Minor Transactions: 10/21/20
The NHL free agent market may have slowed a bit – despite a considerable amount of talent still available – but other leagues are still busy. AHL clubs are cleaning up the fringes of the NHL market, as are European leagues, and NCAA programs are finalizing transfers as they prepare for a hopeful start to the season next month. Here are some of the notable minor moves from today:
- It was a busy day for the Stockton Heat. The Calgary Flames’ affiliate announced four signings, adding two forwards and two defensemen on one-year deals. Three of the contracts are extensions, as defenders Zac Leslie and Rob Hamilton and grinder Alex Gallant return to Stockton. Leslie, 26, is a former L.A. Kings prospect who led all Heat defensemen in points last season. Hamilton, 26, was also a top-four defenseman last year and led the team in plus/minus. Gallant, 27, is an interesting story. He played hardly any high-level hockey as a prospect, but made a career of his aggressive style, working his way up from the SPHL to the ECHL and then the AHL, logging hundreds of penalty minutes each year. He set a career high in scoring as well last year with five goals and eight points.
- The other addition to the Heat was Mark Simpson, a hulking forward out of the University of New Brunswick. Simpson, 25, stands 6’5″ and has a more pro-ready build than many players out of the USports system. That might explain why Simpson, who finished outside the top ten in scoring for the Reds this past season, has earned an AHL contract while the program’s other top scorers have not. However, Simpson is likely destined for the ECHL while he continues to develop.
- After the Florida Panthers opted not to extend him a qualifying offer, defenseman Thomas Schemitsch has decided to take his talents to Cleveland. The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters have announced a one-year contract with Schemitsch, who has spent nearly all of the past four seasons with the AHL’s Springfield Falcons. Schemitsch is a big, two-way blue liner who was a consistent contributor in the minors. He earned an extension from Florida last summer, but it did not yield any top level opportunities. He hopes to prove to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ brass that he is still an NHL-caliber prospect with his play in Cleveland.
Penguins Loan Cam Lee To HC Slovan Bratislava
Defenseman Cam Lee is preparing to make his pro debut this season, but it won’t be with the team he expected when he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins this spring. When Lee takes the ice to begin the 2020-21 campaign, it will not be in the NHL or AHL but in the Slovakian Extraliga with HC Slovan Bratislava. The club announced that they have negotiated a loan with the Penguins that will allow Lee to play in Bratislava until NHL training camp opens.
Lee, 23, embarks on his first pro season after wrapping up an impressive four-year collegiate career at Western Michigan University. Lee notched 20+ points in each of the past three seasons, including 21 points in just 26 games as a senior, and led all Broncos defensemen in scoring in each of the past two years. The nephew of former NHL star goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Lee is a high IQ player who sees the ice well and moves the puck. Lee is unlikely to be rushed to the NHL like some other Penguins’ NCAA free agents, but if he can improve in some need areas over the course of his two-year entry-level contract, he could compete for opportunities at the top level down the road.
Easing in to the pro game by starting in Bratislava rather than Wilkes-Barre/Scranton may end up helping Lee in his first season. A former KHL club that is well-regarded and finished second in the Extraliga standings last season, Bratislava is a good team and a place where a young player can learn the game without feeling too much pressure. Former NHL defenseman Andrej Meszaros may also be a great mentor to the young defenseman. With that said, the team stated in their release that they have been disappointed by a slow start to this season, so Lee may also get the opportunity to play a key role for the club in the time before he returns for training camp.
Snapshots: Blackhawks, AHL, Weegar
While Chicago made an announcement today regarding their plans to rebuild (a process that was already underway), don’t expect an exodus of veterans leaving the team either. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports in the latest TSN Insider Trading (video link) that the Blackhawks intend on holding on to veterans Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook and having them as part of the core that will lead them out of this rebuilding phase. Toews made his frustrations known earlier this offseason with the lack of communication about this direction although GM Stan Bowman has spoken with that core leadership group. It remains to be seen how long this plan will take in Chicago but it appears that they will be keeping their long-time veterans around for the process.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- In the same segment, LeBrun mentions that while AHL President Scott Howson believes that his league will ultimately push back their start date to mirror the NHL, there are some NHL teams pushing for the AHL to stick to their December timeline. While it wouldn’t be ideal from a financial perspective given the inability to have many (or any) fans and no notable television contract, it would certainly be good from a player development standpoint for teams to get more of their prospects playing.
