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Training Camp Cuts: 9/21/24

September 21, 2024 at 4:43 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

While training camps have just gotten underway, some teams are already starting to pare down their rosters.  We’ll keep track of today’s cuts here.

Colorado Avalanche (per team announcement)

F Max Curran (to WHL Tri-City)
D Garrett Pyke (released from PTO to AHL Colorado)
F Neil Shea (released from PTO to AHL Colorado)
F Briley Wood (released from PTO to AHL Colorado)

Pittsburgh Penguins (per team announcement)

D Caeden Carlisle (released from ATO, to OHL Soo)
F Justin Cloutier (released from ATO to OHL Soo)
F Cooper Foster (to OHL Ottawa)
D Donovan McCoy (released from ATO, to OHL Sudbury)
D Emil Pieniniemi (to OHL Kingston)
G Charlie Schenkel (released from ATO, to OHL Soo)

Toronto Maple Leafs (per team announcement)

F Marshall Finnie (released from ATO, to WHL Edmonton)
F Miroslav Holinka (to WHL Edmonton)
D Nathan Mayes (to WHL Spokane)
F Sam McCue (to OHL Owen Sound)
F Maxim Muranov (released from ATO, to WHL Calgary)

This post will be updated if/when other cuts are announced.

Colorado Avalanche| Pittsburgh Penguins| Toronto Maple Leafs| Transactions Emil Pieniniemi| Sam McCue

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Canucks Sign Kevin Lankinen To One-Year Deal

September 21, 2024 at 3:26 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

The Canucks have been searching for some goalie depth for a while now with Kevin Lankinen being an early target.  While it took a while, the two sides have reached an agreement as the team announced (Twitter link) that the netminder has signed a one-year, $875K contract.

Vancouver made an offer to the 29-year-old last month, one that was below the $1MM mark as this contract is, but it was rejected with the belief that Lankinen was seeking more money.  However, with opportunities across the league largely dried up at this point, it appears he decided to take the guaranteed deal that was on the table.

Lankinen spent the last two years in Nashville, posting a 2.79 GAA and a .912 SV% in 43 games.  Those numbers were certainly above-average for a second-string option which makes it a bit surprising that a better offer didn’t materialize for him over the past couple of months.  For his career, he has a 3.07 GAA with a .895 SV% over four NHL seasons, the other two coming with Chicago.

Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko is still working his way back from a knee injury although he is making good progress in recent weeks.  That said, his availability for the start of the regular season remains in question.  That means that Lankinen will have an opportunity to battle Arturs Silovs for the starting role if Demko isn’t available on opening night.  If he is able to play, the two will try to secure the backup role.

Management made it known earlier this summer that their goal is to avoid using LTIR even though Tucker Poolman won’t play this season.  That’s particularly noteworthy as the team is now $694K over the cap with this signing per PuckPedia.  If Demko isn’t available on opening night, they’ll have to remove a skater from the roster to fit in Lankinen’s contract.  Meanwhile, one of him or Silovs will have to come off the roster once Demko is cleared to return.  That could work in Lankinen’s favor as Silovs has one more season of waiver exemption remaining which could give the veteran a leg up on securing a full-time spot.

Either way, while it took longer than they would have liked, Vancouver now has the goaltending insurance that they’d been seeking for most of the summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Newsstand| Transactions| Vancouver Canucks Kevin Lankinen

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Salary Cap Deep Dive: Winnipeg Jets

September 21, 2024 at 2:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2024-25 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We wrap up our look at the Central Division with Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Jets

Current Cap Hit: $82,223,691 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

None for players projected to be full-time regulars.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Mason Appleton ($2.167MM, UFA)
F Morgan Barron ($1.35MM, RFA)
F Nikolaj Ehlers ($6MM, UFA)
F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby ($775K, UFA)
G Kaapo Kahkonen ($1MM, UFA)
F Rasmus Kupari ($1MM, RFA)
F Alex Iafallo ($4MM, UFA)
F Vladislav Namestnikov ($2MM, UFA)
D Neal Pionk ($5.875MM, UFA)
D Dylan Samberg ($1.4MM, RFA)
F Gabriel Vilardi ($3.4375MM, RFA)

Ehlers has been in trade speculation for a while now but nothing has happened on that front and he’ll start the season with the Jets.  While he is a bit of a streaky player and has had some injury woes, he has averaged at least 0.74 points per game (a 61-point pace per 82 games) in five straight years.  That type of overall consistency should earn him another long-term deal with an extra million or so on the cap hit.  Iafallo was part of last summer’s Pierre-Luc Dubois trade but wasn’t able to provide the same level of scoring despite spending a lot of time in the top six.  If he has another stat line like that in 2024-25, he could be looking at a small dip but if he gets back to the 40-point range, he could check in a bit higher than his current cost.

