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Travis Green Reportedly Joining New Jersey Devils Coaching Staff

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Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Travis Green is reportedly set to join the New Jersey Devils coaching staff under head coach Lindy Ruff, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He’ll fill the role vacated by Andrew Brunette, who was hired by Barry Trotz and the Nashville Predators to be their next head coach.

Per Friedman, Green chose New Jersey over a few other options, such as joining the coaching staff of either the Calgary Flames or Toronto Maple Leafs. With the Devils, Green will get the opportunity to coach a team bursting at the seams with young talent and high-end players.

The Devils took a major step forward this past season, defeating their arch-rival New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs and cementing themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Metropolitan Division.

Their future looks bright, and it’s a future Green will now get to be a part of. Joining Ruff’s bench seems a wise choice for a coach likely looking to earn another chance to be an NHL bench boss.

The Devils look like a team that could soon contend for a Stanley Cup, and with one assistant already plucked from Ruff’s staff to be a head coach elsewhere it would be no surprise to see a future where teams come calling with interest in hiring Green.

In Brunette’s vacated role Green will be responsible for running the Devils power play. The Devils ranked 13th in the NHL with a 21.9% power play percentage, and Green will hope to improve that number next season.

There’s surely an opportunity for growth on a power play unit that boasts one of the league’s best offensive defensemen, Dougie Hamilton, alongside star forwards such as Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Green also has to be excited at the prospect of having Timo Meier, who the Devils acquired from the San Jose Sharks in a mid-season trade.

Vancouver’s power play ranked fourth in the NHL in 2019-20 under Green, and also managed a top-10 finish in 2017-18. But in both 2018-19 and 2020-21, Vancouver’s man advantage was outside the NHL’s top 20 and as head coach of the Utica Comets Green’s power play was never among the AHL’s best.

The most significant determinant of a power play unit’s success is personnel, of course, but Devils fans must nonetheless be excited by some of the high power play rankings on Green’s resume.

Green, 52, played nearly 1,000 games in his NHL playing career and was a head coach in Vancouver for nearly five seasons. While he dealt with some significant challenges and his tenure ultimately ended in disappointment, he did have his moments behind the bench for the Canucks.

He led them on a surprising playoff run in the Edmonton bubble in 2019-20, with his team nearly knocking off the Vegas Golden Knights to reach the Western Conference Final.

Now he’ll get his second chance to coach in the NHL, and it’s with an entirely new team.

He does have one notable connection to the Devils organization: their current AHL affiliate is the Comets, the team Green coached for four seasons and led to the Calder Cup Final in 2015 back when it was the affiliate of the Canucks. Now, the former Utica bench boss will get to coach a host of former Comets players in New Jersey.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Draft Notes: Canucks Draft Strategy, Canadiens, Sharks

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As we get closer and closer to the 2023 NHL draft, more teams are putting the finishing touches on their draft lists and preparing the strategies they’ll take into next week’s hugely important event. One of the teams with a lot on the line is the Vancouver Canucks, who pick eleventh and are looking to add to their pipeline of young talent. The Athletic’s Thomas Drance wrote today that he’s “heard throughout the draft preparation process that positional need” will “loom large in Vancouver’s consideration” as they finalize their final draft list. (subscription link) The positions of need, according to Drance, are at center and at right-handed defenseman.

Drance also named several prospects he has “been hearing that the organization is high on” entering the draft, and are under consideration for the team’s top pick at #11 overall. Those players are WHL center Nate Danielson, Slovakian pivot Dalibor Dvorsky, Swedish right-shot blueliner Tom Willander, and OHL winger Colby Barlow. Three of those four prospects are centers or right-shot defensemen, so it does seem quite likely that the Canucks will end up spending their top pick on a player of either of those positions, though there is obviously room for a surprise selection just like at any NHL draft.

