Milan Lucic Hopes To Return To NHL, Still In Player Assistance Program
Former Bruins forward Milan Lucic has been training this summer and hopes to return to the NHL, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Lucic has not played since being arrested for a domestic incident last November that resulted in assault and battery charges. Those charges were dropped in February after his wife declined to testify against him, but the Bruins said that he would remain on an indefinite leave of absence for the remainder of the campaign.
Lucic has not officially been suspended from league play by commissioner Gary Bettman, Seravalli clarifies, but notes that the league still needs to clear him to play since he entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program following his arrest. League doctors have not yet cleared him to exit the program.
Unlike other North American professional sports leagues, the NHL has no dedicated domestic violence policy. As things stand, with no suspension from the league, Lucic would be eligible to sign with any team if he’s cleared from the program.
The 36-year-old, who was a second-round pick of the Bruins and played for them through the 2014-15 season, signed a one-year contract to return to Boston last summer. He became an unrestricted free agent last month after playing just four games in 2023-24.
List Of Draft Rights Expiring August 15
Aug. 15: Save for a few updates made in the last few weeks, all the players below have not signed entry-level contracts and will become free agents today.
July 25: Every year on August 15, NHL-drafted players coming off their final season of collegiate hockey see their exclusive signing rights expire if not inked to an entry-level contract. This year’s crop of prospects set to hit the free agent market after wrapping up their NCAA careers can be found below.
This list was compiled using reserve list data over at CapWages but was modified at PHR’s discretion to remove players who have confirmed their return to NCAA play for a fifth/graduate season, thus delaying the expiry of their signing rights to August 2025. If a player has signed a contract elsewhere for this season, we’ve noted that as well.
Anaheim Ducks
F Jack Perbix (116th overall, 2018)
Boston Bruins
F Quinn Olson (92nd overall, 2019) signed AHL contract with Ontario Reign (LAK) for 2024-25
Chicago Blackhawks
F Liam Gorman (177th overall, 2018)
Dallas Stars
G Cole Brady (127th overall, 2019) drafted by Devils, rights acquired in this year’s Chris Tanev three-way trade with Flames
Detroit Red Wings
D Cooper Moore (128th overall, 2019)
F Sam Stange (97th overall, 2020)
Florida Panthers
D Carter Berger (106th overall, 2019) signed AHL contract with Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR) for 2024-25
C Owen Lindmark (137th overall, 2019)
Los Angeles Kings
D Ben Meehan (140th overall, 2020)
Montreal Canadiens
F Ty Smilanic (74th overall, 2020) drafted by Panthers, signing rights acquired in 2022 trade for Ben Chiarot
Nashville Predators
F Alexander Campbell (65th overall, 2019) signed AHL contract with Milwaukee Admirals (NSH) for 2024-25
G Ethan Haider (148th overall, 2019) signed AHL contract with Milwaukee Admirals (NSH) for 2024-25
Philadelphia Flyers
F Bryce Brodzinski (196th overall, 2019)
Pittsburgh Penguins
F Chase Yoder (170th overall, 2020)
San Jose Sharks
F Alex Young (196th overall, 2020)
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Nick Capone (157th overall, 2020)
D Eamon Powell (116th overall, 2020)
F McKade Webster (213th overall, 2019)
Toronto Maple Leafs
F Veeti Miettinen (168th overall, 2020) signed with KalPa (Liiga) through 2025-26
Utah Hockey Club
F Carson Bantle (142nd overall, 2020)
Vancouver Canucks
F Jack Malone (180th overall, 2019) signed AHL contract with Utica Comets (NJD) through 2025-26
G Matthew Thiessen (192nd overall, 2018)
Vegas Golden Knights
F Ryder Donovan (110th overall, 2019)
Winnipeg Jets
F Harrison Blaisdell (134th overall, 2019)
G Logan Neaton (144th overall, 2019)
International Notes: Filppula, Has, Andrighetto
Triple Gold Club member Valtteri Filppula appears to be returning home for what is likely his final professional season. The 40-year-old is expected to join Jokerit of Finland’s second-tier Mestis for 2024-25, Sami Hoffrén and Marko Lempinen of Helsingen Sanomat report.
