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RFA Notes: Frost, Dellandrea, Newhook

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With fewer and fewer of the top unrestricted free agents still left on the open market, the focus in some markets has shifted from who teams will be bringing in this offseason to what sort of contracts their restricted free agents might receive. The Philadelphia Flyers are one of those teams, and The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported today on Twitter that contract talks with restricted free agent center Morgan Frost “are ’positive’ and progressing.”

Frost, 24, set himself up extremely well for this summer’s negotiations with a breakout 2022-23 campaign. He flew past his career-highs to post 19 goals and 46 points in 81 games, and he could end up a long-term middle-six center for Philadelphia. The Flyers still have more than enough cap space to entertain all possible forms of a Frost extension, whether bridge contract or long-term pact, so the main issue will likely be how the Flyers evaluate Frost’s long-term future and how comfortable they are making a long-term financial commitment to that future.

Some other notes on RFA’s across the NHL:

  • Pagnotta reports that the Dallas Stars have “just started discussions” on a new contract for RFA forward Ty Dellandrea. Just 22 years old, Dellandrea is a valued leader in Dallas who took a major step forward this season. The 2018 13th overall pick followed up his strong 2021-22 AHL campaign by establishing himself as a full-time NHL player and scoring 28 points. The Stars’ cap situation might mean that a short-term deal is necessary here, though the Stars are obviously big believers in Dellandrea so a long-term pact wouldn’t be entirely surprising either.
  • Finally, Pagnotta reports that the Montreal Canadiens and newly-acquired RFA forward Alex Newhook still “haven’t begun” negotiations on a new contract. Seeing as the Newhook trade was widely cited as mirroring last year’s Kirby Dach deal, it would be no surprise to see Newhook’s contract match the deal Dach signed last offseason, a four-year pact with an AAV a little above $3MM. Newhook has been more productive in the NHL than Dach was to that point, so Newhook’s deal could look a little different, but using that contract as a general guide is likely to be wise.

