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Free Agent Profile: Zach Aston-Reese

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Outside of the Sebastian Aho signing yesterday, there has been a steady decline in hockey signings for the last week or two. Many management groups are getting ready for vacations before they report back for training camps in September.  While most of these people are gearing up for another season, there are still quite a few remaining free agents who don’t know what uniform they will don come October. Today we will look at one of those free agents, Zach Aston-Reese.

Aston-Reese is not unfamiliar with being unsigned through the summer. Last year he was forced to accept a PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs before he ultimately signed a one-year in October for $840K. The soon-to-be 29-year-old is one of the players that is really feeling the squeeze of a flat cap world. In many previous summers, a player with his defensive capabilities would have easily found work by the midway point of the summer. But with revenues down during the pandemic, Aston-Reese and his fourth-line peers have been the ones who have been damaged the most by a salary cap squeeze.

Aston-Reese is one of the most unique players to dress in the NHL the past few seasons. His defensive metrics are among the best in the NHL, he is elite in the defensive zone. On offense, he possesses precious little in terms of puck-handling ability or offensive output.

Back in 2016-17, Aston-Reese left Northeastern University and was pursued as a free agent by nearly half of the NHL. He eventually landed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and as a rookie in the 2017-18 season, he dressed in 16 games and put up five goals and two assists. This output gave him a long look in the playoffs as he dressed in nine games and put up a single assist before a questionable hit from Tom Wilson ended his playoffs early. The following season, he dressed in 43 games and posted eight goals and nine assists for a career-high 17 points.

Since his career high of 17 points in 2018-19, Aston-Reese has never topped 15 points in any one season and up until this past year with the Maple Leafs, he’d never dressed in more than 69 games (this past year, he played 77). His offensive capabilities were also limited, but with the Penguins, he had a home on their defensive-minded fourth line along with Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev. However, during the 2021-22 season, Aston-Reese was a pending free agent and was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a package to acquire Rickard Rakell. While he was part of the deal, the main purpose of including Aston-Reese was as a salary dump so Pittsburgh could make the money work. Anaheim let the Staten Island, New York native’s contract expire a short time later, and he didn’t sign another deal until his PTO last summer with the Maple Leafs.

Despite the disappointment of possibly going another summer being unsigned, I do think that Aston-Reese will sign an NHL contract for next season. He did score a career-high 10 goals last season, and as mentioned earlier, he is an elite defensive forward. The biggest issue for Aston-Reese outside of his offensive inability is that while his defensive analytics are great, the eye test doesn’t really demonstrate the little things he does in the defensive zone. The old guard of the NHL may not recognize what it is that Aston-Reese can bring to a lineup and may look elsewhere for help on their fourth line.

Stats

2022-23: 77 GP, 10-4-14, -6 rating, 25 PIMS, 89 shots, 50.0% faceoffs, 46.1% CF, 10:56 ATOI
Career: 307 GP, 42-38-80, +33 rating, 124 PIMS, 440 shots, 39.1% faceoffs, 48.3% CF, 13:00 ATOI

Potential Suitors

Aston-Reese doesn’t have many options at this point, so he is unlikely to be picky. He is from the New York area, which means he would likely prefer to play in the East, but his destination will ultimately be decided by whatever team shows interest in him.

In the East, the last general manager to sign Aston-Reese to a contract is now in Pittsburgh. This is the team that originally signed ZAR out of college back in 2017, and a team that has shown they aren’t afraid to acquire quality depth forwards to fill out their bottom six and AHL roster. Historically. Dubas has liked to sign NHL-caliber forwards to one-way contracts and then stash them in the AHL in case of injuries. It could be something he chooses to do with Aston-Reese as there is familiarity with the player and the team. Head coach Mike Sullivan utilized Aston-Reese an awful lot when he coached him a few years ago and may appreciate having an elite defensive forward to rely on. Especially given the Penguins struggles defensively last season.

Sticking with the East, as mentioned before, the Ottawa Senators could really use some good forward depth. Their bottom six isn’t particularly good, and they are going into the upcoming season expecting a lot of growth from some of their younger forwards. At the very least, Aston-Reese could offer Ottawa a decent 13th forward at league minimum who could also help their penalty kill.

