Adam Clendening Signs In Finland
According to a team announcement, longtime AHL defenseman Adam Clendening has signed a one-year contract with Ilves Tampere of the Finnish Liiga.
Clendening has yet to make his debut in European professional hockey. He’s spent the past four seasons exclusively in the AHL, including a strong 2021-22 campaign where he scored 42 points in 74 games. Clendening split last season between the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs and Hartford Wolf Pack, before joining the New York Rangers’ training camp on a PTO.
He did not earn a full-time deal with the Rangers, whose minor-league defensive depth chart is crowded with six players on NHL contracts. Rather than potentially return to the AHL, where Clendening has over 500 career games and is a two-time All-Star, he has opted to try his luck in one of Europe’s top professional leagues.
Clendening joins an Ilves team with the opportunity to make an impact on both ends of the ice. The team hasn’t received a ton of offense from blueliners so far this year (their leading scorer from the back end has just six points in 14 games) and despite sitting third in Liiga standings, has surrendered the sixth-most goals in league play.
With Ilves targeting long playoff runs in both the Champions Hockey League and Liiga, getting an experienced defensive reinforcement like Clendening is a major addition. For Clendening, he’ll have the chance to, at 30, begin his overseas career playing in a state-of-the-art arena while competing for some of the continent’s top trophies.
Big Hype Prospects: Roy, Brzustewicz, Stankoven, Lindbom, Iginla
Welcome to PHR’s Big Hype Prospects series. Like the MLB Trade Rumors series of the same name, we’re taking a look at the performances of top prospects from across the hockey world. We’ll look at drafted prospects who are rising, others who are struggling, and prospects for the upcoming draft who are notable.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Joshua Roy, RW, Montreal Canadiens (Laval Rocket, AHL)
5GP 5G 6A 11pts
Perhaps the biggest test NHL prospects face, other than the jump to the NHL itself, is the jump from playing exclusively against one’s peers to playing against men.
The players who oftentimes have years of experience playing professional hockey under their belt present a steep challenge for those prospects who might have been accustomed to using purely physical, skating, or skill-based advantages to success without layering those skills together into a more comprehensive package.
Oftentimes, successful players at the major junior level, for example, will find the tactics that worked for them against their peers to be wholly ineffective against pros. They’ll find their habits need changing, their strategies in need of a tweak, and perhaps their entire identities as players need to be re-examined.
That doesn’t seem to be something Roy, a Canadiens prospect, will have to consider. The 150th overall pick at the 2021 draft, Roy has always been a player of tremendous upside. He was the first overall pick at the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft, but the struggles of his first two seasons in the QMJHL dramatically decreased his NHL draft stock.
After his fifth-round selection, Roy exploded to score 51 goals and 119 points the very next season. In his final season in the QMJHL, Roy’s production dipped slightly as the player focused his efforts on developing not only the defensive side of his game but also more pro-ready offensive habits.
Those efforts have paid off massively to start the 2023-24 season. As a rookie pro player, Roy currently leads the entire AHL in scoring with five goals and 11 points in just five games. He’s become the genuine offensive centerpiece of the Laval Rocket, and has begun to build chemistry with another top Canadiens forward prospect: Sean Farrell.
The recall of Joel Armia in the place of the injured Kirby Dach indicates that the Canadiens would prefer to keep Roy in the AHL and hopefully have him continue playing like a dominant offensive force.
But if he can keep up his scoring at this kind of level, one has to imagine that an NHL call-up isn’t too far off for the 20-year-old fifth-rounder.
Hunter Brzustewicz, RHD, Vancouver Canucks (Kitchener Rangers, OHL)
10GP 5G 15A 20pts
Looking to revamp their prospect pool at a position of need, the Canucks spent their top two draft choices, including the 11th overall selection, on right-shot defensemen last season. So far, while Tom Willander is certainly performing up to expectations at Boston University, it’s Brzustewicz who has impressed the most to start the season.
The 75th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Brzustewicz has become the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers’ true number-one defenseman. He’s responded to that important role with stellar production, and he currently leads the entire OHL in scoring with 20 points in 10 games.
Brzustewicz has helped the Rangers look like a true offensive powerhouse early this season, with the team currently averaging a whopping 5.1 goals per game.
Although Brzustewicz still has some work to do on the defensive side of things to truly place himself in consideration for an NHL job down the line, his early form this season makes clear that his offensive talent is undeniable.
