Two-Way Signings: Schueneman, Aspirot, Gaudette, Gambrell, Poolman, Richard, Entwistle
The first day of NHL free agency saw over $1B spent for the first time in league history. Much of that went to stars across the league, though general managers are also having to focus on building up their farm programs. Here are five smaller names signed on Tuesday. Each of these deals carry a $775K cap hit at the NHL level, unless otherwise specified.
- The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Corey Schueneman to a one-year contract. Schueneman, 28, appeared in 64 games with the Colorado Eagles this season, netting four goals, 22 points, 24 penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s a quick-paced, hard-shooting defender who carries a lot of heft in his frame, even at 5-foot-11. He’s already made his NHL debut, appearing in 31 games with Montreal between 2021 and 2023 and scoring two goals and seven points. Schueneman is likely set for a role on the Springfield Thunderbirds lineup, where he’ll compete for ice time with Blues prospects like Marc-Andre Gaudet and Hunter Skinner.
- The Calgary Flames have re-signed defender Jonathan Aspirot to a one-year contract. Aspirot, 25, spent 66 games with the Calgary Wranglers last season, scoring a career-high 33 points and adding 80 penalty minutes and a -6. It was Aspirot’s first year in Calgary, after spending four years with the Belleville Senators. He totaled 63 points in 161 games with Belleville, and will now be set to reassume his top-end role with the Wranglers next season.
- Belleville is due for their own reinforcements, with the Ottawa Senators signing Adam Gaudette to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Gaudette, 27, led the AHL with 44 goals last season, in his pursuit of 71 points across 67 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds. It was a breakout year for Gaudette, after totaling 27 goals and 51 points in 65 games between the Toronto Marlies and Thunderbirds in 2022-23. Gaudette was formerly a top prospect in the NHL, appearing in 220 games across six seasons in the NHL. He’s only managed 27 goals and 70 points in those appearances, though his recent scoring could suggest upside still untapped. The Senators will hope that’s the case, as they position Gaudette for a premier role in the AHL next year.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Dylan Gambrell to a one-year deal. Gambrell spent all of this seaosn in the minor leagues, playing in 66 games with the Marlies. He managed 14 goals and 36 points – his highest AHL scoring since the 2018-19 season. Gambrell has been based much more in the NHL over the last six seasons, totaling 233 games and 40 points. He’ll be set for a top line role with the Cleveland Monsters, and push for a spot near the bottom of Columbus’ NHL lineup.
- The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Colton Poolman to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Poolman, 28, has spent the entirety of his four-year pro career in the Flames organization to date. The younger brother of Canucks defenseman Tucker Poolman had three goals and three assists in 66 games for the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers last season.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Anthony Richard to a two-year deal (Twitter link). Richard spent 59 games with the Providence Bruins last year, netting 25 goals and 55 points. It was a small step down for Richard, after netting 30 goals and 67 points last year. He’s also totaled 24 NHL games since 2018, scoring eight points. Richard should be set for a starring role with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, with a chance to push for the NHL roster.
- The Florida Panthers signed MacKenzie Entwistle to a one-year deal. Entwistle, 24, has spent most of the last three seasons on the Chicago Blackhawks lineup, though he’s managed just 33 points in 188 games. He’ll now join the reigning Stanley Cup champions, though his two-way deal suggests he’ll have to work his way up to the NHL from an AHL start.
Leafs Sign Oliver Ekman-Larsson To Four-Year Deal
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a four-year, $14MM contract per TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). Dreger adds that the deal will carry a $3.5MM cap hit and a 16-team modified-no-trade clause.
Ekman-Larsson makes out nicely after seeing his previous eight-year, $66MM contract bought out by the Vancouver Canucks only a year ago. Approaching unrestricted free agency for the first time, Ekman-Larsson inked a one-year, $2.25MM contract with the Florida Panthers for the 2023-24 regular season. The Swedish blue-liner put up nine goals and 32 points in 80 games for the Panthers with most of his production coming in the first part of the season with the team dealing with injuries to Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad.
In a more limited role compared to his time with the Canucks and Arizona Coyotes, Ekman-Larsson excelled. He appeared comfortable on an elite Florida defense and saw nearly all of his possession and defensive metrics improve as he finished the season with the lowest xGA average of his career according to HockeyReference.