Filppula, a third-round pick of the Red Wings back in 2002, won the Stanley Cup with them six years later as part of a 16-year, 1,056-game NHL career. Split between the Wings, Lightning, Flyers and Islanders, he amassed 197 goals, 333 assists, 530 points, a -4 rating, and a 50.5% career win rate in the dot in the regular season.
The two-way pivot returned to Europe after becoming a free agent in 2021, and he’s spent the last three seasons in Switzerland with Genève-Servette HC of the National League. He was a premier offensive presence there, even in his late 30s, scoring 47 goals and 84 assists for 131 points in 145 games. But after a pair of seasons around a point per game, his production dropped off to 33 points in 51 games last year.
Filppula was a member of the Finnish national team that won gold at the Winter Olympics and the World Championship in 2022, making him the first Finn to win both in addition to a Stanley Cup. He now returns to Jokerit, where he played for two seasons before coming to the NHL in 2005.
The Helsinki-based franchise was once one of the top clubs in Europe, but their decision to leave the top Finnish league for Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League in 2013 proved fateful. They withdrew from the KHL midseason in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and missed 2022-23 entirely before restarting operations in Mestis last year.
More notable items from abroad:
- Former Capitals defense prospect Martin Has has signed a tryout with HC Plzen of the Czech Extraliga, per a team announcement. A fifth-round pick back in 2019, Has never rose above the ECHL level in the Washington organization, spending 2022-23 with the South Carolina Stingrays before his signing rights expired, making him a UFA. Has, 23, spent last season with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets, where the 6’4″ right-shot was limited to five points and a -14 rating in 62 games. The Czech native will now look to latch on in one of the premier European professional leagues.
- It doesn’t appear that an NHL comeback is in the cards for Sven Andrighetto, as he’s inked a four-year extension with the Swiss National League club ZSC Lions. Andrighetto, 31, is a Zurich native, and he had 31 points in 40 games for his hometown club last year before leading them to an NL championship. The 2013 third-round pick of the Canadiens scored 31 goals and 83 points in 216 NHL games with Montreal and Colorado between 2014 and 2019.
Snapshots: CHL/NCAA, Hovorka, Tiefensee
The NCAA is facing major pressure to lift one of its biggest barriers to entry for men’s ice hockey after a class-action lawsuit was levied against them on Monday, alleging the association is “violating antitrust laws by preventing hockey players who appeared in Canadian Hockey League games from competing for NCAA teams.”
Today, Sean Gentille of The Athletic broke down the potential implications of the suit. The elimination of the rule preventing CHL players from making the jump to Division I hockey has been in discussion for a while, at the very least dating back to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet in March.
However, if CHL players were allowed to move to NCAA play at any given time, it would likely necessitate a revision of the NHL’s transfer agreements with both organizations. Players drafted out of the three CHL sub-leagues have a two-year exclusive signing window after being drafted by an NHL club. In contrast, players on the college track have their signing rights stay with their NHL team until Aug. 15, following the year they’ve graduated from their program.
The suit’s basis alleges that the NCAA’s rule barring CHL players from entrance isn’t to protect amateurism. It’s to “harm the CHL — the NCAA’s primary competition for elite young players — and that, in practice, it constitutes a ‘group boycott’ that violates U.S. antitrust law. It’s also a ‘carve-out’ of sorts that exists in men’s hockey and skiing, but no other sport,” Gentille writes.
Yet removing the rule would severely handicap other high-level junior leagues in North America, such as the USHL and other Canadian junior leagues, who routinely have their players go on to have successful Division I careers. They’d be at greater risk of losing their primary talent to the three CHL leagues. “Avoiding that, along with more generally making changes during what has been a profitable and positive run for college hockey, would seem to be the reason the rule is still on the books in 2024,” Gentille says.
Elsewhere from around the sport:
- The Panthers are looking for undrafted free-agent signing Mikulas Hovorka to take major strides in his development in his first season in North America, AHL head coach Geordie Kinnear told George Richards for NHL.com. “His size is obvious, but his passion to practice and to play is infectious,” Kinnear said. “The coaches just gravitated to him due to his willingness to be coached. He may have been going against teammates and peers, but you could see his physicality, which is how we want him to play. We think he will take a big step, but we also know it is a process.” Hovorka, 23, is a right-shot defenseman who checks in at 6’6″ and nearly 230 lbs. He spent last season in his native Czechia, recording 16 points and a +14 rating in 51 games with Extraliga club Motor Ceske Budejovice.