Out West, the Seattle Kraken seems like a team that would fit Aston-Reese perfectly. The Kraken are largely made up of players who have been viewed as castoffs at some point in their careers, not unlike Aston-Reese. There is also a familiarity that Aston-Reese could have with current Kraken fourth-liner Brandon Tanev, who played with him in Pittsburgh. The Kraken has also been a team that has relied on accountability and team defense, something that would gel well with what Aston-Reese brings to the table. The one holdup would be that Seattle already has 12 capable forwards, meaning that Aston-Reese would be on the outside looking in should he sign there.

Projected Contract

Unfortunately for Aston-Reese, he is likely going to have to take another PTO if he would like to continue his NHL career. It is still possible that he gets a one-year contract for around the league minimum from a team that is looking for a strong defensive presence on their fourth line, but a PTO is the likelier scenario. ZAR can still provide a lot to a team for very little cost, but he shouldn’t be counted on or expected to offer up much in the way of offense. His best bet is to use a PTO as an opportunity to demonstrate his skill set and fit with a team as he did last fall with the Maple Leafs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brandon Davidson Signs In Sweden

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Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League announced today that they have come to terms with former NHL defenseman Brandon Davidson. The 31-year-old spent parts of seven seasons in the NHL totalling 180 games while wearing seven different uniforms.

Generally regarded as a defensive defenseman, Davidson began his career with the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and during his second season in the NHL, he looked as though he could be a big part of the Oilers blueline moving forward. Davidson dressed in 51 games that year posting four goals and seven assists while logging over 19 minutes of ice time a night.

Unfortunately for Davidson, he fell out of favor in the 2016-17 season and was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for David Desharnais in what seemed to be a change of scenery swap for both players. From there, Davidson never regained his footing and bounced around to six other NHL stops before eventually spending the past two seasons in the AHL with the Rochester Americans and Cleveland Monsters. This past spring Davidson signed a deal in the SHL with Färjestad BK where he played seven games and tallied a goal and an assist.

A lot of fringe NHLers have been feeling the squeeze in recent seasons due to the revenue shortages the NHL felt during the pandemic-shortened seasons. However, that is likely not the case with Davidson as he had bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL prior to 2020.

If this is the end of his NHL career Davidson would finish with nine career goals and 14 assists in 180 NHL games.

Maple Leafs To Place Matt Murray On LTIR

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they will be placing goaltender Matt Murray on the LTIR prior to the start of the 2023-24 season. No details on Murray’s injury were provided in the release, which will surely lead to a lot of speculation in the coming days. With Murray joining Jake Muzzin on LTIR, the Maple Leafs will remain $2.1MM over the salary cap, meaning that they will need to do some cap gymnastics in the coming weeks to try and get under the $83.5MM salary cap by October.

Murray’s first season in Toronto was a difficult one for the former two-time Stanley Cup champion as he battled inconsistency and injuries once again. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native hasn’t been able to steady his game or remain in the net since his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Murray was dealt by the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators in October 2020 and quickly signed a four-year extension worth $24MM. The deal was heavily criticized at the time as being too rich and too long for a goaltender that had struggled to stay healthy and consistent.

The Senators were then forced into a cap dump last summer as they traded Murray to the Maple Leafs along with two draft picks for future considerations. Trading for Murray was a good idea in theory from former general manager Kyle Dubas, however, in reality, the deal never worked out for Toronto as Murray was unable to bounce back or stay healthy. Murray dressed in just 26 games going 14-8-2 with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.

The move will effectively end any talks of a buyout, which is ultimately the best outcome for the player and team. Matt Murray will retain his entire $8MM salary for the upcoming season and the Leafs will be able to use the entire $4.7MM of the cap space that would have been allocated to Murray.

It is quite the fall from grace for a netminder who looked like a budding superstar just six years ago. Murray won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a rookie and looked like he was the future of the Penguins when the team moved on from franchise icon Marc-Andre Fleury. However, Murray’s career began to derail a short time later due to multiple injuries and inconsistent play and since then he has been unable to right the ship.

