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Philadelphia Flyers Sign Alexei Kolosov

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Just one day after one of their organization’s goalies, Ivan Fedotov, had his KHL contract registered despite holding a valid NHL contract, the Flyers have made another move regarding a KHL goalie. They’ve signed one of their organization’s top goalie prospects, Alexei Kolosov, to a three-year entry-level deal.

According to CapFriendly, the contract carries a $925k cap hit and a $80k AHL salary for its three-year duration. Kolosov’s agent, Aljoša Pilko, wrote on Twitter that his client would “start and finish the season with Dinamo Minsk,” meaning even with the signing of this entry-level deal he’ll be staying in the KHL for another season.

Despite being just 21 years old, Kolosov led the goalie tandem in Minsk last season, playing in 42 regular season games. He played better than the team’s other netminder, 23-year-old Konstantin Shostak, posting a .912 save percentage and 2.55 goals-against-average in that time frame.

While Kolosov’s numbers aren’t quite up to the standard set by some elite KHL prospects in years past (such as Igor Shesterkin or Ilya Sorokin) they are quite impressive for a goalie his age, especially on a team that only barely managed to reach the KHL playoffs.

The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor reports that the “Flyers are very high” on Kolosov, who they drafted 78th overall at the 2021 draft, and “see him as a big part of their goaltending future.” With this entry-level deal signed, the Flyers have set in stone Kolosov’s eventual crossing of the Atlantic to play for their organization in North America.

The hope for this season will be for Kolosov to have another strong season in his native Belarus before likely seeing some time the year after with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Minor Transactions: 07/06/23

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The music is slowing down in this year’s game of free agent musical chairs, and fewer and fewer players remain without a seat for next season. Some top names such as Vladimir Tarasenko and Matt Dumba linger on the market, but by and large, teams have shifted towards making signings more geared to depth roles in their lineup.

Free agents of that general caliber are also the players minor-league teams and teams in foreign leagues are targeting, meaning there’s been quite a bit of player movement today across the hockey world. As always, we’ll log those transactions and provide some context to them here.