- Early into his post-playing career, Stars player development coordinator Ben Bishop is already making an impact. The two-time All-Star netminder has been working closely with Dallas 2023 fifth-rounder Arno Tiefensee, he tells NHL.com’s Taylor Baird, traveling to the player’s native Germany to work with him throughout last season. It’s panned out so far, as the 22-year-old took over as the starter for the DEL’s Adler Mannheim last year with a .907 SV% and 2.43 GAA in 32 games. Tiefensee must put pen to paper on an entry-level contract before June 1 of next year before the Stars lose his signing rights.
Jakub Vrana Joins Capitals On PTO
The Capitals are bringing in free-agent winger Jakub Vrana on a PTO for training camp, per a team announcement.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Vrana, who the Caps drafted 14th overall in 2014. The 6’0″, 195-lb winger once looked to be well on his way to becoming a top-six fixture in the nation’s capital, recording back-to-back seasons of 24 and 25 goals just before the COVID-19 pandemic. But Washington decided to part ways with him the following season, trading him to the Red Wings at the 2021 deadline as part of a package that fetched them Anthony Mantha.
Things started well for Vrana in Detroit. He finished 2020-21 on a tear, recording eight goals and three assists for 11 points in 11 games. An RFA that summer, he inked a three-year, $15.75MM deal that looked to be good value for a player who had established himself as a consistent 20-goal threat.
However, a shoulder injury sustained during training camp in the fall cost him most of 2021-22, a setback he’s never truly recovered from. Vrana played just 31 games for Detroit after the surgery amid a months-long stint in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and multiple minor-league assignments, culminating in a trade to the Blues at the 2023 deadline.
Once again, early returns were strong for Vrana after a change of scenery. He averaged 15:10 per game across 20 appearances for St. Louis to close the season, his highest usage since his post-deadline stint with Detroit two years earlier. He responded with 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games, finishing second on the team in goals during that span.
Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t carry over into last season. Vrana started the season back in a bottom-six role and had just two goals and six points in 19 games before the Blues placed him on waivers in mid-December. He cleared without incident and, aside from a brief call-up in January, spent the rest of the season on assignment to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
Vrana had good numbers on the farm, posting 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 42 games. His 0.86 points per game ranked second behind Adam Gaudette‘s 1.06. But after failing to land an everyday role in St. Louis, it wasn’t surprising to see them let him walk to unrestricted free agency this summer.
Now 28, Vrana faces an uphill climb to earn a spot on the NHL roster out of camp with the Capitals. He’ll be in competition with a pair of recent first-round picks in Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko, and he also may need to supersede UFA pickup Taylor Raddysh, who had 14 points in 73 games with the Blackhawks last season. There will be a spot for him if he can show enough flashes of his pre-surgery form, though, and he could end up being a bargain-bin pickup on a two-way deal.
In 284 games with Washington from 2016 to 2021, Vrana had 76 goals, 81 assists, 157 points, and a +36 rating in 284 regular-season games. He shot 13.1% and averaged 13:41 per game. He contributed three goals and five assists in 23 playoff games during the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup win but had no points in 15 combined playoff games in 2019 and 2020.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Logan Brown To Sign PTO With Lightning
Free-agent center Logan Brown is set to sign a PTO with the Lightning, Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest relays.
The 2016 first-round pick inked a two-way deal with Tampa Bay last summer but sustained a hip injury in training camp that required surgery and cost him the entire 2023-24 season. The 26-year-old was free to sign anywhere after the Lightning opted not to issue him a qualifying offer by the June 30 deadline, but with no interest from other teams for a guaranteed contract, he’ll stick with the Bolts on a tryout.
Brown, selected by the Senators with the No. 11 pick eight years ago, has only appeared in 99 NHL regular season games. He’s totaled seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points while averaging 10:32 per game.
The North Carolina native played parts of four seasons in Ottawa before a trade to St. Louis in 2021. He played a career-high 39 games upon arrival in 2021-22 and looked to be a more impactful contributor in 2022-23, but an upper-body injury limited him to 30 games. The Blues didn’t tender him a qualifying offer the following summer, making him a UFA for the first time.