Logan Stankoven, C/RW, Dallas Stars (Texas Stars, AHL)
4GP 4G 3A 7pts
Although there is always worry that high-scoring junior players will struggle to translate their scoring to the professional level, those worries are typically amplified when a player stands just five feet, eight inches tall.
One of the CHL’s most dynamic scorers over the past two years, Stankoven has long been tagged with concerns from some scouts that the things that made him so prolific for the Kamloops Blazers simply won’t be accessible in a professional environment.
So far, Stankoven has shown that he can, in fact, remain a dynamic offensive scorer in the challenging environment of the AHL.
Stankoven currently leads AHL Texas in scoring through four games, with four goals and seven points in that span.
The truly special aspects of Stankoven’s game seem to have traveled with him to Texas, and the progress he made in his final WHL season in terms of making his offensive approach more pro-ready has shown itself so far this year.
Stankoven has thus far thrived despite the immense physicality of the AHL, and so far his size has not limited his effectiveness in the areas he’s counted on most.
The Stars have a lot of offensive talent at the NHL level, so there may not be room for Stankoven to get an NHL shot this season without injuries.
But regardless of which level he plays in this season, these first few games have shown that Stankoven should be a force to be reckoned with, even at the pro level.
Carl Lindbom, G, Vegas Golden Knights (Färjestad BK, SHL)
7GP 5-2 0.99 GAA .950 sv% 1 shutout
When an NHL team spends a seventh-round pick on a goaltender, the selection is typically motivated more by a desire to retain the exclusive rights to sign that player as he develops rather than any realistic expectation that the goalie will become a big part of his NHL team’s future.
While first-rounders are almost always assured entry-level contracts due to their draft position, no such assurances exist for seventh-rounders. A seventh-round selection allows a team to keep tabs on a player, letting the player’s development guide whether he ultimately receives an NHL contract offer.
This past summer, Lindbom’s stellar development earned him an entry-level deal from the Golden Knights.
In the 2019 and 2020 drafts, the seventh round yielded some elite netminder prospects, namely Devon Levi of the Buffalo Sabres and Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames. From the 2021 class, Lindbom appears to have the best chance of continuing that streak.
Picked with the third-to-last selection in the class, Lindbom, 20, is a goalie who relies more on his athleticism and speed than his size. Last season was his first as a regular member of a tandem at the professional level, and he was exceptional. He posted a .930 save percentage and 1.86 goals-against-average in 36 games for Djurgårdens IF in the HockeyAllsvenskan.
This season, Lindbom has moved from Sweden’s second tier to its first-tier (SHL) and has excelled despite the increase in talent level and challenge.
Currently playing in tandem with former Golden Knight Maxime Legace, Lindbom has put up video game numbers. He’s 5-2 through seven games with a 0.99 goals-against-average and a .950 save percentage. His club, Färjestad BK, has given up just 20 goals through 12 games this season, which ranks third-best in the entire SHL.
While it’s fair to question how much a favorable defensive environment in Färjestad has contributed to Lindbom’s early success this season (Legace has also put up strong numbers, after all) it’s clear that the jump from the Allsvenskan to the SHL likely won’t be the source of major issues for Lindbom.
If he can keep up his success from these first few games into the rest of the season, Lindbom could very well find himself playing for the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights next year, placing him within arm’s reach of the NHL.
Tij Iginla, C, 2024 Draft Prospect (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
11GP 12G 7A 19pts
As the son of Jarome Iginla, an era-defining NHL superstar, Tij Iginla will always be a player with high expectations following him.
As a top-10 pick of the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft, Iginla was, before this season, viewed as a bit of a disappointment. He struggled to make a dent in an absolutely stacked Seattle Thunderbirds forward corps last season and was not widely considered a top prospect for the 2024 draft.
It’s early, but Iginla’s current form with the Kelowna Rockets is doing wonders to change that narrative. The 17-year-old forward is, despite an August birthday, currently in third place in the entire WHL in goal scoring. He’s tallied 12 goals in 12 games, and his 19 points rank second among the league’s under-18 forwards.
Iginla has already crossed his point total from last season despite playing in 37 fewer games and has formed a deadly partnership with Washington Capitals 2023 second-rounder Andrew Cristall.
While he’s not quite the prototypical power forward his father was, (he’s a little shorter, weighs quite a bit less, and is notably more disciplined) it’s not easy to avoid seeing at least some of Jarome whenever Tij snipes the puck straight past a WHL goalie.
