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Nikita Okhotiuk Undergoes Season-Ending Surgery

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The San Jose Sharks have announced that defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk underwent successful core muscle surgery yesterday. While no further details related to the injury were included in the team’s official announcement, including a more detailed recovery timeline, the announcement did state that the team expects Okhotiuk to make a full recovery in time for the Sharks’ training camp in September.

This surgery announcement ends any possibility of Okhotiuk returning to the ice and making his debut within the Sharks organization this season. The 22-year-old Russian blueliner hasn’t played since a February 11th AHL contest against the Laval Rocket, one where he fought against minor leaguer Riley McKay. It’s unknown whether the injury that knocked out Okhotiuk is in any way related to the fight, but it’s worth noting that he did return to the game after serving his penalty.

As mentioned, this injury ends the possibility of Okhotiuk skating for the Sharks’ organization for the first time this season. He was acquired by the franchise in the Timo Meier trade, alongside a package of other young Devils players and draft picks.

The 2019 second-rounder finishes his season having played a total of 30 games, 20 in the AHL and 10 in the NHL. He scored seven points across that span of games (six in the AHL) and also registered 35 penalty minutes.

Both the Sharks and Devils have been intrigued by the physicality Okhotiuk brings to the game, and it’s likely that the Sharks will give the 22-year-old the opportunity to make coach David Quinn’s opening-night lineup at training camp in the fall. With that opportunity in mind, Okhotiuk’s offseason recovery process will be of paramount importance for the short-term future of his career.

Latest On NHL Trade Market

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Since the trade deadline has passed and the focus across the NHL has shifted to teams preparing to make a playoff push, the rumor mill surrounding the NHL trade market began to die down.

A few trades have still occurred since the deadline, but they have been of the min0r-league variety since trades of NHL consequence are not allowed until after the playoffs. As many teams outside the playoff picture begin preparations for their offseasons, though, the trade market rumor mill has similarly seen some new activity.

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered some new developments on today’s Insider Trading program, developments specifically regarding the priorities of three teams in possession of multiple 2023 first-round picks: the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, and Montreal Canadiens.

LeBrun references an interview he conducted with The Athletic for a piece running later this week wherein Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said he was “100 percent” open to trading away the first-round pick he acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo to California.

Since the Kings are headed to the playoffs and appear to be a legitimate contender in the Western Conference, there is a relatively strong likelihood that their spare first-round pick is relatively late. But since the quality and depth of talent available in this year’s draft class has drawn praise from many evaluators in the media, it’s possible that a late first-rounder in this year’s class holds more value on the trade market than a similar pick might hold in another year.

LeBrun adds that the Blue Jackets are looking for a plug-and-play top-four defenseman in exchange for the pick, someone who can step in and fill the void left by Gavrikov’s departure. This report reveals something larger about the Blue Jackets’ approach to their offseason:  their priorities are not rebuild-focused, the way the priorities of a team two points away from last place might typically be.

It seems that after signing top free agent Johnny Gaudreau last summer and with the emergence of key rookies such as Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko, Kekalainen is aiming to pull off a quick turnaround for his franchise. And based on LeBrun’s report, finding the right trade partner to cash in his extra first-round pick might be Kekalainen’s preferred way of jump-starting that quick revival.

Another team reported to be listening to trade offers for spare first-round picks is the St. Louis Blues, who own the New York Rangers* and Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2023 first-rounders from the Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly trades, respectively. Since the Blues have over $16MM in contract extensions kicking in this summer for core players and key veterans such as Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, and Torey Krug (among others) still under contract for a few more years, a full rebuild may not be on the table for GM Doug Armstrong.

So since a prospect drafted late in the first round may not make an impact for the Blues until the second half of the 2020s, it’s definitely reasonable for the Blues’ front office to prioritize dealing those late first-rounders for up-and-coming players who are closer to NHL-ready.