- Kevin Ebbs, the agent for Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, told David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period that his client is disappointed with the status of contract negotiations so far. The 26-year-old is coming off a career year offensively with 18 points in 45 games while averaging over 20 minutes a night for the first time as well. That has him well-positioned to land a raise on the $1.6MM he made last season in his final year of RFA eligibility. Weegar is one of three players that are scheduled for an arbitration hearing on November 8th so there is still a fair bit of time to reach an agreement beforehand.
Minor Transactions: 10/20/20
While NHL teams continue to fill out their rosters and prepare for the 2020-21 season, minor and European leagues also are working on new contracts. We’ll keep track of some of the newsworthy minor transactions right here:
- Shane Starrett has been signed by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to an AHL contract after becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent. Starrett’s last two contracts were with the Edmonton Oilers, who he joined in 2017 after staring for the Air Force Falcons. The undrafted goaltender had an .874 save percentage in 14 appearances this season.
- Nail Yakupov is on the move, though it’s not back to North America. The 2012 first overall pick has been traded in the KHL from Amur Khabarovsk to Avangard Omsk, in exchange for monetary compensation. Yakupov had just one goal and seven points in 15 games for Amur.
Hunter Miska Re-Signs With Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche have signed one of their depth goaltenders, inking Hunter Miska to a two-year contract. Miska played most of last season with the Colorado Eagles on an AHL contract before signing an NHL deal with the Avalanche in February. After issuing a qualifying offer this fall, he’ll instead sign a multi-year deal and stick with the team through the 2021-22 season.
Miska actually ended up on the bench for the Avalanche in the playoffs, backing up Michael Hutchinson after the team lost their other goaltenders to injury. That came a little more than a year after the Arizona Coyotes decided not to give him a qualifying offer, allowing him to join Colorado as a free agent. In 26 appearances for the Eagles this season, Miska posted a .924 save percentage and got his career right back on track.
The 25-year-old was never drafted, but posted strong numbers at the BCHL, USHL and collegiate levels before jumping into professional hockey in 2017. Slightly undersized for an NHL goaltender, he nevertheless has been excellent since joining the Colorado organization and will now serve as valuable depth behind Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz. The Avalanche of course also have Adam Werner under contract, who figures to get a good chunk of the AHL starts again this season.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Jayce Hawryluk
The Vancouver Canucks have added another depth option to the organization, signing Jayce Hawryluk to a one-year, two-way contract. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the deal will carry an $800K salary in the NHL, paying $200K in the AHL. Hawryluk became an unrestricted free agent when the Ottawa Senators decided not to issue him a qualifying offer this fall.
The 24-year-old Hawryluk was the 32nd overall pick back in 2014, selected at the beginning of the second round by the Florida Panthers. After becoming a dominant presence in the WHL for the Brandon Wheat Kings, he transitioned to professional hockey and made his NHL debut in 2018. During that 2018-19 campaign, he played in 42 NHL games but wasn’t able to really land a guaranteed full-time spot in the Panthers lineup. After playing in just 15 games for Florida this season, he ended up on waivers where the Ottawa Senators put in a claim.
Down the stretch, Hawryluk took advantage of his opportunity in Ottawa, scoring seven points in 11 games before the season was suspended. The team decided not to keep him around, however, likely because of the fact that he was arbitration-eligible. The Senators let several players reach free agency instead of dealing with arbitration, including Hawryluk and Anthony Duclair.
He’ll have to fight for a spot on the Canucks, but there is certainly reason to believe Hawryluk could land a spot in the team’s bottom-six. With cap issues coming (or perhaps here already), Vancouver will need inexpensive NHL options to fill out their third and fourth lines in the coming years. Importantly, though Hawryluk was an unrestricted free agent this season, he will be a restricted free agent again next offseason for the Canucks as long as he plays in 12 games. Should he fail to play in that many at the NHL level, he would qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2021.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Steven Fogarty
The Buffalo Sabres have signed free agent forward Steven Fogarty to a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. The 27-year-old has spent the last several seasons in the New York Rangers organization, splitting time between the AHL and NHL.
Fogarty began his professional career with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2016, signing out of Notre Dame after four successful seasons. The 2011 third-round pick would score 20 points in each of his first two minor league seasons, earning his first NHL call-up in 2018. Since then, he has put up a 52-point season in the AHL and played 18 games in the NHL but is still looking for his first point at the highest level.
