Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

AHL

Detroit Red Wings Sign Moritz Seider To Entry-Level Deal

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Detroit Red Wings announced they have signed defenseman Moritz Seider, the team’s 2019 first-round pick, to a three-year, entry-level contact. MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that the Red Wings will wait to see how he fares in training camp to decide whether to assign him to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL or send him back to Germany for one more year.

Seider was a rising prospect, especially late in the draft after an impressive performance at the World Championships for Germany and the Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman surprised quite a few people when they selected Seider over a number of top forward prospects, especially considering that Seider wasn’t considered to be the top defensive prospect. However, the 6-foot-4 blueliner had an impressive season in the Deutsch Eishockey Liga, the top German league, where he was named Rookie of the Year there, posting two goals and six points in 29 games. He also played a big role on Germany’s Junior World Championships where he was named the best defenseman in the tournament after scoring seven points in five games.

The blueliner is considered to be a smooth-skating defenseman who has the physical ability to dominate on the defensive side of the ice. Those skills, plus his leadership ability, will likely make him a top-four player for the Red Wings for years once he arrives in Detroit. His offensive skills are less polished although he has seen glimpses of some, suggesting he could develop into somewhat of a point-producer over time.

 

Pacific Notes: Eriksson, Ritchie, Smith, Dillon

at CDT | by 5 Comments

With so many forwards now on their roster, the Vancouver Canucks coaching staff should have their hands full when training camp begins. The team now has 14 forwards under contract with two restricted free agents still to sign in Brock Boeser and Nikolay Goldobin. That’s a lot of players for just 12 spots in the lineup.

One player who should find himself highly scrutinized is Loui Eriksson, who has made it clear he wouldn’t mind a change of scenery as he has stated he isn’t a big fan of Travis Green and his coaching staff. Unfortunately, a trade might be challenging as Eriksson still has three years remaining at $6MM AAV. When Vancouver Sun’s Patrick Johnson asked general manager Jim Benning about the possibility of sending Eriksson to the Utica Comets of the AHL, Benning was slow to answer.

“I don’t have a direct answer for that right now,” he admitted.

Eriksson’s agent said he doesn’t expect his client to be waived or re-assigned to Utica. Not sure if Benning feels the same way.

  • With a large number of young wingers and recent two-way acquisitions this summer, the writing could be on the wall for winger Nick Ritchie, who still has two years remaining at a very reasonable $1.49MM. The 23-year-old hasn’t developed into the scoring power forward the team hoped for when they drafted him 10th overall in 2014 and he might be a perfect trade candidate, according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription required). Ritchie will have to fight for one of the left wing openings or he could find himself on a new team shortly.
  • Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins writes that while many people are questioning the Oilers decision-making in signing veteran goaltender Mike Smith after a disappointing campaign last year in Calgary, the numbers may tell a different story. While the 37-year-old goaltender finished with less than stellar numbers: 42 games, 2.72 GAA and a .898 save percentage, he did finish strong at the end of the season. In his seven of his last 10 regular-season games, Smith finished with a .923 save percentage or higher. He also did the same in three of the five playoff games he appeared in. He could bounce back in a big way.
  • The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required) looks at the Sharks salary cap situtation in 2020. The team should have $10.3MM in available salary cap space, but that doesn’t include an expected long-term deal for Kevin Labanc. However, the scribe notes that no matter what, the team will probably have to let defenseman Brenden Dillon go despite his value to the team’s blueline. However, if Radim Simek continues to get top-four minutes, Dillon would be only a third-pairing defenseman and wouldn’t be worth the $3.27MM he currently makes anyway, especially if he’s looking for a raise.

St. Louis Blues Sign Jordan Binnington To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by 11 Comments

The St. Louis Blues continue to lock up their players. A day after signing Robby Fabbri and Mitch Reinke Friday, St. Louis has come to terms with one of the stars of their Stanley Cup run as the Blues announced they have signed goaltender Jordan Binnington to a two-year deal with a $4.4MM AAV, avoiding arbitration with him. That deal gives him a slightly higher AAV than backup Jake Allen, who has a 4.35MM AAV.

“We are pleased to have Jordan signed for two more years,” added Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong. “His play was outstanding and we look forward to seeing him continue to be a major contributor for our team.”