  •  Zachary Fucale, once a top goalie prospect earlier in his career, will likely play in Europe for the first time as a pro hockey player in a few months. The 28-year-old former Washington Capitals farmhand signed a two-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL. Fucale posted a .902 save percentage in 38 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears this past season and won the Calder Cup. As a two-time Spengler Cup winner, Fucale has had some success playing against European club competition, and he’ll say goodbye (for now) to North American pro hockey having appeared in four NHL games and registered a memorable shutout in his NHL debut.
  • 2018-19 AHL Defenseman of the Year and three-time AHL All-Star Zach Redmond has agreed on a mutual contract termination with his club, DEL champions EHC Red Bull Munich. The soon-to-be-35-year-old rearguard had spent the last three seasons in the Bavarian capital, leading the DEL in points by a defenseman in his first year and goals by a blueliner in his second. His seven points in 12 playoff games helped propel Munich to a DEL title over ERC Ingolstadt, and now Redmond could be eyeing a return to North American pro hockey with this contract termination.
  • The New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, announced the signings of three forwards to AHL contracts: Cole Bardreau, Jeff Kubiak, and Joey Cipollone. Bardreau, 29, scored 15 goals and 31 points in 67 AHL games last season and has been a top-nine staple in Bridgeport since 2019. Kubiak, also 29, is a defensive specialist at the AHL level who routinely features on Bridgeport’s penalty kill. He’s been with the Islanders organization since he turned pro out of Cornell University in 2017. Finally, Cipollone, 23, is a winger who won the NCAA Men’s Hockey National Championship last season with Quinnipiac University and is now set to make his pro debut.
  • Former Minnesota-Duluth captain and two-time NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champion Nick Wolff has signed a one-year contract with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, confirming his exit from the Providence Bruins after three seasons in Rhode Island. Wolff is a 26-year-old left-shot blueliner who stands six-foot-five, 223 pounds. He’s brought physicality to a reserve role with Providence so far in his pro career, and now heads out west to a revamped San Diego Gulls squad, where he could end up playing along the right side next to one of the Ducks’ high-end young defenders, such as Olen Zellweger or former Minnesota Golden Gopher Jackson LaCombe.
  • The AHL’s Utica Comets have signed rugged defenseman Colin Felix, an NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champion at UMass Amherst, to a one-year, one-way AHL contract. The 24-year-old turned pro last fall and skated in 72 games with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. He scored eight goals and 27 points and collected 139 penalty minutes, bringing physical two-way ability to the Royals’ blueline. Now, the Comets are hoping Felix can do the same for their back end, a defense that needed to replace a right-shot blueliner after the trade of Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins. The Comets have also signed Jeremy Brodeur, son of legendary Devils netminder Martin Brodeur, to a two-way NHL/ECHL contract, bringing him over from the EIHL where he was the starter for the Manchester Storm.
  • Alex-Olivier Voyer, a former QMJHL star with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, has signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Laval Rocket. Getting a one-way deal in the AHL is a victory for Voyer, who dropped from playing mostly in the AHL in 2021-22 to the ECHL in 2022-23. Voyer had scored only eight points in 41 games with the Providence Bruins in 21-22, but managed 23 goals and 43 points in 48 ECHL games this season, not only securing himself a spot back in North America’s second-tier pro league but also a spot in his home province.
  • Former Hobey Baker Award finalist Dylan McLaughlin has signed a contract with Vaxjo Lakers HC, the reigning champions of Sweden’s SHL. The deal is McLaughlin’s first foray into European pro hockey. The 28-year-old had a difficult 2022-23 campaign, playing just nine games total. The year before, though, McLaughlin broke out, scoring 42 points in 55 games for the Rockford IceHogs. Now McLaughlin will compete for a role in Sweden and potentially help Vaxjo secure a second consecutive title.
  • Undersized 25-year-old blueliner Joseph Duszak has climbed the pro hockey ladder since concluding an exceptional three-year NCAA career, but hasn’t yet received any NHL call-ups. He began in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers, and scored 35 points in 34 games from the blueline. He was named an ECHL All-Star and ended up earning a job in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies. Duszak excelled in Toronto, scoring 52 points in 61 games in 2021-22 and earning AHL Second-Team All-Star honors. After that strong AHL campaign, Duszak likely viewed excelling overseas as his next step towards earning NHL consideration, so he signed in the KHL with Dynamo Minsk. Duszak was exceptional in Belarus, finishing behind former Boston Bruin Ryan Spooner for the team lead in points with 45 in 68 games played. Now, he’s signed a one-year AHL contract with the Springfield Thunderbirds likey with the hope of producing well once again and finally earning an NHL shot.
  • Former Buffalo Sabres prospect Jordon Southorn, one of the top blueliners in Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga, has signed a one-year deal with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. The 33-year-old Canadian moved to Slovakia in 2018-19 mid-season, and made an instant impact with Banska Bystrica HC 05, winning a championship there. He led the Slovak league in points by a defenseman with 51 in 2019-20, and took home another league championship a few months ago with HC Kosice. Now, he’ll head to Germany to bolster the blueline of a club that only narrowly avoided relegation to the DEL2 in 2022-23.
  • Austrian national team defenseman Dominique Heinrich is returning to his hometown of Vienna after playing over 600 games at Austria’s top level of pro hockey with EHC Red Bull Salzburg. The five-foot-eight 32-year-old won a sixth title with Salzburg this past season, though he skated in a career-low 26 regular-season games. Now both Heinrich and Salzburg are moving in a different direction, as Heinrich has signed a contract with the Vienna Capitals, a rival ICEHL club. It’s a major signing for a Vienna team looking to finally push themselves across the finish line next season, as their many deep playoff runs since their 2016-17 title have ended in failure.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Los Angeles Kings Sign Anze Kopitar To Two-Year Contract Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year contract extension carrying a $7MM AAV. As Kopitar already has a contract through the end of next season, this deal will start with the 2024-25 campaign and will cover Kopitar’s age-37 and age-38 seasons.

The deal carries a full no-move clause, and financially Kopitar is set to be paid almost exclusively in signing bonus in year one, and entirely in base salary in year two.

Many viewed the Kings’ acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets as succession planning for when Kopitar would no longer take up the mantle as the Kings’ number-one center.

Seeing as fellow era-defining two-way center Patrice Bergeron could be calling it a career at the age of 37, it could reasonably be assumed that Kopitar, set to turn 36 years old in August, would be nearing the end of his storied career as well.

That won’t be the case, though, at least for the next three seasons.