The final team LeBrun referenced in his report is the Montreal Canadiens, who own the Florida Panthers’ unprotected first-round pick thanks to last year’s Ben Chiarot trade. LeBrun believes that the Canadiens “would listen” to offers to move the Panthers’ pick if offered the type of “hockey trade” like the one they completed at the 2022 draft, when they acquired Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks for the 13th and 66th overall picks. (Which they had acquired from the New York Islanders in exchange for young defenseman Alexander Romanov, serving as another example of a club dealing a mid-to-late first-rounder for young established NHL-ready talent)

The Dach acquisition worked out quite well for the Canadiens, with the 2019 third-overall pick revamping his game under coach Martin St. Louis and scoring a career-high 38 points in 58 games.

It’s understandable, then, that Montreal’s front office might be attracted to the idea of using their extra first-rounder to acquire another player they feel can break out as Dach has.

The one complication to that possibility could be the fact that the Panthers still need to clinch a playoff spot, and with the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of them in the standings, it’s still possible that the Panthers’ pick ends up in the lottery.

While the new NHL rules prevent the Panthers’ draft pick from jumping more than ten slots in the draft order, (meaning if the Panthers pick begins, say, 14th place in the lottery drawing the pick cannot jump to first overall and be used to select Connor Bedard) it’s likely that a lottery win vaulting the pick into the top-10 would significantly complicate another team’s ability to pry away the pick in a “hockey trade.”

With three teams currently reported to be considering trading their spare 2023 first-rounders, NHL fans could see more movement at the back half of this year’s first-round than most drafts typically feature. Although that’s no guarantee that any of these rumors lead to an actual finalized trade, it is an indication of some of the excitement in store for when the season comes to an end.

*Note: the 2023 first-rounder the Blues acquired from New York in the Tarasenko deal is actually conditional, meaning the Blues could technically receive the Dallas Stars’ first-rounder (owned by the Rangers due to the Nils Lundkvist trade) if the Stars’ first-rounder ends up later in the draft order than the Rangers’ pick.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Injury Notes: Capitals, Blues, Tanev, Teravainen

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While the Washington Capitals are near the conclusion of a rare season that finds them outside the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture, the circumstances surrounding their franchise’s greatest player add more meaning to the remaining games on their schedule than those contests might have for other teams. Alex Ovechkin remains locked into his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, and until the day he passes The Great One, each Capitals game holds importance.

As a result, any injuries Capitals players suffer at this stage of the season are more meaningful than they might be for another franchise closing out a lost season. So, today’s reporting via the Washington Post’s Roman Stubbs that Capitals veterans T.J. Oshie and Trevor van Riemsdyk will not travel with the team and are each nursing upper-body injuries is notable. While the 36-year-old Oshie may not be the caliber of player he once was, he’s still a reliable contributor to the Capitals’ forward corps and his absence could make life for Ovechkin more difficult. Same for the loss of van Riemsdyk, who as a former undrafted player has carved himself a nice career as a penalty kill specialist at the age of 31.

Some other injury notes from across the NHL:

  • NHL.com’s Lou Korac relays updates from St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube on two of the team’s most important players. Per Berube, top center Robert Thomas is a game-time decision tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Blues’ leading scorer on a point-per-game basis, Pavel Buchnevich, remains out. Both Thomas and Buchnevich have not played since the Blues’ March 28th overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks, and in their absence St. Louis has lost two of three games, with their sole victory coming over the last-place Chicago Blackhawks.
  • Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter told the media today, including TSN Sports’ Salim Nadim Valji, that veteran defensive defenseman Chris Tanev is a game-time decision tonight against the Blackhawks. Tanev hasn’t played since March 20th, when the Flames suffered a miserable 8-2 loss in Los Angeles. With the Flames on a four-game winning streak and mounting a serious challenge to the Winnipeg Jets, getting Tanev back into the lineup would give his team a major boost. Tanev is the Flames’ leading penalty-killer by a wide margin and the experience, defensive prowess, and 20 rock-solid minutes a night he brings to the table could be just what the Calgary needs to push themselves past the Jets for the final Wild Card spot.
  • Carolina Hurricanes star forward Teuvo Teravainen remains out of the lineup for tonight’s matchup against the Ottawa Senators, marking the fourth straight game he has missed. The 28-year-old Finn has undoubtedly had a down season by his standards (just 12 goals and 36 points in 63 games played) but with both Max Pacioretty and Andrei Svechnikov out for the season, he’ll need to get back to full health and shoulder a greater offensive workload in order for the Hurricanes to stand the best chance of making a deep playoff run.