The Maple Leafs will be looking to take advantage of a career turnaround of Ekman-Larsson on a modest $3.5MM cap hit over the next four seasons. Ekman-Larsson should slot behind Morgan Rielly in the top four of the team’s defensive pairings and will likely slot next to Timothy Liljegren as a Swedish counterpart.
Capitals Sign Matt Roy, Taylor Raddysh
The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Matt Roy to a six-year, $33MM contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $5.5MM. The Capitals have also signed depth forward Taylor Raddysh to a one-year, $1MM deal per PuckPedia (Twitter link).
Attempting to improve their finish from last season, the Capitals are making heavy investments in their defensive core. After acquiring left-handed defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators, Washington improved their right side with a long-term commitment to Roy. The two-day defenseman had spent the last six years with the Los Angeles Kings after being selected by the team in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
Behind Drew Doughty in Los Angeles, Roy became a significantly underrated defenseman. Over the last three years, Roy suited up in 230 games for the Kings while collecting 16 goals and 72 points overall and posting a combined +52 rating. Additionally — Roy averaged 1.72 hits per game and 1.96 blocked shots per game in those three years proving he is not shy about using his body to impact the play.
The only downside of Roy’s contract in Washington is that the team is now $4.88MM over the cap after factoring in the lost contract of Nicklas Backstrom. To trim up their cap situation, the team may look to move on from T.J. Oshie, Trevor van Riemsdyk, or Ethan Bear in the next couple of days.
Raddysh represents an investment in the team’s middle six, but he may end the 2024-25 season on the Hershey Bears. After a strong showing with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 regular season, Raddysh experienced a downfall last year as he only mustered five goals and 14 points in 73 games. He did show some strengths on the defensive side of the puck; however, which may have led the Capitals to give him a $1MM deal for next season.
Hurricanes Re-Sign Jordan Martinook
The Carolina Hurricanes have re-signed forward Jordan Martinook to a three-year, $9.15MM contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The deal carries an annual cap hit of $3.05MM.
The contract represents a staunch commitment from the Hurricanes organization to a player that the team placed on waivers to open the 2023-24 NHL season. Martinook has spent the last six years of his career in Carolina and has put up back-to-back 30-point campaigns. Spending much of his first few years in a bottom-six role, Martinook has been elevated up the lineup to more of a middle-six option in Carolina. Over the past two years, Martinook has appeared in all 164 games while scoring 27 goals and 66 points in total.
Martinook’s true value comes from his play on the defensive side of the puck, as he’s secured Selke Trophy votes in the last two seasons. The veteran forward consistently has a dramatic gap between takeaways and giveaways leading to a career-best 58.6% CorsiFor% this past season.
He is also a clutch playoff performer in contrast to his role on the team as Martinook has scored five goals and 16 points over 26 postseason games in the organization’s last two runs in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even though Martinook brings all that to the table for Carolina, this contract still appears a tad bloated at face value.
Blackhawks Expected To Sign Teuvo Teravainen
The Chicago Blackhawks are expected to sign winger Teuvo Teravainen to a three-year, $16.2MM contract, shares PuckPedia (Twitter link).
This move reunites Teravainen with where it all began, having been selected by the Blackhawks 18th overall in the 2012 NHL Draft. Teravainen was drafted out of Finland’s Liiga, where he played two additional following his draft selection. The 2014-15 season marked Teravainen’s first full year in North American pros, and he managed it to good effect, earning an NHL role after posting 25 points in 39 games. The Blackhawks struggled to place the young and relatively inexperienced Teravainen in the lineup, but he still found his way to strong scoring – netting nine points in 34 regular season games and then lighting up for 10 points in 18 postseason games as the Blackhawks chased the 2015 Stanley Cup.
The performance during Chicago’s cup run turned Teravainen into a fan favorite, with Chicago eager for his first full NHL season in 2015-16. But Teravainen couldn’t hold onto his groove despite the anticipation, netting just 35 points in 78 games. Perhaps seeing their chance to sell high, Chicago dealt Teravainen to the Carolina Hurricanes, receiving a second and third-round pick in return, used on prospects Artur Kayumov and Keith Petruzzelli, respectively.
