Avalanche Notes: Landeskog, Kempf, Mandolese
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has been ramping up his skating in recent weeks as he attempts to get ready to attempt a comeback in the playoffs. He’ll begin the next phase this weekend, as Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette reports (Twitter link) that the winger will skate with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles today and then practice with the Avs on Monday. Landeskog hasn’t played since the 2022 playoffs when he helped lead Colorado to the Stanley Cup with continued knee trouble. With the team using Landeskog’s LTIR space to make additions at the trade deadline (including Brock Nelson and Ryan Lindgren), the 32-year-old can’t return for the stretch run but it looks as if there’s a chance he could be available to them for the playoffs.
More from Colorado:
- The Eagles announced the signing of defenseman Hank Kempf to a two-year contract beginning next season plus an ATO to finish up this year. The Avalanche acquired the 22-year-old from the Rangers in late February as part of the Lindgren trade and he recently wrapped up his college career at Cornell where he had seven points in 36 games this season. This contract means that the Avs intend to let Kempf’s NHL rights lapse, technically making him an unrestricted free agent in mid-August but they’ll keep him in the organization for now with this deal.
- Kevin Mandolese’s stint with the big club was short-lived. The Avalanche returned him to the Eagles, relays Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports (Twitter link). He was recalled on Wednesday, serving as the backup on Thursday with Mackenzie Blackwood not in uniform for that game. The 24-year-old has played in 17 games with the Eagles this season, putting up a 2.86 GAA along with a .905 SV% and has just three career NHL appearances under his belt, all coming with Ottawa during the 2022-23 campaign.
Canucks Recall Max Sasson
With the Canucks dealing with more injuries up front with Nils Aman leaving practice early Friday and Nils Hoglander’s availability in question, they’ve added some extra forward depth. Per the NHL’s Media Site, Vancouver has once again recalled winger Max Sasson from AHL Abbotsford.
It’s the eighth recall of the season for the 24-year-old NHL rookie. Sasson has played in 24 games with Vancouver this season, collecting two goals and four assists while averaging a little over ten minutes a night of playing time. However, none of those appearances have come since late January as aside from a brief recall late last month, he has exclusively played in the minors.
Sasson had a strong first professional year in 2023-24, picking up 18 goals and 24 assists in 56 games with Abbotsford. Despite the frequent travel to and from the big club, he has produced at a similar clip in terms of per-game numbers this year, tallying 10 goals and 17 helpers through 39 AHL appearances.
While not specified, it’s likely that Sasson’s recall will qualify as an emergency one given the uncertainty with the injuries to Raty and Hoglander. Accordingly, it won’t count against their post-deadline regular recall limit of four.
Pacific Notes: Draisaitl, Frederic, Gudas, Mølgaard
The Edmonton Oilers will again be without star forward Leon Draisaitl in their lineup. According to team TV host Tony Brar, Draisaitl has sustained a minor lower-body injury, although it’s unrelated to his previous ailment.
Draisaitl had recently missed four consecutive games for Edmonton with an undisclosed injury. Upon his return on April 1st, the 11-year veteran tallied one goal and one assist against the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks. Thankfully for the Oilers, there’s no concern that Draisaitl’s recent string of injuries will impact his availability for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
On a more positive injury note for Edmonton, Brar also reported there is a “slight” chance that Trent Frederic could debut with the team tomorrow against the Los Angeles Kings. Frederic is still recovering from a lower-body injury suffered in February when he was rostered with the Boston Bruins.
Other notes from the Pacfic Division:
- Contrary to a report from yesterday evening, Anaheim Ducks’ captain, Radko Gudas, isn’t headed for the operating room this off-season (Tweet Link). The initial was generated to contextualize Gudas’s “struggles” this season, but it doesn’t appear to be based on much accuracy. Gudas has essentially only struggled with his possession quality this year, as his physicality and defensive metrics (both of which he’s excelled at his entire career) have improved.
- Moving to a prospect note, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, announced that prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard is joining the team for the remainder of the season. Mølgaard, the 52nd overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, recently finished a strong campaign with the SHL’s HV71, scoring five goals and 19 points in 38 contests.
