Minor Transactions: 06/04/21
There are just eight teams left alive in the NHL postseason and by this time next week that number could be down to four. The off-season has arrived for most, with all other major hockey leagues long since wrapped up. While many will wait for the NHL off-season to officially begin before making a decision on their future, other are willing to make a decision right away. Here are some notable moves from the latter group:
- As previously suggested, Joakim Nordstrom has indeed signed with the KHL’s CSKA Moscow. The club officially announced a one-year contract with the NHL veteran on Friday. While Nordstrom has never been a scoring threat in the NHL, his early commitment overseas is at least slightly suprising. The two-way forward clearly provides value, as evidenced by six straight seasons of starting at least two-thirds of his teams’ games across stops in Carolina, Boston, and Calgary. A solid checker and shot blocker, Nordstrom is a good defensive presence as a bottom-six forward, but does not provide much upside. Perhaps in Russia he will be able to do more offensively and play a more balanced game. He will be surrounded by plenty of talent with CSKA, a KHL juggernaut.
- Another forward heading to Europe is Tanner MacMaster. The former Quinnipiac University standout has played well in the AHL over the past three years, including playing a top-six role with 30 points for a loaded Toronto Marlies team last season, but has not earned an entry-level contract. He will look to Sweden for a bigger role and more substantial contract after spending this season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. MODO of the Swedish second-tier Allsvenskan has announced a one-year deal with MacMaster, who they label as a top-six center for the club.
- After a year off in 2020-21, former NHL enforcer Luke Gazdic has decided to make the change permanent. The veteran of 11 pro seasons has announced his retirement from the game. Gazdic will be remembered most for his three seasons as a fixture on the Edmonton Oilers’ checking line, though he developed into a leader in the AHL as well, spending his final two seasons with the San Diego Gulls.
- Also calling it quits after a long pro career is longtime Cleveland Monsters goaltender Brad Thiessen. Thiessen, 35, has announced his retirement after twelve years at the pro level. Thiessen initially left Northeastern University early in 2009, signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a highly sought-after free agent. Thiessen played three seasons with the Penguins, including seeing action in five NHL games, and another with the Calgary Flames, but since 2015-16 has been with AHL Cleveland. Thiessen helped to develop Columbus Blue Jackets netminders Joonas Korpisalo and Matiss Kivlenieks while continually providing reliable play and even leading the club to a Calder Cup.
Snapshots: Hyman, Tynan, Rantanen
Over the last 24 hours, a rumor emerged that Zach Hyman had been offered a long-term contract worth $5MM per season by the Toronto Maple Leafs only to turn it down. Hyman’s agent Todd Reynolds addressed it directly today, telling media members including Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun that it is “not accurate.”
The idea surfaced because of something Jason Gregor said on the DailyFaceoff Podcast, but even if the specifics of him turning down a deal aren’t true, Chris Johnston of Sportsnet still believes that the 28-year-old is going to get quite the free agent offer. Johnston suggests that Hyman could receive close to a $6MM annual average value, something the Maple Leafs would be hard-pressed to match given their tight cap situation.
- T.J. Tynan may only have 19 NHL games to his name, but that doesn’t mean his professional hockey career isn’t a glowing success. The 29-year-old was given the Les Cunningham Award today as the AHL’s Most Valuable Player for the 2020-21 season after scoring 35 points in 27 games for the Colorado Eagles. A third-round pick in 2011 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tynan now has 348 points in 436 AHL games. The pure playmaker, only 71 of those points have been goals.
- Earlier this season Mikko Rantanen was fined $2,000 for embellishment/diving after being dinged on two occasions by the league. According to a report out of Finland, Rantanen had the fine rescinded after sending an eight-point report to the league explaining why it looked like, but wasn’t, a dive. Of course, this was not the first time Rantanen had been fined for embellishment; he also took a $2,000 fine in the 2018-19 season.
Emile Poirier Signs In KHL
In the 2013 draft, the Calgary Flames had three selections in the first round and a chance to really build a core for the organization. With the sixth pick, they hit, landing Sean Monahan, a franchise center and a staple of their first line for years to come. But the other two picks, Emile Poirier and Morgan Klimchuk weren’t quite as successful. The two have combined for just nine NHL games to this point (the two lowest totals of the entire round) and the former isn’t even playing in North America anymore.
