Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

AHL

Minor Transactions: 7/10/24

at CDT | by 1 Comment

As the NHL transaction activity dries up, we’re seeing an uptick in their farm teams making moves to add to their roster for the upcoming season.  Here’s a rundown of today’s movement.

  • After spending last season with AHL Charlotte on an NHL contract with Florida, goaltender Mack Guzda is returning to the Checkers but this time on a minor league deal as the team announced they’ve signed him to a one-year contract. The 23-year-old was limited to just two games last season due to injury but made 29 appearances in 2022-23 where he had a 2.88 GAA with a .897 SV%.  Guzda was non-tendered by Florida last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.
  • Former Calgary farmhand Riley Damiani is off to Germany as Augsberger of the DEL has signed him to a one-year deal per a team release. The 24-year-old split last season between Dallas and Calgary after being part of the Chris Tanev deal before the trade deadline.  Damiani had 11 goals and 13 assists in 67 games between the two teams which wasn’t enough to yield him a qualifying offer in June.
  • Boston’s farm team in Providence announced a pair of additions in forward Evan Vierling and defenseman Mason Millman on one-year deals. Vierling played his first professional campaign last season and the 22-year-old was productive in limited AHL duty, notching seven points in eight games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while adding 25 points in 34 ECHL contests.  As for Millman, the 22-year-old picked up four assists in 15 games with AHL Lehigh Valley last season while adding 26 more in 44 ECHL appearances.
  • Veteran defenseman Robbie Russo is heading for a second stint in Tucson, per a team release. The 31-year-old spent two seasons with the Roadrunners before moving on in 2020.  Last season, Russo recorded 30 points in 69 games with Utica.  He has 19 career NHL appearances under his belt, all with Detroit back in the 2016-17 campaign.
  • Winger Marcel Marcel will remain in Rockford as the IceHogs announced that they’ve re-signed him to a one-year deal. Rather than return to major junior for a final season, the 20-year-old opted to turn pro and got into 26 games with Rockford where he had five assists.  With Chicago adding considerable depth over the summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Marcel spend more time with ECHL Indy next season.

Morning Notes: KHL, Megna, Damiani

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Legalities in how Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League operates have become important in recent months. Their relationship with the IIHF and Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) left their clubs open to sanctions when KHL side CSKA Moskva signed Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov to a two-year contract last summer despite his having a valid contract with Philadelphia. That will no longer be the case, as the KHL released a statement yesterday announcing that they’ve gained independence from the IIHF and FHR, giving them a similar status internationally as the NHL. In doing so, KHL clubs no longer need IIHF permission or governance to sign players from foreign leagues – likely the biggest reason for the move. In their statement, the league said they’ll “continue to respect the validity of contracts of other leagues” and that “Experience with the NHL shows that both parties continue to fulfill their obligations even in the absence of a signed Memorandum.”

Other updates to kick off your Wednesday:

  • The AHL’s Colorado Eagles have signed UFA forward Jayson Megna to a two-year contract, the team announced yesterday. Megna, 34, spent last season on a two-way deal with the Bruins, which yielded a lone call-up for their final game of the regular season. The Fort Lauderdale native spent parts of four seasons with the Eagles while under contract with the Avalanche from 2019-20 to 2022-23, posting 82 points (41 goals, 41 assists) in 103 games. The Nebraska-Omaha product has 204 NHL appearances under his belt since making his debut with the Penguins back in 2013-14, amassing 12 goals, 21 assists and 33 points with a -28 rating in fourth-line minutes.
  • Former Flames and Stars prospect Riley Damiani is taking his talents overseas on a one-year deal with Augsburger Panther of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga, per a club announcement. The 24-year-old pivot was a Dallas fifth-round pick in 2018, but after parts of five seasons with their AHL affiliate, he was traded to the Flames for Emilio Pettersen at this year’s trade deadline. Damiani finished the season with only one goal in 14 games while on assignment to AHL Calgary and wasn’t given a qualifying offer upon the expiration of his contract last month, making him a UFA. Damiani made seven NHL appearances for Dallas back in 2021-22, posting a goal and an assist while averaging 8:32 per game.

Minor League Signings: 7/9/24

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

As the summer calms down for NHL teams, it’s beginning to pick up for minor league programs looking to fill out the depth of their lineup. We cover the notable AHL signings from July 9th here.