Some other notes about the draft from across the NHL:

  • One of the top picks under a more significant media microscope leading into the draft is the Montreal Canadiens’ top pick at #5 overall. That’s because this draft is considered to have a clear top tier of four center prospects, meaning if each of the four teams ahead of Montreal chooses to select one of those pivots, the draft could truly open up at the fifth pick. Speaking on the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said “there’s a lot of teams that think if [the Canadiens] don’t get [USNTDP Center Will Smith] they’re taking Reinbacher,” meaning Austrian right-shot blueliner and projected top defensive prospect David Reinbacher. We previously covered reports that the Canadiens were “seriously considering” Reinbacher alongside Smith’s teammate Ryan Leonard, and now a key insider has added to those rumors of Montreal’s interest in Reinbacher.
  • Also on the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek spoke on the San Jose Sharks (owners of the fourth overall pick) stating “they want defensemen and they want goaltenders.” Marek wondered about the team’s interest level in Reinbacher, and whether that would lead to them trading down at the draft once again after doing so at last year’s event. It has already been reported that the Canadiens are “aggressively” looking to move up in the draft, so perhaps based on this report a potential one-spot pick swap that would secure the Sharks Reinbacher and the Canadiens Smith could be in play. It must be noted, though, that it is incredibly rare for top-five picks to change hands, so the more likely scenario is always that each team simply picks from the pool of players left available to them.

Blue Jackets Notes: Third Overall Pick, Coaching Staff, Voronkov

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With phenom Connor Bedard effectively a lock to go first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks and Hobey Baker winner Adam Fantilli widely expected to be pick number two, many believe that the first pick with major intrigue at the draft later this month is the third pick, held by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus has long sought after a star number-one center, and with this third pick they have an excellent opportunity to draft a player who can fill that role.

According to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, that’s exactly what they’re going to do. Portzline writes: “We know this much: the Blue Jackets will spend the No.  3 pick on a center.” (subscription link) While there is always room for a surprise, the two players widely expected to be available for the team to select are Orebro HK’s Leo Carlsson and Boston College commit Will Smith. It seems likely that Columbus will end up with one of those two players, and it’s difficult to go wrong picking either one. Carlsson was extremely impressive playing largely at left wing for Orebro, scoring 25 points in 44 regular-season games and nine in 13 playoff games. He also showed well at the IIHF Men’s World Championships, serving as Sweden’s first-line center. Their other expected option, Smith, is an extremely intelligent player who plays the style of a deceptive and creative playmaking center. Operating in between two other top prospects (Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perrault) Smith had one of the most productive seasons in U.S. National Team Development Program history. So while we may not know exactly who Columbus will draft in 10 days, we do know they’re going to get an impactful center prospect.

Some other notes about the Blue Jackets:

  • Portzline also reported today that the Blue Jackets are expected to retain the assistant coaches they had under former coach Brad Larsen to fill the staff of reported new head coach Mike Babcock. Those assistants are Pascal Vincent, who was a candidate for the team’s head coaching job in their past two searches, Steve McCarthy, Kenny McCudden, and Jared Boll. They each have one year remaining on their contracts with Columbus, according to Portzline.
  • One last bit of information from Portzline’s piece today regards center Dmitri Voronkov, who the team signed to an entry-level deal in May. Per Portzline, Voronkov’s contract contains a stipulation that would allow him to “return to Russia if he’s not on the Blue Jackets roster by the end of December.” The hope is, of course, that the 22-year-old Voronkov can seize an NHL job in training camp and make an instant impact in Columbus. He had an impressive final season in the KHL with 26 goals and 43 points in 78 combined regular season and playoff games. But if he can’t manage to hold down a spot in Babcock’s lineup and ends up playing with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters by the end of 2023, we now know he’ll have the option to head back to Russia.

Minor Transactions: 06/18/23

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While teams are still readying themselves for the true beginning of the NHL offseason at the draft later this month, a few teams have gone ahead and made a few moves, namely the Columbus Blue Jackets. But although we’re still in the early stages of the NHL offseason and the AHL postseason is still underway, teams in numerous minor and foreign leagues are hard at work preparing for next year. We’ll keep track of their transactions here.

