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Buffalo Sabres Re-Sign Kale Clague

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The Buffalo Sabres have re-signed defenseman Kale Clague to a one-year, two-way contract with a $775k AAV and a $475k total guarantee, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

This re-signing keeps Clague, 25, in Buffalo for a second season after he first signed there in July 2022. Clague spent most of the year as the Sabres’ seventh defenseman, ultimately playing in 33 NHL games averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per night.

A former WHL Defenseman of the Year and AHL All-Star, Clague is no longer the top prospect he once was but he’s settled into an established role on the NHL/AHL bubble. Clague has already proven himself to be a capable AHL defenseman, and should he end up a regular for the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, he’ll make a difference there.

It’s less likely that Clague finds his way onto the NHL roster next season as much as he did in 2022-23, thanks to Buffalo’s signings of Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton to bolster their blueline.

But should the Sabres run into injury issues, this re-signing gives head coach Don Granato a player he’s familiar with as one of the team’s top call-up options, as well as an experienced pro to enhance the level of competition at training camp.

While Clague might be better suited signing with a team that doesn’t boast left-shot defensemen (or defensemen set to play on the left side) such as Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, and Johnson already entrenched in their lineup, he’s put work in to be as versatile as possible and has played on his off-hand.

There are worse roles to play for an NHL organization than top AHL defenseman and first or second-choice AHL call-up, and that’s exactly what the Sabres are paying Clague a hefty AHL guarantee to do.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Anaheim Ducks Sign Robert Hägg

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed former Detroit Red Wings depth defenseman Robert Hägg to a one-year contract, per a team announcement. According to CapFriendly, the deal is a one-way league-minimum contract.

Hägg, 28, spent last season as a depth defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings, skating in 38 games and averaging 15:31 time-on-ice per night.

The former Philadelphia Flyers has never been much of an offensive defenseman (he has just 63 points in 338 career NHL games) but he’s been valued by clubs for his physicality and ability to lay down big hits on the opposition.

The Ducks have a glut of young, relatively unproven left-shot defensemen set to compete for lineup spots in the fall, with top prospects Olen Zellweger, Pavel Minytukov, and Jackson LaCombe in the running to win a job in new head coach Greg Cronin’s defense.

This addition of Hägg is less about adding a blueliner who’ll play meaningful NHL minutes and more about bringing in some experienced competition for those younger players. Should none of them manage to beat out Hägg for a regular role on the Ducks’ back-end, Hägg can log time on the Ducks’ defense and not look out of place, even occasionally wowing fans with a big hit.

But this signing was likely made with the hope that Hägg will end up taking a back seat to one of the Ducks’ prospects, and the team will now have to wait and see if their young defensemen are up to the task.

Also, even if one or two of the Ducks’ prospect defensemen takes a regular job, Hägg will still have the opportunity to compete with 26-year-old Colton White for the team’s seventh-defenseman role, the role he occupied in Detroit last season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Dallas Stars Re-Sign Nicholas Caamano, Scott Reedy

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The Dallas Stars have announced contract extensions for two depth forwards: right winger Nicholas Caamano and center Scott Reedy. Each contract is a one-year, two-way pact.

Caamano, set to turn 25 before the start of next season, is a big six-foot-three forward who has shown flashes of offensive potential in the AHL but generally lacked consistency since turning pro from the OHL. The former OHL champion has scored 75 points in 191 career AHL games, while also racking up 194 career penalty minutes.

Caamano’s combination of physicality and bursts of scoring ability helped the AHL’s Texas Stars reach the postseason in 2022-23 and also turned Caamano into a viable option to be called up to Dallas, although he has just three points in 36 career NHL games.

With 227 combined games played at both the NHL and AHL levels, Caamano is set to cross the 260-game threshold this season which would mean he would no longer qualify as a “development player,” per the AHL’s rules.

As a result, this year is of particular importance for Caamano as he’ll need to show he can provide consistent value to his team in order for an NHL club to deem him worth investing a non-development player slot in during future seasons.