Chicago Blackhawks Waive Joey Anderson

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April 3: Anderson has cleared waivers, although he isn’t expected to be assigned to Rockford until the Blackhawks finish their season.

April 2: The Chicago Blackhawks have placed forward Joey Anderson on waivers, according to The Athletic’s James Mirtle and CapFriendly. The 24-year-old was acquired by Chicago just over a month ago in the team’s trade of Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Anderson is a 2016 New Jersey Devils third-round pick who has split time this season between the AHL level with the Toronto Marlies and NHL with both Toronto and Chicago. At the NHL level, Anderson scored three points in 14 games for Toronto, and has five points in 18 games with the Blackhawks.

He’s been in the NHL since a late January recall, one that came after Anderson played in a nine-game stretch for the Marlies, a run where Anderson and the Marlies won all nine games. In total, Anderson has been more of a difference-maker at the AHL level, where he has scored 27 points in 30 games this season and 120 points across 163 career AHL games.

It’s his abilities as an impactful AHLer that likely inspired the Blackhawks’ decision to waive him, as their affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, is currently looking to fend off the Chicago Wolves and secure the fifth and final playoff spot in the AHL’s Central Division. Should Anderson clear waivers and land in Rockford, he’ll be expected to shoulder a significant offensive load and be one of the team’s go-to forwards.

Given that Anderson is a proven AHL commodity and on a league-minimum deal with some team control remaining beyond this season as a restricted free agent, it’s possible a team in need of some help up front decides to put in a claim.

Hockeybuzz’s Michael Augello notes that while Anderson’s former team, the Maple Leafs, might be tempted to claim Anderson to get him back in their organization, they are currently at 49 contracts and their last slot is believed to be reserved for University of Minnesota forward and team top prospect Matthew Knies.

But from the Blackhawks’ perspective, it’s a risk worth taking in order to give their AHL squad a spark. Rockford is on a three-game losing streak, and have been shutout in back-to-back games.

With the reigning Calder Cup champion Wolves just a few points behind them with seven games remaining, getting Anderson to Rockford could be what the IceHogs need to avoid letting a playoff berth slip through their fingers in the final stretch of the regular season.

Injury Notes: Penguins, Hart, Schenn

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are currently locked in a battle against the Florida Panthers for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, and they sit just one point behind Florida with a game in hand at the time of writing. They’ve kept themselves in the race despite facing some major injury losses, although it now seems that reinforcements could be on the horizon.

Today, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told the media, including the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh, that four significant injured Penguins all skated today and could return before the conclusion of the regular season. Those four Penguins are Dmitry Kulikov, Marcus Pettersson, Jan Rutta, and Nick Bonino. The additions of Kulikov, Pettersson, and Rutta back into the lineup in particular could help Pittsburgh as goaltender Tristan Jarry struggled in the month of March, and adding three significant contributors back to the defense in front of him could help Jarry return to form in time for some crucial late-season games or even the first round of the playoffs, should they make it.

Some other injury notes:

  • Philadelphia Flyers netminder Carter Hart has been out since his March 25th shutout over the Detroit Red Wings, but don’t expect Hart’s absence to extend for the rest of the season. Flyers head coach John Tortorella was asked if Hart’s injury would be season-ending, and he responded with a definitive “no,” per The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor. While Hart’s absence has given the team the opportunity to take an extra look at Felix Sandstrom, getting Hart back into the crease before the end of the season would allow him to put some finishing touches on what has been an impressive season.
  • St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn had a bit of an injury scare during today’s game against the Boston Bruins, but seems to have moved past it. As covered by The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, Schenn took a skate to the hand, and then left to the locker room with a team athletic trainer to repair some damage caused by what may have been a high stick. Schenn did return to the ice, though, and managed to notch an assist on teammate Jordan Kyrou’s goal despite a cut finger and having stitches on his face, per Rutherford. It seems what has hurt Schenn this game won’t keep him out of any future contests, but given his importance to the Blues as a whole (he has 21 goals and 59 points this season) his status may be worth monitoring.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Judd Caulfield

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced the signing of college prospect Judd Caulfield to a two-year entry-level contract set to begin next season. The team has also signed him to an ATO agreement so that he can play with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, for the rest of the season.