Vilardi was arguably the key piece of the Dubois trade.  A 2017 first-round pick, he had shown flashes of being a top-six piece in Los Angeles but struggled to do so consistently and dealt with injuries.  With Winnipeg, he was consistently productive but the injury struggles continued as he missed 35 games.  Nonetheless, the 25-year-old showed that he can be a core piece for the Jets and is someone who they’ll want to have around for the long haul although the injury history will be a complicating factor.  Even so, there’s a good chance his next contract will start with at least a six which will come in well past his $3.6MM qualifying offer.

Appleton stayed healthy last season after battling injuries in 2022-23, reaching a new career-high in points in the process with 36.  A true middle-six winger who moves up and down the lineup, he should be able to add at least $1MM to his current price tag on a multi-year deal; it could approach $4MM if he puts up a similar point total this season.  Namestnikov hasn’t had much success on the open market in recent years as he has struggled to find a long-term fit.  While he’s coming off his best point total since 2017-18 with 37, he’d need another season like that to get to the $3MM mark.  As things stand, another two-year deal around $2.5MM per season might be where he winds up.

Barron was limited to primarily fourth-line ice time last season and he’s likely to have a similar role this season which won’t help his cause.  He’s owed a $1.4MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights so if his production dips a bit in 2024-25, he could become a non-tender candidate.  Failing that, a small raise to around $1.5MM to $1.75MM could be achievable.  Kupari was also brought in from Los Angeles last summer but struggled mightily with his new team.  Owed a $1.1MM qualifying offer next summer, that seems on the high side unless he’s able to secure a full-time roster spot and have a bit of success this season.  Jonsson-Fjallby has been up and down in recent years while holding a fringe role when he has been in the NHL.  Accordingly, it’s likely that he’ll stay at or near the minimum moving forward.

Pionk’s best season was his first with Winnipeg back in 2019-20.  Since then, he has still shown flashes of being an above-average blueliner but has struggled somewhat with consistency.  Having said that, he can still log over 20 minutes a night without much issue, has passed 30 points in five straight years, and is a right-shot player.  That’s a strong combination heading into free agency, positioning himself for likely another long-term deal with a price tag starting with a six.  Samberg has been limited to third-pairing duty thus far but has fared well in that role.  Still, he’ll need to take on a bigger role if he wants any sort of significant raise from the $1.5MM offer he’ll be owed in the summer with arbitration rights.

Kahkonen struggled last season with San Jose but did well in a small sample size with New Jersey to finish the year.  Still, the lasting memory of his time with the Sharks didn’t help his cause in free agency, resulting in this one-year deal at a sizable pay cut.  Given Winnipeg’s recent track records with backups, this could be a good landing spot for him but he’ll need to come closer to maintaining his numbers with the Devils to get back to the $2.75MM of his last contract.

Signed Through 2025-26

G Eric Comrie ($825K, UFA)
F Kyle Connor ($7.143MM, UFA)
F David Gustafsson ($835K, RFA)
D Ville Heinola ($800K, RFA)
F Adam Lowry ($3.25MM, UFA)
D Colin Miller ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Logan Stanley ($1.25MM, UFA)

Connor will be the next big-ticket contract that the Jets have to contend with relatively quickly.  The 27-year-old has emerged as a legitimate top-line threat, averaging more than a point per game over the past five seasons combined while passing the 30-goal mark in four of those.  If that continues over the next two years, he will make a strong case to become Winnipeg’s highest-paid player with a price tag in the $9MM range.

Lowry doesn’t put up the offensive numbers to necessarily be worth this money but as a strong defensive player as well, he’s well worth the contract.  Best suited as a third-line pivot, we’ve seen some of those players push past $4MM lately and it stands to reason that he’ll be able to do so as well.  As for Gustafsson, he’s still working on securing himself a full-time role in the lineup.  He’ll need to do that to have a chance at pushing past the $1MM threshold on his next agreement.