Canadiens Sign Jacob Fowler To Entry-Level Contract
April 4: Montreal made Fowler’s signing official this morning. PuckPedia has the terms of his deal, which carries a cap hit of $923K:
2025-26: $775K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus
2026-27 + 2027-28: $885K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $500K Schedule ‘A’ performance bonus
April 3: The Montreal Canadiens are expected to announce the signing of star goalie prospect Jacob Fowler to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning in the 2025-26 season on Friday. The move was first reported by Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gambler. It was seconded by PuckPedia and sources available to PHR. The move was also mentioned as the likeliest outcome by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Wednesday. In alignment with LeBrun’s thoughts, PuckPedia has added that Fowler is expected to finish the season on a try-out agreement with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Fowler is near the very top of the list for best goalie prospects currently outside of North American pros. He’s been a terror in every league he’s played in, dating back to his junior debut with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms. Fowler moved to the USHL after growing up through Florida Alliance AAA and Selects Academy AAA – two programs with little in the way of superstar alums during his tenure. But he came into the USHL with full force, recording a tremendous 11-4-1 record and .927 save percentage in his first 18 USHL games playing in the latter half of Youngstown’s season. That mark continues to stand as the highest save percentage of any U18 goalie in USHL history, among those with more than 15 games played.
Fowler followed up his record-breaking introduction to the USHL with a legacy season in 2022-23. He posted an incredible 27-9-3 record and .921 save percentage through 40 games that season while leading Youngstown to a clear spot in the USHL playoffs. Not to be outdone, Fowler became a Youngstown legend in the postseason – recording an incredible 8-1-0 record and .952 save percentage in nine games played to lead the Phantoms to the first Clark Cup Championship in franchise history. He earned the USHL’s Goalie of the Year and Playoff MVP awards for his performances. More importantly, the Montreal Canadiens also landed Fowler with the 69th-overall pick in the ensuing 2023 NHL Draft. He was the sixth goalie off the board that year, after the second round saw Adam Gajan, Michael Hrabal, Trey Augustine, Carson Bjarnason, and Damian Clara all taken off the board.
With this move, Fowler becomes the third goaltender of his class to sign their first pro
contract. He earned that deal with two fantastic seasons behind a loaded Boston College after his draft selection. Fowler stepped immediately into the Eagles’ starting role as a freshman last season and made them look genius for the decision. He only lost seven games on the season – posting a 32-6-1 record and a .926 save percentage in 39 games played. That performance earned Fowler the Hockey East ‘Goaltender of the Year’ award, making him the first freshman to take home the hardware since Cayden Primeau in 2017-18. Primeau was himself the first freshman to win since Connor Hellebuyck in 2012-13 and Thatcher Demko in 2013-14.
In natural fashion, Fowler found a way to improve his performance this year. Behind a slightly weaker BC lineup, he recorded a 25-7-2 record and a .940 save percentage in 35 games. That was the second-highest save percentage of the college hockey season, behind only Alexander Tracy of Minnesota State. The brick-wall performance earned Fowler a unanimous vote for Hockey East’s ‘Goalie of the Year’ award this season, making him just the fourth goalie to ever win it in back-to-back years and the latest since Primeau.
It is that momentum that Fowler will bring into his first pro games in the Montreal organization. But he might have even more reason to prove his worth after attending in person the NHL debut of BC teammates Ryan Leonard and Gabriel Perreault. Fowler will need the extra oomph to win out ice time on a Laval roster currently being spearheaded by none other than Cayden Primeau. The former Hockey East superstar Primeau has recorded a fantastic 19-2-1 record and .922 save percentage in 22 AHL games this season, though his year has been held just shy of truly spectacular by a .836 save percentage in 11 NHL games. Nonetheless, Primeau will be the Rocket’s clear-cut starter for the remaining nine games in their regular season.
That means Fowler will be in contention with backups Connor Hughes and Luke Cavallin for ice time. Hughes has posted a stout 15-11-3 record and .906 save percentage in 28 games – earning the edge in most games played on the team while Primeau was with the NHL lineup. Cavallin hasn’t been nearly as exciting, with a 1-1-0 record and a .897 save percentage in three AHL games. With plenty of hype behind him, Fowler shouldn’t have a problem earning one or two games before the end of the year. Should he perform well, he could quickly become a glue guy for a Laval team with high playoff hopes in mind. The Rocket rank on top of the AHL with 92 points as the season is drawing to a close and will be a favorite to go the distance – especially after they add a star prospect with a rich history of taking home multiple pieces of hardware.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Blues Assign Dalibor Dvorsky To AHL
Dalibor Dvorsky’s first NHL stint was a short-lived one. After being recalled for the first time a little more than a week ago, the Blues announced that the center has been sent back to AHL Springfield.