Evening Notes: Gustavsson, Crammarossa, Iowa

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Joe Smith of The Athletic writes that it appears the Minnesota Wild and goaltender Filip Gustavsson will decide their contract dispute in arbitration. Smith writes that the deal will get done but will most likely be done through an arbitrator as the sides appear unlikely to reach an agreement without the intervention. The Wild and Gustavsson are set to go to arbitration on August 4th, and with Ilya Samsonov’s ruling now official and Jeremy Swayman’s case set to be heard later this week, both sides should have a clearer picture of what would be a fair contract from the club and the 25-year-old goaltender.

Gustavsson excelled in his first year in Minnesota after coming over in an off-season trade from the Ottawa Senators. It was expected that the native of Skelleftea, Sweden would backup Marc-Andre Fleury, however by the time the playoffs rolled around Gustavsson owned the Minnesota net having gone 22-9-7 with a .931 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average.

The Wild are dealing with a very precarious cap situation as they deal with the blowback from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts that are eating up about $15MM of Minnesota’s cap space. However, they do still have around $5MM in cap space remaining to re-sign the young netminder.

In other evening notes:

  • Joseph Cramarossa has officially signed a contract with the Löwen Frankfurt of the DEL league. Cramarossa played in the NHL as recently as the past season as he played four games for the Minnesota Wild, scoring just a single goal. He also posted four goals and five assists in 18 games with the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Back in January of this year, Cramarossa had his contract terminated by the Wild and at that time he went overseas to play for Adlern Mannheim of the DEK. While in Germany Cramarossa posted two goals and six assists in 15 games.
  • Lastly, the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL have announced that they’ve come to terms with defensemen Robbie Stucker and Ben Brinkman on contracts for the 2023-24 season. The club also announced that forward Jake Durflinger has agreed to a deal as well. Brinkman and Stucker were formerly teammates at the University of Minnesota from 2018-21 while Durflinger will enter his second season with the Heartlanders having played 50 games last season posting 10 goals and 10 assists. The 25-year-old finished the season strong scoring seven of his ten goals between March 18th and April 7th.

Free Agent Profile: Danton Heinen

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This is the time of the summer when NHL signings are few and far between. Many teams have made their moves and are now tweaking around the edges, while other teams are looking to figure out how to become cap compliant in October. For the unrestricted free agents who remain unsigned, it must be a stressful time of year, it’s almost like a game of musical chairs, everyone has their seat, and only a select few are left standing.

For winger Danton Heinen he is familiar with this waiting game, he wasn’t signed last summer until late July when he inked a one-year $1MM deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. At the time, Heinen was coming off a career-high 18 goals and a very respectable 33 points. It seemed like an absolute steal at that price point, but then Heinen failed to match that production this past season. Coming off a very disappointing season it’s hard to see Heinen topping his salary from this past season, and it appears he might have to wait even deeper into the summer to find an NHL deal.

Heinen entered this past season with an opportunity to capture a spot in the Penguins lineup next to Evgeni Malkin. At the beginning of the season, the Penguins weren’t sure how Jason Zucker would fit into the lineup and Heinen was brought in as a depth piece who could fill in admirably in the top six, and that is what he did to start the season. Heinen began the year with six points in his first five games including a two-goal game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in October as he filled in for an injured Jake Guentzel alongside Sidney Crosby. However, over the course of his next 34 games, Heinen would put up just five assists and didn’t score another goal until late January, a period of over three months between goals. Heinen finished the season with eight goals and 14 assists in 65 games and ended up in Mike Sullivan’s doghouse many times throughout the year.

While Heinen’s offensive numbers took a nosedive last season from the year previous, they fell close to his career average as he has typically been a 10-15 goal scorer and a player who can contribute 25-30 points. Outside of a single 47-point season, Heinen has never topped 34 points in any other NHL season. His lack of offensive ability wasn’t an issue earlier in his career as his shortcomings could be glossed over because he offered a lot more defensive prowess and the ability to disrupt plays in the defensive zone. He could also get to the front of the net, but that seemed to disappear last season as he appeared to lack the confidence to get to the dirty areas of the ice to distract defenders away from some of the Penguins more gifted offensive players. Overall, it was a tough season for Heinen and the Penguins as he seemed to struggle more and more as the season went on, as did the entire Penguins lineup.