  • The Ontario Reign have signed forward Shawn Element and defender John Parker-Jones. Element is moving north after spending the first three years of his career with the Syracuse Crunch. He’s found his groove as a bruiser over the last two seasons, posting 88 penalty minutes in 48 games last season and 100 in 64 games this year. His scoring has stayed consistent during the stretch, with Element marking nine goals and 18 points in both years. He’ll look to bring that grit to a hard-hitting Reign lineup. The same can be said about Parker-Jones, who recorded 90 penalty minutes in 55 games with the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions this year. He’s only played 22 AHL games since turning pro in 2022-23, recording just three points, but could get a better shot at ice time as he moves to a Reign lineup in need of defensive depth.
  • The Henderson Silver Knights have signed centerman Mitch McLain to a two-year deal. The move will return McLain to the United States, after spending the last two seasons with the Calgary Wranglers. He recorded 32 goals, 51 points, and 220 penalty minutes in 119 games over the pair of years. The performances have helped McLain further dig his feet into the role of a high-event forward, after posting 17 goals, 23 points, and 113 penalty minutes in 76 games with the Milwaukee Admirals in 2021-22. He’ll hope his bruting presence can continue to Henderson, where he’ll back a young Silver Knights lineup.
  • Henderson has also announced one-year deals for forwards Riley McKay and Braeden Bowman. McKay joins the Silver Knights after two years with the Laval Rocket and a brief stint with Trois-Rivieres. He’s recorded 17 points and 266 penalty minutes in 69 games with Laval – though he’s still searching for the heights he reached in 2021-22, when he managed 27 points and 192 penalty minutes in 51 ECHL games. Meanwhile, Bowman joins the Silver Knights as an undrafted free agent, after playing through a four-year career with the OHL’s Guelph Storm. Bowman managed 180 points across 184 games in the OHL and captained Guelph in this past season.
  • The Charlotte Checkers have signed veteran AHL centerman Kyle Criscuolo to a one-year, minor-league contract. Criscuolo has spent the last 10 seasons in the AHL, playing for six different clubs and winning the Calder Cup in 2017. The 32-year-old has managed 143 points and 248 penalty minutes in 430 career games in the AHL. That includes Criscuolo’s career-high 42 points in 63 games this year. He’s also earned spot starts with three different NHL clubs, ultimately totaling 16 games and three points in the league. Criscuolo has a long track record in the hockey world, captaining Harvard University from 2014 to 2016 and since spending five years of his AHL career as an alternate captain. He’ll bring leadership and stout scoring to Charlotte’s lineup.
  • Former Colorado Eagles captain Jayson Megna will stick with the team, after signing a two-year, minor-league contract (Twitter link). Megna spent parts of four seasons with the Eagles from 2019 to 2023, though he opted to sign a one-year, two-way deal with the Boston Bruins last summer. That moved him to the Providence Bruins for the 2023-24 season – to fantastic effect, with Megna posting a career-high 56 points in 69 games. It was the most time Megna has spent in the minors since 2018-19, spending much of his time since then filling a depth forward role int he NHL. He’s earned 33 points and 40 penalty minutes in 204 NHL games over the course of his career, but will instead focus on bringing his newfound scoring back to the Eagles next season.
  • The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have re-signed forward Jacob Gaucher to a one-year deal, per Tony Androckitis of AHL.com (Twitter link). Gaucher played through his AHL rookie season this year, posting 16 points, split evenly, in 59 games and adding just 18 penatly minutes and a -7. The measly stat line comes after a tremendous ECHL season last year. In what was his first professional season, Gaucher posted 22 goals and 61 points in 71 games with the Reading Royals, adding 12 points in 11 playoff games. That performance has seemingly played him out of an ECHL role, though he’ll need to find his scoring at an AHL level next year if he wants to keep things that way.

Iowa Wild Hire Nathan McIver As Assistant Coach

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild has continued to round out their coaching staff by adding former defenseman Nathan McIver as an assistant coach according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. It will be McIver’s second stint as a coach in the AHL and will join Brett McLean’s staff in Iowa who is entering his second season with the organization.

The hire will serve as an introduction to the Minnesota Wild organization for McIver who spent 10 years as a player in the AHL and NHL. McIver began his professional playing career in the 2005-06 season with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and would make his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks only a year later. The bruising defenseman became known as an enforcer throughout his days on the blue line while also spending time with the Anaheim Ducks organization, the Providence Bruins, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Hamilton Bulldogs, and the Norfolk Admirals.