Minor Transactions: 07/03/23

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NHL free agency has moved from the “frenzy” stage that defines July 1st to more of a steady flow of news, and just as NHL teams are adding players for next season so are teams in minor leagues and pro leagues across the hockey world. We’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Former Chicago Blackhawks 20-goal scorer Richard Panik has signed with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Extraliga. Panik, 32, is a veteran of over 500 NHL games, last playing in the league in 2021-22 with the New York Islanders. He signed overseas for 2022-23 and scored nine points in 19 games for Lausanne HC in the Swiss National League. Now Panik will return to the club he played for in his youth and the team the Tampa Bay Lightning selected him out of at the 2009 draft.
  • Jonah Gadjovich, a regular on the San Jose Sharks for the past two seasons, signed a one-year AHL deal with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers yesterday. A 2017 second-round pick, Gadjovich played 78 games for the Sharks across two seasons, averaging nearly nine minutes of ice time per game. Gadjovich is a big, physical winger who has 10 career NHL points, and will now return to the AHL for next season. Gadjovich’s last stretch in the AHL was quite successful (15 goals in 18 games for the Utica Comets in 2020-21) so this contract is Gadjovich’s chance to put together a productive season to earn another NHL deal.
  • The AHL’s Providence Bruins have signed two players to one-year, two-way AHL/ECHL contracts: goalie Shane Starrett and defenseman Ethan Ritchie. Starrett, 28, was the number-one goalie for the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks last season and re-established himself in North America’s third-tier league with a .913 save percentage in 54 games played. That was an important development for Starrett, who spent the year as the starter for the EIHL’s Glasgow Clan. Starrett does have some AHL experience (including a 42-game stretch with the Bakersfield Condors in 2018-19 where he posted a .918 save percentage) and will bolster the goaltending depth behind Brandon Bussi and Kyle Keyser in Providence, likely to spend most of his time with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. Ritchie, 21, gets signed after his overage OHL season where he scored 44 points in 65 games with the Sarnia Sting. The brother of 2023 Colorado Avalanche first-rounder Calum Ritchie, he’ll now begin his pro career either in Maine or Providence.
  • Although his production declined from 19 goals and 43 points in 2021-22 to just six and 19 in 2022-23, John Stevens has earned a two-year AHL contract extension with the Abbotsford Canucks. The 29-year-old former Northeastern Husky has been in the Vancouver Canucks’ minor-league system for the past four seasons, and Abbotsford GM Ryan Johnson said Stevens “personifies what we are as an organization.” He brings leadership value as a former NCAA captain and an alternate captain for Abbotsford, and if he can get back to his 2021-22 numbers he’ll be one of the AHL Canucks’ most important players.
  • The Grand Rapids Griffins have poached the captain of the Providence Bruins, signing right-shot blueliner Josiah Didier to an AHL deal. Didier, 30, led the AHL in plus-minus rating in 2019-20 and is a Calder Cup champion. He’s played nearly 400 career games in the American League, and joins recent NHL signing Brogan Rafferty as a move that will help beef up the right side of the defense in Grand Rapids.
  • 28-year-old blueliner Ryan McKinnon, a former captain of two different QMJHL teams during his junior career, has signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Belleville Senators. McKinnon split last season between the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders and ECHL’s Worcester Railers, and hasn’t yet played a season as a full-time AHLer. That’s what makes the one-way status of this deal significant, as McKinnon worked his way up from being a full-time ECHLer in Worcester to a place on the AHL/ECHL bubble, a space he’s lived in for most of his pro career. Now, he’ll have a chance to establish himself as a full-time AHL player in Belleville.
  • Longtime minor leaguer Mark Alt spent most of last season as a free agent, ultimately latching on with the DEL’s Straubing Tigers for their playoff push and seven postseason games. Now, the Tigers have announced that Alt will not return to the club as he focuses on a full-time role outside of hockey. While there’s no word on if Alt, 31, is ending his eleven-season pro career, it’s certainly possible that Alt’s decision not to continue in Europe is an indication that he’s moving away from hockey. In any case, Alt has nearly 500 AHL games on his resume and has played in 20 NHL games, meaning regardless of what he chooses for his future he’s had a hockey career to be proud of.
  • Two-time AHL All-Star and former NHLer Matt Fraser will remain with his current club, the ICEHL’s EC-KAC, after the team decided not to exercise their opt-out clause for next season. Fraser, 33, has played in Klagenfurt for the last three seasons and took home an ICEHL title for them in 2020-21, scoring the championship-winning goal himself. Fraser last played in North America way back in 2015-16, though he’s had a successful run in Europe since he crossed the Atlantic. Fraser ranked second on Klagenfurt in goals with 14 last season and will likely remain one of the team’s top goal-scoring options moving forward.
  • The KHL’s Barys Astana made a few significant moves earlier this month, and perhaps the two biggest were the club’s signings of Eddie Pasquale, one of the KHL’s top goaltenders, and former NHLer Pontus Aberg. Pasquale, 32, returns to Kazakhstan to play for the team he began his KHL career with in 2019-20. Pasquale took home KHL Goaltender of the Year honors in 2020-21 and posted a .927 save percentage in 50 games last season for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Aberg, 29, was a point-per-game player in 22 games for the Swiss NL’s Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, and now returns to the KHL for the second time in his career. He spent 2020-21 with Traktor Chelyabinsk, scoring 23 points in 49 games before leaving the league that offseason to return to North America.
  • Alex Ciernik, a recent fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, will play with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Vasterviks IK on a permanent basis after spending 10 games there on loan last season. The 18-year-old was selected 120th overall at the 2023 draft last week, and has 12 points in 37 career games at Sweden’s second-highest level of pro hockey.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Day One Free Agent Recap: Metropolitan Division

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The NHL’s Metropolitan Division did some shopping yesterday, with a few teams making big splashes on the free agent market. Bigger deals include the New York Islanders’ twin seven-year deals for Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall, as well as a pricey two-year pact between the Carolina Hurricanes and Dmitry Orlov.

Carolina Hurricanes

F – Michael Bunting (3-year, $13.5MM, $4.5MM AAV)

F – Jesper Fast (2-year, $4.8MM, 2.4MM AAV)

D – Dmitry Orlov (2-year, $15.5MM, $7.75MM AAV)

G – Frederik Andersen (2-year, $6.8MM, $3.4MM AAV)

G – Antti Raanta (1-year, $1.5MM)

Columbus Blue Jackets

F – Adam Fantilli (3-year entry-level contract $950k AAV)

New Jersey Devils

F – Michael McLeod (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Nathan Bastian (2-year, $2.7MM, $1.35MM AAV)

F – Kyle Criscuolo (1-year, $775k)