Despite the disappointment of being a healthy scratch many times this past season, Heinen is still very much an NHL player. The flat salary cap has put him and many others in the precarious position of being left without a job deep into the offseason despite having a small track record of NHL success. Heinen has 70 goals and 106 assists in 413 career NHL games, and while those offensive numbers aren’t eye-popping, he does offer several intangibles that could be attractive to many teams. He is a decent skater and doesn’t mind taking a hit to make a play, however, he does get pushed around a lot and could probably stand to put on a bit of muscle to help him when he does get into the dirty areas of the ice.

Stats

2022-23: 65 GP, 8-14-22, -5 rating, 12 PIMS, 96 shots, 40.0% faceoffs, 51.3% CF, 10:45 ATOI
Career: 413 GP, 70-106-176, +10 rating, 72 PIMS, 675 shots, 31.3% faceoffs, 51.9% CF, 13:35 ATOI

Potential Suitors

After spending seven years in the league, it is unlikely that Heinen would want to be part of a rebuilding team, however, given his precarious position in the league he doesn’t have the luxury of being picky. Heinen has dressed for three different franchises at this point and may never see the security of a long-term deal with any one team. That doesn’t mean he won’t have suitors as teams are always looking for solid depth options late in the summer and around training camp when injuries begin to pop up.

In the East, one team that could use some good forward depth is the Ottawa Senators. They’ve had success before taking on reclamation projects and Heinen could certainly be categorized as that. Heinen doesn’t need to be fully rebuilt but he does need to be put in a spot where he can play with good players in the bottom six and get the opportunity to jump up into the top six from time to time. Ottawa could offer exactly that as Heinen would be a good fit on their third line next to your center Shane Pinto. The Senators could also use a good depth forward who could jump up and replace Dominik Kubalik should he struggle with his new team. The Senators will also be dressing a few young forwards in their bottom six and could use a solid veteran to help guide the youngsters and show them what it takes to be a pro.

Sticking with the East, Heinen could also be a good fit with one of the Penguins closest rivals the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets don’t have much in the way of offensive firepower in their bottom six forward group and Heinen would actually represent an upgrade on several of their current options. Thus far the Blue Jackets have prioritized acquiring defensemen this offseason, however, Heinen could represent a cheap upgrade who wouldn’t require much term or cap space.

Out West, a couple of teams could make sense of potential destinations for Heinen. A native of Langley, British Columbia, a trip home to Vancouver would make for a nice story and a fit for both player and team. The Vancouver Canucks currently have Teddy Bleuger pencilled in as their third-line center; a player Heinen knows well having played on a line with him in both of the past two seasons. Heinen would be a more than capable replacement for Phil Di Giuseppe and could also add a bit of depth on the wing for the Canucks, something they are certainly lacking.

Staying in the West, the Winnipeg Jets lost a few forwards this offseason and seem to be in a bit of a holding pattern. Much has been made of the trade targets on the Jets, but it appears that they do want to make another run at the playoffs next season with much of the same core. If Heinen were to sign with the Jets, it would most likely be as a 13th forward and the opportunity to push fourth-line winger Morgan Barron. The 24-year-old Barron had similar numbers to Heinen last year but battled injuries early in the year. The Jets have a few terrific young forwards and adding a solid veteran like Heinen could help provide some mentorship to the youth in the Jets forward ranks.

Projected Contract

Heinen wasn’t mentioned as one of our Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents before free agency began. He fell well outside that list as this past season in Pittsburgh really damaged his free-agent stock. While Heinen has his shortcomings, he is still just 28 and has had recent success when sheltered in the right situation. He can contribute on a third or fourth line and chip in a bit of offence as well. At this point Heinen would do well to top his deal from last July, he is likely to still get a one-year deal, but it will probably fall around the $1MM guarantee he received from Pittsburgh last summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Profile: Phil Kessel

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At this point in the summer, most teams are looking to make small tweaks to their lineups and settle with their restricted free-agent class. Other teams are still on the hunt for bargains, and with salary cap space at a minimum there are still a lot of strong veteran players who can contribute positively if put in the right position. That statement perfectly describes NHL Iron Man Phil Kessel, a three-time cup winner, a possible future hall of famer, and a man just eight points shy of 1000 for his career.