But Chicago was quickly forced to eat their words, as Teravainen posted 42 points in his first year with the Hurricanes, then exploded for 64, 76, and 63 points over the next three seasons. Each year was marked with high goal-scoring, including two 20-goal years. That’s the pace that Teravainen has held onto ever since, with last year’s 37 points in 68 games marking the lowest he’s scored when healthy in Carolina. Even then, he quickly rebounded, netting 25 goals and 53 points in 76 games this season. He added six points in 11 playoff games, pulling himself back into the scoring light after a down year.
He’ll now get a shot at potentially playing with Connor Bedard in a first-line role and is a major boon to their wing depth, joining Tyler Bertuzzi as their high-profile additions today.
Capitals Re-Sign Connor McMichael
The Washington Capitals have re-signed forward Connor McMichael to a two-year, $4.2MM contract. The deal will carry an annual cap hit of $2.1MM. McMichael was Washington’s last restricted free agent after the team traded Beck Malenstyn to the Buffalo Sabres.
McMichael stood as Washington’s biggest hurdle this summer. He played in all 82 games this season, recording 18 goals and 33 points, successfully besting the meager 18 points, split evenly, that he managed as a rookie in the 2021-22 season. McMichael gapped the two NHL years with a Calder Cup-winning season with the Hershey Bears, scoring 39 points in 57 AHL games along the way.
McMichael was selected 25th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, following a 72-point season with the OHL’s London Knights. He quickly vindicated the selection, potting 102 points in just 52 games in his last season in the OHL. But he hasn’t gotten off to the smash start at the pro level that many hoped for. Instead, he’s starting to slowly find his footing as a centerman capable of being leaned on down the lineup. He’s a flashy, high-energy forward when he finds his stride, though those moments can sometimes be few and far between. A two-year deal will give McMichael, who’s still just 23, a chance to further solidify his NHL standing and craft an argument for a raise when he becomes a restricted free agent in 2026.
Leafs Sign Chris Tanev To Six-Year Contract
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Chris Tanev to a six-year, $27MM contract. The deal carries an annual cap hit of $4.5MM. This signing vindicates Toronto’s acquisitions of Tanev’s rights following the draft, with the Leafs sending a 2026 seventh-round back to the Dallas Stars.
Tanev has become one of the league’s most sought after defensive-defensemen, making his looming free agency headlining news when it was learned that he wouldn’t re-sign with the Dallas Stars. Dallas paid a pretty penny for Tanev at the Trade Deadline, dealing away prospect Artem Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick used on Jacob Battaglia, and a 2026 third-round pick. But Tanev quickly vindicated their efforts, seamlessly stepping onto the team’s top line. He only managed five points in 19 regular season games, bleak scoring that dropped to just two points in 19 postseason games, but Tanev made sure to find other ways to be effective. He recorded 30 hits and 73 blocked shots during the postseason, leading the league in the latter stat even despite being eliminated in the Western Conference Finals.
The defiant showing in Dallas continued the legend around Tanev’s defensive impacts. He began his career as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Vancouver Canucks in 2010 following the end of his freshman year at R.I.T. Vancouver put Tanev to quick work, awarding him the first 29 games of his NHL career in the 2010-11 season. He’d record just one assist as a rookie, adding two more in 25 NHL games during his sophomore season, while still searching for an everyday role in the NHL. He’d find his first two NHL goals in year three, posting seven points in 38 games, and finally command an everyday role in the lineup in year four.
Tanev quickly found his way to Vancouver’s top pairing in his first full year, averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time a game and scoring 17 points in 64 games during the 2013-14 campaign. He found the style that works for him that year, holding firmly to it in the 10 seasons since. Now 34, Tanev has accumulated 792 games and 157 points in the NHL, spread across three teams.
Toronto will soon become Tanev’s fourth organization, with this deal returning him to his hometown club and finally awarding Toronto a top-line defender they can trust. It’s been a grueling few years for the Leafs, who have had to lean on players like T.J. Brodie and Jake McCabe to fill top-pair minutes next to stout offensive-defenseman Morgan Rielly. Tanev’s addition should form a much more natural pairing with Rielly. The two are opposites in the best way – and Tanev’s control over the back end could give Rielly a chance to once again chase high-scoring, after posting 58 points this year and 68 points two seasons ago.