Miller didn’t play much with Winnipeg after they acquired him at the trade deadline but it didn’t stop them from re-signing him.  It’s the second straight contract in which he has accepted a pay cut, a reflection of his diminishing role.  At $1.5MM, they don’t need him to do much but they’ll be hoping he can at least get back to the 15-20-point range.

Stanley and Heinola have seemingly been on shaky ground for a while now but they’re still in Winnipeg.  Stanley has been a frequent healthy scratch, especially the last two years which led to a trade request that went unfulfilled.  The two years is a small showing of faith but if he’s still in this role at the end of this contract, it’d be shocking to see him re-signed.  Heinola made the team in training camp last year but was injured in the final preseason game and once he was cleared to return, he stayed in the minors the rest of the way.  Playing time was hard to come by when he was healthy and he’s likely on the fringes again although he’s now waiver-eligible.  Still, this is a low-risk move that buys more time to evaluate and if Heinola can produce like he did in the minors (and stay healthy which is already an issue again), this could be a team-friendly pact quite quickly.

Comrie is back for his third stint with the team.  The second one saw him put up his best performance before going to Buffalo in free agency where he struggled.  It’s possible that he pushes for the backup spot but considering that he cleared waivers last season, they may view him as a third-string option.  Until Comrie can re-establish himself as a regular backup, this is more the price range he’s likely to stay in.

Signed Through 2026-27

F Nino Niederreiter ($4MM, UFA)

Niederreiter has settled in as a player who should hover around 20 goals and 35-40 points per season.  At this price point, that’s neither a bargain nor a bad value deal as reliable secondary scoring can be hard to come by.  He’ll be 35 when this contract is up, however, which means he might be going year-to-year from there.

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Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer

D Dylan DeMelo ($4.9MM through 2027-28)
G Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5MM through 2030-31)
D Josh Morrissey ($6.25MM through 2027-28)
F Mark Scheifele ($8.5MM through 2030-31)

Scheifele may not be a true number one center but he has filled that role in Winnipeg for a long time now and has held up pretty well.  Over the past eight seasons combined, he has averaged just over a point per game and has only been under 0.97 points per game once.  That type of year-to-year consistency isn’t easy to come by which helped earn him this deal, one that takes him to the age of 38.  It would be surprising to see Scheifele producing at this level by the time he gets to the end of the contract but if he continues to produce at a point-per-game rate for a few more years at least, Winnipeg should get a pretty good return on his deal overall.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff took a leap of faith with Morrissey, giving him this max-term agreement after his bridge deal despite the fact he had a career-high of just 31 points.  He felt there was another gear he could get to and the last two years demonstrated that he was right as Morrissey has emerged as a legitimate top-end defender.  The going rate for someone in this role is several million more than this, making it a strong value deal.  It’s not likely that DeMelo’s will be viewed in the same light.  He has worked his way from a depth piece to one who is a key shutdown player but it’s unlikely that the offense will come around to make it a true value contract.  That said, he might have wound up leaving money on the table when he re-signed just before free agency.

Hellebuyck has been one of the better bargains for goaltenders in recent years, playing at a Vezina level while being nowhere close to the highest-paid goalies.  Eventually, that had to come to an end but the Jets still landed him at a rate that was below the top-paid netminders.  Like Scheifele, this takes Hellebuyck to his age-38 year and given the workload he has had in recent years, durability towards the end could be a concern but for the next few years, Winnipeg should get a solid return.

Buyouts

D Nate Schmidt ($2.717MM in 2024-25, $1.617MM in 2025-26)
F Blake Wheeler ($2.75MM in 2024-25)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

F Cole Perfetti – Perfetti is now just one of three remaining restricted free agents across the NHL.  The 22-year-old is coming off his most productive season, one that saw him record 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 games.  However, he also found himself a healthy scratch at times down the stretch and in the playoffs.  A bridge contract makes the most sense for both sides at this point but it seems as if there’s a sizable gap to work through still.  Something in the $3MM to $3.5MM range might be the right spot for that agreement.

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Morrissey
Worst Value: Iafallo

Looking Ahead

At the moment, Winnipeg projects to have well over $5MM in cap room, a number that will go down considerably once Perfetti puts pen to paper on a new deal.  But even when that happens, the Jets are in better shape than a lot of teams and should be able to bank some cap space early on to use later in the season as they’ve done in recent years.