Binnington may have been the difference for a team that was in 31st place on Jan. 2 and then finished one of the most remarkable runs in NHL history by winning the Stanley Cup. The team recalled Binnington from the AHL on Jan. 7 and the then-25-year-old posted an immediate shutout in his first start. The rookie then went 24-5-1 over the remainder of the season, putting up a 1.89 GAA and a .927 save percentage, seizing the No. 1 goalie job from Allen. Binnington continued that success throughout the playoffs, putting up a 16-10 playoff record, including a 2.46 GAA and a .914 save percentage, including one shutout.

While he’s been with the Blues organization for years, up until this year, he has been sitting in the AHL with no clear-cut shot at a job with the Blues. In fact, St. Louis didn’t have an AHL affiliate last year after the Vegas Golden Knights took their affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, and the Blues were forced to loan out their prospects to a pair of different affiliates. St. Louis actually loaned Binnington out to the Providence Bruins as they couldn’t find a place to put him. Regardless, he put up good numbers that year and was dominant in the first half of the season this year with their new affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, putting up a .927 save percentage in 16 starts.

Considering that he had made one NHL appearanIce in his career until now, many wondered what kind of contract that Binnington would receive as many people felt that he would have to prove he could repeat that string of success before he could earn a long-term contract. That proved to be true as Binnington will be betting on himself this year. The two years will take him to unrestricted free agency, which likely means that if Binnington can produce similar success next season, the Blues would likely want to sign the goaltender to an extension on July 1 next season so that Binnington wouldn’t end up on the open market in 2021.

With the signing, the Blues now have $7.12MM in projected cap space with a roster of 22 players. The team still has a number of restricted free agents, including Ivan Barbashev, Oskar Sundqvist, Joel Edmundson and Ville Husso.

 

 

Central Notes: Wild Physicality, Heinola, Boqvist

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Paul Fenton and the Minnesota Wild have made a lot of moves since the trade deadline last year and the general manager has started to put his mark on the franchise after taking over more than a year ago. However, one thing that many have noted is that the Wild have gotten much smaller over the last year with many wondering if that could affect the team’s success down the road.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) was asked that exact question in his most recent mailbag as the scribe notes that the Wild have traded off Charlie Coyle (6-foot-3) and Nino Niederreiter (6-foot-2), while getting back smaller, more finesse players in Kevin Fiala and Ryan Donato as the team seems to be without that physical edge that most teams feel they need to survive a 82-game season, something that the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues had an abundance of this past year.

Russo admits it’s a concern, but the team does have a number of smaller players, who are physical, including newly acquired Ryan Hartman, Luke Kunin and the team’s hopes that Jordan Greenway will begin to use his size to be more physical.

  • While the Winnipeg Jets’ trade of Jacob Trouba has been panned by almost everyone, the Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre writes that one aspect of the trade that many haven’t thought of is the value of the 2019 first-round pick they got along with unheralded defenseman Neal Pionk. The team selected defenseman Ville Heinola with the 20th pick in the draft as part of the deal. The blueliner almost immediately moves to the top of Winnipeg’s prospect list and could develop into a top-four option for years, although it could take a year or two until he arrives. Regardless, if Heinola does become a top-four regular and Pionk becomes a reliable option on defense as well, the deal doesn’t look that bad after all.
  • With the trade of Henri Jokiharju, the Chicago Blackhawks could find themselves with the potential need of a young player to step up for the team this season. NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis writes that  Adam Boqvist is expected to turn pro this year and is expected to play for the Rockford Ice Hogs in the AHL if he doesn’t make the Blackhawks’ team out of training camp. That’s good news for Chicago as Boqvist could have returned to the OHL for another year. The team’s first-round pick in 2018 (eighth-overall) scored 20 goals and 60 points in 54 games for the London Knights in his only season there.

Atlantic Notes: Divisional Upgrades?, McAvoy, Barre-Boulet

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Despite quite a bit of movement this offseason, it doesn’t look like much has changed in the Atlantic Division. With three teams that have dominated the division for the past few seasons, several teams were hoping to vault themselves into contention for the top of the Atlantic. However, The Athletic’s John Vogl (subscription required) analyzes each line of each divisional team and comes to the conclusion that little has changed.

The Boston Bruins are in the top half of the division on almost every line from forwards to defensemen and especially show off their defensive depth to still be ranked at the top. The Toronto Maple Leafs have also improved their team with a number of defensive additions and have quite a bit of forward depth as always, but their third-pairing depth is expected to be at the bottom of the division. Tampa Bay continues to be one of the strongest teams with a number of top lines throughout the division.