  • One-time Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Igor Ozhiganov has reportedly been traded by his KHL team, SKA St. Petersburg, to league rival Dynamo Moscow. If true, it’s a significant move in the KHL as Ozhiganov, 30, ranked ninth in KHL scoring among blueliners with 37 points in 62 games. Ozhiganov is under contract in the KHL until 2026, making an NHL return highly unlikely. But given his recent form, it seems Dynamo Moscow is getting a one-time KHL All-Star and one of the league’s more accomplished defensemen.
  • Former Florida Panthers third-round pick Jonathan Racine has played pro hockey in seven countries over the past four seasons: The United States, Canada, Finland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Now, he’s set to make that number eight. Racine, 30, has signed with Grenoble in Ligue Magnus, the top pro league in France. Racine split last season between the Danish and Norwegian leagues, and he ended his season losing in the Danish championship series. Grenoble will hope to help Grenoble qualify for the Champions Hockey League once again after the club lost out on Ligue Magnus’ one allocated spot when Rouen beat them for Ligue Magnus’ championship.
  • 25-year-old Jake Ustorf was playing hockey in Germany’s third division just a few years ago, and today now he’s earned another contract extension to remain in Germany’s top league, the DEL. The 25-year-old Ohio native has re-signed with the Nurnberg Ice Tigers, the team he helped reach the DEL playoffs in two consecutive seasons. He’s not the highest scorer with just 17 points in 90 career games in the DEL but he’s been a regular in Nurnberg’s lineup for the past two years and will continue to be one thanks to today’s contract extension.
  • Defenseman August Hansson helped his boyhood club Ostersunds IK earn promotion from Sweden’s third-tier HockeyEttan to their second tier, HockeyAllsvenskan. Now, he’s secured his place on their roster for another season, signing a contract extension per a team social media announcement. Hansson has been with Ostersunds for more than the past half-decade, rising from their youth development system to their main squad. Now, Hansson will patrol the first team’s blueline looking to help them retain their place in Sweden’s second division for years to come.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Free Agent Focus: Winnipeg Jets

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Free agency is just around the corner and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Winnipeg Jets.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Pierre-Luc Dubois – Whether the Jets like it or not, Dubois is going to be the pending free agent set to have the most consequence on the Jets’ offseason. One year away from hitting unrestricted free agency, the soon-to-be 25-year-old center had a solid season in Winnipeg and has continued to establish himself as a top-six center who plays a valuable, powerful game.

Does he have the profile of a top-of-the-lineup, face-of-the-franchise first-line center? Maybe not, although he has shown the ability to play like one at certain moments, such as the 2019-20 Stanley Cup playoffs.

He’ll certainly get paid like a top-of-the-lineup first-line center, though, with media reports indicating that he’s seeking a long-term deal around the $9MM range.

The issue for Winnipeg is that Dubois has no interest in signing that type of contract for the Jets.

As a result, he’s pretty much guaranteed to be traded this summer. As they have one year of team control over Dubois, the Jets have reduced leverage in any trade negotiation. So, it’s unlikely GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is going to be able to get the type of high-end young player in return for Dubois similar to what he surrendered to acquire him. (He sent Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic to the Winnipeg Jets in his original Dubois trade)

That being said, the scarcity of quality top-six centers across the NHL dictates that the Jets still should get a solid return for Dubois, especially if they can sign him to an eight-year extension and then trade him, similar to what the Calgary Flames did last year with Matthew Tkachuk. In any case, it seems the 2016 third-overall pick’s time in Winnipeg is coming to an end.

F Morgan Barron – While Dubois’ maneuvering to work his way out of Winnipeg has soured his reputation among Jets fans, Barron is a player who became more and more of a fan favorite over the course of his rookie NHL season this past year. Now 24 years old, Barron was a trade acquisition from the New York Rangers as part of the Andrew Copp deadline deal last season, and he’s settled in nicely on the Jets.

The former Cornell star has shown himself to be a top-six caliber player in the AHL and this past season moved past that level to spend most of the year as a bottom-six NHLer. He scored 21 points in 70 games and skated over a minute-and-a-half per game on the team’s penalty kill. He’s unlikely to receive any sort of massive pay raise over the $925k cap hit he played on this past year, though it would be no surprise to see him hit or cross the $1MM mark.