Reedy, 24, is a center who was acquired by the Stars from the San Jose Sharks in a midseason trade. He scored 10 points in 18 games for Texas and has 58 points in 111 career AHL games. Reedy is a big center who hasn’t scored a ton at the AHL level but does have a season on record where he scored 18 goals in just 38 games, showcasing some untapped offensive upside.

He and Caamano will in all likelihood be placed in top-nine roles for Texas but should be under consideration for NHL call-ups during the season, assuming they manage to be reasonably productive.

San Jose Sharks Sign Nathan Todd

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The San Jose Sharks have signed center Nathan Todd to a two-year, two-way contract. The deal carries a $775k cap hit in the NHL, a $225k yearly AHL salary, and $225k in yearly guarantees.

With Springfield Thunderbirds teammate Brady Lyle headed to the Washington Capitals, Todd is the second member of the Thunderbirds’ 2021-22 Calder Cup Finals squad to sign with another club today.

Todd is a 27-year-old center who has taken a bit of a winding road to this current point in his career, where he’s an established, valuable AHLer. Todd was a productive two-year OHLer before splitting his first full season away from junior hockey in the ECHL and Canadian University circuit. He then spent three seasons with the ECHL’s now-defunct Brampton Beast, going from middle-of-the-lineup player to point-per-game scorer.

Todd earned his first full-time AHL opportunity in 2020-21 with the Manitoba Moose, and he made the most of it scoring 12 goals and 32 points in 36 games in the AHL’s All-Canadian division. He even managed to be named to his division’s All-Star Team and parlayed that successful AHL campaign into his first NHL contract, with the St. Louis Blues.

The 2021-22 regular season didn’t go quite as well for Todd as the 2020-21 did, but he stepped up in the playoffs scoring 11 points in 18 games as Springfield nearly took home an AHL title. This past season Todd only managed to get into 16 games but he scored a healthy eight goals and 14 points, leading to this two-year deal with the Sharks.

San Jose recently dealt bottom-sixer Steven Lorentz to the Florida Panthers in the Anthony Duclair trade, meaning the possibility is there for Todd to have a stellar training camp and win the Sharks’ fourth-line center role. But the overwhelming likelihood is Todd begins the season with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, and hopes to be healthy and productive enough to earn the first NHL call-up of his career.

Calgary Flames Sign Brady Lyle

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The Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Brady Lyle to a one-year, two-way contract carrying a $775k AAV and a $140k AHL salary.

Lyle is a 24-year-old right-shot defenseman who offers above-average size and is coming off of a breakout season with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.

A high-scoring undrafted defenseman in the OHL, Lyle began his pro career with the Providence Bruins but eventually made his way to Springfield. He was a member of the Springfield team that made it all the way to the Calder Cup Finals last season, acquired by St. Louis for future considerations in a midseason trade.

Lyle held down a top-four role for the Thunderbirds and ranked second among team defensemen in scoring with 31 points in 51 games.

The Flames have a crowded defense at the current moment but are a bit thin on the right side of their defense in the AHL with only veteran Nick DeSimone as the only right-shot blueliner currently penciled into the Wranglers’ lineup.

Now they’ve added another top-four AHL blueliner with some offensive upside to their mix, and seeing as he only just turned 24 perhaps the Flames believe Lyle can make a push for an NHL call-up.

Washington Capitals Sign Alex Limoges

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The Washington Capitals have put in work signing players to add to their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, for their next season where they’ll look to defend their Calder Cup Championship. Alongside an extension for Dylan McIlrath and the additions of Matthew Phillips and Pierrick Dube comes a signing of Alex Limoges from the Winnipeg Jets’ affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.

Per PuckPedia, the deal is a one-year, two-way contract carrying a $775k AAV and a $235k AHL salary. Seeing as Hershey already has their first-line center locked in with Michael Sgarbossa, Limoges figures to slot in either as the team’s second or third-line center, depending on the fate of 2020 first-rounder Hendrix Lapierre.

Limoges, 25, hasn’t yet played in the NHL but has been an extremely strong AHL scorer ever since he turned pro out of Penn State. The Virginia native scored 20 goals and 54 points for the Moose this past season, leading the team in scoring.