Next offseason should be one of change for Winnipeg.  The team only has $49.4MM in commitments for 2025-26 and while there are some big-ticket deals to hammer out (Ehlers and Vilardi, in particular), there also will be an opportunity to at least turn over some of the role players if they so desire and look to try to add an impact player as well.  They only have five players signed for 2026-27 so Winnipeg’s long-term books are among the cleanest in the league at the moment.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pro Hockey Rumors Originals| Salary Cap Deep Dive 2024| Winnipeg Jets

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Snapshots: Krebs, Karlsson, Pitlick

September 21, 2024 at 1:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Sabres center Peyton Krebs was one of several players earlier this week who signed contracts before training camp got underway.  The 23-year-old told reporters including Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that he had been following his agent’s advice throughout the process but eventually relented, telling his agent to get a deal done while prioritizing getting a two-year agreement.  He was able to do just that, landing a two-year, $2.9MM pact.  Buffalo was busy over the summer reshaping their bottom six with the additions of Ryan McLeod, Beck Malenstyn, Sam Lafferty, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel so Krebs will have his work cut out for him to hold onto a regular spot in the lineup after getting into 80 games last season.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson skated on his own today before practice, relays Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). The veteran has yet to take part in any team activities during training camp due to an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day.  Karlsson’s offensive numbers took a big dip last season after putting up 101 points in his final year with San Jose but he still managed 11 goals and 45 assists, good for a tie for third in team scoring.
  • Former Montreal prospect Rhett Pitlick has found a new place to play as Minnesota State University announced that the forward has enrolled with them for his senior season. The 23-year-old spent the last three years at the University of Minnesota, putting up 36 points in 39 games last season.  However, he deregistered earlier in the offseason, allowing him to become a free agent in the process.  Clearly, there wasn’t an offer to his liking so he’ll now play out his NCAA eligibility and will look to secure an NHL deal after that.

Buffalo Sabres| NCAA| Pittsburgh Penguins| Snapshots Erik Karlsson| Peyton Krebs| Rhett Pitlick

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Central Notes: Faksa, Appleton, Stastney

September 21, 2024 at 11:45 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

The Blues acquired veteran center Radek Faksa from Dallas earlier this summer, giving the 30-year-old a new team for the first time in his NHL career.  It turns out that Faksa was looking for a change of scenery at the time.  He told Lou Korac of The Hockey News that he went to Stars GM Jim Nill after the season to communicate that he wasn’t happy with his role and ice time.  Faksa was viewed as a two-way player early in his career but hasn’t been able to get past the 20-point mark in five straight years, resulting in him being deployed in more of a shutdown role with more limited minutes.  He’s entering the final year of his contract, one that carries a $3.25MM AAV.  He’ll likely need to show at least a bit more offensively with St. Louis to get a raise on the open market next summer.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • Jets winger Mason Appleton is entering the final year of his contract, making him eligible for a contract extension. The 28-year-old told reporters including Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press that the perfect world scenario is that he remains in Winnipeg.  Appleton has spent most of his six-year NHL career with them aside from one season in Seattle after being picked in expansion.  Appleton is coming off a career year that saw him produce 14 goals and 22 assists, putting him in line for a raise on his current $2.167MM cap charge.
  • Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney is not with the team in training camp for personal reasons and there is no word yet on when he’ll return, relays Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean. The blueliner split last season between Nashville and AHL Milwaukee, getting into 20 games with the big club where he had two goals and two assists in just under 16 minutes a night.  Somewhat surprisingly, the two sides went to salary arbitration this summer with the 24-year-old being awarded a two-year, $1.625MM contract, the second season of which is a one-way salary.

Dallas Stars| Nashville Predators| St. Louis Blues| Winnipeg Jets Mason Appleton| Radek Faksa| Spencer Stastney

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Metropolitan Notes: York, Jenner, Carrier