By spending $7MM per year on two seasons of Kopitar in his late thirties, the Kings have placed a significant bet that one of their franchise’s greatest players will remain a great one even as he ages. It’s easy to see why they’ve made that bet, as Kopitar was almost every bit as brilliant at 35 years old as he was in his mid-twenties.

Kopitar scored 28 goals and 74 points in 82 games in 2022-23, and added seven points in the Kings’ six-game first-round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers. As he’s done throughout his career, Kopitar paired that offensive production with exceptional defensive play, playing the most minutes of any Los Angeles forward on the team’s penalty kill.

The two-time Selke Trophy winner might have a few more of those trophies on his resume had he not had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Bergeron, one of the greatest defensive forwards of all time, and Kopitar’s defensive game gives him a high floor in terms of the value he’s providing Los Angeles should his offense start to dry up as he gets older.

With Kopitar locked up through 2025-26 at a below-market rate compared to what he provides, the Kings have secured arguably the best set of four centers in the entire NHL. While he’s a somewhat divisive player, Dubois is certainly a great fit in a second-line center role behind Kopitar.

Having a center like Phillip Danault, who can score 50 points on offense and routinely appear in the top ten of Selke Trophy ballots, in the third-line center role is the kind of stuff coaches dream about. Even their projected fourth-line center, the energetic Blake Lizotte, might be overqualified for that role coming off of a career-best 34-point season.

With this extension, the Kings have bet on Kopitar maintaining his brilliance into his late thirties. If that bet pays off, the Kings will have secured themselves an embarrassment of riches at one of the game’s most important positions, and built the foundation for a team that could very well contend for Stanley Cups once again.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 07/05/23

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It’s another busy day for transactions across the hockey world, and while NHL moves are just starting to trickle in (such as the Montreal Canadiens signing recent top-five pick David Reinbacher to his entry-level deal) teams in minor and foreign leagues have already been hard at work completing deals to upgrade or change their rosters. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket have agreed to a one-year contract with 22-year-old Noah Laaouan, a two-time recipient of the QMJHL’s Kevin Lowe Trophy for Best Defensive Defenseman. Laaouan is fresh off of his first season as a professional, one he split between the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners (two games) and ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators (57 games). Laaouan’s deal is a two-way AHL/ECHL deal, meaning he’s more likely to end up with the Trois-Rivieres Lions though he’ll get a chance to compete with guys like Tobie Bisson and Miguel Tourigny for a role on Laval’s defense.
  • Longtime AHL veteran Vincent LoVerde, a two-time Calder Cup Champion and two-time AHL All-Star, has parted ways with his club from last season, the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star. The 34-year-old departs China after one season there, his first in the KHL. LoVerde has over 500 games of AHL experience and while he didn’t do much winning in Kunlun he did win an ICEHL championship with EHC Red Bull Salzburg in 2021-22. Now an unrestricted free agent, LoVerde may elect to return to North America or potentially continue his pro career elsewhere in one of Europe’s leagues.
  • Defenseman Jake Chelios, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios and a former AHL top-four defenseman, has signed a two-year extension with the Red Star to remain in the KHL through his age-34 season. Chelios, who represents China in IIHF events and played for them at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has been with Kunlun since 2019-20 and logged 180 career games with them. Chelios was an impact player in the AHL for a few seasons with the Charlotte Checkers from 2015 to 2017, but now seems to have elected playing with the Red Star as the best option for his career moving forward.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Johan Mattsson signed a one-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, confirming his exit from his team from last season, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. The 31-year-old 2011 seventh-round pick played 35 games for Yekaterinburg last season, posting a .919 save percentage in the process. He’s got a career .917 save percentage in 60 KHL games playing in both Russia and Latvia (back when Dynamo Riga was in the KHL) and has also had success in his native Sweden. He’s won two Champions Hockey League titles, an SHL title, and been a top HockeyAllsvenskan goalie. Now, he’ll compete against incumbent Dmitry Nikolayev (.929 save percentage in 42 games last season) for starts with St. Petersburg.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners signed forward Cameron Askew to a one-year contract extension. The deal will allow Askew, 26, to play a third season in Maine, the place where Conor Garland’s former QMJHL running mate has carved out a regular role as an ECHL power forward. Askew scored a career-high 23 goals and 38 points in his first season with the Mariners, and this past season he scored 15 goals and 32 points in 17 less games. The Mariners have made the ECHL playoffs the last two seasons, and now they’ve locked up a player who helped them reach that point each year for another campaign.
  • After a difficult season saw him part ways with his club of the last two seasons, 23-year-old German winger Tim Wohlgemuth has signed a deal with the DEL’s Cologne Sharks. Despite his young age, Wohlgemuth has already racked up 233 career games in Germany’s top pro league, and been reasonably productive to boot. In 2021-22 Wohlgemuth was among the league’s top young scorers with 35 points in 52 games, though this past season his production declined to 24 points in 51 games. Now, he’ll get a chance to play for a club a little bit lower on the league’s pecking order than Mannheim, and perhaps take on a larger role as a result.
  • At just 18 years of age, Austrian defenseman Patrick Söllinger broke into a more regular role with his hometown club, the ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz. Söllinger, a six-foot-one left-shot defenseman, played in 22 games for Linz and represented Austria at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Now, he’s been rewarded with his first professional contract, and with it he will in all likelihood get a chance to become an everyday player in Linz and help them return to the ICEHL playoffs for next season.
  • Former WHL and ECHL power forward Alex Roach, a British Columbia native, is extending his pro career in Germany another season. Roach spent the last two seasons playing in the DEL with Cologne, and now he’s moving down a division to sign with EHC Freiburg of the DEL2. Although Roach has more experience at the DEL level and has even played in the Champions Hockey League, he’s got DEL2 experience as well and has scored 36 points in 81 games at that level. Freiburg has been a middling DEL2 club for a few years now and in the past has had some close calls with relegation, so with this signing, they’ll hope Roach’s experience can inch them a little bit closer to promotion to the DEL.
  • Scott Conway, the Player of the Year and leading scorer of the EIHL, the United Kingdom’s top pro hockey league, has signed with HC Dukla Trencin of the Slovakian Extraliga, per a team social media announcement. The English-Canadian forward scored 168 points in his 104-game EIHL career, taking home numerous honors for his two-year stint as the league’s top offensive player. Conway has also found success in the ECHL, NCAA, BCHL, USHL, and now has a chance to make a career for himself in a league generally considered to have a higher talent level than the EIHL in Slovakia.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Victor Mete