There’s still a lot of the season left to be played, and the 2024 draft class is filled with talented players. But so far, Iginla has done more than most draft prospects in terms of raising his stock in the early part of the season.
Just how far he’s able to climb will be one of the more intriguing storylines in the WHL this season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minnesota Wild Reassign Sammy Walker To AHL
The Minnesota Wild have reassigned forward Sammy Walker to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. The move lands Walker back in the AHL just four days after he was originally recalled.
Walker, 24, played in two games for Minnesota on this most recent call-up. Walker struggled in both contests and saw his ice time decline to just 7:26 last night, despite the game extending into overtime.
As the team has suffered back-to-back losses, it appears Minnesota will likely call up a different forward to fill Walker’s vacated spot on their roster with the hope that a fresh addition can help spark a return to winning ways.
This reassignment will also help out AHL Iowa, who have struggled to start the season. The team is currently 1-3 with a -10 goal differential despite playing just four games. Two of the team’s losses have been genuine blowouts and Iowa’s 11 goals scored rank 21st in the AHL.
Walker was a star rookie for Iowa last season, scoring 27 goals and 48 points in 56 games. The consistent offense he displayed as a Minnesota Golden Gopher seemed to translate to the AHL level, meaning his return to Iowa should give the team a better chance of winning games.
The priority for Minnesota, though, lies at the NHL level where the team is looking to keep pace in what will be a highly competitive Central Division.
In terms of candidates to fill Walker’s vacated role on a line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, 336-game NHL veteran Jujhar Khaira could get a shot if the team wants more of a defensive flavor in their call-up, while Nic Petan or prospect Adam Beckman would give more of an offensive touch.
Buffalo Sabres Assign Matt Savoie To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Buffalo Sabres have sent 2022 eighth-overall pick Matt Savoie to the AHL’s Rochester Americans on a conditioning loan.
Savoie was injured at the team’s prospect tournament and has been on injured reserve to start the season. This loan will allow Savoie to get some games under his belt in the AHL, a league he played two playoff games in at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
Savoie, who will turn 20 on January 1st, misses the cut-off for automatic AHL eligibility by just one day. The Sabres have reportedly petitioned the WHL to give Savoie an exemption and allow him to play in the AHL, but while Seattle Kraken prospect Shane Wright received one such exemption from the OHL, the Sabres have reportedly not been optimistic about Savoie’s odds of receiving one from the WHL.
That reality means that once Savoie’s conditioning assignment has concluded, he’ll in all likelihood be on his way back to the WHL, where he’ll play for the Wenatchee Wild.
The WHL’s Wild have struggled so far this season without Savoie or Zach Benson, who was a surprise addition to the Sabres’ NHL roster to start the season. Savoie scored 95 points in the WHL last year and would be a massive, difference-making addition for Wenatchee.
There’s also always the chance that Savoie ends up called back to the Sabres’ NHL roster, although that possibility becomes more unlikely if Benson maintains his hold on a spot in head coach Don Granato’s lineup.
Tyler Ennis Signs In Germany
Although 700-game NHL veteran Tyler Ennis was linked to a return to the North American pro circuit after a season spent in Switzerland, a true NHL opportunity never materialized for the 34-year-old forward.
Now, rather than try his luck in North America, Ennis has decided to play another season in Europe. Per a team announcement, Ennis has signed a one-year contract with Adler Mannheim of the German DEL. In Mannheim, Ennis will join with other former NHLers such as Jyrki Jokipakka, Tom Kühnhackl, and Linden Vey.
Having just turned 34 years old, it’s not unreasonable to think Ennis may have merited a chance to compete for an NHL job in training camp and preseason. He had a strong first full season in Europe, scoring 13 goals and 33 points for SC Bern in the Swiss National League.
Ennis has three 20-goal NHL seasons on his resume, although he struggled to the tune of just 24 points in 57 games in his most recent NHL campaign.
Instead of the NHL, Ennis joins a Mannheim team currently sitting second in the DEL standings with a 9-2-1 record. But although the club has had a stellar start, they rank outside the league’s top five in terms of goals scored, so perhaps that motivated club management to add some external offensive reinforcement.
That’s exactly what Ennis is capable of providing. While he’s likely disappointed to not receive the NHL shot he was linked to in September, he has a chance to spend this season as a genuine star forward for one of the best teams in German hockey.
Ottawa Senators Return Jacob Bernard-Docker To AHL
Saturday: Following their game against Detroit, the Senators announced that Bernard-Docker has been returned to Belleville. With Ottawa off until Tuesday now, the move will allow them to bank a little bit of extra cap space between now and then.