The Ducks acquired Caulfield two days ago in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins, sending prospect Thimo Nickl back to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return. Caulfield was originally selected by the Penguins at the 2019 draft, in the fifth round 145th overall.

A U.S. National Team Development Program product, Caulfield has spent the last four seasons playing college hockey for the University of North Dakota. He finishes his collegiate career with 62 points in 133 career games, including this past season where he scored 10 goals and 19 points in 39 games, ranking fourth on his team in both goals and points.

Caulfield turned 22 on March 19th and brings size and a powerful game to the Ducks’ system. Caulfield was not ranked inside the top 15 prospects of the Penguins’ 29th-ranked system earlier this year according to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, (subscription link) but he does bring some intriguing qualities for their development staff to get to work on.

The Ducks selected six-foot-three QMJHL pivot Nathan Gaucher in the first round of last year’s draft, and all four forwards the Ducks selected at the 2023 draft stand at least six-foot-two.

With just one player above six feet tall in the team’s top-five scoring forwards this season, it could be that this acquisition of Caulfield adds to some growing indications that GM Pat Verbeek has made acquiring bigger forwards a heightened organizational priority.

Minor Transactions: 04/02/23

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It’s another busy day across the hockey world as we reach an important stretch of the NHL season with several teams in the thick of tight playoff races, especially in the Western Conference. The New York Islanders take on the Carolina Hurricanes in what could be a first-round playoff preview, while the Los Angeles Kings take on the Vancouver Canucks in a game that could push L.A. ahead of the Edmonton Oilers in the race for the Pacific Division’s second seed.