While a long-term bet is certainly possible, he’ll likely receive a shorter-term deal with the hope that he can continue to develop his game and unlock some of the promise in his six-foot-four frame.

D Logan Stanley – A hulking six-foot-seven blueliner, Stanley is someone who hasn’t quite unlocked the promise many have projected he’d have due to his combination of size and strength.

The Jets drafted Stanley 18th overall at the 2016 draft and took a patient approach to his development. He first reached the NHL in 2020-21, and has now played a total of 114 games at the NHL level.

While he has had a few promising moments at the game’s highest level, he took a step back this past year, skating in just 19 games and seeing his average ice time decline from 15:39 to 13:43. He’s still not an expensive proposition and unlikely to be in the immediate future, but with promising young left-shot blueliners such as Samberg, Chisholm, and Ville Heinola in their pipeline, one wonders if Stanley has a future in Winnipeg.

D Dylan Samberg – The 24-year-old Samberg concluded his first season as a full-time NHLer in 2022-23, skating in 63 games with an average ice time just a shade under 15 minutes.

Samberg was a regular face on the Jets’ penalty kill and is a well-rounded defense-first defenseman offering size and stability from the back end. He impressed for Team USA at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month and is likely to remain a regular part of the Jets’ defensive lineup.

If they believe in Samberg’s promise as a long-term NHL blueliner, the Jets could always seek out a long-term pact with Samberg this summer, though it does seem more likely that a shorter-term deal would be the more palatable route in order for Samberg to put another season or more on his NHL resume before really looking to cash in.

Other RFAs: F Kevin Stenlund, F Alex Limoges, D Declan Chisholm, D Leon Gawanke (signed a four-year contract with DEL’s Adler Mannheim), G Arvid Holm.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G David Rittich – Rittich has been a well-traveled backup goalie for the past few seasons, dressing for four teams in three seasons. Now 30 years old, he’s seemingly declined since his early days as a tandem leader for the Calgary Flames, though he did have a bit of a bounce-back season in Winnipeg.

He acquitted himself well on a team used to playing in front of one of the best goalies in the NHL, posting a 2.67 goals-against-average and a .901 save percentage.

Rittich’s advanced metrics were a little bit below average but he went 9-8-1 and is capable of surprises, such as during his run of games to start 2023 where he won three straight starts including an impressive 4-1 road victory in Pittsburgh.

There is some concern to the fact that Rittich lost his final five starts, but at a $900k price tag he provided solid value to the Jets. He provides some degree of insurance thanks to the years on his resume of playing over 40 games, and while he has never quite been a leader on the stat sheet there are far worse backup options to have than Rittich.

He may not receive the $1.25MM he made as a member of the Nashville Predators last year, but another deal around what he made this past season would be a reasonable investment for a team looking for an affordable, experienced option in net.

With Arvid Holm fresh off of an impressive season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and still not waiver eligible for another season, perhaps Rittich spends another year with the Jets.

F Vladislav Namestnikov – A mid-season trade acquisition by Winnipeg, Namestnikov provided secondary scoring, versatility, and valuable veteran experience to the Jets’ lineup. He finished with 10 points in 20 games for the Jets, with nine of those points coming at even strength despite Namestnikov frequently playing on the team’s power play.

If one includes his totals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Namestnikov had 25 points in 77 games, a totally respectable number for a versatile veteran forward. His improved play as a member of the Jets has likely helped his standing heading into the open market, though even with that improvement in form he could have a difficult path to matching the $2.5MM he earned in 2022-23.

Other UFAs: F Sam Gagner, F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, F Karson Kuhlman, F Saku Maenalanen, D Ashton Sautner, G Mikhail Berdin, G Evan Cormier

Projected Cap Space

The Jets are currently projected to have nearly $13MM in cap space, but that’s not a truly relevant number at this time. That’s because the Jets are widely expected to deal Dubois as well as netminder Connor Hellebuyck, and other highly-priced veterans such as Blake Wheeler could be traded as well. So the financial wiggle room the Jets have is dependent on who they manage to move out and what sort of money Winnipeg takes on as part of those trades.