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The Philadelphia Flyers are signing defenseman Victor Mete, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The deal is reportedly a one-year, two-way pact with a $775k AAV, $450k AHL salary, and a $500k total guarantee.

The Flyers bolstered their defensive depth with the signing of veteran Marc Staal two days ago, and now they’ve added another veteran to their mix with this deal. Mete, 25, spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, skating in 11 NHL games and six games in the AHL.

An undersized five-foot-nine left-shot defenseman, Mete received some hype as a Montreal Canadiens prospect.

While he was immediately stapled to Shea Weber on the Canadiens’ top pairing to start his rookie season, his strong skating and transitional abilities were never built upon, and he stagnated as the Canadiens turned to other young blueliners.

He was eventually claimed on waivers by the Ottawa Senators, who then non-tendered him, leading to his signing with the Maple Leafs. Mete doesn’t offer exceptional talent on either side of the ice, but he has nearly 250 games of NHL experience and is decent in transition. While the Flyers intend on keeping lineup spots open for their young blueliners to grab in training camp, GM Daniel Briere isn’t going to simply hand NHL jobs to youngsters.

Signing a player like Mete to this contract not only provides the Flyers’ young defensemen with an experienced pro to compete against, it also gives Philadelphia some quality depth should the team decide to keep Mete with their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Mete could join second-round prospects Emil Andrae and Adam Ginning on the left side of Lehigh Valley’s defense, and he could be their most experienced blueliner besides Louie Belpedio, who is 27 and has played in over 300 games in the AHL.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Winnipeg Jets Sign Domenic DiVincentiis

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The Winnipeg Jets have signed prospect goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis to a three-year entry-level contract with an $858k AAV, per a team announcement.

DiVincentiis, 19, was a seventh-round pick of the Jets at the 2022 draft who has earned this entry-level deal on the back of an exceptional breakout 2022-23 campaign with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion. DiVincentiis went 36-9-2 with North Bay, posting a .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against-average. He also led North Bay to the OHL’s Conference Finals, posting a .926 save percentage in 20 postseason games.

His save percentage was the highest among all OHL netminders with at least 40 games played, and he led the OHL in both wins and shutouts. That highly successful campaign earned DiVincentiis a multitude of honors, including the OHL’s Goalie of the Year award, as well as a spot on the CHL’s Second All-Star Team.