He only managed one goal and no assists in five playoff games and did not earn any NHL games or a qualifying offer, but his play was improved compared to last season and he firmly established himself as a top-six player in the AHL.

Now he’ll bring his services closer to home and play for the defending Calder Cup champion, with the hope of finally earning a call-up to make his NHL debut.

Detroit Red Wings Place Filip Zadina On Waivers

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The Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Filip Zadina on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Zadina, the sixth-overall pick at the 2018 draft, has two years remaining on his $1.825MM AAV contract. A lethal scorer at the junior level with the Halifax Mooseheads, Zadina turned pro immediately after the draft and spent his rookie professional season in the AHL.

He scored at a solid clip with Grand Rapids, potting 16 goals and 35 points in 59 games, a very respectable total for a teenage AHL rookie. He also scored three points in nine NHL for the Red Wings that year, flashing his offensive talent and showcasing why the consensus among scouts was that he would end up a star forward.

Zadina’s 2019-20 season was not a resounding leap forward but a solid step nonetheless, though as the pandemic wreaked havoc on pro hockey around the world Zadina’s development path was affected.

He never found a rhythm in his first season of full-time NHL duty and finished with 19 points in 49 games.

2021-22 was a continuation of Zadina’s struggles from the year before, and in his first full-length season in the NHL he managed only 10 goals and 24 points. Then this past season Zadina only played in 30 NHL games and scored just seven points.

Set to turn 24 next November, it’s been clear for some time that a change of scenery would likely be necessary for Zadina to reach his potential at the NHL level.

With Jonatan Berggren a more effective winger at the NHL level and the Red Wings signing Daniel Sprong in free agency, Zadina simply ran out of chances on Detroit’s roster.

Drafted by a previous regime led by current Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, Zadina’s draft status was only going to get him so far, and now he’ll either be claimed by another NHL franchise or likely begin the season in the AHL hoping to earn a call-up if other wingers ahead of him on the pecking order struggle or get injured.

While his $1.825MM cap hit isn’t a massive number, in a flat-cap environment where so many teams are counting every last dollar available to them Zadina’s contract likely reduces the number of teams willing to acquire him by a decent degree.

Now all 31 other clubs will get a chance to add Zadina, and it remains to be seen if any team is confident enough in their development staff and what remains of Zadina’s former top prospect luster to take a chance on the final two years of his contract.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Marc Staal

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The Philadelphia Flyers are signing veteran defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year, $1.1MM contract, the team announced.

The signing reunites Staal, 36, with his former coach John Tortorella, who coached Staal during the entirety of Tortorella’s tenure coaching the New York Rangers. Now, he’ll join a rebuilding Flyers club to likely be one of Tortorella’s most trusted veteran leaders.

Flyers GM Daniel Briere told the media, including The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor, that his team would “like to add a little bit more of a veteran presence ” while also keeping spots open for some of the organization’s younger players to make their mark. (subscription link)

Staal joins a left side of Philadelphia’s defense that already includes Travis Sanheim and Cam York, two players likely to play major roles for the club moving forward.

As a result, Staal is likely to compete for third-pairing minutes with fellow veteran Nick Seeler, as well as younger names such as Yegor Zamula, Emil Andrae, and Adam Ginning.

Now well past his prime years, Staal clearly isn’t the player he once was. The longtime Ranger was a steady presence in New York’s top four for over a decade, and he even made it to an All-Star Game earlier in his career. Now the most valuable things Staal brings to the table are his 1,101 games of experience and the guidance he can offer to the Flyers’ younger players.

Staal has extensive playoff experience as well, most recently in the Florida Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final. He played in all 82 games for Florida last year and averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per night, with over two-and-a-half minutes per night spent killing penalties.

Staal’s role as a defensive specialist on the Eastern Conference Champions has earned him a nice pay raise from the $750k he earned last season. Now he’ll shift from playing in high-leverage defensive moments for a Stanley Cup contender to more of a mentorship role with a rebuilding club, where his off-ice contributions will be just as important as what he brings on the ice.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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.

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