William Bitten Signs With Spartak Moscow
Free agent forward William Bitten has signed a one-year contract with Spartak Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, the team announced in a press release. He played last season with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds in the back half of a two-year, two-way deal with the Blues before becoming a Group VI UFA in July.
The 26-year-old only got one NHL opportunity before heading overseas – a four-game call-up with St. Louis in 2022-23. The Ottawa native logged one assist and 10 hits with a +1 rating, but failed to record a shot attempt while averaging 6:39 per game.
A third-round pick of the Canadiens in 2016, Bitten never suited up for Montreal or their AHL affiliate in Laval. He did sign his entry-level contract with them shortly before his draft rights were set to expire in 2018 after completing a four-year stint in the Ontario Hockey League, but he was traded to the Wild for Gustav Olofsson before the 2018-19 campaign began. In the Minnesota system, Bitten struggled to build on his strong offensive production in juniors, limited to 77 points in 168 games with AHL Iowa before he was traded again to the Blues in 2021.
His offensive acumen seemed to improve somewhat after the move to the Blues’ affiliate in Springfield, posting 103 points in 178 games over the past three seasons. But the speedy 5’11” forward was still never able to put himself in consideration for full-time NHL duties and has already passed through waivers unclaimed multiple times. The 2018 OHL champion now heads to Moscow, where he joins a Spartak offense headlined by former Canucks and Sharks winger Nikolay Goldobin, 2012 Stanley Cup champion Andrei Loktionov and Golden Knights prospect Ivan Morozov.
Carter Yakemchuk Signs Entry-Level Deal With Senators
The Senators have signed top 2024 draft choice Carter Yakemchuk to his three-year entry-level contract, the team announced today. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Yakemchuk, 18, was the second defenseman taken in the class, going to Ottawa at No. 7 after the Blackhawks selected Artyom Levshunov second overall. Given his early birthday (Sep. 29), Yakemchuk has already accumulated three seasons of junior hockey with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. Last season, he was named to the WHL’s Central Division First All-Star Team and led all defensemen in goals with 30. He added 41 assists for 71 points in 66 games, adding a whopping 120 PIMs and a -6 rating.
Seventh overall was a tad earlier than most expected the 6’3″, 203-lb right-shot defender to go. He checked in at No. 13 in TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s season-end polling of NHL scouts and was the sixth defenseman in his composite rankings. He went ahead of Zeev Buium (Wild, No. 12), Sam Dickinson (Sharks, No. 11), Zayne Parekh (Flames, No. 9), and Anton Silayev (Devils, No. 10), all of whom were consensus top-10 picks heading into draft day.
Yakemchuk will be a name to watch in training camp, but it’s likely that the Sens return him to the Hitmen for his final season of junior hockey. Doing so would slide the beginning of his ELC to 2025-26. Since he’s a 2005-born player, Yakemchuk will be eligible for a full-time AHL assignment the season after, whereas most Canadian Hockey League players have to return to their junior team for two seasons following their draft-eligible campaign. Regardless, he’ll be an RFA upon expiry.
West Notes: Desharnais, Rossi, Rehkopf
The Canucks may slot in UFA signing Vincent Desharnais on their top defense pairing alongside Quinn Hughes in spot duty next season, opines Thomas Drance of The Athletic.
Doing so would allow Filip Hronek, who spent all of last season stapled to Hughes and is fresh off signing an eight-year, $58MM deal, to drive his own pairing against easier competition. That’s something head coach Rick Tocchet said he’d consider doing, telling Drance that Hronek can “tend to defer too much” at times when playing with Hughes and that he’d “like to see him be more forceful with his decisions.”
It would be a big jump for Desharnais, though. The 28-year-old only established himself as a full-time NHLer last year with the Oilers. He was a bottom-pairing presence for Edmonton, averaging 15:44 per game through 78 contests. He did post 11 points and a +3 rating with average possession metrics, but playing alongside Hughes with any consistency would be a tough task for a player who’s seen most of his professional career unfold in the AHL to date. Desharnais inked a two-year, $4MM contract with Vancouver when free agency opened on July 1.