As he won’t turn 20 until next March, DiVincentiis is slated for another season in the OHL with North Bay. With Connor Hellebuyck on an expiring contract, the Jets have made investments into the goalie position looking towards the future.

After drafting 2023 World Juniors Gold Medalist Thomas Milic last week, they’ve made another move: signing their most promising goalie prospect to his entry-level deal and rewarding him for an exceptional OHL campaign.

Nikita Tryamkin Signs Two-Year Contract Extension In KHL

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In February, we covered word from former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin’s agent that the hulking six-foot-eight blueliner would be receiving “tremendous interest” from NHL clubs this summer. Moreover, Tryamkin’s agent stated that his client had rejected a contract extension offer from his KHL club and after the season would shift his focus towards making a return to the NHL.

Now, it seems that won’t be happening, and that Tryamkin won’t make his NHL return until he’s 31 years old, if at all. Announced officially by the club, Tryamkin has signed a two-year contract extension with his longtime KHL employer, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

This news comes as a bit of a surprise, as since leaving the NHL Tryamkin has been a two-time KHL All-Star and one of the better defensemen in that league.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old offers extremely rare size at the position, and if he made the NHL he would instantly become one of the tallest players in the league.

Tryamkin regularly logs heavy minutes for Yekaterinburg, and while his offensive game has never been quite as high of a focus he has chipped in 110 career points in 507 KHL games. His physicality and defensive upside thanks to his size and reach have always been his calling card.

The success of the Vegas Golden Knights as well as some trends at the NHL draft suggested teams are placing increased value on blueliners with size, so it’s somewhat surprising that Tryamkin couldn’t find a sufficient NHL offer to motivate him to cross the Atlantic.

With the current state of NHL/KHL relations and the haze of general uncertainty that surrounds the availability of many Russian players, perhaps there’s more to this at play than has been currently reported. Or, it could also be as simple as NHL teams not believing Tryamkin has progressed enough since his time with Vancouver to be worth signing to a significant enough offer to convince Tryamkin to change leagues.

In any case, while some fans were hoping Tryamkin would make his return to the NHL, it appears that his return will now have to wait another two seasons if it’s going to happen at all.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Montreal Canadiens Sign David Reinbacher

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The Montreal Canadiens have signed recent fifth-overall selection David Reinbacher to a three-year entry-level contract, according to a team announcement.

CapFriendly has word on the financial details: the contract carries a $950k cap hit and a $2.117 AAV factoring in possible performance bonuses. Reinbacher has $1MM available in “type A” performance bonuses for the three years of the deal, and gets $500k in “type B” performance bonuses available to him in the final year of the contract. The deal also contains a European Assignment Clause in its first two seasons.

The Canadiens have not finalized their plan on where they’ll have Reinbacher play next season, though by signing this entry-level deal Reinbacher will now get the chance to compete for an NHL job at training camp next fall or be assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Reinbacher could also always be loaned back to the club he was drafted from, EHC Kloten, and have his entry-level deal “slide” another season just as many players have in the past, such as Moritz Seider with the Detroit Red Wings.

Laval is shaping up to be extremely well-stocked with Canadiens prospects next season, with top names such as Joshua Roy, Riley Kidney, Logan Mailloux, and more expected to see regular minutes for the team’s AHL affiliate.

There is merit to the idea that having Reinbacher log heavy minutes with that group is the best route to take for his development, as it would not only acclimate him to smaller North American ice surfaces but also allow him to build lasting relationships with his potential future teammates.

There is also merit to loaning him back to Kloten. Reinbacher had quite the season for the recently-promoted Swiss side, rapidly climbing their depth charts and moving from a bottom-pairing, number-six role near the start of the season to a top-pairing, minutes-eating role by the end of the year.

Worth noting is the fact that if Montreal does assign Reinbacher to Laval out of training camp, the European Assignment Clause in the deal likely means that the Canadiens will eventually have to loan Reinbacher back to Kloten at a certain point in the season.

It’s Reinbacher’s immense success in one of the more talented men’s leagues in Europe that got him drafted so high (along with his upside as an all-around defenseman, to be clear) so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Montreal double down on Kloten being the right environment for Reinbacher to develop in even without any time in Laval.