For the Sabres, the 6’3″ winger will provide some additional forward depth at an inexpensive price. If he’s to earn a real opportunity to compete for NHL minutes out of camp though, he’ll have to beat out some younger, more dynamic wingers. The Sabres entered the offseason with only a handful of forwards under contract, but have added names like Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin and Tobias Rieder over the last few weeks. That should give them a much more well-rounded attack, but does make the battle for those last few spots even more intense.
Rudolfs Balcers Signs With Ottawa Senators
Oct 19: Balcers has been loaned overseas to the Stavanger Oilers of the Norwegian professional league for the time being, though he is expected to return in time for Ottawa’s 2020-21 training camp.
Oct 16: The Ottawa Senators have signed Rudolfs Balcers to a one-year, two-way contract worth $735K at the NHL level. Balcers split the 2019-20 season between Ottawa and Belleville of the AHL. Senators GM Pierre Dorion released an encouraging statement on his young forward:
Despite a discouraging injury at the start to the year, Rudolfs battled back to become an important contributor to Belleville’s success last season. He’s a dynamic player with a great release, who’s quick and who has good skill. We’re confident that he’ll set out to prove that he’s overcome last year’s setback to be a full-time player in Ottawa.
Balcers, 23, was one of the big pieces of the Erik Karlsson trade in 2018 and quickly made his NHL debut with the Senators the following season. He has now played in 51 games for the team, scoring six goals and 17 points in the process.
The injury Dorion is referring to happened in the preseason, halting his preparation for the 2019-20 campaign and limiting him to AHL action through the first part of the season. Once he got back up to speed he showed exactly why Senators fans are so excited about the Latvian winger, recording a point in his first 15 minor league games and 17/19 before a call-up to the NHL.
There’s a lot of talent in Balcers and the Senators are committed to giving the reins to their young core this season, even if they did bring in Evgenii Dadonov this week. He should be in the mix for a full-time spot out of camp.
New York Islanders To Re-Sign Parker Wotherspoon
Parker Wotherspoon received a qualifying offer from the New York Islanders, but he’ll take a two-year extension with a decrease in NHL salary and an increase in AHL salary rather than accept a one-year raise. CapFriendly reports that the Islanders have come to terms on a new two-way deal with the young defenseman. Wotherspoon is set to make the minimum $700K at the NHL level this year and $750K in the NHL next year for an AAV of $725K. In the AHL, he will earn $100K ($125K total guaranteed) in 2020-21 and $125K ($185K total guaranteed) in 2021-22.
Wotherspoon, 23, is coming off his entry-level contract with three productive AHL seasons under his belt. In fact, the mobile defenseman’s point total has improved year over year. His 27 points in 2019-20 was good enough for fourth among all skaters for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He also set a career high in penalty minutes as his 6’2″ frame has been put to good use with a more physical presence.
With the departure of Devon Toews and the possibility of more moves on the Islanders blue line, Wotherspoon’s odds of an NHL opportunity have improved, even if New York still has a deep group of defensemen. Given his consistent offense and pro size, Wotherspoon has earned a shot if he can get one. With five defensemen signed to one-way contracts, RFA Ryan Pulock expected to re-sign, and prospects Noah Dobson and Sebastian Aho likely ahead of him in the pecking order, Wotherspoon will need some luck for chances to open up, but once they do he could prove himself as an NHL-ready player.
Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Jake Kielly
The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Jake Kielly to a one-year, two-way contract. The undrafted goaltender was signed out of Clarkson University in 2019 and spent most of last season in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.
Ineligible for arbitration, Kielly was a restricted free agent after his one-year entry-level deal expired this offseason. The 24-year-old goaltender is fourth on the Canucks depth chart behind Thatcher Demko, newcomer Braden Holtby, and top prospect Michael DiPietro.
Where Kielly plays this season is still unclear, given the Wings won’t start until January 15 at the earliest. They are not among the 13 ECHL teams that are scheduled for a December 11 start. The AHL meanwhile last gave a December 4 start date, but that was a goal back in July and is certainly not likely at this point.
The 6’2″ goaltender did post a .923 save percentage in his two appearances at the AHL level last year, but is just organizational depth at this point.