September 21, 2024 at 10:39 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Flyers defenseman Cam York is entering the final year of his contract and is therefore eligible to sign a contract extension.  Speaking with reporters including Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the blueliner indicated he wasn’t worried about getting a deal done at this point knowing that eventually something will work out.  The 23-year-old potted 10 goals along with 20 assists while playing all 82 games last season.  He also notably logged 22:37 per contest, second to only Travis Sanheim.  With that in mind, it might make sense for York to wait a little while yet before signing an extension as a repeat of last year’s performance will only bolster his value heading into next summer when he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility, owed a $1.6MM qualifying offer.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While Boone Jenner has arguably been the Blue Jackets’ most reliable center in recent years, he won’t be lining up there to start the season. Instead, Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch relays that the captain will instead line up on the left wing on the top line.  Jenner has been a reliable faceoff specialist over the years but with Sean Monahan being added in free agency and Adam Fantilli now fully recovered from a calf laceration that caused him to miss the second half last season, new head coach Dean Evason wants to see how Jenner fares in Johnny Gaudreau’s old spot, hoping that his forechecking will lead to some additional opportunities.
  • Hurricanes winger William Carrier is only expected to miss a couple of days with the lower-body injury that held him out of practice yesterday, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). Head coach Rod Brind’Amour noted that they’re merely being extra cautious with the newcomer.  Carrier signed a six-year, $12MM contract with Carolina over the summer after spending the last seven years with Vegas where he averaged three hits per game while chipping in with 99 points in 372 appearances.

Carolina Hurricanes| Columbus Blue Jackets| Philadelphia Flyers Boone Jenner| Cam York| William Carrier

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West Notes: Perfetti, Tocchet, Weegar, MacDonell

September 17, 2024 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

Several restricted free agents have signed new deals in recent days as they ensured they’d be ready for the start of training camp.  However, that might not be the case for Jets forward Cole Perfetti.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on the latest Insider Trading segment that there is still a significant gap to bridge between the two sides in contract discussions.  Perfetti is coming off a season that saw him score 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 games but also saw him spend time as a healthy scratch, including in the playoffs.  This is a fairly obvious case for a bridge contract but even those can sometimes take a little longer to hammer out and this might be one of those cases.

Elsewhere out West:

  • After a surprise showing last season that saw the Canucks sit atop the Pacific Division, some wondered if they’d look to work out an extension with head coach Rick Tocchet. However, GM Patrik Allvin told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that with the team holding a club option on his contract for 2025-26, it’s too early to begin those talks just yet, noting they’ll get into those discussions when the time is right for both sides.  Vancouver has a 70-35-13 record under Tocchet so far, good for a .648 points percentage.
  • With the Flames embarking on a rebuild, some veterans have already been moved out while others might want out at some point. Don’t expect that to be the case for defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, however, as the blueliner told reporters including Josh Clipperton of the Canadian Press that he believes in the city and the team and has no desire to leave Calgary.  Weegar was acquired as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade and quickly signed an eight-year, $50MM contract extension with a franchise that was trying to contend at the time.  Now, it appears he’ll be a key veteran to lean on during their rebuilding process.
  • Stars prospect Angus MacDonell has been drafted for the second time in as many years. After Dallas selected the 19-year-old in the sixth round last year, the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits announced (Twitter link) that they selected MacDonell in the fourth round of their draft on Sunday.  On top of recording 62 points in 61 games last season with OHL Mississauga, he also put up 29 points in 30 games in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League, helping to earn this most recent selection.  Dallas has until June 1st to sign MacDonell to an entry-level deal and if one doesn’t materialize, he at least might have a fallback plan.

Calgary Flames| Dallas Stars| Vancouver Canucks| Winnipeg Jets Angus MacDonell| Cole Perfetti| MacKenzie Weegar| Rick Tocchet

4 comments

Stars Re-Sign Thomas Harley

September 17, 2024 at 7:46 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With their salary cap situation making it hard for a long-term deal to be an option, the Stars unsurprisingly have opted for a bridge agreement with defenseman Thomas Harley.  The team announced that they’ve inked the blueliner to a two-year, $8MM contract.  GM Jim Nill released the following statement:

Thomas is one of the league’s top young defensemen. His performance last season was a testament to the way that he has worked on and off the ice to become a better player. We are looking forward to his continued growth and helping anchor our blueline for many years to come.

PuckPedia reports that the deal will pay Harley $3.5MM this season and $4.5MM in 2025-26.  The latter number will represent his qualifying offer and he will also be arbitration-eligible at that time.

Harley’s performance last season was certainly worthy of the praise from his GM.   The 23-year-old only has one full NHL season under his belt – 2023-24 – but it was a very strong one which saw him record 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games while averaging just over 21 minutes a night.  Harley was quieter offensively in the playoffs (four assists in 19 appearances) but still logged heavy minutes, averaging nearly 24 minutes per contest, second only to Miro Heiskanen.  His goal total put him in a tie for eighth-most among all NHL rearguards.

