with the Barracuda in 2020-21, but spent 59 games in the ECHL between the Allen Americans and Orlando Solar Bears, tallying 42 points for a decent first professional season. Hrabik played in only one regular-season matchup but had two goals in three games during the AHL’s Pacific Division postseason tournament. Topping got the most AHL action out of the trio, tallying a single goal in four games with the baby Sharks.
  • The Barracuda also dipped into the free-agent market, signing a pair of WHL players. The bigger fish of the two is former Portland Winterhawks captain Nick Cicek. Cicek, a Winnipeg-born, 201-pound defenseman, had by far his best offensive campaign to date in 2020-21, tallying 21 points in just 24 WHL games. It was a career-high for him after tallying 13 and 14 points in his previous two seasons. Their other signing, Montana Onyebuchi from the Kamloops Blazers, carries a somewhat similar development pattern. Similar in size (6′ 3″, 209 pounds) to Cicek, Onyebuchi also had an offensive breakout campaign with 12 points in 20 games. The Barracuda hope that the two overagers can boost their defense in the coming years.

Minor Transactions: 06/20/21

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While the NHL rumor mill has certainly been heating up of late, it may still be some time before major moves start to drop and calendar draws closer to the Expansion Draft, Entry Draft, and opening of free agency. In the meantime, there has still been a fairly consistent flow of minor moves out of the minor leagues and European ranks as the off-season has started early for some familiar names. Keep up with all of those transactions right here:

  • A 2021 NHL Draft prospect has cemented his development path. Finnish defenseman Jimi Suomi, who many rankings believe could go as early as the third round next month, will likely be considered a project player anyway. That project will be monitored from afar, as Suomi has decided to stay in Finland. Liiga club TPS has announced a three-year contract with the young blue liner, who spent this past season with the U-20 team for Jokerit. The move is significant, as Suomi had been drafted into the USHL and was on NCAA radars. Instead, he will go the pro route and try to crack TPS’ Liiga roster next season.
  • Another name staying in Europe, perhaps also to the surprise of some, is veteran forward Nick Shore. Shore, 28, has signed a one-year deal with the KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk, the team announced. The younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes forward Drew Shore and older brother of Harvard forward Baker Shore, Nick is a veteran of nearly 300 NHL games. However, he played this past season in Europe, starting the year in Slovakia and then jumping to Switzerland when the NLA re-opened. He recorded 37 points in 27 games across the two leagues, one of the better offensive seasons of his pro career. It is unclear if Shore spent the year in Europe due to financial and convenience concerns due to the COVID pandemic or if there was simply no NHL interest. He has played in 63 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets the season prior, so it at least seemed as if he was still valued in North America. However, his early decision to sign in the KHL rather than test the NHL market could be indicative to the contrary.
  • T.J. Brennan is another NHL veteran staying overseas. The journeyman defenseman left for Switzerland this season after four consecutive seasons in the AHL without any NHL action. He found success with HC Thurgau, recording 24 points in 22 games and leading the team to the playoffs. He will try again next season in Austria, signing a one-year contract with EC Salzburg of the IceHL. The team’s release notes his previous scoring success in the AHL and touts him as a major addition to the roster.
  • Texas Stars free agent Derek Barach is leaving the AHL for Europe. The 26-year-old forward has signed with Liiga club Assat on a two-year deal. A productive college player at Mercyhurst, Barach is still trying to find his footing in the pros after stops with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters and the Stats this past season.

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Shane Gersich

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The Washington Capitals have re-signed one of their minor league forwards, inking Shane Gersich to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K and keeps Gersich away from restricted free agency later this summer.

Now 24, Gersich made his Capitals debut in 2018 but hasn’t made it back to the NHL since. In 33 games for the Hershey Bears this season he managed to score six goals and 14 points, but still hasn’t been able to repeat the offensive performance that made him a star at the University of North Dakota. Drafted 134th overall in 2014, he has settled into a depth role in the AHL and is unlikely to see extended time with the Capitals, but is still a valuable asset for the organization as injury insurance.

Perhaps more important is his leadership role with the Bears, where he wore an “A” as an alternate captain this season. His minor league salary of $187,500 will keep him in the Washington organization and takes another RFA off the to-do list for Capitals GM Brian MacLellan.

Gersich will turn 25 in July, meaning that at this time next year he’ll be preparing for Group VI unrestricted free agency. That is of course unless he gets in 77 games with the Capitals next season, a notion that seems far-fetched at this point.

Washington Capitals Sign Three Players

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The Washington Capitals have completed a little housekeeping today, re-signing both Garrett Pilon and Bobby Nardella to identical two-year contracts. The deals will carry an average annual value of $750K in the NHL and are two-way the first season, one-way the second. The team has also signed Michael Sgarbossa to a two-year, two-way contract that will carry a $750K salary in the NHL.

Pilon, 23, made his NHL debut this season, suiting up for a single game with the Capitals five years after they drafted him 87th overall. The rest of his time was spent with the minor league Hershey Bears, scoring 16 points in 14 games. That was the first time he came anywhere close to a point-per-game rate in the AHL, signaling that he may have unlocked a little more offense after a few relatively pedestrian seasons. The Capitals obviously believed he was worth extending taking Pilon through the 2022-23 season with this new contract.

Should he fail to get much more opportunity at the NHL level, Pilon could end up a Group VI unrestricted free agent at the end of this contract, as he will be 25.

Nardella meanwhile is already 25 and still has not played a single game in the NHL. The former Notre Dame star spent this entire season with Djurgardens IF in Sweden, scoring 33 points in 47 games. Undersized, Nardella does bring an excellent offensive profile but will still be hard-pressed to become an impact player with the Capitals. Still, he too received a multi-year deal, keeping him from free agency and in the Washington system. He’ll be a prime candidate to help fill in during injury emergencies, but don’t expect him to take a full-time roster spot anytime soon.

Sgarbossa, 28, was already headed for unrestricted free agency, after spending the last three seasons in the Capitals organization. He’ll be back though too continuing to serve as an injury replacement and minor league depth. The undrafted center played in five games for the Capitals this season, registering two assists. In 14 games for the Hershey Bears, he put up ten points and has long been an excellent minor league performer.

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