Dvorsky was the tenth overall pick back in 2023 and even though he’s just 19, he is eligible to play full-time in the minors this year since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL. He’s done well this season with the Thunderbirds, collecting 20 goals and 23 assists in 57 games, ranking him in the top ten in points for a player considering that he’s still junior-eligible. Dvorsky got into one game with St. Louis while on recall but was held off the scoresheet in 10:40 of playing time.
With Jimmy Snuggerud signing and jumping right into the lineup, the Blues clearly feel that Dvorsky would be best served getting regular minutes in the minors over sporadically playing at the NHL level, a decision that certainly makes sense from a development perspective.
His assignment also helps the Blues duck a little more below the $88MM spending threshold which is notable in the sense that it allows them to bank a bit more cap space to apply against their achieved bonuses, an amount that already has reached $1.725MM thanks to Ryan Suter meeting his games played targets. Any dollar that they can save in cap space now is a dollar less of a carry-over penalty they’ll face next season, so keeping Dvorsky up to sit him would also have served little value on that front.
Panthers Recall Jaycob Megna, Reassign Tobias Bjornfot
The Florida Panthers have swapped depth defensemen on the roster, assigning Tobias Bjornfot to the minor league and recalling Jaycob Megna per the AHL Transactions Log. Bjornfot will return to the minors after appearing in Florida’s last six games. He manageed no scoring, two penalty minutes, and a minus-five in the appearances.
Bjornfot is now up to no scoring and a minus-three through 14 NHL appearances this season. He’s had a bit better footing in the minor leagues, where he’s potted 16 points, 22 penalty minutes, and a plus-one in 43 games. Bjornfot has developed into more-and-more of a stay-at-home defenseman as his professional career progresses, though his lack of offense at the top flight has made him hard to routinely trust.
With a three-game road trip on the horizon, Florida will opt to instead reward Megna with the first call-up of his season. He’s matched Bjornfot’s AHL scoring, with 16 points in 64 games of his own. Megna adds to that 23 penalty minutes and a strong plus-26, which ranks second on the Charlotte Checkers. The six-foot-six defender appeared in 44 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last season – recording two assists, 22 penalty minutes, and a minus-15. He’s totaled 27 points in 185 career games in the NHL, and 114 points in 434 games in the AHL. Megna could be in store to step immediately into the NHL roster on this recall, headed for the third-line left-defender role that Bjornfot previously occupied.
Predators Prospect Gunnarwolfe Fontaine Signs ATO With Iowa Wild
It appears the Nashville Predators will elect not to sign 2020 seventh-round draft pick Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, who has instead signed an amateur try-out with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. The Predators were set to lose Fontaine’s rights at the end of this season if they didn’t sign him to his entry-level contract. They’ll expedite the process here, allowing Fontaine to turn pro in the AHL after completing his graduate season at The Ohio State University.
Fontaine was drafted after his second season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. He scored 26 goals and 57 points in 45 USHL games that season, apt support to a Steel roster that also contained Brendan Brisson, Sam Colangelo, Mackie Samoskevich, and Matthew Coronato. Fontaine followed his draft selection by moving to Northeastern University for the 2020-21 campaign. He scored a stout six goals and 15 points in 21 games of his freshman season, and grew to 25 points in 39 games in his sophomore year.
But Fontaine seemed to plateau a bit after the 2021-22 season. His scoring dipped as high-tier teammates like Cameron Lund and Justin Hryckowian began challenging his ice time. Fontaine managed 30 points in 35 games as a junior and fell to 27 points in 36 games in 2023-24. He failed to find his groove as Northeastern’s leading playdriver – sparking a search for bigger minutes at OSU in his graduate year. Fontaine did grow to 40 points in 40 games in the Big Ten – marking his first point-per-game season since his draft-year campaign in the USHL. He’ll look to bring that momentum to the AHL, with hopes that strong play can push him back into the attention of NHL clubs.
Predators Sign Cole O’Hara To Two-Year Contract
The Nashville Predators have signed forward Cole O’Hara to a two-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2025-26 season. He will spend the rest of this season on a try-out with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. O’Hara’s third college season came to an end on March 29th, after his University of Massachusetts Minutemen lost to the Western Michigan Broncos in the national tournament.