While many feel that Florida has taken that next step after the team signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and added a pair of depth forwards in Brett Connolly and Noel Acciari, the Panthers find themselves in the middle of the pack for most of their lines. Even Bobrovsky doesnt’ give Florida that big of an advantage considering that he’s now in a division with Frederik Andersen, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tuukka Rask and Carey Price.

  • The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes that after the Boston Bruins inked forward Danton Heinen to a two-year deal at $2.8MM AAV, the Bruins will now focus their attention on their two most challenging restricted free agents in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. The negotiations should prove challenging as the team hopes to keep their combined total to under $10MM per season. The team should be able to handle that. However, if they combine for closer to $11-12MM, the team will have to make some roster moves to free up some cap space. McAvoy, who has scored 14 goals and 60 points over two seasons and has proven the ability to be the team’s lead defenseman should get the most of that money, but Carlo’s development seems to have increased his value during the playoffs and he should get quite a raise as well.
  • With some openings at the bottom of their offensive depth chart, NHL.com’s Bryan Burns writes in his recent mailbag piece that there are a number of AHL players that are ready to challenge for these openings, including Alex Barre-Boulet, Carter Verhaeghe at the top of the list. Barre-Boulet, who the team signed out of the QMJHL after he went undrafted, dominated in his first season in the AHL last season, while Verhaeghe finally posted a dominant season with the Syracuse Crunch after toiling in the ECHL for several years. Tampa Bay, which has proven to be proficient in developing their players for NHL duty, also have a number of other prospects close to ready as well, including Alexander Volkov, Mitchell Stephens and Cory Conacher.

Snapshots: Blue Jackets, Marner, Boqvist

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The Columbus Blue Jackets have made several changes in their front office, adding Craig Hartsburg, Troy Dumville, Mikko Makela and Lukas Suter to their scouting department while hiring Niklas Backstrom as a European goaltending coach, Zac Urback as a hockey analyst and Jon Hamre as a video coach. Danny Flynn, Dave Peters and Jared Boll have all been promoted to full-time. Chris Morehouse, Marshall Davidson, Derek Ginnell and Austin Powell have all left the organization.

One name that might stick out is Backstrom, who had a long NHL career with the Minnesota Wild. The 41-year old goaltender actually played in Finland the last three seasons, even going 11-2-1 with a .920 save percentage for Tappara Tampere in 2018-19. Backstrom appeared in 413 NHL games over his career (just four of which were with a team other than the Wild) but will now transition into the next chapter of his hockey story.

  • Speaking of the Blue Jackets, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweeted today that Columbus did indeed speak with Mitch Marner’s camp at some point this summer about a potential offer sheet, but he sees “no indication” that the young forward wants to leave the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marner’s name has been brought up in offer sheet speculation for months, but no team has yet convinced him to actually sign one. The Blue Jackets can only sign an offer sheet in the highest or lowest compensation tiers (either over $10.57MM or under $1.4MM AAV) because of their current draft pick situation.
  • New Jersey Devils assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald spoke with Corey Masisak of The Athletic today, and explained that prospect Jesper Boqvist will either be playing in New Jersey or Sweden next season. The 20-year old center just scored 35 points in 51 games for Brynas in the SHL, but won’t be spending any time in the AHL this year. A second-round pick from 2017, Boqvist is a talented offensive player who signed his entry-level contract last month with the Devils but also had his contract with Brynas extended in February.

Minor Transactions: 07/12/19

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Ryan Dzingel and Jack Hughes may have been the biggest news stories of the day, but more has happened in the hockey world. As always, we’re here to keep track of all the minor moves around the league:

  • The Bridgeport Sound Tigers have signed seven players, inking Steve Bernier, John Stevens, Nick Schilkey, Nic Pierog, Kyle MacLean, Mike Cornell and Ryan MacKinnon to one-year AHL contracts. Bernier is likely the most recognizable name in the group, as the 34-year old was a first-round pick and played 637 NHL games. Bernier has spent the last three seasons with the Sound Tigers, scoring 24 goals and 42 points last year.
  • Juho Lammikko has returned to Finland instead of re-signing with the Florida Panthers. The  23-year old forward played 40 games with Florida last season but failed to score a single goal and recorded just six assists. A third-round pick in 2014, his rights will be retained thanks to the qualifying offer extended from the Panthers last month but Lammikko will play for Karpat this season in Finland’s top league.
  • The Iowa Wild have signed Mitch McLain, Nick Boka, Alex Breton and Jack Sadek to AHL contracts for the 2019-20 season, bringing in some more depth for the organization. McLain returns to the team after spending his first full professional season with Iowa last year, scoring 20 points in 58 games. Boka meanwhile will stay in the Minnesota system after four years at the University of Michigan, despite his exclusive draft rights expiring later this summer.