Brown’s size and strength has always been his most effective asset, checking in at 6’6″ and 227 lbs. He’s produced strong offensive numbers at both the junior and AHL levels, averaging 0.85 points per game across 115 minor-league appearances since turning pro, but he hasn’t been able to convert it into success on the scoresheet at the NHL level.
If Brown can successfully shake off the rust in training camp, he’s a strong candidate to earn a two-way deal and look to have success in a depth role in Tampa Bay. He’ll join a group contending for bottom-six spots that includes Mitchell Chaffee, Jesse Ylonen, and 2022 No. 11 pick Conor Geekie, fresh off being acquired from the Utah Hockey Club.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 8/14/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson hosted his weekly live chat today at 2 p.m. Central. Use this link to view the transcript.
Stars Sign Magnus Hellberg To Two-Way Deal
Aug. 14: Hellberg’s deal carries an NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $450K with a $475K guarantee, PuckPedia reports.
Aug. 13: The Stars have signed UFA goaltender Magnus Hellberg to a two-way contract, per a team announcement.
Hellberg’s appealing size, at 6’6″ and 209 lbs, helped him get drafted by the Predators in the second round in 2011. The 33-year-old has since solidified himself as a journeyman, dressing for six NHL teams, five AHL teams, and six different pro teams in China, Russia and Sweden.
After his first stint in North America, split between the Predators and Rangers organizations from 2012 to 2017, Hellberg headed to the Kontinental Hockey League for a five-year span. Suiting up for Kunlun Red Star, SKA St. Petersburg and HK Sochi, he put up a 2.00 GAA, .927 SV%, 24 SOs, and an 81-64-14 record before returning to the NHL with the Red Wings at the end of the 2021-22 season, recording a win in his lone appearance.
The two-time KHL All-Star landed with the Kraken as a free agent a few months later, kicking off a tumultuous 2022-23 campaign. Seattle attempted to assign him to the AHL to begin the season, but he was claimed off waivers by the Senators. He played once for Ottawa, recording a .935 SV% in a win, before landing on waivers again in early November and being re-claimed by the Kraken. He dressed as a backup for Seattle on multiple occasions but never entered a game before he was placed on waivers for a third time around Thanksgiving, returning to where his NHL comeback started six months ago in Detroit.
Hellberg remained in Hockeytown as a backup/third-string option for the remainder of the season, only seeing AHL ice on a conditioning stint. He struggled behind a porous Red Wings defense in his longest look at the NHL level, posting a 4-8-1 record, .885 SV%, 3.29 GAA, and -8.2 GSAA in 13 starts and four relief appearances.
He then signed with the Penguins upon becoming a free agent again in 2023, and this time cleared waivers to begin the season. He did well as Pittsburgh’s third-string netminder, posting a .905 SV% in 19 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and a .922 SV% in three NHL games before the Panthers acquired him at the trade deadline to shore up their goaltending depth. Hellberg didn’t see any NHL looks with Florida and ended the season with their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, where he had a 2.34 GAA, .898 SV%, 1 SO, and a 5-2-0 record in eight appearances.
The big Swede now joins his seventh NHL franchise. He’ll likely hit the waiver wire again during the preseason, and if he clears, he’ll head to Dallas’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, to serve as their starter. He’ll sit third on the organizational depth chart behind starter Jake Oettinger and UFA signing Casey DeSmith, who’ll serve as his backup.
Financial terms of Hellberg’s two-way deal weren’t disclosed, but it likely carries a league-minimum NHL salary of $775K.
West Notes: Mercer, Rantanen, Oilers
The Wild have invited undrafted free agent goalie Riley Mercer to next month’s rookie camp, reports Mike Morreale of NHL.com. Mercer, the younger brother of Devils RFA forward Dawson Mercer, was passed over in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 drafts but came into his own in his final season of junior hockey last year with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs.
The 20-year-old Newfoundland native took over as the Voltigeurs’ starter for the first time in 2023-24, posting a 2.83 GAA and .905 SV% with two shutouts and a 31-13-4 record in 49 appearances. But he erupted in the playoffs, taking over with a shining 1.89 GAA and .934 SV% in 19 games as Drummondville won the QMJHL championship.