It didn’t take long for McIver to find a new line of work after his playing days ended following the 2015-16 season. The veteran AHL defenseman spent four years as the assistant coach with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals where the team finished either second or third in the Eastern Conference during each year of his tenure. McIver moved on to the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers in the same role for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons before taking a brief stop as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Belleville Senators last year.

Tucson Roadrunners Re-Sign Three Players

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League have brought back a trio of players for the 2024-25 AHL season. Goaltender Dylan Wells and forwards Ryan McGregor and Hunter Drew will all be back with the Roadrunners next year on one-year AHL contracts.

Wells and Drew are the only individuals of the trio that have made their NHL debut with Wells making one start in 2023 with the Chicago Blackhawks and Drew making his a year earlier with the Anaheim Ducks. The goaltender has almost a decade of experience at the professional level between the AHL and ECHL. Overall, Wells has produced a record of 26-23-7 in 60 AHL games throughout his career while posting a .898 save percentage and 3.20 goals against average. He will likely continue his role as backup goaltender for Tucson behind Matt Villalta.

Drew has become quite the enforcer in the minor leagues as he’s accrued 452 penalty minutes in 223 games split between the Roadrunners, San Diego Gulls, and Rockford IceHogs. He usually produces mildly on the offensive side of the puck but did register 10 goals for Tucson last season in a fine year for secondary/tertiary scoring.

McGregor, the former captain of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, has become an effective bottom-six forward in Tucson. McGregor was originally drafted by the Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Draft but only suited up in four games for the Toronto Marlies before the organization decided not to keep him around. Since then, McGregor has scored 20 goals and 54 points for the Roadrunners in 156 games over the last four years.

Penguins’ AHL Affiliate Signs Dan Renouf

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Penguins are gaining some veteran organizational depth on the back end, with their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton announcing the signing of defenseman Dan Renouf to a one-year deal today. Renouf can still sign a deal with any NHL club, but he projects to start the season on the farm with Pittsburgh’s prospects.

Renouf didn’t see any NHL action last season and made only one appearance with the Bruins in 2022-23, although he’s also seen NHL ice in the 2016-17, 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns with the Avalanche and Red Wings. The two-time Calder Cup champion was a UFA this summer after completing a two-year, two-way deal with Boston that paid him an AHL salary of $400K each season. He has three assists and a -6 rating in his 24 career NHL appearances.

The 30-year-old has been an AHL fixture since signing with Detroit as an undrafted free agent in 2016, skating in over 450 minor league games over nine seasons. He’s served as a physical, defensively sound presence and logged heavy minutes for farm clubs in Charlotte, Colorado, Grand Rapids and Providence, posting 118 career points (19 goals, 99 assists) with 577 PIMs and a +102 rating. The left-shot defender plays bigger than his 6’1″, 198-lb frame suggests.

He addresses a major need for experience on the Baby Pens’ blue line next season, which was only set to boast 27-year-old Ryan Shea and his fewer than 200 games of AHL service as its elder statesmen. He’ll likely serve as a mentor to Pittsburgh’s big-fish blue-line prospect in 20-year-old Owen Pickering – the 6’5″ 2022 first-rounder will play in his first full pro season in 2024-25, likely with WBS.

Hurricanes Sign Josiah Slavin

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Josiah Slavin to a two-year, two-way contract (Twitter link). The deal will carry a league-minimum $775K cap hit at the NHL level, and pay out $150K at the AHL level – though $450K is guaranteed.

Slavin was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He transitioned to Colorado College two seasons later, then turned pro following the end of his sophomore season in 2020-21. He posted seven points through his first 15 games with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, setting him up well for a strong rookie season the following year.

Slavin took advantage of the chance, netting 18 goals and 32 points in 49 games in 2021-22. That scoring earned him his NHL debut midway through the year, though an assist in his debut would be Slavin’s only scoring through 15 games with Chicago. The tepid start in the NHL earned Slavin a move back to minor leagues, where he’s been ever since. He spent the 2023-24 season with the Toronto Marlies, where he posted 10 goals and 24 points across 70 games.

It seems Slavin will be destined for the minor leagues once again on his new deal with the Hurricanes, though he’ll get a boost of motivation by joining an organization led in part by brother Jaccob Slavin. Jaccob has carved out a proud, top-line role in Carolina over the last nine seasons, earning plenty of praise for his two-way reliability and leadership along the way. Jaccob’s “gentlemanly conduct” was recognized this season with his second Lady Byng Trophy in the last four years – placing him among a rare list of repeat winners, including Anze Kopitar, Martin St. Louis, and Pavel Datsyuk.