O’Hara broke out in a big way this season. He scored a UMass-leading 22 goals and 51 points in just 40 games. That was more than he scored in his first two collegiate seasons – 17 points as a freshman, and 18 as a sophomore – combined. Many of those points came from O’Hara’s knack for controlling the puck from low-to-high – getting it on his stick below the goal-line and deking through defenders to find time and space at the tops of the circles. He excelled at getting the puck through traffic, and was helped along by the strong physical presence of Lucas Mercuri in front of the net.
The Predators drafted O’Hara in the fourth-round of the 2022 NHL Draft. He scored 25 goals and 73 points in 58 games in the USHL in his draft year – again on the back of a strong ability to work around the offensive-zone with the puck. O’Hara led the Tri-City Storm in scoring that season, ahead of a roster that featured Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Gavin Brindley and Seattle Kraken prospect Lleyton Roed. O’Hara will now join his former teammates in the AHL. He’ll be looking to hang on to his strong puck-handling while his slight frame adjusts to the pro ranks.
Avalanche Recall Kevin Mandolese
The Colorado Avalanche have recalled goaltender Kevin Mandolese ahead of their upcoming three-game road trip. This is Mandolese’s second recall of the season, after previously spending four days on the NHL roster in November.
It seems clear that Mandolese’s call-up is solely for depth. He has served as Colorado’s AHL backup this season, setting a 10-6-0 record and .905 save percentage in 17 appearances. But Mandolese has begun splitting the role with Adam Scheel, who has a 10-2-2 record and .904 save percentage in the AHL this season, including three shutouts. The 25-year-old Scheel is one year older than Mandolese, and will now step into the full AHL backup role while Mandolese supports the Avalanche.
This recall could give Mandolese a chance to play in his first NHL game since the 2022-23 campaign, when he managed a .916 Sv% in three games with the Ottawa Senators. Those have been the only NHL games of his career to this point. He’s also tallied a career .898 Sv% in 83 games and five seasons in the AHL, and a .921 in 15 games in the ECHL. The Avalanche are expected to start backup Scott Wedgewood on Wednesday, per team play-by-play announcer Conor McGahey. It is Wedgewood’s second consecutive start. He was backed up by usual starter Mackenzie Blackwood on Monday, but Mandolese’s presence could give Colorado a chance to give Blackwood a break from the lineup. Blackwood has started in all but 10 of Colorado’s 37 games since the start of 2025.
Oilers Sign Damien Carfagna To Two-Year Contract
Apr. 1: PuckPedia shared the terms of Carfagna’s two-year entry-level contract with the Oilers earlier today. He’ll earn a salary of $775K at the NHL level and $85K at the AHL level. Additionally, Carfagna will receive an $87.5K signing bonus for each year of the deal and have access to $12.5K in performance bonuses for an unspecified number of games played. After including his signing bonus, Carfagna’s cap hit rises to $862.5K each year of the contract.
Mar. 31: The Edmonton Oilers have joined in on the race for college free agents. The team announced they’ve signed junior-year defenseman Damien Carfagna from The Ohio State University. Carfagna has agreed to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in the 2025-26 season. There has so far been no indication on if he will join the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors through the end of the season.
Carfagna becomes yet another undrafted college free agent to earn a pro deal. He just wrapped up a fantastic season with the Ohio State Buckeyes, ranking second in scoring on the team’s blue-line with seven goals and 28 points in 38 games. Carfagna transferred to OSU ahead of the 2023-24 season, after spending his freshman year at the University of New Hampshire. He posted a modest 16 points, two penalty minutes, and minus-15 in 35 games with UNH, then fell to just six points in 34 games with Ohio State last year. At a glance, it seemed Carfagna’s search for a bigger role at a bigger school had flunked – as he fell from UNH’s second pair to Ohio State’s third pair. But he regained plenty of ground this season, and had his feet planted on Ohio State’s top pairing by the end of the season.
Carfagna is a stout five-foot-11, 170-pound defenseman who excels at making plays over both blue-lines. He’s strong on the puck and has grown substantially in his ability to play through contact – though he’s still working on his ability to clear out the danger areas of the ice. His ascension to OSU’s top role was built on a stellar ability to move the puck, and his great stylistic compliment to fellow nimble puck-mover Aiden Hansen-Bukata. Carfagna will likely need a hardy runway to translate his smart plays and responsible positioning to the pro flight, but his ability to support the breakout and join the rush should soon stand out.