Friday: The Ottawa Senators have announced that defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker has been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. In a corresponding move, Zack MacEwen, who cleared waivers earlier today, was reassigned to Belleville.
Earlier today, we covered the fact that Senators blueliner Artem Zub‘s status for the team’s Saturday game is currently in doubt. If Zub ends up missing Saturday’s contest, the Senators will need an extra defenseman on their roster to dress in his place. With this recall, Ottawa has positioned Bernard-Docker as that player.
Bernard-Docker, 23, is a 2018 first-round pick who cleared waivers near the start of the season. The owner of a $805k cap hit through next season, Bernard-Docker has so far skated in two games this season at the AHL level. Last season, he scored six points in 41 AHL games, and got into 19 contests with the NHL Senators.
Since Zub is currently slotted into the Senators’ second pairing on defense next to Jake Sanderson, it’s possible that Bernard-Docker will end up on that pairing due to this recall.
Should Bernard-Docker end up slotted directly into Zub’s role, this recall will serve as a major opportunity for Bernard-Docker to showcase his skills in front of an NHL audience, as Zub averages nearly 18:00 time on ice per game.
Chicago Blackhawks Assign Cole Guttman To AHL
According to Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, the Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forward Cole Guttman to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
Guttman, 24, was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks’ past two games and has seemingly played his way back to the AHL in the early part of this season.
The five-foot-nine pivot has skated in three NHL games this year for head coach Luke Richardson, tallying one goal.
The Blackhawks signed Guttman as a college free agent after his productive final collegiate season, and he had an impressive debut season as a pro last year. But despite the early success he had as a professional, especially in the AHL, he’s been passed this season on the Blackhawks’ center depth chart.
Guttman began the year as Richardson’s third-line center, skating between Boris Katchouk and Andreas Athanasiou.
He’s since lost that job to Mackenzie Entwistle, who offers far more size at the position, but scored just four more points than Guttman last season despite playing in 52 additional NHL games.
With Lukas Reichel entrenched as the team’s second-line center (despite his early-season struggles) and Connor Bedard untouchable on the Blackhawks’ top line, there simply isn’t much room for Guttman in the lineup outside of that third-line center role.
It’s seemingly been made clear with the consecutive games spent as a healthy scratch that the Blackhawks want to see more from Guttman in order for him to retain a regular spot in their lineup. With this reassignment, the next step for him will be to play some impactful games for the IceHogs so he can earn a recall to Chicago and re-enter their lineup on stronger footing.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Montreal Canadiens Recall Joel Armia, Assign Filip Mešár To OHL
The Montreal Canadiens have announced two roster moves: veteran forward Joel Armia has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, and 2022 first-round pick Filip Mešár has been assigned to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
With second-line center Kirby Dach now confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, the Canadiens had a need for an extra forward on their NHL roster. The player they have chosen to fill Dach’s spot is the veteran Armia, 30.
The owner of a $3.4MM cap hit through next season, Armia has had three consecutive difficult seasons in Montreal.
The six-foot-three, 216-pound former top prospect has at times been an impact player in Montreal (such as in 2019-20 when he scored 16 goals and 30 points in just 58 games) but his consistency has been sorely lacking.
With training camp battles for forward spots highly competitive in the Canadiens’ preseason, Armia failed to secure a role on the team’s season-opening roster and was sent to Laval after clearing waivers.
An opportunity to play a top-line role and reset his game in the minors seems to have been the right call for Armia, who has scored four goals and five points in four AHL games this season.
Now back on the Canadiens’ NHL roster, Armia is likely to receive fourth-line winger duty with either him or Michael Pezzetta sitting in the press box as the team’s spare forward.
As for Mešár, the 2022 26th overall pick heads back to Kitchener after failing to earn a regular role on a Rocket team flush with quality scoring-line winger options. He did score his first career AHL point in yesterday’s win over the Rochester Americans, but was playing as a fourth-line right-winger next to Riley McKay and Jan Myšák.
The Canadiens seem to believe that the best path forward for Mešár’s development is to play a major role in the OHL rather than a limited role in the AHL.
Mešár’s underwhelming debut season in the OHL last year (he scored 51 points in 52 games) indicates that he still has some unfinished business in that league, so the hope will be that he’ll have a highly productive (if not dominant) final season playing junior hockey.