There’s more out of the Western Conference:
- Austria will be without perhaps its best player in this summer’s qualifying tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Wild forward Marco Rossi is skipping the event to begin training in Minnesota later this month, notes Michael Russo of The Athletic. Rossi, 22, is coming off a career-high 21 goals and 40 points last season while playing in all 82 games and could open the season as the Wild’s first-line center alongside Kirill Kaprizov. The 2020 ninth-overall pick had one assist in three games during the 2022 qualifiers with Austria failing to earn one of the three available spots. This year, they’ll be competing for one of the open spots in a round-robin tournament with Hungary, Kazakhstan and Slovakia.
- Kraken prospect Carson Rehkopf has been traded in the Ontario Hockey League, heading from the Kitchener Rangers to the Brampton Steelheads, sources tell Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. Rehkopf, 19, has spent the last three seasons in Kitchener, where the 6’2″ forward led the team in scoring last season with 95 points (52 goals, 43 assists) in 60 games. The 2023 second-round pick will be returned to Brampton out of training camp this fall, but a strong post-draft season puts him in line to compete for a roster spot in Seattle in next year’s training camp.
Submit Your Questions For A Salary Cap/Transactions FAQ
Aug. 6: We’re taking more questions! The first installment of these FAQs was published Monday, which you can read here.
Have any burning questions about the NHL’s CBA, salary cap, or any sort of transaction? Ask away.
Our friends over at Hoops Rumors have a spectacular “Glossary” series that dives into all the nitty-gritty terms, rules and regulations surrounding CBA provisions that govern the NBA’s transactions and salary cap. We at PHR would like to do the same for hockey, offering explanations and clearing up confusion on some perhaps oft-misunderstood or complex/mysterious topics.
If you have queries about anything that falls under that umbrella, whether it be roster limits, contract clauses or LTIR, toss them in the comment section or contact us directly. PHR’s Josh Erickson will go through and answer as many as possible in a series of mailbag-style pieces, which will be accessible at any time on the right sidebar under “Pro Hockey Rumors Features.”
Snapshots: Draisaitl, Zegras, Lee, Preseason Schedule
Leon Draisaitl‘s recent eligibility to sign a contract extension will be one of the bigger storylines late in the offseason, but it doesn’t appear there’s much of anything new to report since Stan Bowman took over the reins as general manager a couple of weeks ago, the executive said to NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest.
“I had a good conversation (with Draisaitl’s agent Mike Liut) and we’re starting things off and the timing on that will be what it will be,” Bowman said. “I don’t have an update of where it’s going to be or the timing on that, but there is nothing negative to report, certainly.”
The initial contact between Bowman and Draisaitl’s camp reignites extension talks that began back in June with acting GM Jeff Jackson. Draisaitl’s European-based agent, Jiri Poner, told a German news outlet early last month that the ball was in Edmonton’s court to make a competitive offer. Things seem on a slow but positive track for the German superstar, who’s coming off a 41-goal, 106-point campaign in 2023-24.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Ducks forward Trevor Zegras has continued to draw trade interest from around the league this summer, and some speculated a return to his New York home could be in the cards. That doesn’t appear to be the case, though, as Arthur Staple of The Athletic said in a recent mailbag that he doesn’t “think the Rangers have ever been interested in Zegras, much as the local kid would love to be a Ranger.”
- There have been questions about Islanders captain Anders Lee‘s future with the club after a trying campaign that saw him limited to 20 goals and 37 points in 81 games, his lowest offensive output in a healthy season since 2015-16. But it appears the 34-year-old is here to stay for the final two years of his contract at a $7MM cap hit, GM Lou Lamoriello told Staple. “You’re talking about a consummate pro: high integrity, high character, team first,” Lamoriello said. “I’d say he was one of our better players in the playoffs. That should answer any questions you might have — how he responded to whatever role he was asked to play.”
- We’re just 46 days away from NHL hockey returning to laptops, radios and TVs. The league announced its complete composite preseason schedule today, which will kick off on Sep. 21 with a trio of games involving the Penguins and Sabres, the Blues and Stars, and the Wild and Jets. The Utah Hockey Club will take the ice for the first time in preseason action the following day, hosting the Blues for a neutral site game in Des Moines, Iowa. The preseason will run for two weeks, drawing to a close on Oct. 5.