Despite being a healthy scratch for most of the Vegas Golden Knights journey to their first Stanley Cup, Kessel remains the NHL Iron Man having played 1064 consecutive NHL games and counting.

The streak does not factor in regular season games leaving Kessel’s number intact should he sign with an NHL team this summer.

Kessel hasn’t missed an NHL regular season game since October 31, 2009, when he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a remarkable run of durability. Since debuting with the Boston Bruins 2007-08 season, Kessel has posted 413 goals and 579 assists in 1286 career games. Over the course of his 17-year NHL career, he has had six 30-goal seasons and four seasons with 80 points or more.

Kessel has reached a point in his career where it appears he is content to let the market come to him, last summer he didn’t sign with the Golden Knights until August, and it paid off handsomely as he was able to collect another Stanley Cup ring. Kessel signed for $1.5MM on a one-year deal at the time, and it was considered a bargain for a player coming of a 52-point season the year prior. For their investment, Vegas got 14 goals and 22 assists out of Kessel in 82 games as he played largely in a sheltered depth role. That type of role on a contending team is probably the ideal circumstance for the 35-year-old. Gone are the days when Kessel could play 18 minutes a night as he is better suited at this stage of his career to play 10-12 minutes per game.

Kessel isn’t the dynamic skater he once was, and he can’t fire his snapshot off the rush that made him a perennial 30-goal scorer, but he can be a veteran offensive presence on a team that is looking for some scoring from their bottom-6 forward group.

Stats

2022-23: 82 GP, 14-22-36, -7 rating, 30 PIMS, 149 shots, 41.7% faceoffs, 50.5% CF, 12:49 ATOI
Career: 1286 GP, 413-579-992, -155 rating, 402 PIMS, 3849 shots, 42.2% faceoffs, 55.2% CF, 17:42 ATOI

Potential Suitors

At 35 years of age, it is unlikely that Kessel would want to be part of a rebuilding team which removes several potential suitors from the equation. The honest answer is that the biggest suitor for Phil Kessel might be retirement. However, should he choose to continue playing the Ottawa Senators might be an option that makes sense given that they just traded away an offensive winger in Alex DeBrincat and have a bottom-six forward group that might not chip in much offensively. Currently, the Senators have Mathieu Joseph as their third-line right winger, however, he scored just three times last year and is likely better suited for a fourth-line role. Whether or not Kessel would want to play for the Senators is another story.

Sticking with the East, another team that could make sense is the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have seen their depth decimated by free agency and a flat-cap world as they have had to watch some terrific depth pieces walk out the door or be traded due to cap constraints. They now find their bottom six void of much in the way of offence, something that Kessel could remedy. An addition like Phil won’t put the Lightning’s cap situation into peril and would likely give the Madison, Wisconsin native a chance to play with some terrific players. It would also give Kessel the opportunity to play in a warmer climate, something he reportedly enjoys.

Out West, one might wonder if a return to the Vegas Golden Knights would make sense for Kessel. There is an adage that players hate moving their stuff, and Kessel did seem comfortable playing in Las Vegas. For the Golden Knights they have seen some of the offence from their cup-winning squad walk out the door and by bringing Kessel back they would get to welcome a known commodity into the fold with much of a cost.

Projected Contract

Kessel wasn’t chosen as one of our Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents last month, falling outside the Top 50 despite winning his third Stanley Cup this past season. At this point in Phil’s career, he is a long shot to get a contract with a salary north of $1MM unless a team is looking to reach the salary cap floor. If Kessel is open to taking a league-minimum deal, he could be a good option for a team hoping to improve one of the power play units. Kessel is still an excellent passer as evidenced by his 22 assists last season despite playing a career low 12:49 per game. At this point in his career, Kessel has won three cups and made his money, leaving him very little to play for other than a love of the game. If he does return it will most likely be on a one-year deal for a tick above the league minimum of $775K.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Update On Erik Karlsson To Pittsburgh Rumblings

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Rob Rossi of The Athletic wrote a column today with regard to the Erik Karlsson trade saga. While many of the updates offered were hardly surprising, there were a few pieces of information that gave some insights into how the Pittsburgh Penguins became involved in the trade talks. Pittsburgh always seemed like a team that couldn’t squeeze a player with Karlsson’s cap number into their lineup, but based on the recent reporting it appears that they are the front-runner.

