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Snapshots: Bjork, Simashev, World Juniors

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While former college hockey star Anders Bjork finished his season on a high note after a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring five points in his last four games and eight in 13 games overall, it seems Chicago won’t be issuing a qualifying offer. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the Blackhawks “aren’t planning to give a qualifying offer,” though that “doesn’t mean the Blackhawks won’t necessarily re-sign” Bjork, just that they don’t want to issue a qualifying offer at a value of $1.8MM. (subscription link)

Set to turn 27 in August, Bjork spent most of last season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, the longest stretch he’d spent in the minor leagues in his career. He’d previously been mostly an NHL option, with AHL stretches limited to just a handful of games. He didn’t overwhelm with Rochester, scoring 25 points in 42 games, and was eventually traded to Chicago for future considerations. Bjork showed some life under head coach Luke Richardson in Chicago, and that solid run of eight points in 13 games should serve him well heading into the open market, even if he may not receive a contract at the same value as his qualifying offer.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Russian blueliner Dmitri Simashev was recently ranked 19th in Bob McKenzie’s final draft rankings of the cycle for TSN, though he could end up going even higher than that at the draft next week. As relayed by CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, Simashev’s agent Dan Milstein says 24 of the NHL’s 32 teams have asked for a meeting with Simashev at the draft in Nashville. He’s a rangy six-foot-four blueliner currently under contract in the KHL through 2024-25. He’s widely regarded as a high-upside prospect with tantalizing physical tools, and in a draft thinner on defenseman compared to forwards, Simashev could be a fast-rising prospect.
  • Hockey Canada, the CHL, and the IIHF announced today that the 2025 World Junior Championships will be played in Ottawa, Ontario. The Senators’ home arena, Canadian Tire Centre, will serve as the event’s primary location with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s’ TD Place as the secondary venue. Canada has won three of the last four WJC events and will hope to take home the gold medal on their home turf just as they’ve done the past two events.

Boston Bruins Extend Brandon Bussi

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The Boston Bruins have announced that they have re-signed netminder Brandon Bussi to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Per the announcement, the deal has a cap hit of $775,000.

According to CapFriendly, the contract has an AHL salary of $100,000 and contains total guarantees of $140,000.

Bussi is a fast-rising young goalie who was recently named to the AHL’s All-Rookie team after an exceptional first season as the leader of a three-person goalie group with the Providence Bruins.

Now 24, Bussi was originally a signing by the Bruins last March. He inked a one-year entry-level deal at an $825k cap hit, plucked from the college ranks after a strong final season at Western Michigan University.

He started all of Western Michigan’s games in 2021-22 and went 26-12-1 with a .912 save percentage. After leaving college he got an early taste of pro action with AHL Providence near the end of 2021-22 on an ATO, and went 3-2 with a .920 save percentage in five games. He actually began this year at the ECHL level as the Bruins already had Kyle Keyser and veteran Keith Kinkaid entrenched as Providence’s goalie tandem.

But Bussi quickly proved himself to be overqualified for the ECHL, immediately stopping 75 out of 80 shots in his first two starts. He earned a call-up in November and didn’t look back. He went 22-5-4 in the AHL with a .924 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against-average.

While NHL opportunities might be difficult to come by in Boston as the Bruins already have Vezina Trophy frontrunner Linus Ullmark and the talented Jeremy Swayman in their crease. But another brilliant AHL campaign could see Bussi be a player of interest for other clubs and a potential trade asset for the Bruins, or could even force the team to choose between Ullmark and Swayman in order to provide Bussi with the chance to become a part of an NHL tandem.

In any case, he now has his contract for next season and will likely pair with Keyser as Providence’s goalie tandem for next season.

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.

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