Regardless of what path the Canadiens ultimately choose, signing this entry-level deal was largely a formality for Montreal with Reinbacher. While the team faced heavy backlash from a small-but-vocal subset of its fanbase for passing on Russian superstar winger Matvei Michkov to draft Reinbacher, just a quick look at the latter’s game film from Kloten shows exactly why he was made such a high pick.

Reinbacher spent quite a bit of time at Canadiens development camp partnered with and playing with the team’s other top defensive prospect, Lane Hutson, and it’s easy to imagine the two complimenting each other and Reinbacher in the future serving as the long-term partner for the player he recently called “the next Cale Makar.”

But before that can happen, Reinbacher will need to continue to develop his game, and by signing this entry-level deal he’s opened up every possible option in order to do so.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: DeBrincat, Belleville Senators, Kaszczij

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Yesterday, we covered reports coming out of Ottawa that stated that Senators forward Alex DeBrincat and his representation’s lofty demands for his next contract extension have been a significant barrier to a DeBrincat trade getting over the finish line. Today, DeBrincat’s agent, Jeff Jackson, spoke on those reports telling The Athletic’s Ian Mendes that the report is “entirely false and without merit,” and that “there has been no agreement of any kind on an actual trade involving Alex.” (subscription link)

Addressing whether DeBrincat’s contract demands were holding up the possibility of his client being traded out of Ottawa, Jackson wrote quite firmly: “Agents and players don’t make trades … that’s the GM’s job.” DeBrincat, 25, has already made it clear that he’s not interested in signing long-term with the Senators, making a trade the preferred outcome for all involved in the process. With an arbitration date looming later this offseason, it appears there could be a growing level of hostility between the involved sides, one that could make reaching a final trade agreement all the more challenging.

More notes from across the NHL:

  • In other news coming out of the Senators organization, the team has announced the hire of Nathan McIver as an assistant coach on David Bell’s Belleville Senators staff. He’ll join Ottawa’s AHL affiliate as Bell’s second assistant coach, and joins from the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. McIver is a former AHL defenseman who played in 36 career NHL games, and he’s had a fantastic two-season run with the Growlers on Eric Wellwood’s staff.
  • The Vancouver Canucks announced today that Roman Kaszczij has been named the team’s Head Athletic Therapist, earning this major role after five seasons in the Canucks organization. The team wrote that Kaszczij “played an instrumental role in establishing” their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks’s medical department, and now he’ll play a similarly important role on the off-ice staff in Vancouver.

Minor Transactions: 07/04/23

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It’s another busy day across the hockey world, with NHL teams still hard at work on preparing their teams for next season. Teams across the hockey world, in both minor and overseas pro leagues, are doing the same. We’ll keep track of any notable moves they make here.

  • Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Semyon Der-Arguchintsev has left the organization for Russia and signed a two-year contract with the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk, according to a team announcement. Der-Arguchintsev, set to turn 23 in September, was a 2018 third-round pick of the Maple Leafs, and while he has been a quality scorer in both the OHL and AHL, he hasn’t been able to break into the NHL on any sort of consistent basis. He’s earned one NHL call-up in his career, and has played just over seven total minutes in the world’s top league. Over the last two seasons Der-Arguchintsev has scored 72 points in 101 games, but as a relatively light five-foot-ten center his profile doesn’t fit what most NHL teams want out of bottom-six players. So rather than spend more time developing in the AHL, Der-Arguchintsev is headed closer to home to see if he can become a star forward in the KHL.
  • The AHL’s Ontario Reign have signed two-time AHL All-Star Charles Hudon to a two-year contract. The two-year term of this deal is an important aspect of the contract from Hudon’s perspective, as the 29-year-old has played for a new club in each of the last three seasons. This deal re-unites Hudon with Marc Bergevin, the Los Angeles Kings executive who drafted Hudon back when Bergevin was the GM of the Montreal Canadiens. Hudon is an elite AHL scorer with 308 points in 380 career games. While it’s somewhat surprising that Hudon, who played in nine NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche last season, couldn’t earn a two-way NHL deal, he now gets some stability with this two-year AHL deal and the opportunity to be a leading scorer in California.
  • 2017 Nashville Predators second-round pick Grant Mismash has signed a one-year contract with Ostersunds IK of HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second division of pro hockey. The 24-year-old heads overseas after just two seasons and less than 100 total games played in North American pro hockey. Mismash played four seasons at the University of North Dakota before earning a two-year entry-level deal from the Predators.  Mismash was largely ineffective for Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, and was dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning that offseason. Traded to a team who he wasn’t drafted by, Mismash began the season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch but after failing to appear on the scoresheet after five games he was sent down to the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, where he would spend the rest of the year. He scored 19 points in 32 games for Orlando and will now test his luck in Sweden hoping to help keep Ostersunds afloat and away from relegation to third-tier HockeyEttan.
  • After two full seasons in the AHL, Vegas Golden Knights prospect Maxim Marushev is headed back to Russia. The 2020 seventh-round pick has signed a trial contract to take part in training camp with the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan, and is likely hoping to win a job and earn a full-time KHL contract with the side. Marushev played for Kazan before heading over to North America and scored very well for their minor-league affiliate in Russia’s VHL. Marushev managed just 37 points in 125 games in the AHL, meaning he may need to put together some strong performances at the KHL level before he earns another shot in North America.
  • Big Joseph LaBate, an AHL veteran and former Vancouver Canuck, has signed a one-year contract to play for the KHL’s Kazakh club, Barys Astana. The six-foot-five, 213-pound American winger has over 400 career AHL games on his resume. He spent last season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, scoring 11 goals and 22 points in 53 games to go along with 100 penalty minutes. With the Wolves now going it alone as an independent AHL franchise, the team’s limited spots to dress veteran pros are at more of a premium, since they aren’t guaranteed top prospects from an NHL affiliate to fill premium lineup roles. So since LaBate is a bottom-six player, Chicago may not have been able to offer him a contract extension, leading to today’s news that he’s headed overseas for the first time in his pro career.
  • 28-year-old AHL veteran defenseman Josh Healey has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Chicago Blackhawks’ affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. The 28-year-old brings over 200 games of AHL experience to the table and has worn a letter on his jersey earlier in his career. Although he only played in 12 games this past season, Healey brings playoff experience and should be able to capably log minutes next to the large crop of young defensemen set to play in Rockford next season, including 2021 first-round pick Nolan Allan two-time WJC Gold Medalist Ethan del Mastro.
  • Jeremy Brodeur, the son of legendary NHL netminder Martin Brodeur, has been released by his club of last season, the EIHL’s Manchester Storm, in order to fulfill an AHL contract he has signed for this season. While Brodeur’s AHL landing spot for next season has not yet been revealed, this is a welcome development for his career after he spent his first-ever season playing pro hockey outside North America. Brodeur played 36 games in the United Kingdom’s top pro hockey league, posting a .917 save percentage and leading Manchester to the league’s playoffs. Now, he gets another chance to prove himself in the AHL or ECHL, the leagues he played in from 2017-18 through 2022-23.
  •  High-flying ECHL star Pavel Gogolev has signed a one-year deal with the KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk, confirming his exit from North American pro hockey after three seasons as a Maple Leafs farmhand. A former high-scoring member of the OHL’s Guelph Storm, the 23-year-old forward notched 33 goals and 65 points in just 46 regular-season games for the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers. He even added 17 points in 16 playoff games after that, and will now get a chance to play in the KHL for the first time in his career.
  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket have signed netminder Zachary Emond to a one-year, two-way AHL/ECHL contract. The 23-year-old former San Jose Sharks prospect doesn’t have extensive pro experience just yet but is now in line to potentially play a regular role for the Rocket’s ECHL affiliate, the Trois-Rivieres Lions. Emond is likely to compete against fellow recent signing Strauss Mann and prospect Jakub Dobes for a backup role behind starter Cayden Primeau, though Primeau is now waivers-eligible so there is always the possibility he isn’t able to play in Laval and is instead claimed. This deal has solidified the Canadiens organization’s goaltending depth beyond just those on NHL contracts, and while Emond will have to fight for his role against the other mentioned names he’ll get a chance to do so a lot closer to where he calls home.
  • Former Boston Bruins forward and one-time AHL All-Star Carter Camper has signed a one-year contract with defending Finnish and Champions Hockey League champions Tappara Tampere. Tappara are adding Camper from Switzerland’s EV Zug, and are getting a player who only recently was a point-per-game scorer in the SHL with Leksands IF. Camper, 34, is a former college hockey star who has 421 career points in 558 total AHL games. He last played in North America in 2019-20, scoring 41 points in 48 games for the Utica Comets.

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