The Jets have some contracts that lag behind in terms of efficiency, such as the $5.95MM they’re paying Nate Schmidt for the next two seasons, though the inefficiency of the Schmidt deal is somewhat balanced out by the fact that the team is paying point-per-game number-one blueliner Josh Morrissey just $6.25MM on a long-term deal.

Morrissey is actually the only Jet signed beyond 2025-26 season, meaning there’s quite a bit of long-term financial space in Winnipeg. The question of this offseason is whether the Jets will be in a position to devote any of that space to valuable, motivated players who want to commit to Winnipeg for a significant chunk of their playing career.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Minor Transactions: 06/17/23

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It’s been a quiet day for news in the NHL, with perhaps the most significant development being a report that the Seattle Kraken are looking to move on from former backup goaltender Chris Driedger. But while the NHL slowly moves into its offseason, pro teams across the hockey world are hard at work trying to add players for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of any notable moves here:

  • Former Minnesota Wild center Tyler Graovac could be headed to the KHL’s Admiral Vladivostok, according to a rumor out of Russia. The 30-year-old with 84 NHL games on his resume has played the last two seasons in the KHL, one in Belarus with Dynamo Minsk and this past year with Podolsk Vityaz in Russia. He’s played decently well at each stop, and has a combined 20 goals and 46 points in 93 career KHL games. Should this rumor prove true he’ll head to the third team of his KHL career looking to aid Vladivostok back to the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
  • Alex Ierullo, a star forward in the ECHL, has signed a three-year contract with Asiago Hockey, a club in the Central European ICEHL. It’s a significant development for Ierullo, as pacts with a three-year term aren’t exactly common in the European pro hockey circuit for import players, especially for those who have never played in Europe. Asiago is likely comfortable making such a significant investment due to just how strong Ierullo’s season was. He ranked third in the East Coast league with 87 points in just 60 games, leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in points with a whopping 35-point lead over the next-highest scorer on his team. Ierullo has played in the AHL for a total of nine games but hasn’t been able to translate his ECHL success to the next level, which has likely been what’s paved his way to Europe.
  • After his first full season as a professional hockey player, former Arizona State University star Johnny Walker has decided to head overseas. He’s signed a contract with the Dundee Stars of the EIHL, the top professional hockey league in the United Kingdom. Walker was once an above-point-per-game scorer in the college ranks but availability issues have mired his more recent seasons. In 2022-23 he played 33 games with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL, scoring a respectable 12 goals and 18 points. He added on a whopping 171 penalty minutes in that span of games, and will now bring his hard-nosed play to Scotland.
  • Gretsky has signed a contract extension in Russia. Well, Vyacheslav Gretsky that is. The 26-year-old Belarusian forward saw his first extended action in the KHL this past year for Amur Khabarovsk, scoring five points in 43 games. With Gretsky on their squad for at least another year, Khabarovsk will hope that lineup continuity from last season will help them reach the playoffs after finishing second-to-last in their conference last season.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: 06/16/23