While the 2019 first-round pick (18th overall) had a more limited track record compared to some more established young blueliners, Harley’s play last season could realistically have put a long-term agreement past $7MM per season on a max-term deal.  But to give him that would have necessitated some cost-cutting now, something that Dallas as a win-now team wouldn’t have been looking to do.

This is the second notable contract of the day for the Stars’ back end with Esa Lindell inking a five-year extension earlier today.  In getting these deals done, Dallas now has their top five defensemen signed through at least the 2025-26 season which will give them a bit of stability on that front.

With the move, the Stars now have their full team signed for the upcoming season.  PuckPedia projects them to only have $694K in cap space but that’s with a full-sized roster.  If Dallas is willing to carry fewer the maximum number of players and opts to continue the daily shuffling of waiver-exempt players (as they did frequently with Logan Stankoven last season, for example), then they should put themselves in a position to comfortably bank some in-season cap room, barring a rash of injuries, of course.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dallas Stars| Newsstand| Transactions Thomas Harley

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Minor Transactions: 9/17/24

September 17, 2024 at 7:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

With training camps starting over the next couple of days, some players are still trying to find a place to play for the upcoming season.  We’ll run down the recent minor moves here.

  • The Panthers have brought in forward Aidan McDonough on a PTO for training camp, relays David Dwork of The Hockey News (Twitter link). The 24-year-old had a strong college career at Northeastern University and went straight to the NHL after that, getting in six games with Vancouver late in the 2022-23 season.  McDonough spent last season with AHL Abbotsford but only managed 11 goals and eight assists in 59 games, resulting in a non-tender back in June.
  • Free agent winger Ivan Lodnia will attend training camp with the Sharks on a PTO, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 25-year-old played for new San Jose head coach David Warsofsky back with AHL Chicago in 2021-22.  After missing all of 2022-23 with an injury, Lodnia spent last season with ECHL South Carolina, recording 25 points in 30 games.
  • The Kraken’s AHL team in Coachella Valley announced the signing of forward Landon McCallum to a one-year deal. The 21-year-old wrapped up his major junior career last season, recording 21 goals and 38 assists in 64 games with OHL Sudbury while adding four points in nine playoff contests.
  • While free agent Simon Johansson was hoping to stay in North America this season, that isn’t going to be the case as Ilves in Finland announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a two-year deal. The 25-year-old spent the last two seasons in Minnesota’s system, playing with AHL Iowa.  Johansson had a decent showing in 2023-24 with 21 points in 72 games but was non-tendered in June.

AHL| Florida Panthers| San Jose Sharks| Seattle Kraken| Transactions Aidan McDonough| Ivan Lodnia| Simon Johansson

2 comments

Flyers Notes: Johansen, Kolosov, Injuries

September 17, 2024 at 6:53 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere met with reporters today (video link) in advance of training camp opening up.  One of the items he spoke about was the Ryan Johansen situation.  Earlier this summer, the team announced they would be terminating his contract, citing a material breach (without providing any further specifics) with Johansen’s camp indicating they would be grieving.  However, there hasn’t been any other news on this front since then.  Briere noted that the ball is in Johansen’s camp at this point and that as far as he’s concerned, the deal has been terminated.  In doing so, Philadelphia has opened up $4MM in cap space but that could be re-added in full or in part should a grievance hearing ultimately reinstate part or all of the contract.

More from Briere’s presser:

  • One of the storylines around the team in recent days is the Alexei Kolosov situation. The netminder doesn’t want to play in the AHL this season while the team has placed a high asking price on him in trade talks.  Briere noted that his understanding is that Kolosov wants a guaranteed NHL position or to be loaned back to the KHL which is a move the team isn’t willing to make.  The 22-year-old posted a 2.39 GAA and a .907 SV% in 47 games with KHL Dinamo Minsk last season, numbers that don’t necessarily scream NHL-ready, especially with returnees Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov in the fold.
  • Injuries were an issue for the Flyers last season with several key regulars missing time. However, Briere said that the team was fully healthy heading into camp (excluding Ryan Ellis who isn’t expected to play again).  That’s particularly notable with center Sean Couturier and defenseman Jamie Drysdale undergoing sports hernia surgeries at the end of the season while blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen had surgery to repair a ruptured triceps tendon in April.

Philadelphia Flyers Alexei Kolosov| Ryan Johansen

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