F – Justin Dowling (1-year, $775k)

G – Erik Kallgren (1-year, $775k)

New York Islanders

F – Pierre Engvall (7-year, $21MM, $3MM AAV)

D – Scott Mayfield (7-year, $24.5MM, $3.5MM AAV)

G – Ilya Sorokin (8-year, $66MM, $8.25MM AAV)

G – Semyon Varlamov (4-year, $11MM, $2.75MM)

New York Rangers

F – Blake Wheeler (1-year, $800k)

F – Nick Bonino (1-year, $800k)

F – Tyler Pitlick (1-year, $787.5k)

F – Riley Nash (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Alex Belzile (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

D – Connor Mackey (1-year, $775k)

D – Erik Gustafsson (1-year, $825k)

D – Nikolas Brouillard (1-year, $775k)

G – Jonathan Quick  (1-year, $825k)

Philadelphia Flyers

F – Garnet Hathaway (2-year, $4.75MM, $2.375MM AAV)

F – Ryan Poehling (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Rhett Gardner (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Pittsburgh Penguins

F – Noel Acciari (3-year, $6MM, $2MM AAV)

F – Lars Eller (2-year, $4.9MM, $2.45MM AAV)

F – Joona Koppanen (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Matt Nieto (2-year, $1.8MM, $900k AAV)

D – Ryan Graves (6-year, $27MM, $4.5MM AAV)

D – Ryan Shea (1-year, $775k)

G – Tristan Jarry (5-year, $26.875MM, $5.375MM AAV)

G – Alex Nedeljkovic (1-year, $1.5MM)

Washington Capitals

F – Max Pacioretty (1-year, $2MM)

F – Pierrick Dube (2-year, $1.9MM, $870k AAV)

G – Hunter Shepard (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Bertuzzi

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.

This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.

Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.

The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.

Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.

Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.

His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.

Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.

That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Jiri Patera

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The Vegas Golden Knights re-sign netminder Jiri Patera to a one-year, two-way contract. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a $775k AAV, a $100k AHL salary, and a $145k total guarantee.

Patera, 24, is a member of the Golden Knights’ original draft class from 2017, when he was selected in the sixth round. The six-foot-two Czech netminder developed in the USHL before spending two seasons in the WHL with current Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon’s club, the Brandon Wheat Kings.

A First-Team All-Star in the WHL, Patera turned pro in 2020-21, splitting time with HC Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Extraliga and the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights.

Patera had a difficult start to life in Henderson but in 2021-22 he regrouped his game in the ECHL and ended the season with a .910 save percentage and 2.76 goals-against-average in the AHL.

This past season, Patera got used to a larger workload playing 31 games for Henderson. His numbers held steady despite getting a larger role in the AHL, and he even earned two starts for Vegas in the NHL, winning both with a .929 save percentage.

With this contract Patera secures his place for another season with Vegas’ AHL affiliate, and he’ll hope to earn more NHL call-ups as he makes a push to become a regular face at the game’s highest level.

Seattle Kraken Sign Kailer Yamamoto

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The Seattle Kraken are returning Kailer Yamamoto to his home state. The Spokane, Washington native and former Edmonton Oiler has signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the NHL’s youngest franchise.

As he was bought out by the Detroit Red Wings a few days ago, Yamamoto’s signing with the Kraken means Detroit effectively traded him for Daniel Sprong, another right-winger who Seattle chose not to issue a qualifying offer.

By signing Yamamoto over Sprong, the Kraken save $500,000 (Sprong earned $2MM from the Red Wings) and receive a younger player with a less impressive recent track record but a more extensive resume of NHL success.

While Sprong’s 21 goals and 46 points this year dwarf Yamamoto’s 10 goals and 25 points, just one year ago Yamamoto had 20 goals and 41 points.

Yamamoto also flashed high offensive upside in 2019-20, when he scored 11 goals and 26 points in 27 games.

Now plugged into one of the league’s highest-scoring environments in Seattle, the Kraken will hope that Yamamoto can bring a more consistent level of offensive production, and perhaps access the upside that saw him drafted 22nd overall in 2017 on a more regular basis.

The Kraken have quite a few quality wingers slated to play ahead of him on their roster, but the depth of Seattle’s lineup will play to Yamamoto’s advantage. Assuming he can make a good impression at training camp, Yamamoto has a strong chance of playing next to other capable NHL offensive producers, and if he can find the right linemates and build some chemistry he could really pop, giving Seattle a strong return on this $1.5MM investment.