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The NHL offseason is beginning to ramp up now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded, and today saw the Vancouver Canucks make a major move by buying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The New York Rangers also took care of business today with a defenseman of their own, Zac Jones, inking him to a two-year extension. As teams across the hockey world chip away at their offseason work, we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan signed a two-year contract with Liiga runner-ups Lahti Pelicans. Jordan is fresh off of representing Czechia at the IIHF Men’s World Championships where he helped his country advance past the group stage, before being eliminated by the United States. He split this past season between the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk and Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in the Swiss National League. He scored a combined 15 points in 41 games and with the Pelicans will hope to help them go on another long playoff run.
  • 2019-20 ECHL Defenseman of the Year Alex Breton has signed a one-year contract extension with HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. The 25-year-old former Gatineau Olympiques captain was an instant-impact player in the ECHL after aging out of Canadian junior hockey, but he couldn’t quite gain a foothold in the AHL in PTO opportunities with two teams. In 2020 Breton made the choice to head overseas to play in Slovakia, and in 2021 he was traded to HC Slovan Bratislava, a club in the Slovak capital. That trade was a significant opportunity for him and he ended the year a Slovak champion, paving his way back to North America with the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL. After scoring 25 points in 30 games Breton left for Slovakia once again, signing with HC Kosice in February. He won a second Slovak championship of his career this spring, and will now extend his stay in Kosice another season.
  • Cody Kunyk, a star forward in the Finnish Liiga for five of the last six seasons has decided on a new destination to continue his pro career: Germany. Kunyk signed a contract with the Frankfurt Lions, and after scoring 10 goals and 33 points in 60 games for Karpat this past season he’ll likely be a go-to offensive option for Frankfurt. Kunyk has one NHL game on his resume, a 2013-14 contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last played in North America in 2017-18 with the now-defunct Alaska Aces of the ECHL and the Utica Comets of the AHL.
  • Former San Jose Sharks prospect Jake Kupsky is headed overseas for the next stop in his professional career, signing a contract with HKM Zvolen in Slovakia. Kupsky, a 27-year-old netminder who was a 2015 seventh-round pick of San Jose played in 38 games for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL last season and made the ECHL’s All-Star game. But lost his role as the team’s main starter this past campaign as Idaho went on a historic run of regular-season success. He did earn the first AHL call-up of his career, though, and will look to carry on that momentum over in Slovakia.
  • Two-time Liiga champion Jere Karjalainen is ending his return to Finland’s top league after one year, as he’s inked a contract with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. Karjalainen was a staple in the top-six for Liiga’s Tappara Tampere from 2014-2020, helping them win back-to-back titles. He was a leading scorer for them in 2019-20 with 49 points in 57 games, and parlayed that success into a two-year run in the KHL. He spent this past season with Lukko in Liiga and now will head to Germany for the first time in his pro career.
  • 32-year-old defenseman Ralfs Freibergs helped lead Latvia to a historic Bronze Medal win at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month, and now he’s signed with a new team a few weeks later. Freibergs signed a deal with HK Mountfield in the Czech league, where he has nearly 250 games of experience. Freibergs scored a crucial opening goal to help Lavtia defeat Switzerland at World’s and will hope to have similarly clutch moments in Czechia with his new club.
  • The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have acquired 25-year-old defenseman Chris Perna from the Tulsa Oilers. The team cited a December 2022 trade that sent forward Dante Sherriff to Tulsa in exchange for future considerations as the return for the deal, with Perna serving as the “future considerations” Orlando received for Sherriff. Perna made his pro debut this past season with the Oilers, skating in 54 games and scoring eight points. He was a regular face on a Tulsa team that had a difficult 2022-23 and is joining a Solar Bears team that, like Tulsa, is hoping to have a bounce-back season.

West Notes: Toews, Keller, Brown

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As the Chicago Blackhawks get set to welcome the new face of their franchise, Connor Bedard, at the draft later this month, they’re also preparing to say goodbye to the face of their most successful era in franchise history: Jonathan Toews. As we have previously covered, Toews is expected to make an announcement in the next few weeks regarding whether he’ll be retiring on choosing another team to sign with, and given Toews’ recent health issues it would be no surprise to see the Selke and Conn Smythe Trophy winner hang up his skates.

But if he does choose to continue playing, he could go the way of another famous Blackhawk, Duncan Keith, and choose to play for the Edmonton Oilers. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector connects Toews to the Oilers, writing that “there is some talk” in Edmonton about signing Toews to be the team’s fourth-line center, allowing recent signing Derek Ryan to take a preferred role as a right winger. In scoring 15 goals and 31 points this past season Toews showed he was still very much a valuable NHL player, but the main question for Edmonton would be availability and cost. Regardless, it seems should Toews continue his career the Oilers could be a team interested in acquiring him.