International Notes: Schneider, Richards, Melnick
An AHL fixture is heading a bit off the beaten path this season. After 13 minor-league seasons and six NHL games, forward Cole Schneider has signed a two-year deal with Norway’s Storhamar, the team announced yesterday.
Schneider, 33, is coming off a tough campaign. The Williamsville, New York native signed on with the independent Chicago Wolves last season and was expected to be one of their top scorers, but he faltered with only 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 56 games. In the two seasons prior, Schneider had served as the captain of the Predators’ affiliate in Milwaukee and put up seasons of 60 and 51 points.
Since making his AHL debut all the way back in 2012, Schneider has totaled 247 goals, 327 assists and 574 points in 776 career games. That puts him inside the top 50 in league history in both goals and appearances. But his NHL call-ups were few and far between, only appearing in a half-dozen contests with the Sabres across the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, recording one assist and a +2 rating.
Schneider heads to a Storhamar team that went 33-3-9 last season and won the Norwegian Eliteserien championship, putting them in the continent-wide Champions Hockey League for 2024-25. He’s a major reinforcement for Storhamar’s first appearance in the continental cup since 2018-19. He joins former Avalanche, Blackhawks and Canadiens winger Andreas Martinsen as Storhamar’s only players with NHL experience under their belt.
More recent international signings:
- Free agent center Justin Richards is heading overseas for the first time, signing a one-year deal with Germany’s Dusseldorfer EG. The 26-year-old Orlando native spent all of last season in the minors while on a two-way deal with the Sabres and became a Group VI UFA at the end of the year. The son of former Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards took a step back with AHL Rochester after a career-best campaign with Cleveland the year prior, only contributing 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 58 games with a -13 rating. Richards has two assists in three career NHL games with the Blue Jackets and Rangers across the 2020-21 and 2022-23 campaigns.
- After six years of solid play in the AHL, center Josh Melnick signed a one-year deal with Karpat of the Finnish Liiga today, per a team release. Melnick, 29, had spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Wolves and four years before that in the Stars’ system with Texas. He was signed to an NHL contract by Dallas coming out of Miami Ohio in 2019 but never got a call-up. The 5’10”, 181-lb pivot has 129 points in 300 career AHL games.
Capitals Loan Leon Muggli To EV Zug
The Capitals have officially loaned 2024 second-round pick Leon Muggli back to Switzerland’s EV Zug for 2024-25, the team announced today. The National League club said last month that they were in discussions to take the 18-year-old defenseman back on loan for this season after he signed his entry-level contract with Washington.
It will be Muggli’s second season with the big club after spending his entire development process in the Zug system, suiting up for their U-15, U-17 and U-20 teams since 2019. Last year, his first professional season, he became a depth fixture on the Zug blue line with 12 points (3 G, 9 A) and a +13 rating in 42 games.
The smooth-skating two-way defender was Washington’s third choice of the 2024 draft class, following winger Terik Parascak at No. 17 and diminutive defenseman Cole Hutson at No. 43. Muggli came off the board at No. 52, a pick the Caps acquired from the Golden Knights in last season’s Anthony Mantha trade.
With the loan, Muggli’s entry-level contract will slide to next season as expected since he won’t see any NHL action. If he plays fewer than 10 NHL games in 2025-26, the deal could slide again to the 2026-27 campaign, meaning he won’t be an RFA for the first time until 2028-29. That likely scenario will result in his cap hit reducing from its initial $940.8K to $875.8K due to signing bonuses being paid out in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 campaigns (contract details via PuckPedia).
Muggli returns to a Zug squad that won back-to-back NL titles in 2021 and 2022 but has been eliminated in the semifinals in two straight years. Their roster is dotted with a few former NHLers, including Gabriel Carlsson, Gregory Hofmann, and Fredrik Olofsson.
PHR Chatter: The Blue Jackets’ Offseason
The Blue Jackets were one of the most active teams last summer, acquiring Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson to bolster their blue line and drafting Adam Fantilli third overall after a nightmarish 2022-23 season. They also tabbed Mike Babcock to be their next head coach, kicking off months of off-ice instability that contributed to Columbus staying well below the playoff demarcation line with a 66-point campaign in 2023-24.