In Europe, multiple playoff semifinals are underway, and today Frolunda HC captured a crucial victory against Vaxjo in Sweden, tying the SHL’s semifinals at one game apiece. In Germany, Grizzlys Wolfsburg tied their DEL semifinal against EHC Red Bull Munchen 1-1, while an important third-period tie-breaking goal by former New York Rangers prospect Ty Ronning helped ERC Ingolstadt win 6-3 over Adler Mannheim and tie their side of the DEL semifinals. As fans take in all of the hockey on offer today, teams around the world are making tweaks to their roster or preparing for next season. We’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • Stanley Cup champion and former NHL top prospect Brett Connolly is among the players leaving Swiss club HC Lugano, according to a team announcement. Connolly signed in Switzerland over the summer after spending most of last season with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. The Canadian forward, who is still just 30 years old and was a decent NHL goal-scorer as recently as 2019-20, did well in his first year overseas, scoring 12 goals and 38 points in 45 games. He was sandwiched between two other former NHLers, Markus Granlund and Mirco Mueller, in Lugano’s scoring rankings, and he helped his side reach the Swiss playoffs.
  • Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Philip Samuelsson, the son of two-time Stanley Cup champion Ulf Samuelsson, is among the players announced not to be returning to the DEL’s Fischtown Pinguins. Samuelsson, 31, has 13 NHL games on his resume, the last few coming in 2015-16 with the Arizona Coyotes. Samuelsson played three straight seasons exclusively as an AHLer before heading overseas in 2019-20 to play most of the year in his native Sweden. He split the last three seasons between Leksands IF and IK Oskarshamn in the SHL before signing last summer in the DEL. He scored 31 points in 47 games for Fischtown, helping lead them to a playoff series win over the Nurnburg Ice Tigers.
  • 2008 Minnesota Wild first-round pick Tyler Cuma has signed a two-year contract with Austria’s EK Zell am See, a club in the AlpsHL, a league with many second-tier Austrian clubs as well as teams in Italy and Slovenia. The 33-year-old blueliner has played in one career NHL game, which took place in 2011-12 with the Wild. Since then, he spent two more seasons in the AHL before deciding to head to Austria, and has now played nearly 300 games at the highest level of Austrian pro hockey. He’ll be moving down a level with this move after a season spent with Innsbruck HC, where he scored nine points in 43 games.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Andrew Yogan will not continue his career with the IceHL’s Graz99ers, per a team announcement. The 31-year-old has been a star in the ICEHL since leaving North America, with 247 points in 236 career games. Yogan made the choice to leave Austria in 2021 to play with HC Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak league, and the 52 points in 48 games he scored propelled the team to a Slovak Extraliga championship. Yogan split 2022-23 between Slovakia and Austria, scoring 15 points in 16 games for Poprad before transferring and scoring 13 goals and 20 points for Graz.
  • Dylan St. Cyr’s tryout with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins is over, per the team. The 23-year-old former Michigan State Spartan appeared in one game with the Griffins, saving seven shots in relief of Jon Lethemon during a March 31st loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. The son of famous women’s hockey goaltender Manon Rheaume, St. Cyr will now look for his next chance in professional hockey with some valuable first experience under his belt.
  • 2013 San Jose Sharks fourth-round pick Fredrik Bergvik will not be returning to HockeyAllsvenskan’s Sodertalje SK for next season. The 28-year-old has been a tandem netminder for the second-tier Swedish side for the past four seasons, spending the last two as the backup for Nikita Tolopilo, who signed with the Canucks on Friday. Bergvik posted 2 shutouts and a 5-2 record in 10 total games played, with a .902 save percentage, and will now hit the open market for the first time in several years.
  • Michal Jordan is leaving the Lakers. The former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman is among the players not returning to Switzerland’s SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, per a team announcement. The 32-year-old spent 19 games in Switzerland after transferring there in December. Before that point, he had captained the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk, playing over 250 games there. Jordan last appeared in the NHL in 2015-16 and will now look elsewhere to continue his pro career.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Brad Hunt Clears Waivers

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Saturday: As expected, Hunt has cleared for the third time, Friedman reports.  That allows him to return to the Eagles.

Friday: For the third time this season, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brad Hunt finds himself on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Should Hunt clear waivers, as he has done twice already this season, he will return to the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

Hunt, 34, has split time between the AHL and NHL this season, playing 43 games with the Avalanche and 24 with the Eagles. In the AHL, Hunt is a difference-making offensive defenseman. He has scored 21 points in the AHL this season, and his contributions have helped the Eagles clinch a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs. In the NHL, Hunt’s impact has been more limited, and he has registered just eight points in his 43 games played.

With the once injury-ravaged Avalanche blueline now getting markedly healthier, Colorado has made the decision that Hunt is better served to play a top-pairing, top-scoring role in the AHL rather than spending time in the press box as coach Jared Bednar’s ninth defenseman.

So while he last saw extended AHL time in December, Hunt heads back to the Eagles with the likely possibility that he’ll remain there for the rest of their season, unless any new injuries hit the Avalanche’s blueline. If that ends up being the case, the addition of Hunt will give the Eagles a significant boost in their chase of higher seeding for the AHL’s playoffs.

In order to get that boost, though, Hunt will need to clear waivers first. Seeing as he went unclaimed his prior two go-arounds on the waiver wire, one would assume Hunt will clear once again. But since he has nearly 300 games of NHL experience and has just a $762k cap hit, it’s not a total impossibility that a team desperate for defensive help puts in a claim. But that does seem unlikely, though, seeing as Hunt’s contract does stretch for another season, meaning he wouldn’t quite be a short-term stopgap option.

Minor Transactions: 03/31/23

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It’s been a busy day across the hockey world, despite just four NHL games on the schedule. Today’s news cycle featured major headlines such as a season-ending surgery for William Eklund and the announcement of Jonathan Toews’ return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup. Over in Europe, some big games have been played, including two contests in the DEL Semifinals in Germany, and the first game of the SHL semifinals: a 6-2 win for Vaxjo over Frolunda. Two thrilling overtime contests were completed in Finland’s Liiga semifinals, including a double-overtime victory by Champions Hockey League winners Tappara Tampere.