Since two Laval forwards are now leaving the team’s lineup, these departures could pave the way for Canadiens prospect Jared Davidson to play an increased role for the Rocket. The 21-year-old 2022 fifth-round pick had an impressive training camp and preseason but has fallen victim to the numbers game in Laval and played just one game so far for the team.
With Armia and Mešár no longer in the picture and fellow prospect Emil Heineman out with an injury, the roadblocks to Davidson receiving a regular role in the AHL could now be cleared.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minor Transactions: 10/21/23
It’s another busy day around the world of professional hockey, including in the NHL. Almost the entire NHL is set to play today, starting with a matinee contest set to feature Alex DeBrincat‘s return to Ottawa. Overseas, most of Europe’s major pro leagues have games on schedule, including the SHL, Liiga, and Swiss NL.
Just as teams across the hockey world are busy preparing for games, many teams are also still hard at work looking to add, subtract, or extend players. As always, we’ll keep track of notable player transactions here:
- Former Brandon Wheat Kings star and Carolina Hurricanes prospect Stelio Mattheos has made the choice to continue his pro career overseas. Mattheos has signed a contract with Södertälje SK in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of pro hockey in the country. Now 24, Mattheos has spent the bulk of his time since graduating out of the WHL in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves. He’s only amassed 27 points in 112 career AHL games, though, so perhaps he’ll find more of a scoring touch in a place like the Allsvenskan, where Mattheos could find seizing a scoring-line role an easier prospect.
- 28-year-old winger Erik Brown, a former Bridgeport Islanders / Sound Tigers AHLer, has made the decision to conclude his playing career at the age of 28. Brown was slated to play this season for Vaasan Sport in the Finnish Liiga, formally beginning his overseas pro career. Due to his decision to retire, though, he’ll finish his time in Vaasa with just 12 games played and a respectable seven points. Once a college hockey captain and leading scorer at Rochester Institute of Technology, Brown won a conference title as a freshman and went on to play some playoff hockey in the AHL with the Islanders.
- This season, Boston Bruins defensive prospect Jonathan Myrenberg appears to have made the full-time jump from the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan to the SHL. Yesterday, that jump was seemingly confirmed as Myrenberg was signed to a contract extension by his SHL club, Linköping HC. The 20-year-old right-shot blueliner had his rights acquired by the Bruins in the Jack Studnicka trade, and Boston retains the exclusive rights to sign Myrenberg until June 1st, 2025. So far, Myrenberg has scored three assists in 12 games for Linköping, averaging 17:03 TOI per game.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
Transaction Notes: Zohorna, Toninato, Honka
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that forward Radim Zohorna has been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. In addition, forward Jansen Harkins has cleared waivers and been assigned to Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Harkins, 26, arrived in Pittsburgh via a waiver claim from the Winnipeg Jets, and has played in four NHL games for the Penguins. He hasn’t registered a point in that span and most recently was playing on head coach Mike Sullivan’s third line alongside Drew O’Connor and Lars Eller.
Harkins has been a stellar AHLer in the past, such as last season when he scored 50 points in just 44 games for the Manitoba Moose, so he’s likely to be an impact forward in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Harkins’ replacement, Zohorna, brings more size to the Penguins’ bottom-six, though he has not produced as well in North America as Harkins has. The Penguins’ bottom-six forwards as a whole have left the team wanting more, so perhaps this move will help spark an uptick in form for the Penguins’ bottom-sixers.
Some other transaction-related notes from across the NHL:
- The Winnipeg Jets have recalled veteran center Dominic Toninato from their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. With Gabriel Vilardi now out for an extended period, the Jets were in need of a new player to serve as the organization’s 13th forward. Toninato, who has 37 points in his last 52 AHL games, is a reliable veteran pivot for head coach Rick Bowness to work with, and he’s likely to fill in on the team’s fourth line should he end up dressing for games.
- Carolina Hurricanes defensive prospect Anttoni Honka has been loaned to JYP Jyväskylä of the Finnish Liiga, the club he’s played almost all of his 205-game Liiga career with. The 23-year-old 2019 third-round pick was originally slated to play ECHL hockey with the Norfolk Admirals, but rather than play third-tier hockey in North America he appears to have chosen to return to Finland’s top league. Since the Hurricanes currently do not have an AHL affiliate, the team has struggled to find places in the AHL for its prospects to develop. Honka joins 2020 41st overall pick Noel Gunler as Hurricanes prospects originally sent to the ECHL who have instead elected to continue their development in Europe.