Minor Transactions: 07/11/19

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Another day closer to the start of the 2019-20 regular season, and another few contracts signed by minor league players. Like always, we’ll keep an eye on the fringes for you:

  • The Hershey Bears are bringing back Erik Burgdoerfer on an AHL contract after he spent the last several seasons trying to establish himself in the NHL. An undrafted free agent out of RPI, the defenseman had to battle through several seasons in the ECHL before getting a real shot in the AHL with Hershey in 2014. After playing eight NHL games split between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators, he’s back with the Bears for 2019-20.
  • Ben Sexton did enough in 26 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season to earn a new AHL contract with them. The team has re-signed the 28-year old forward to a one-year minor league pact after he recorded 10 points and 31 penalty minutes in those 26 contests. A veteran of just two NHL games (also with the Senators), Sexton will serve as an experienced hand for the Penguins as Mike Vellucci tries to turn the program around.

Minor Transactions: 07/10/19

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Like always, as teams prepare their organizational depth charts for the upcoming season we’ll be right here tracking all the minor moves:

  • The Stockton Heat have signed three players to AHL contracts, bringing in Zac Leslie, Alex Gallant and Jeremy McKenna. While the first two already have plenty of AHL experience, McKenna will be getting his first taste of professional hockey after scoring 45 goals and 97 points for the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats last season. The 20-year old appeared at both Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames development camp recently and earned himself a deal.
  • The Belleville Senators have signed Jack Dougherty to a one-year AHL contract, bringing in the former top prospect to fight for playing time in the minor leagues. Dougherty was originally selected in the second round in 2014, but failed to receive a qualifying offer last month from the Buffalo Sabres and became an unrestricted free agent.

Snapshots: Appleby, Skinner, Knights

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Goaltender Ken Appleby will have to settle for an AHL contract again this season. The 24-year-old has signed a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Admirals, affiliate of the Nashville Predators, the team announced. Appleby spent much of last season on a minor league contract with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, but was signed to an NHL deal at the trade deadline to serve as a depth option for the Winnipeg Jets. Appleby will hope that his play earns him another NHL contract, during this season or next summer.

Appleby continues to be a tough keeper to nail down. A standout with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, Appleby earned a three-year entry level contract with the New Jersey Devils as an undrafted prospect. In his first pro season in 2015-16, Appleby largely played in the ECHL, but put up good numbers and performed well in limited AHL action. The next year, he again dominated in ECHL to begin the year but quickly was called up to play a key role in the AHL and put up good albeit unspectacular numbers. In the final year of his ELC, Appleby’s AHL performance slipped somewhat, but he made three NHL appearances and was stellar, posting a .945 save percentage and 1.45 GAA. Yet, Appleby inexplicably failed to garner NHL attention last summer and, after signing with Manitoba, struggled greatly in the AHL and ended up back down in the ECHL. It’s unclear what to expect from the roller coaster goaltender, but at the very least the Admirals add an experienced netminder who has shown flashes of brilliance.

  • New York Rangers prospect Hunter Skinner is shifting his development plan. A fourth-round pick out of the USHL last month, Skinner was expected to play one more year of junior before heading to Western Michigan University. That all changed today when Skinner signed with the OHL’s London Knights, effectively ruling out the NCAA route. London used a fifth-round pick on Skinner in the 2017 OHL Draft and have made good on that gamble by convincing Skinner to change lanes and play major junior. However, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the Michigan native backed out of his WMU commitment. A big right-handed defenseman who is ahead of the game physically but still raw in his skill and IQ, the Rangers reached for Skinner in the fourth round. It’s not a stretch to think that they used that leverage to influence this decision, perhaps preferring to see Skinner play against stronger competition sooner rather than later to start developing those abilities. The Broncos are definitely disappointed to lose a promising prospect, but Skinner is in good hands in London, a premiere NHL feeder program led by Dale and Mark Hunter.
  • Speaking of which, former London Knight Will Lochead has signed his first pro contract with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. Lochead actually began classes at the University of Western Ontario last year and had intended to continue there, but after a breakout season opted to pursue the pro route. The aggressive defenseman recorded a career-high 17 points in 54 games for the Knights and continued to show that he is not afraid to throw his body around and play a fast-tempo game. The Thunderbirds are taking a chance on a young, undrafted player without much production to show for in his junior career, but who brings room for growth and an exciting style.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top