As fans across the hockey world enjoy all the action on offer this Friday, teams in both minor leagues and foreign leagues are completing transactions and either making changes for this season or preparing for 2023-24. We’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • Earlier this month, we covered reports that former NHL defenseman Juuso Riikola would be headed to Switzerland for next season. Today, those reports were made official as Swiss club SCL Tigers have announced that they have signed Riikola to a one-year contract for 2023-24. Riikola, 29, has 80 career NHL games on his resume and last played in North America last season, when he scored 35 points in 53 games for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. This season Riikola scored 19 points in 42 games as an alternate captain for the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn, helping them reach the first round of the SHL’s playoffs. Now, he’ll continue his pro career with the Tigers, hoping to keep them in Switzerland’s top league after the team just barely avoided relegation this season.
  • The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, have signed NCAA free agent Max Andreev to an ATO agreement, one that will become a standard AHL player contract next season. The Cornell University product, 23, has scored 65 points in 77 games over the last three seasons he’s played. He made the ECAC’s Third All-Star team last season and served as an alternate captain this season, helping lead Cornell to an upset victory over the defending national champions the University of Denver. He’ll now join one of the AHL’s top teams with the hope of fashioning a professional career for himself and potentially even earning an NHL contract down the line.
  • The AHL’s Iowa Wild have signed CHL free agent defenseman Landon Kosior to an ATO agreement for the rest of this season. Kosior, 20, is an undrafted blueliner who spent his major junior career with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. Kosior served as an alternate captain for the team this season and scored 63 points in 60 games, his first WHL campaign above the point-per-game threshold. As is generally expected for junior players who gain more experience, Kosior’s numbers took major jumps as he got older, and he went from 23 points in his first season with Prince Albert to the aforementioned 63 this season. With this ATO, Kosior will get his first taste of pro hockey with Iowa, and will likely get to follow along as the team prepares for the Calder Cup playoffs.
  • 2022 Anaheim Ducks fifth-round pick Connor Hvidston has been signed to an ATO agreement by the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. The deal allows Hvidston to dip his toes into the waters of professional hockey now that his WHL season with the Swift Current Broncos is over. Hvidston was one of the youngest prospects available at the 2022 draft, just days from being in the 2023 class. He’s scored 21 goals and 65 points in 59 games this season, which ranks him third in team scoring. Seeing as he’ll have to wait until next September to turn 19, he’s still a ways away from turning pro full-time, but with this ATO agreement, he’ll at least get a firsthand look at what it takes to play professional hockey in the Ducks organization.
  • Another Cornell University player has signed his first pro contract: defenseman Sebastien Dirven. The 24-year-old teammate of Andreev signed with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers after playing three seasons with the Big Red. The big six-foot-three, 200-pound blueliner doesn’t have much of an offensive game (just 15 points in 93 career NCAA games) but will add some size and snarl to the Nailers’ blueline as they conclude what has been a difficult 2022-23 season.
  • 2016 Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Noah Carroll has signed his first professional contract, landing with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates. Carroll has spent the last four years with the University of New Brunswick on the Canadian university circuit, playing 59 games there. Before that point, the six-foot-one defenseman played for the Soo Greyhounds and Guelph Storm in the OHL, a major junior career highlighted by a 37-point final season during which he was an alternate captain.
  • Cade Borchardt, the captain of one of college hockey’s better programs at Minnesota State, has signed with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. The 24-year-old’s production took a hit this season, going from 41 points to 20. But despite that decline in numbers, Borchardt earned the honor of captaining his team and finishes his collegiate career with a respectable 85 points in 121 games. In signing Borchardt, the Mavericks, who currently rank second in the ECHL’s Mountain Division, infuse some energetic young talent to their roster as they continue to grapple for playoff position.
  • The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings have signed two players out of St. Cloud State University: Aidan Spellacy and Brendan Bushy. Spellacy, 24, is a forward who scored 12 points in 35 games this season. He’s served as an alternate captain for St. Cloud State and Robert Morris University, and he also captained his high school team, meaning he could bring some off-ice value to the Wings beyond his on-ice utility. Bushy, 24, is a six-foot-two blueliner who scored 11 points in 41 games this season playing in a top-four role.
  • Former Owen Sound Attack star and OHL Champion Cameron Brace is transferring to Germany, per an announcement from his new team, the DEL’s Frankfurt Lions. The 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons in the SHL with IK Oskarshamn, scoring 52 points in 99 games there. Brace earned his shot at the SHL level after a proving himself as a professional in Denmark’s top league, where he scored 110 points in 78 games for Herning Blue Fox. Brace has fashioned himself a solid overseas professional career in the last few years, and now that career will continue in Germany.
  • Longtime DEL veteran Max Renner has signed a contract for next season with the Augsburg Panthers. The 31-year-old has nearly 300 DEL games on his resume with most coming with the Straubing Tigers, save for the last two seasons spent with the Bietigheim Steelers. Renner scored nine points in 56 games last season and brings an established veteran presence to the Panthers’ defense corps.
  • The ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz have signed forward Nico Feldner to a two-year contract, per a team announcement. Feldner has played the past two seasons entirely with HC Innsbruck, save for a six-game stretch with the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers in England. Feldner scored 17 points in 43 games for Innsbruck this season and should be counted on to bolster Linz’s forward corps for the next two years as they look to return to the ICEHL’s playoffs next season.
  • Matus Spodniak, a top scorer at the NCAA Division-III level with Adrian College, has signed an amateur tryout agreement with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel. The 25-year-old native of Kosice, Slovakia scored 94 points in 60 games across two seasons with Adrian College, and now the Fuel are looking to roll the dice on him to see if he can translate his game to professional hockey. This tryout will represent a significant jump in competition level for Spodniak, and he’ll have a relatively short period of time to make an impression with one of the East Coast league’s top teams.
  • Spodniak’s teammate, Ty Enns, also signed an amateur tryout agreement with an ECHL club: the Toledo Walleye. Enns, 24, scored 50 points in 31 games this season and scored a total of 140 points in 106 games at the Division-III level. As mentioned with Spodniak, this jump to the ECHL will be a significant increase in difficulty for Enns, but at the very least it should be encouraging that the ECHL’s third-best team is willing to give him a tryout opportunity.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners are another club to dip into the pool of college free agents, signing University of Windsor forward Sean Olson. The 24-year-old scored 40 points in his 54-game career for Windsor, and standing six-foot-three 203 pounds as some size down the middle to the Mariners’ group of pivots.