Poirier, 26, spent this season with HC Kosice of the Slovakian league and has now signed a contract with Dinamo Riga in the KHL for the 2021-22 campaign. After spending several seasons in the Flames organization, the first-round pick went unqualified in 2018 and was forced to sign an AHL deal. Two relatively unsuccessful years with the Manitoba Moose later and he was off to Europe to see if he could get his career back on track.
He did find success in Slovakia though, scoring 17 points in 18 games and adding another handful in the postseason. Moving to the KHL will test Poirier even further and perhaps give him a springboard for a return to North America if he can perform well in 2021-22. There is certainly plenty of time left for the 26-year-old to earn a new deal in the AHL or even perhaps turn himself into a depth option with a bit of bite. Poirier never was afraid to drop the gloves, with fighting majors in almost every year of his pro career. For at least 2021-22, he will ply his trade in the KHL.
Washington Capitals Re-Sign Joe Snively
The Washington Capitals have re-signed Joe Snively to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2021-22 season. Snively would have become a restricted free agent this summer but will re-up with the team that gave him his first professional opportunity. The deal will carry a salary of $750K in the NHL and $90K in the AHL.
Now 25, Snively went undrafted out of the USHL and spent four seasons at Yale University before joining the Capitals in 2019. The undersized forward has been exclusively in the minor leagues since then, spending the last two seasons with the Hershey Bears where he scored 17 points in 30 games this year. A star in college, he hasn’t quite found the scoring touch he had for Yale but is a competent component for the minor league squad.
Even though it’s an NHL deal, you may not see Snively with the Capitals as much more than an injury replacement. The team has several other younger forwards pushing up the depth chart that will likely get a chance with the big club ahead of him. Still, the Virginia-native has secured another NHL contract and will get a chance to stay with his hometown organization, even if most of that chance is actually spent in Hershey.
Snapshots: Nordstrom, Cracknell, Murphy
A report out of Russia from Semyon Galkevich has linked Calgary Flames forward Joakim Nordstrom to the KHL, suggesting he will sign a one-year deal with CSKA Moscow. The 29-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent later this summer when the one-year, $700K deal he signed with Calgary last October expires. Though no one could have been expecting much offense from the bottom-six forward, Joakim still disappointed, scoring just a single goal in 44 games. In 444 career regular season contests, he has just 75 points.
More notes from around the hockey world:
- Adam Cracknell has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Bakersfield Condors, returning after a strong campaign with the Edmonton Oilers affiliate. Cracknell, 35, has played 15 years of professional hockey and can help insulate Oilers prospects while in the minor leagues. In 39 games with Bakersfield this season, he recorded 11 goals and 30 points, proving he’s far from just a locker room leader.
- Ryan Murphy, another long-time minor league star, has won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s most outstanding defenseman for 2020-21. The 28-year-old, who was originally selected 12th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, had 27 points in 37 games for the Henderson Silver Knights this season. In 232 career AHL games, Murphy has recorded 146 points.
Vegas Golden Knights Recall Seven
The Vegas Golden Knights, set to take on the Colorado Avalanche in game two of their second-round series tonight, have recalled seven players to the taxi squad. Carl Dahlstrom, Jack Dugan, Cody Glass, Kaedan Korczak, Jonas Rondbjerg, Jimmy Schuldt, and Logan Thompson have all been brought up. Glass and Thompson were on the ice with the rest of the team at practice, while the others are likely just serving as “Black Aces” for the team.
Jesse Granger of The Athletic tweets that both Mattias Janmark and Robin Lehner are game-time decisions for tonight’s match, explaining why the other two are practicing. Of course, the team will also be without Ryan Reaves for the next two thanks to a suspension for his antics in game one. Glass, 22, has played in just a single playoff game thus far and saw fewer than 13 minutes of ice time in it. The sixth-overall pick from 2017 has yet to really establish himself as a regular at the NHL level, with just 22 points in 66 career games.