Before they could improve on the ice, the Blue Jackets had to name the pillars that will lead the team out of its rebuild. They’ve done so now, naming Don Waddell to take over as general manager after Jarmo Kekalainen was canned in February and bringing in Dean Evason to succeed Pascal Vincent as head coach, the latter of whom struggled in the post after unexpectedly taking over for Babcock before the season began.
But unlike last summer, the Jackets were mostly silent on both the trade and UFA markets aside from one name. That’s Sean Monahan, who they signed to a five-year, $27.5MM deal with one goal in mind – reignite Johnny Gaudreau. The two were an elite duo together during their days with the Flames, and in their younger years, helped each other to career-best seasons at the time in 2018-19.
Gaudreau has struggled in Columbus since signing a seven-year, $68.25MM contract in free agency in 2022, producing below expectations with 33 goals and 101 assists for 134 points in 161 games. He was over a point per game in his career before signing with the Jackets. Monahan, meanwhile, is on the upswing after seemingly beating the injury bug. His 26 goals and 59 points split between the Canadiens and Jets last season were his most since his career-high 34 goals and 82 points centering Gaudreau in Calgary five years ago.
Of course, there’s still one major box Waddell still needs to check off. A Patrik Laine trade is more inevitable than ever after the winger exited the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program late last month. But Waddell told Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch last week that talks are moving at a snail’s pace, no doubt influenced by Laine’s rich $8.7MM cap hit through the next two seasons. The sniper was a point-per-game player in Columbus as recently as three years ago, but injuries and his stay in the assistance program limited him to just 18 appearances last season.
To round out their roster, Columbus also brought in an old friend in veteran defenseman Jack Johnson to help stabilize their bottom pair. He played in parts of seven seasons with the Jackets, where he was a top-pairing fixture from 2012 to 2018. His 16 points and +15 rating with the Avalanche last season were both his best single-season totals since departing Columbus.
They’ll also likely get the first taste of Denton Mateychuk in the NHL. The 2022 12th-overall pick will be turning pro in the fall after a banner 2023-24 campaign that saw him win a Western Hockey League championship with the Moose Jaw Warriors, leading the playoffs with 19 assists in 20 games en route to being named the postseason MVP. His 75 points (17 G, 58 A) in 52 regular-season games with a +35 rating also earned him the Bill Hunter Trophy for the league’s top defenseman.
But aside from Evason and Monahan, the Jackets look nearly identical to how they finished last season, at least in terms of pieces projected to have a significant impact. Nine of their 10 leading scorers from last season are still rostered, save for Alexandre Texier. He was traded to the Blues in June.
No one is expecting the Blue Jackets to be playoff contenders this year, but it will be an important culture-setting season for the team as they attempt to return to relevancy. Part of that will be a significant bump in the standings, but even a 15-20 point increase from last year wouldn’t bring them within spitting distance of a wild card spot. Still, it would be an important step forward for the Blue Jackets’ young core as they begin to graduate from prospects to full-fledged NHLers.
Tell us what you think. Have the Jackets done enough to at least take a significant step forward in 2024-25? Did they make the right hires to address their coaching and GM vacancies? Head to the comments and share your thoughts on the summer in Columbus.
Pacific Notes: Chernyshov, Pettersson, Holtz, Barr
Sharks 2024 second-round pick Igor Chernyshov has officially found a place to play this season. As he said was likely the case last week, he’s inked a scholarship and development agreement with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, per the club.
The 33rd overall pick in June was originally supposed to remain in his native Russia next season. He had one year left on his contract with Dynamo Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League, but he bought himself out of the deal last week and subsequently signed his entry-level contract with the Sharks.
Chernyshov, 18, will attend training camp for a brief period in San Jose before being returned to Saginaw, likely for the entire 2024-25 campaign. Doing so will slide the beginning of his entry-level contract to 2025-26.
The 6’3″, 203-lb winger had three goals and one assist for four points in 34 KHL games last season. He was much more productive in the junior ranks, posting 28 points (13 G, 15 A) in 22 games with MHK Dynamo Moscow.
