Schedule Notes: NHL, QMJHL, WHL
Teams around the NHL have started to receive potential 2021 schedules according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, and they include some very interesting oddities. For one, Johnston tweets that games have been grouped in two-game series against the same opponent but he has heard of three or even four-game segments as well. Several other reports including from Mark Spector of Sportsnet have indicated that the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks will play each other ten times, hitting the ice against the other Canadian teams just nine times. The All-Canadian division of course has one fewer team in it, leading to the different schedules.
Some other scheduling notes:
- Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wondered about the trade deadline in his recent column, noting that though it is scheduled for April 12, Canada-U.S. border restrictions could complicate things this year. Players acquired from a team based in the U.S. would likely face at least a two-week quarantine if joining a Canadian team for instance, making him quite a bit less valuable in a deadline deal.
- Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell told reporters including Dan Rosen of NHL.com that players recalled from the AHL will have to go through the “taxi squad” period and quarantine for at least seven days before joining the NHL club, meaning there will be no day-of recalls this season. That too will complicate things this season and make teams think hard about who they want to include with their extra roster spots.
- The QMJHL has announced that their season will not resume until January 21 at the earliest, with the Quebec-based teams starting the next day. There hasn’t been a game played since the end of November due to COVID-19 concerns and restrictions, meaning it will be nearly two months between competitive action for many prospects.
- The WHL draft meanwhile, which is normally scheduled for May, has now been moved to December for the upcoming year. As the league explained today, the decision was to give 2006-born players more time to be evaluated in competitive situations. The 2021 WHL Cup, which is a showcase for WHL draft-eligible players (not NHL draft-eligible) will be held in October.
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Roland McKeown
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed restricted free agent defenseman Roland McKeown to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry a salary of $700K at the NHL level, but it doesn’t seem that will ever be paid out. McKeown has immediately been loaned to Skelleftea AIK of the SHL. Hurricanes GM Don Waddell released a statement on the move:
Roland had a solid season in the AHL last season and it is important that he get back on the ice to continue his development. Playing in the Swedish league is a great opportunity for him to do just that.
This is an extremely interesting move, given that so many other AHL-bound prospects are still sitting around wondering where they will be playing this season. If the minor league isn’t able to put together a plan, we could see a hurried exodus of talent to Europe in order to fill the few foreign spots available. McKeown looks like he’ll have a head start and should be able to get in a good chunk of development overseas.
The 24-year-old defenseman has played ten games at the NHL level in the past, but spent both 2018-19 and 2019-20 entirely in the AHL. Selected 50th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2014, he arrived in Carolina via a trade for Andrej Sekera less than a year later. While he hasn’t been able to crack the Hurricanes blueline, that may be more to do with the strength of the NHL group than his own play, which though inconsistent at times has still been strong for the Charlotte Checkers. In 61 games last season he recorded 24 points.
Mikhail Berdin Signs Extension With Winnipeg Jets
In one of the more interesting moves of the offseason, goaltending prospect Mikhail Berdin has signed a two-year extension with the Winnipeg Jets. Berdin is entering the final year of his entry-level contract and hasn’t even played an NHL game yet, suiting up exclusively in the AHL or, for the first part of this season, in the KHL. The 22-year-old goaltender will now be under contract through the 2022-23 season. The deal carries an average annual value of $750K in the NHL and is two-way in 2021-22 and one-way in 2022-23.
Of note, Berdin is eligible for selection in the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft and will now fill the Jets exposure requirements. Connor Hellebuyck is the obvious choice for the Jets to protect, which would leave the promising young prospect up for grabs.
Make no mistake, he is promising. Berdin was a sixth-round pick of the Jets in 2016 after playing rather sparingly in the Russian junior league, but immediately made an impact after coming to North America. He joined the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL where he posted a .925 save percentage in 31 appearances. He followed it up with another excellent campaign for Sioux Falls and was the third goaltender for Russia at the World Junior Championship (though he did not play).
Two years of professional hockey in the Winnipeg minor league system followed and Berdin has been successful, posting strong save percentages at every stop. He had a .912 in 14 games with SKA St. Petersburg this year in the KHL, but is expected to return for NHL training camp.
A move like this is interesting mostly because it locks Berdin into a deal long before he really had to. He has no NHL stats to rely on in negotiations but obviously wanted to be a part of the Jets organization and stay on this side of the pond. He could be a potential Seattle target, though there will be lots of young goaltenders available and perhaps more pressing needs.