With the Tanev deal in place, Toronto is down to just $7.58MM in cap space, with one forward spot and two goalie spots yet to be filled. They’re likely to prioritize adding a backup goalie next, after extending Joseph Woll and expressing interest in Anthony Stolarz.
Panthers Re-Sign Dmitry Kulikov To Four-Year Extension
The Florida Panthers have re-signed defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to a four-year, $4.6MM contract extension, per Bob McKenzie of TSN (Twitter link). The deal carries an annual cap hit of $1.15MM.
Kulikov had a storybook return to the Panthers organization this season. He scored just one goal and 20 points in 76 games, adding 63 penalty minutes, and a +15. He didn’t add any scoring in the postseason, though he still appeared in 22 of the team’s 24 postseason games. And still, Kulikov concluded the year by lifting the Stanley Cup with the club that drafted him 15 years ago.
Florida was Kulikov’s home for the first seven years of his career, stepping into the NHL immediately after being drafted 14th overall in the 2009 NHL Draft. He was drafted following a QMJHL championship-winning season with the Drummondville Voltigeurs and carried his impactful lineup role into the pros, scoring 16 points in 68 games as a rookie. Kulikov found a stout role as a defensive defender early in his career that he hasn’t let go of since, even as he’s gone on to play 948 career games with eight different clubs.
That consistent impact is beginning to slow down as Kulikov approaches 34, with his role now much more centered around the bottom pairing. But it’s a role that he nonetheless serves well, and one that he’ll return to with Florida next season – especially following the departure of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has chosen to test free agency.
Oilers Re-Sign Connor Brown
9:07 a.m.: Edmonton has confirmed that Brown is sticking around at his reported one-year, $1MM price tag.
8:10 a.m.: The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed winger Connor Brown to a one-year, $1MM extension, per PuckPedia (Twitter link). The deal comes as a slight guaranteed raise from Brown’s one-year, $775K contract last season, though that deal carried $3.225MM in performance bonuses which he met.
Brown’s one-year deal last summer put him in a spot to succeed Klim Kostin‘s bruting role next to Connor McDavid. Kostin fit the bill to good effect, with 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games last season. Brown wasn’t able to do the same, going through the first 54 games of the season with just five assists. It wasn’t until game 55 that Brown scored his first goal of the year – and he heated up when he finally broke the curse with four goals and seven points in his final 17 games of the season. Brown concluded his year with just 12 points in 71 games – adding two goals and six points in 17 postseason games.
Despite the abysmal scoring, Brown has earned a raise on his next deal with the Oilers, with the team likely hoping that Brown can be much more productive with the monkey off his back. With Brown signed, Edmonton now sits with $12.933MM in cap space to fill five forward spots and two defense spots.
Rangers Sign Sam Carrick To Three-Year Deal
The New York Rangers are expected to sign forward Sam Carrick to a three-year, $3MM contract per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). The deal was first reported by St. Louis Blues rinkside reporter Andy Strickland (Twitter link).
Carrick continued to improve his stat line this season – though he wasn’t focused much on scoring. Instead, Carrick recorded 111 penalty minutes in 77 games this season, a career-high in the NHL and the most he’s recorded since the 2014-15 AHL season. 90 of those penalty minutes came in 61 games with the Anaheim Ducks, though Carrick dialed things back a bit after moving to the Edmonton Oilers are the Trade Deadline. He recorded a much more modest 12 penalty minutes in 16 regular-season games with Edmonton, though he added 12 more penalty minutes in 10 postseason games. Between the two teams, Carrick also posted a meager 10 goals and 16 points.
Carrick is certainly not known for his scoring, with his career totals up to 53 points and 316 penalty minutes in 240 games after his eighth season in the NHL. But Carrick makes up for the lack of scoring with grit and intangibles, boasting a dazzling 63.1 faceoff-percentage in his brief stint with Edmonton – bringing his success rate at the faceoff dot up to 50.7 percent across his career. He’s served as a stout, bottom-line centerman with the ability to play penalty-killing minutes, when it’s not his own penalties that are being killed. He’ll offer depth down New York’s depth chart, following the loss of Alexander Wennberg to the open market.