Some other notes from the Western Conference:

  • While the Arizona Coyotes rebuild will continue into the future and the team will likely be open to hearing trade offers for its established players, the player teams are likely to be most interested in is also the one seemingly least likely to be traded. Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports that the Coyotes aren’t “looking to move” star forward Clayton Keller and that they don’t have “any real interest” in parting with their franchise face. Keller, 24, continued his breakout season from 2021-22 into this campaign, finishing with 37 goals and 86 points in 82 games. He’s signed to a bargain $7.15MM AAV deal through the 2027-28 season, and according to Strickland’s report he’s unlikely to be on the move anytime soon.
  • One player who is going to be on the move is St. Louis Blues center Logan Brown. Eligible to become a restricted free agent, Strickland reports that Brown won’t receive a qualifying offer from the Blues and will therefore become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year. The 25-year-old 2016 11th-overall pick didn’t quite take the step forward in St. Louis that many might have hoped he would, and while he remains an effective AHLer he hasn’t found a way to leverage his combination of size and skill to reliably make an impact at the NHL level. With his time in St. Louis coming to an end, he’ll hit the open market where there will likely be some teams interested in seeing what their staff can do with Brown’s skillset.

Minor Transactions: 06/15/23

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With the Stanley Cup Final now concluded there remains just one major hockey competition left to be completed before the offseason can truly begin. The AHL’s Calder Cup Finals continue tonight as the Seattle Kraken’s affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds take on the Hershey Bears, affiliates of the Washington Capitals. After Joey Daccord’s back-to-back shutout performances brought Coachella Valley to a 2-0 lead, Hershey managed to weather a late comeback and take a massive overtime victory on home ice, tightening the series considerably.

As these two teams battle for AHL supremacy clubs across the hockey world are working on assembling a roster they hope can bring them a championship by this time next year. We’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Three-time Liiga champion Mikko Niemela has had his contract with Karpat terminated by mutual agreement. Niemela had been with Karpat since he was a youth player, with his first games on record coming in 2005-06 at the U16 level. Save for a few loan spells to other clubs he’s been a consistent presence on their blueline and in total has played over 500 games at Finland’s highest level of hockey across 13 seasons. He finished this past season with Brynas IF in the SHL where he was unable to help them avoid relegation to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. Now, at 32 years old, Niemela will look for a new opportunity to continue his long European pro career.
  • Connor McCarthy, an ECAC First-Team All-Star at Clarkson University is heading overseas for the first time in his professional career. The massive six-foot-seven blueliner tried his hand at North American pro hockey in the New York Islanders’ minor league system, serving as a regular for their ECHL affiliate, the Worcester Railers, for the past two seasons. While he managed to get into 10 AHL games in 2021-22 he only got into two this past campaign and has now decided to sign with HC Banska Bystrica of Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga.
  • The SHL’s IK Oskarshamn have announced a two-year contract extension with blueliner Niclas Burstrom, a veteran of 543 games in Sweden’s top tier of hockey. The five-foot-eight defenseman won the SHL’s Salming Trophy, awarded to Swedish defenseman of the year, in 2015-16 and just recently finished his first campaign in Oskarshamn. He scored one goal and 12 points in 46 games and will now hope to help his club return to the SHL playoffs after a seventh-place 2022-23 finish.
  • Liiga club SaiPa and forward Tino Metsavainio have mutually agreed to terminate the player’s contract, per a team announcement. Metsavainio enjoyed a breakout season in Liiga’s top league quickly after signing with SaiPa, scoring a career-high 20 points in 49 games. His production declined steeply this year, though, and he finished with eight points in 55 games – less than half of his prior total. With that disappointing campaign now in his rear-view mirror Metsavainio is now a free agent and able to sign elsewhere for a fresh start.
  • Just one year after he led the DEL in scoring by players under 23 years old, German forward Tim Wohlgemuth has had his contract terminated with Adler Mannheim by mutual agreement. Wohlgemuth’s offensive production declined from 35 points in 2021-22 to 24 this past season, and it seems a change of scenery is in order as a result. Wohlgemuth’s playoff performance was particularly disappointing as he only managed one point in 10 games, a solid decline from his prior performances when he was a consistent contributor. Now he’ll likely land with another DEL team and look to revive the momentum he had been building in past years.
  • Anrei Hakulinen, captain of Liiga’s Lukko for the past two seasons, has signed with the DEL’s Augsburger Panther. It’s a major signing for the German side as Hakulinen ranked second in scoring for Lukko this past year and helped them reach third place on Liiga’s regular-season table. Now he’ll join a DEL side that ranked second-to-last in 2022-23 and will likely serve as a major boost to their odds of avoiding relegation once again.
  • The club that got relegated instead of Augsburg, the Bietigheim Steelers, have lost another player to a surviving DEL team: 21-year-old Robert Kneisler. Kneisler joins Grizzlys Wolfsburg, semifinalists these past playoffs. He only managed seven points in 53 games for the Steelers in 2022-23 but should help round out the depth of Wolfsburg’s roster as they hope to take the next step in the playoffs in 2023-24.
  • While MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik were promoted to the SHL this spring with a dramatic seven-game victory over Djurgarden, 28-year-old defenseman Josef Ingman won’t be following them into Sweden’s top pro hockey league. Ingman has signed with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Ostersunds IK, a club that ranked among the worst teams in Sweden’s second tier. He’ll likely play a major role on their blueline and hope to repeat the strong form he displayed in 2022-23, a year he finished with a two-assist performance in Game Seven against Djurgarden.
  • The reigning Slovak champions, HC Kosice, have gotten a bit stronger, poaching forward Filip Krivosik from HK Nitra. Krivosik has played quite well since returning to Slovakia after a half-decade in Finland, scoring 50 points across two seasons and 18 points in 27 combined playoff games. The big six-foot-three forward, 24, will be afforded a significant opportunity in Kosice and has been signed to help the club win a tenth Extraliga title.
  • Austin Farley, once among the top first-year scorers in college hockey, has signed a one-year contract extension with Slovakia’s HC Nove Zamsky. The former University of Minnesota-Duluth winger enjoyed a breakout campaign in Czechia, scoring 15 goals and 45 points in 48 games. Farley last played in North America in 2020-21, as he got into 19 games with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks but only managed three points. He’s had more success on European ice and now is extending his stay in Europe for another season with this contract extension.