Markus Hannikainen Signs With Jokerit
Former Columbus Blue Jacket and Arizona Coyote Markus Hannikainen is headed home to Finland and to the club he grew up with. Seemingly unable to find a new NHL contract, Hannikainen has signed with the KHL’s Jokerit of his hometown of Helsinki. The veteran forward appears to be fully committed as well; the team has announced that Hannikainen has returned on a “long-term” contract. The 27-year-old has spent the past five seasons in the NHL and AHL but previously spent six years with Jokerit at various levels of Finnish hockey.
Were it not for the flat salary cap and the current lull in the NHL free agent market, perhaps Hannikainen may have been able to find another contract in North America. However, his return overseas should not come as a surprise as his career appeared to be trending in that direction. A hard-working, two-way winger whose defensive zone ability far exceeded his point totals – even as a younger prospect – Hannikainen finally broke out offensively as a pro after leaving Jokerit to join the Liiga’s JYP in 2014-15. He turned that success into an entry-level deal with Columbus, the first of three contracts he would sign with the club over three years. Hannikainen even played in four games with the Jackets in his first season in North America. As the years went on, Hannikainen began to carve out a regular role for himself in Columbus – or so it seemed. Even as his games played jumped four to 10 to 33 and finally to 44 (and a full season in the NHL) in 2018-19, the forward’s role with Columbus was always limited to meager fourth line minutes and very little offensive opportunity. As a result, the Blue Jackets did not hesitate to leave Hannikainen in the AHL this past season when they were able to upgrade their forward corps. After months without an NHL appearance, Hannikainen was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in February and the ‘Yotes also opted to leave him in the minors. A two-way contract this off-season would not have been out of the question for the veteran, but between his limited NHL results and lack of offensive ability he was always going to have to prove himself in the AHL to get back to the top level.
Instead, Hannikainen has decided to return home where a guaranteed role is waiting and where he can maximize his offensive potential. While Hannikainen has a long history with Jokerit, this will be his first experience in the KHL after the club shifted leagues during his NHL absence. The level of competition should be higher this time around, but the experienced winger has several NHL seasons to his credit now as well. He also joins a talented team whose roster includes a laundry list of NHL vets including recently re-signed leading scorer Brian O’Neill and the likes of Nicklas Jensen, Jordan Schroeder, Jesse Joensuu, Iiro Pakarinen, Henrik Haapala, Saku Maenalanen, Peter Regin, Viktor Loov, Alex Grant, and Anders Lindback. The rich get richer with the addition of Hannikainen to a team that should compete for years to come in hope of winning their first Gagarin Cup.
Adam Johnson Signs With Malmo Redhawks
After becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent, Adam Johnson is headed to Sweden. The 26-year-old forward has signed with the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL for the rest of the season.
Not every undrafted college free agent can turn into a star. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Johnson in 2018 after his outstanding sophomore season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and he quickly worked his way up the ranks to make his NHL debut in 2019. He played 13 games with the Penguins over two seasons, recording four points. His real contribution was at the AHL level, however, where he racked up 108 points in 185 games.
Johnson has dealt with nagging injuries throughout his time with the Penguins organization and will now have to try and get his game to another level overseas. There’s no doubt he can help an AHL team, but without much NHL experience, it’s hard to justify even a two-way contract. That doesn’t mean he can’t get back though, especially if he dominates the competition overseas.
John Gilmour Signs In KHL
Another former NHL player is headed to the KHL as John Gilmour has signed a contract with CSKA Moscow for the rest of the season. Gilmour became an unrestricted free agent after his one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres expired this summer and will be forced to take his talents overseas for the time being.
Now 27, Gilmour was originally a seventh-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 2013 but never did sign with that organization. Instead, he inked an entry-level deal with the New York Rangers in 2016 after a four-year career at Providence College which included a National Championship. The smooth-skating defenseman made 33 appearances with the Rangers over two seasons but spent most of his time in the minor leagues.
In 2019, after becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent, he decided to move on from the Rangers and signed a one-year deal with Buffalo. That resulted in another four NHL games, but his time was once again spent mostly in the AHL, this time with the Rochester Americans.
Through 227 AHL games, Gilmour has recorded 38 goals and 118 points including an impressive 20-goal campaign in 2018-19 that earned him an AHL First All-Star Team nomination. In Russia, he’ll bring that same offensive ability and could be an effective weapon for CSKA. Whether he ever returns to the NHL is unclear, but with so few opportunities in this shortened season, perhaps this was the only chance he really had to play meaningful minutes at a high level.