If he ends up playing more the way he did late in his Oilers tenure, this could end up a wasted $1.5MM for the Kraken, which would hurt even more if Sprong goes on to great things in Detroit. But even with that risk in mind, this is a reasonable gamble to take on a young, energetic offensive forward.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Calvin de Haan

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed defenseman Calvin de Haan, as first reported by Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds that the deal is a one-year, $775k contract. The signing has also been officially announced.

It’s a slight pay cut for de Haan, 32, who played last season on an $850k cap hit with the Carolina Hurricanes. A defenseman with nearly 600 games of NHL experience, de Haan is a former top-four rearguard who a minutes-eating defenseman for playoff teams on both the Hurricanes and New York Islanders.

Some significant injury issues sapped away much of de Haan’s foot speed, and left him a less effective two-way defenseman compared to his prime. Last season he played in 53 games and averaged a career-low 13:32 time on ice per game, though just a year before he was averaging nearly 19 minutes per night.

For a cap-strapped team like the Lightning, there are far worse options a team could have for its seventh defenseman role than de Haan. He brings experience, stability, and reliability to the role, and despite no longer being the player he once was it’s not as though he’s in his late thirties. The Lightning clearly believe he still has something to give to an NHL team, and now this one-year deal will allow de Haan to do so.

He’s got no chance of displacing Victor Hedman or Mikhail Sergachev on one of Tampa’s top two pairings, but seeing as the Lightning got hit hard by blueline injuries later in the season he’s a valuable depth player to keep around and potentially have compete with Haydn Fleury for the number-six role on head coach Jon Cooper’s defense.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Akito Hirose

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced a two-year contract extension for young defenseman Akito Hirose, a relatively recent signing out of college hockey. The deal carries a $787k cap hit for each year, and is a two-way deal with a $350k AHL salary in 2023-24 and a one-way deal in 2024-25.

Hirose, 24, was signed out of Minnesota State University after a successful three-year stint there. The former top defender in the BCHL scored 68 points in 104 games at the college level and stepped right into the NHL after signing from college.

Hirose got into seven contests for the Canucks and scored three points, averaging nearly 17 and a half minutes per game. He’s more of an offensive defenseman and will likely need a little bit of time in the AHL before he’s ready for full-time NHL duty.

The one-way portion of this contract is an indication that the Canucks are very much believers in Hirose’s NHL potential, and now with his contract secured he’ll head to training camp hoping to compete for an NHL roster spot or secure a premier offensive role in the AHL.

Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Justus Annunen

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The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed AHL netminder Justus Annunen to a one-year two-way deal with a $775k cap hit and a $225k minor league salary.

Annunen, 23, took a strong step forward this past season with the Colorado Eagles, improving his save percentage from an .893 in his rookie AHL campaign to a .916 in 41 games this year.

The big six-foot-four goalie was a backup goalie for two seasons with Karpat in the Finnish Liiga before joining the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. In the AHL Annunen has acclimated himself to a far greater workload than what he received in Finland, and his form this past year is an encouraging sign for his NHL future in Colorado.

Incumbent backup netminder Pavel Francouz is 33 years old and will see his contract expire at the end of next season, so this one-year extension provides Annunen an excellent platform to make a push for an NHL number-two job in Denver.

Calgary Flames Sign Jordan Oesterle

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The Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Jordan Oesterle to a one-year, $925k AAV deal.

With trade winds blowing heavily around the Flames’ top left-handed defenseman, Noah Hanifin, adding a capable left-hander to the organization is an important step to take to protect the team’s depth in the event Hanifin is dealt.

Oesterle is exactly that, a capable veteran defenseman who has over 300 games of NHL experience. He’s spent the last two years with the Detroit Red Wings, where he’s scored a combined 19 points in 97 games, averaging nearly 17 minutes of ice time per night along the way.

While he won’t be effective if asked to play a minutes-eating role for the Flames, he should be able to capably handle a bottom-pairing role and provide some valuable veteran competition for the Flames’ crop of up-and-coming blueliners.

While it might be a preferred scenario for a young defenseman like Jeremie Poirier to beat out Oesterle for a job, this signing gives the Flames a solid option in case one of their young defensemen disappoints and can’t earn an opening-day job.

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