Trade Notes: Karlsson, DeBrincat, Pesce

at CDT | by 35 Comments

It’s not often that a defenseman is traded the summer after a Norris Trophy-winning, 101-point season, but that’s exactly what might happen with Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks. With San Jose looking to rebuild and Karlsson’s historic regular season unable to lift the team out of the NHL’s basement, this summer could bring the second trade of Karlsson’s career. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN’s Insider Trading program that Karlsson’s representatives and the Sharks had a meeting last week about the player’s future, and the outcome of the meeting was a unified focus between team and player to “try and get a trade done” for next season.

Karlsson, 33, is in possession of a full no-movement clause in his contract meaning he would have final control over any destination. The largest barrier to any potential move isn’t expected to be that clause, though. Instead, it’s likely to be Karlsson’s $11.5MM cap hit, and whether interested teams will be willing to take on the full weight of that hit. (or whether the Sharks will need to retain a portion of the contract) In any case, it appears the Sharks and Karlsson’s camp share a motivation to find a trade outcome before the start of next season.

Some other notes about trade rumors from across the NHL:

    • Also on Insider Trading, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Senators, by filing for arbitration with restricted free agent forward Alex DeBrincat, have “set the window for when they have to trade” the player. Johnston believes the Senators will make a push to get a DeBrincat trade finalized “by the draft this month” if possible. One might remember that DeBrincat was traded to Ottawa on draft day last year, and now based on Johnston’s report it seems he could get dealt on one of hockey’s most significant days once again, if not sooner.
    • Like DeBrincat, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has the chance to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. On Insider Trading, LeBrun reported that while contract talks on an extension are continuing between Pesce and Carolina, the Hurricanes are “pretty resolute” that they’ll be trading him this summer if they can’t secure his signature on a new deal. LeBrun also adds that the Buffalo Sabres have already inquired about the possibility of trading for Pesce, potentially to be Owen Power’s long-term partner. It’s likely that the widely-respected 28-year-old blueliner would garner significant trade interest if put on the market. He just finished a year where he made a major impact on both ends of the ice, setting a career-high of 30 points while also serving as a leading penalty killer for a Carolina shorthanded unit that consistently ranks among the best in the NHL.

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