Shawn Boudrias Signs AHL Contract
Though he failed to sign an NHL contract with the Minnesota Wild earlier this year, making him an unrestricted free agent, Shawn Boudrias will stay with the organization that drafted him. The 21-year-old forward has signed an AHL contract with the Iowa Wild and will start his professional career there after an impressive finish to his junior years.
Boudrias, selected 179th overall by the Wild in 2018, scored 35 goals and 79 points in 59 games with the Cape Breton Eagles last season, trailing only Ottawa Senators second-round pick Yegor Sokolov for the team lead in both categories. That was the cherry on top of a pretty effective QMJHL career which included more than 100 goals and 200 points over parts of five seasons.
In Iowa, the 6’5″ forward can continue to develop his game and attempt to prove that he was worth an entry-level deal after all. What that first AHL season will look like is still unclear, but whenever it starts and whatever it looks like, Boudrias will be there.
Minor Transactions: 12/10/20
The NHL offseason has come to a standstill, with no unrestricted free agents signed to one-way contracts in a month. Still, the ECHL and many European leagues continue to play or prepare, meaning hockey players signing deals all over the world. We’ll keep track of the notable minor transactions right here.
- Among the season-opening rosters that were announced by the ECHL today are a few interesting names, including 26-year-old Nikolai Skladnichenko listed as “immigration pending” for the Orlando Solar Bears. Skladnichenko once won a bronze medal as part of Russia’s World Junior squad in 2014 but hasn’t to this point tested his game in North America.
- Jonathan Sigalet, who was a fourth-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2005 and played one game in the NHL, was traded in the SHL back to Frolunda HC. Sigalet, now 34, played at Bowling Green State before spending several productive years in the AHL. He left for Europ in 2011 and hasn’t looked back, spending four seasons in the KHL and the last five in the SHL.
- Colton Beck, who was actually under an NHL contract as recently as the 2019-20 season, has signed with EV Landshut in the German second league. The 30-year-old forward spent five seasons with the Iowa Wild of the AHL but scored just 11 points in 47 games last year.
Zach Fucale Loaned To ECHL
When the Washington Capitals signed Zach Fucale to a one-year, two-way contract this summer it made for quite the crowded crease in Hershey, the team’s AHL affiliate. With Henrik Lundqvist taking the other spot in the NHL, Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek were penciled into the third and fourth-string spots. Fucale seemed likely to be headed back to the ECHL and today that’s exactly what happened. The Capitals have loaned Fucale to the South Carolina Stingrays.
Fucale, who is still only 25 despite his draft seeming like decades ago, was selected 36th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. An elite prospect who dominated at the junior level, winning the Memorial Cup and a gold medal with Canada at the WJC, he was never quite able to replicate that success at the next level.
Still, Fucale is a decorated goaltender on the international stage, winning two Spengler Cups with Canada over the years. For a fifth-string option in Washington, he’s hard to top.
South Carolina starts their season tomorrow with a match against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to kick off the ECHL schedule.
Minor Transactions: 12/09/20
With the NHL finally making solid progress on starting the 2020-21 season, the rumor mill has started warming back up with a number of teams who still need to make roster changes, in some cases extreme makeovers, and many talented free agents still available. However, those concrete moves are still to come. For now, the minor moves being made by NHL teams involve minor league assignments with the ECHL about to open up. The ECHL’s list of transactions for today reveals a few different notable moves:
- After sending goaltender Kyle Keyser and forward Matt Filipe to the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen last week, the Boston Bruins have reassigned another intriguing name. Priority college UFA Jack Ahcan, one of the top offensive defensemen in the NCAA over the past few years will make his pro debut with Jacksonville after signing with Boston this spring. Ahcan, 23, may get his start in the ECHL but is an interesting name to watch this season given his success at St. Cloud State University and the Bruins’ lack of talent on the left side of the blue line.
- Jacob McGrew, 2017 sixth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks, will get his pro start with the ECHL’s Allen Americans. McGrew is eager to get back on the ice after missing all but six games last season with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. He did record eight points in those six games and the talented right wing could be a scoring factor in the AHL right away, especially with a strong start in the ECHL.
- In somewhat of a twist, the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers have recalled Greg Meireles from the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits after assigning him to club late last month. With the ECHL starting this weekend and the AHL still eyeing a February start, Meireles’ reassignment would imply that he is not ready to begin his season just yet. Meireles, who was drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2019, was deemed not worthy of an entry-level contract by the NHL club but signed with their AHL affiliate in October. A dangerous junior scorer with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, Meireles will be looking to earn that NHL contract with his play this season.