Mercer, who stands at 6’2″ and 205 lbs, hasn’t inked a professional contract for this season. He’s technically eligible to return to the Voltigeurs for an overage season, but CHL clubs are limited to three overagers on their roster at any given time and tend not to use those slots on goaltenders.
An entry-level contract with the Wild out of rookie camp is impossible but unlikely. However, a decent showing could earn him a deal with their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, or their ECHL affiliate, the Iowa Heartlanders. It would be a tough numbers game, though, as the organization has seven goalies under contract across the three leagues already (five NHL deals, one AHL deal, and one ECHL deal).
More out of the Western Conference today:
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman chimed into the summer discourse today with a quick-hit edition of his “32 Thoughts” podcast, mentioning, among other topics, that there’s a strong sense around the league that the Avalanche and Mikko Rantanen won’t have any issues coming to terms on an extension. “You start to do your planning a year out,” Friedman said. “They’re starting to take Draisaitl off their boards because they think that’s going to get done in Edmonton, and I had some teams tell me they don’t have any reason to believe, right now, that Rantanen is going to be a hard one to get done either. We’ll see where that goes” (hat tip to Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now). As things stand, Rantanen would be the consensus No. 2 player on the 2025 UFA market behind Draisaitl. The 27-year-old winger remained over the 100-point threshold in 2023-24, posting 42 goals and 62 assists in 80 games. An eight-year extension would feasibly eclipse the $11MM mark per year, a decent raise on his current $9.25MM AAV.
- The Oilers should match the Blues’ two-year, $4.58MM offer sheet for Dylan Holloway but let Philip Broberg walk for his two-year, $9.16MM offer, argues Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription required). Among other reasons, the likelihood of Holloway being worth his $2.29MM cap hit this season is much higher than Broberg providing fair value for his $4.58MM price tag, especially for a pair of former first-rounders at similar spots in their development.
Maple Leafs Notes: Tavares, Marner, Hakanpaa
John Tavares‘ concession of the captaincy today doesn’t mean he’ll be phased out of the Maple Leafs’ leadership group entirely, general manager Brad Treliving told reporters (via David Alter of The Hockey News). Tavares will serve as an alternate captain this season, exactly as he did during his first campaign with the club in 2018-19.
The rest of Toronto’s leadership group outside of Tavares and star goal-scorer Auston Matthews, who’s taken the reins as the franchise’s 26th captain, has yet to be determined, Treliving said. One of the Leafs’ two alternate slots last season was held by defenseman Morgan Rielly, the team’s longest-tenured player. The other was split between Matthews and Mitch Marner. While Reilly will likely reprise the alternate role that he’s held since 2016, it’s unclear whether they’ll make Marner a full-time alternate, name another player for him to split duties with, or strip him of the ‘A’ entirely as he enters the final season of his contract without an extension.
The last player outside the quartet mentioned above to wear a letter for the Leafs was defender Jake Muzzin, who was a part-time alternate during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
There’s more from the Maple Leafs:
- Speaking of Marner, the maligned winger had ex-teammate Zach Bogosian go to bat for him on a Tuesday episode of “The Cam & Strick Podcast.” Bogosian, who was a member of the Toronto squad that was upset by the Canadiens in the first round of the 2021 playoffs, called Marner “a good leader” and said that “he’s always trying to take care of everyone around the locker room.” Marner ended last season on an exceptionally disappointing note, limited to a goal and two assists in Toronto’s seven-game exit at the hands of the Bruins in the first round. “I’ve played with a lot of guys; he is as good of a person and a teammate as I’ve ever seen,” Bogosian continued. “A lot of people give him s**t about this and that and we haven’t done this, and it’s, like, well, he’s trying everything.“
- During his media availability today, Treliving had no update when asked about the contractual status of defenseman Jani Hakanpaa (via Alter). He reportedly inked the stay-at-home Finn to a two-year, $3MM contract on July 1, but the deal still hasn’t been officially registered with the league. He’s still recovering from a knee ailment that sidelined him for the last few weeks of the season and the entirety of the Stars’ run to the Western Conference Final. The Leafs are still “working through” making him an official member of the club, but Treliving had no comment beyond that.