It’s some of the other names that will draw interest if even just as examples of how well the Golden Knights staff has built up the depth of the organization. Players like Dugan, a fifth-round pick that scored 33 points in his first AHL season or Korczak, a second-rounder that looked excellent in his first year of professional hockey are going to challenge for playing time in the NHL at some point in the near future.
St. Louis Blues Sign Keean Washkurak
The St. Louis Blues have signed prospect Keean Washkurak ahead of today’s deadline, inking the young forward to a three-year entry-level contract. Washkurak appears to be an oversight on CapFriendly’s list of expiring draft rights, as his also would have expired if not signed today given he was selected out of the OHL in 2019. The confusion likely comes from Washkurak spending most of this season with HK Levice of the Slovakian league, but a return to North America and the AHL last month on an amateur tryout would have put his timeline back on its original track.
Washkurak, 19, scored 19 points in 21 games overseas but was more notable for his physicality. He led the league in penalty minutes with 110 in the regular season and added another 26 in the playoffs. Even though he stands at just 5’10”, Washkurak has always been known for his ability to “play bigger,” being compared to 6’5″ power forwards for his strength and fearlessness.
Originally selected in the fifth round, he recorded 52 points in 49 games for the Mississauga Steelheads in 2019-20 and will try to continue his offensive development in the Blues’ system. He’ll turn 20 later this summer and can go right to the AHL next year, after getting into three games with the Utica Comets down the stretch.
Kenny Agostino Signs In KHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a long list of forwards hitting unrestricted free agency this summer, but at least one of them won’t be returning. Kenny Agostino has signed a contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL after spending most of the last two seasons in the minor leagues.
Agostino, 29, signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Maple Leafs in 2019, likely believing he’d be an often-used injury replacement after playing 63 NHL games the previous year. Instead, he spent the entire 2019-20 campaign in the AHL, racking up 49 points with the Toronto Marlies. This season was much of the same, though Agostino did receive one game with the Maple Leafs where he went scoreless. In 22 AHL contests, he continued his career point-per-game pace, scoring nine goals and 22 points.
With 30 points in 85 career NHL games and a 30th birthday that doesn’t come until next year, one might have expected Agostino to search for another job in North America. Instead, he’ll head overseas to test himself at the KHL level. While obviously nothing is guaranteed, the veteran forward is certainly talented enough to be a star in Russia.
Detroit Red Wings Sign Wyatt Newpower
The Detroit Red Wings have snapped up a prospect from under a division rival’s nose, signing Wyatt Newpower to a two-year entry-level contract. Newpower spent this season playing with the Clevland Monsters, AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets on a minor league contract. The Blue Jackets of course were only division mates of the Red Wings for this season, but it still is interesting to see the young defenseman jump to another organization.
Newpower, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Connecticut, where he spent four seasons prior to this year. In his senior year the 6’4″ defenseman posted 22 points, a strong offensive performance that carried over to his first season of professional hockey. In 24 games for the Monsters, Newpower scored three goals and 10 points, finishing first on the team at +10.
It’s not like this is a dramatic signing that brings in an impact player for the Red Wings, but it’s clear that GM Steve Yzerman is willing to look just about anywhere to add talent and depth to the organization. At worst, Newpower can continue to develop and be a strong contributor for the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Jeff Malott
It was an impressive rookie campaign with the Manitoba Moose for undrafted forward Jeff Malott, and he’s going to get rewarded for it. The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms with Malott on a one-year entry-level contract for the 2021-22 season. The two-way deal will carry an NHL salary of $780K.
Malott, 24, played four seasons at Cornell University period to this year but never experienced anything quite like the offensive success he had for the Moose. In 34 games playing on an AHL contract, he recorded 14 goals and 20 points while also bringing a level of physicality every night. The 6’3″ forward had one fighting major and 35 penalty minutes in his debut season.
A teammate of Cale Makar with the Brooks Bandits of the AJHL, Malott went undrafted despite dominating the league in 2015-16. He scored 25 goals in 46 games that season but failed to record more than six goals in any of his four years at Cornell. It seems that scoring touch has returned to Malott and it brings the promise of an NHL deal.