Rossi begins the article by dropping the news that Kyle Dubas reportedly identified Erik Karlsson as a trade target while he was in the interview process with Penguins ownership. Now, aside from the Tristan Jarry extension to this point much of Dubas’ work has been to tinker around the edges of the Penguins lineup. But it does appear that he’s built up the club’s depth in the bottom six and their defense core for the possibility that some players could be shipped out very soon.

Another newer piece of information that Rossi mentions is that Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang have reportedly endorsed the potential Karlsson acquisition and in Letang’s case, he’s even agreed to make changes to his own role within the Penguins lineup. If a potential trade were to go through, Letang would remain as Pittsburgh’s number one defenseman, however, Letang would change his powerplay role to allow Karlsson to quarterback the Penguin’s powerplay.

San Jose was also reportedly interested in defenseman Marcus Pettersson being part of a potential blockbuster, however, Dubas has squashed that notion thus far as head coach Mike Sullivan sees Pettersson and newly acquired defender Ryan Graves as the top two options for the left side of Pittsburgh’s defensive group. Pettersson was terrific for Pittsburgh last season after seeing his name all over trade rumors boards for much of the summer of 2022.

Lastly, Dubas apparently wants to put top-5 protection on any first-round pick he trades in a Karlsson deal and has reportedly floated the idea of putting other conditions such as home-ice advantage on lower-round draft picks that could be involved in the deal.

While it appears that the Penguins are still the front-runner to land the reigning Norris Trophy winner, it doesn’t appear that a trade is imminent anytime soon. Pittsburgh would have to navigate an awful lot of moving parts to push the trade through, however, as we’ve seen in the past these trades can come together quickly when teams are motivated to make the move happen. Regardless of the outcome, it does look like Dubas has plans to continue his makeover of the Penguins roster before the start of the 2023-24 season.

Minor Transactions: 7/20/23

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We are well into the dog days of summer as many NHL management groups and broadcasters are turning their attention to arbitration cases and summer holidays. While things are typically slow this time of year there have been several signings today from around the hockey world:

  • Former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dmitri Korobov has signed a contract with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. No terms of the contract have been released. Korobov has spent the last two years with Dinamo and posted three goals and four assists in 49 games this past season. His NHL career was a short one as he dressed in just three games and posted a single assist with the Lightning in a short call-up during the 2013-14 season. The 34-year-old spent two seasons in the AHL with Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate the Syracuse Crunch, dressing in 136 games and scoring six goals and 42 assists.
  • The Utica Comets have announced that they’ve signed defenseman Will MacKinnon to a two-way AHL contract for the 2023-24 season. The 23-year-old Plymouth, Michigan native will be getting his first opportunity in the AHL as he spent the past two seasons playing in the ECHL with the Reading Royals where he posted seven goals and 20 assists in 88 games. MacKinnon has never posted much in the way of offense dating all the way back to his NCAA days but did put up 26 points last season in 71 ECHL games which has earned him a look in the AHL for the upcoming year.
  • Colorado Avalanche AHL affiliate the Colorado Eagles have signed defenseman Michael Underwood to a one-year AHL extension. Underwood signed a PTO with the Eagles back in March of this year and dressed in three AHL games with the franchise where he was held scoreless. The 25-year-old has been a defensive defenseman throughout his professional and college career never topping seven points in any one season. In five NCAA seasons with Clarkson University and Michigan State University, Underwood had a total of six goals and 17 assists in 167 games.
  • Nolan Moyle, the captain of the Michigan Wolverines last season, has found where he’ll be beginning his professional career: China. Moyle has signed with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star, landing there after playing five seasons at Michigan. A defense-first right winger, Moyle didn’t score much as a Wolverine (just 46 points in 164 career games) but now has a chance to hold down a defensive role in one of the world’s more competitive professional leagues.
  • The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have made a significant addition, signing 26-year-old Aaron Luchuk on a one-year contract. Luchuk had been with the Solar Bears for two seasons before this past season trying his luck in Europe. Luchuck played for three teams across two leagues and couldn’t quite find his footing in 2022-23, so now he returns to the league he led in scoring in 2020-21. Luchuk has 187 points in 181 career ECHL games and is likely to be a major help to the franchise as they look to return to the Kelly Cup playoffs.
  •  Another college hockey captain has selected where he’ll be starting his pro career. Notre Dame captain Nick Leivermann has signed a contract with the Hershey Bears, the defending Calder Cup champions. The 24-year-old Minnesota native played five seasons with Notre Dame and has had two consecutive productive campaigns. He scored 20 points in 29 games last season and had 27 points in 32 games this season. While the Bears are likely to have a competitive blueline as they defend their Calder Cup title, Leivermann’s success in his collegiate career suggests he could end up a factor in the AHL sooner rather than later.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: Roe, Mikhnov, Marcel