Snapshots: Snuggerud, Keenan, Carrick

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The St. Louis Blues will have to wait for the end of another collegiate season to see former first-round pick Jimmy Snuggerud make the full-time jump to the NHL. However, that may be the maximum length of time the team will have to wait as general manager Doug Armstrong believes Snuggerud can join the team towards the end of next season (Subscription Article).

The Blues organization drafted Snuggerud with the 23rd overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft and he has spent the last two seasons at the University of Minnesota. During that time, Snuggerud has been an impactful player at the NCAA level as he’s scored 42 goals and 84 points in 79 games with the Gophers. The St. Louis prospect will hope that the third time is a charm for his National Championship dreams as the Gophers finished as runner-ups in 2022-23 and lost in the Regional Final this season to Boston University.

Despite his reputation as a promising prospect in the Blues organization, it may be difficult for Snuggerud to find a comfortable position in the lineup as the team has considerably improved its forward depth over the summer. If St. Louis finds themselves out of the playoff race by the time Snuggerud makes the jump to the NHL, they may have to part with Radek Faksa or Kasperi Kapanen in some manner to make room in their everyday lineup.

Other snapshots:

  • Legendary head coach Mike Keenan will not return as Team Italy’s head coach as he transitions to a consulting role while recovering from open heart surgery (X Link). Keenan had been serving as head coach of Italy’s national team since his ouster as head coach of the Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League in 2022. It appears Keenan’s career as a head coach may be coming to an official close. Infamously, Keenan spent 25 years as a head coach in the NHL while combining for a 672-531-147-36 record while being the first coach to win a Stanley Cup and Gagarin Cup.
  • Veteran defenseman of the American Hockey League, Trevor Carrick, will return to his original home as the Charlotte Checkers announced he has signed a two-year AHL deal with the franchise. Carrick spent the first five years of his professional career within the Carolina Hurricanes organization where he compiled 40 goals and 181 points for the Checkers in 347 games. Carrick has spent the last four years bouncing between the San Diego Gulls and Syracuse Crunch where he has continued to be one of the top offensive defensemen in the league.

AHL’s Charlotte Checkers Sign Aidan McDonough

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ top affiliate, have picked up left winger Aidan McDonough on a one-year deal, a team release states. McDonough will now try and work his way back up the professional ladder after being non-tendered by the Canucks last week.

Just a couple of years ago, McDonough looked to be a seventh-round steal for Vancouver. After selecting him in 2019, McDonough had a spectacular collegiate career at Northeastern that saw him produce 66 goals and 124 points in 124 games across four seasons while assuming the captaincy in his final season. He signed his entry-level deal to close the 2022-23 season and immediately made his NHL debut with the Nucks, scoring a goal and posting a -2 rating in six games while averaging 9:19 per contest.

But this past season was a tough one for the 6’2″, 201-lb winger. He didn’t crack the Canucks’ roster out of camp and was assigned to AHL Abbotsford, where he remained the entire campaign. His offensive numbers on the farm weren’t up to expectations, limited to only 11 goals and 19 points in 58 games. It was enough of a letdown that Vancouver’s front office decided they’d seen enough of the prospect, deciding not to issue him a qualifying offer and let the 24-year-old reach the UFA market early.

Now, it’s up to McDonough to produce well on his minor-league deal. While he’s playing in the Panthers organization, Florida doesn’t acquire his signing rights with this move, and he can still sign with any NHL club.

Ducks Sign Carson Meyer To Two-Way Contract

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Anaheim Ducks have signed forward Carson Meyer to a one-year, two-way contract, shares Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

This will be the first move of Meyer’s career, having played in Ohio through youth hockey, college, and the pros – though he did have a one-year stint with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm in 2015-16. The Columbus native was drafted by his hometown Blue Jackets in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He mad ehis professional debut in 2020-21, posting 20 points in his first 26 AHL games with the Cleveland Monsters. That scoring earned him an NHL debut in 2021-22, though Meyer couldn’t match the high scoring of his inaugural year. He scored just three points in the 13 NHL games of his career, warranting a move back to the minors, where Meyer added 27 points in 57 games.

That measly scoring continued through last season, though Meyer showed signs of improvement with 37 points in 55 AHL games this year – while serving as one of Cleveland’s alternate captains. But he’s yet to find the same spark at the top level, with just six points in 41 NHL games to this point in his career.

Meyer will now move to the West coast, where he figures to be a top option for the Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, and take a bit better advantage of his NHL opportunities.

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