More out of the Pacific Division:
- When Chernyshov’s move to Saginaw was announced this morning, there was a brief thought that Ducks 2024 second-rounder Lucas Pettersson might join him in Michigan. That won’t be the case, however. Sources told Max Miller of The Hockey News and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic that he’ll remain in his native Sweden after being selected by the Spirit in the CHL Import Draft. Pettersson, 18, was selected two picks after Chernyshov in June. He’ll likely get some action in the pros with MoDo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League, but could still spend a solid chunk of 2024-25 with their junior team. The 5’11” center was one of the Swedish junior circuit’s leading scorers last season, posting 57 points (27 goals, 30 assists) in 44 games for MoDo’s U-20 club.
- The Golden Knights bought low on 2020 seventh-overall pick Alexander Holtz this summer, only parting ways with depth forward Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-rounder to acquire him and Akira Schmid from the Devils. Speaking to reporters, Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Holtz was “a player we had tremendous regard for as an amateur. We’re taking a swing at his upside and what a change can do sometimes for young players” (via James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now). McCrimmon thinks Holtz has “untapped potential that we feel we can unlock here to some degree with the opportunity,” he added. With Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson among the key departures from Vegas’ forward group this summer, Holtz will be relied upon as a top-nine scoring option for the Knights in 2024-25 with the potential to challenge for top-six minutes. The 22-year-old had 28 points in 82 games in New Jersey last year.
- The Ducks have added to their minor-league coaching staff, hiring Dave Barr as an assistant for the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, per a team release. Barr, 63, spent last season as an assistant with the Chicago Wolves during their one year of operating independently of an NHL affiliation. He has 12 years of experience as an assistant at the game’s highest level, spending time on benches for the Avalanche, Wild, Devils, Sabres, Panthers and Sharks from 2008 to 2020. Before joining the Wolves last season, he spent two years as the head coach of the Vienna Capitals in Austria’s ICEHL.
International Notes: Konovalov, Zizka, Kampfer
Oilers goaltending prospect Ilya Konovalov is on the move in his native Russia. His Kontinental Hockey League player rights were traded from Dynamo Moscow to Admiral Vladivostok today, per a team release.
Konovalov, 26, is coming off a pair of spectacular seasons in the Russian capital. The 2019 third-round pick posted a .921 SV%, 2.05 GAA, three shutouts and 21-12-3 record in 42 games last season.
Konovalov spent the 2021-22 campaign in North America after signing his entry-level contract with the Oilers, but struggled amid high expectations. He only got into 17 games with AHL Bakersfield with an .893 SV%, 2.73 GAA and 5-7-5 record. He didn’t see any NHL ice, and was returned on loan to Dynamo for 2022-23.
The Oilers issued Konovalov a qualifying offer when his ELC expired, but he opted to remain with Dynamo in 2023-24. They still hold his NHL signing rights through July 13 of next year, meaning they could bring him back next offseason without competition. He doesn’t yet have a contract for 2024-25 with Vladivostok, but if he ends up signing a one-year deal, that’ll be something to watch.
In 196 career KHL games, the 2019 KHL Rookie of the Year has a 2.11 GAA, .922 SV%, 20 shutouts, and a 96-66-18 record.
Other updates from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean:
- One of the longest-tenured players in the professional ranks worldwide has called it a career. Former Kings defenseman Tomas Zizka, who last played in the NHL before the 2004-05 lockout, officially announced his retirement today, per Hokej.cz. Zizka, 44, was a sixth-round pick of the Kings in 1998 and played 25 games with them in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a -8 rating. He spent the balance of his career in his native Czechia aside from a brief stint in Russia in 2004-05, playing in parts of 22 Czech Extraliga seasons with Brno, Prague and Zlin. He’d spent the last two seasons in the third-tier 2. liga with Hokej Vyskov, where he was named to this year’s All-Star Game while posting 25 points in 44 games.
- The KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk officially announced the signing of free agent defenseman Steven Kampfer today. The club said last month that they’d reached an agreement to bring Kampfer to Russia, but it wasn’t set in stone until now. The 35-year-old is a veteran of 231 NHL games but hasn’t suited up at the game’s highest level since 2020-21. He spent all of last season in the minors, where he captained the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners while under contract with the Coyotes. It’ll be his second KHL season after suiting up for Ak Bars Kazan in 2021-22, when he was one of the league’s best defensemen with 30 points and a +7 rating in 46 games.