Ottawa Senators Recall Jacob Bernard-Docker

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The Ottawa Senators have recalled defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, per a team announcement. The 2018 first-round pick last played in the NHL in January, and in total has played in 13 games for Ottawa this season.

Bernard-Docker’s last stretch of NHL action came between January 16th and 21st, when he played in four games and got between 21 and 14 and a half minutes per game.

He’s registered just one point in his 13 games this year, but it’s important to note with Bernard-Docker that offense isn’t the priority. He’s more of a stay-at-home defender who earns his keep by playing a positionally sound crease-clearing game.

He’s done that to this point in the AHL, playing as a top-pairing defenseman for Belleville. What he hasn’t been able to do, though, is find a way to stick in the NHL consistently.

He was afforded an extended developmental runway at the University of North Dakota and performed well there, but as the Senators have been in need of capable NHL defensemen Bernard-Docker has been passed over in favor of other options in the past.

Eligible for restricted free agency in the offseason, this recall is an important opportunity for Bernard-Docker to leave a lasting, positive impression on the Senators organization.

Bernard-Docker will be eligible for waivers next season, meaning the time when the Senators need to make a choice as to whether he’s in their NHL plans is rapidly approaching. However many NHL games this recall earns Bernard-Docker will be his chance to make that choice a lot easier.

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