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The reigning Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears announced this morning that they’ve signed forward Garrett Roe to a one-year AHL contract. The 35-year-old spent last season playing for the ZSC Lions in the National League in Switzerland where he collected four goals and 10 assists in 31 games while serving as one of the alternate captains for the team.

Roe was a seventh-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings back in 2008 and previously played two seasons in the AHL for the Adirondack Phantoms where he posted 20 goals and 46 assists in 129 career games. He has spent the past decade in Europe, including the past four years with the Lions in Switzerland. He’s been a good offensive contributor for most of his professional career but saw the offence dry up this past season as he posted numbers well below his career average.

Roe represented the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang where he posted a goal and an assist in five games as the Americans fell in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

In other minor transactions from around the hockey world:

  • Former Edmonton Oilers first-round pick Alexei Mikhnov has joined Brest Albatros of the FFHG Division 1 league in France. The 40-year-old forward was selected 17th overall by the Oilers in the 2000 entry draft and played just two NHL games with the franchise, going pointless. Mikhnov took years to make the move from Russia to North America as he was impacted by the lack of a transfer agreement between the NHL and the Russian ice hockey federation. When he finally arrived, he had massive issues with his eyesight and struggled to adapt to the North American game. This will be his first year playing in France as he has spent the past four years playing professionally in Belarus.
  • Chicago Blackhawks 2023 fifth-round pick Marcel Marcel has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Blackhawks AHL affiliate the Rockford IceHogs. The IceHogs announced the deal this morning with the 19-year-old who saw his first glimpse of North American hockey this past season with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Gatineau Olympiques. In 52 games, the Pilsen, Czechia native posted 14 goals and 18 assists to go along with a +22 rating. He also helped his country win a silver medal at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship where he recorded two goals and four assists in seven games.

Seattle Kraken Extend Head Coach Dave Hakstol

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that they’ve signed head coach Dave Hakstol to a contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2025-26 season. No financial details have been released at this time but the two-year contract gives the 54-year-old some security coming on the heels of the first 100-point season in franchise history.

Hakstol led the franchise to a series of firsts in just their second season of existence. The Kraken made the playoffs for the first time and even knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the opening round for their first playoff series win.

Hakstol oversaw one of the most dramatic turnarounds in recent history as he took the Kraken from a 30th overall finish in 2021-22 to the second round of the playoffs. Seattle went from just 60 points in 2021-22 to 100 points this past season. The team’s point percentage nearly doubled going from .366 to .610. It was by far Hakstol’s most successful season as a head coach in the NHL with his previous best coming while he was overseeing the Philadelphia Flyers in 2017-18. That year he led the Flyers to a 98-point regular season before they were dumped in six games by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs.

Hakstol might not have big-name recognition, but he fits with what Seattle has built throughout their lineup. They don’t have many big names in their lineup, but the club showed incredible resiliency and grit throughout this past season. Something Hakstol himself showed after an initially disappointing first season in Seattle.

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