SHL’s Växjö Lakers Sign Otto Koivula To Two-Year Deal
Finnish forward Otto Koivula is heading back to Scandinavia, inking a two-year deal with Växjö Lakers HC of the Swedish Hockey League last night, per a team release. The longtime Islanders farmhand was a Group VI UFA.
Koivula, 26 in September, didn’t see any NHL ice last season but did make 28 career appearances for the Isles across the 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. A 2016 fourth-round pick, Koivula carried a fair bit of intrigue with his 6’5″, 225-lb frame but never could eke out a full-time NHL role. He tallied four assists and a -1 rating during his time in the show, averaging 8:25 per game and struggling in the faceoff dot (42.8 FO%).
A power forward at heart, Koivula can play both center and wing and has spent most of his time under contract with New York on assignment to AHL Bridgeport. There, he’s been a valuable contributor to a club that’s struggled to have success, only making the playoffs twice in Koivula’s six-year tenure. He made 274 appearances for the Baby Isles, scoring 65 goals and adding 114 assists for 179 points. He tallied 194 PIMs, a -13 rating, and was often among their top scorers. His 30 points last season ranked fourth on the club despite being limited to 47 games.
Koivula last suited up in a European pro league while on loan to Liiga’s HIFK during the pandemic, racking up 11 points in 14 games there in 2020-21. His track record overseas is strong, winning the Liiga’s Rookie of the Year award back in 2016-17 with 10 goals and 30 points in 50 games for Ilves. He’ll be an impact piece for the Lakers, who have won four SHL championships in the past decade and have finished top-five in the league for four years in a row.
His role in Bridgeport will likely be replaced by Fredrik Karlström, who the Isles signed earlier this month after spending the last three years in the Stars organization. He tallied 21 goals and 44 points in 72 games for AHL Texas last season.
Free Agent Profile: James Van Riemsdyk
The free agent market has moved at breakneck speed this offseason. Only two of PHR’s Top 50 UFAs have yet to sign, and only one, winger Daniel Sprong, is expected to play next season. Even beyond the big names, many non-tendered RFAs and cheap veteran names are beginning to find homes, namely Ryan Suter, as he continues his career-long tour of the Central Division. That indicates the market for low-cost names with loads of experience is increasing as teams circle back to make the finishing touches to their rosters in the second wave of free agency.
Offensively, one of those names to watch is James van Riemsdyk, a seven-time 20-goal scorer with an 11.8% shooting percentage across 15 NHL seasons and 1,011 games. He missed our Top 50 cutoff by a few spots, but aside from Joe Pavelski, who hasn’t officially retired yet but is expected to do so, he’s got the most established offensive track record of anyone still available.
For the first 12 years of his career, van Riemsdyk was a bonafide top-six winger and efficient scorer, averaging 0.66 points per game while routinely averaging north of 16 minutes per game. But age caught up to him three years into a five-year, $35MM contract with the Flyers, seeing his production drop to 36 goals, 67 points and a -36 rating in 143 games during his 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns in Philadelphia – less than a half a point per game. That was tough for the Flyers to stomach at his $7MM cap hit, especially considering they’d drafted him second overall in 2007 but missed out on his prime, most of which was spent with the Maple Leafs after they shipped him to Toronto for Luke Schenn in the 2012 offseason in what turned out to be one of the more lopsided deals of the decade.
Following his quiet end to his tenure in Philly, JVR landed on a cheap one-year, $1MM deal with the Bruins when free agency opened last summer. For the first time in a few seasons, he produced well over his contract value, serving as a valuable depth scorer for a Bruins offense that entered the campaign with many question marks after the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí. His numbers were roughly in line with what he’d done with the Flyers the last few years, scoring 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games, but he did so more efficiently, averaging reduced minutes (13:30 ATOI) compared to his middle-six usage with Philadelphia.
He also managed 142 shots on goal, 23 more than he’d lobbed on the net in 2022-23. Those 11 goals were tied for a career low, but he also shot at a career-low 7.7%, suggesting there’s some rebound potential this year. After turning 35 in May, he’ll also be eligible to sign a contract with performance bonuses, allowing a team close to the salary cap’s $88MM upper limit to keep his initial cap hit low in case he doesn’t pan out.
In line with his solid box stats, van Riemsdyk’s possession quality metrics last season were some of the best of his career. Boston controlled a whopping 60.7% of expected goals with JVR on the ice at even strength. While he wasn’t particularly adept at controlling shot attempts outright, posting a 49.6 CF%, he wasn’t on for very many high-danger chances against, and his two-way play thrived in a Bruins system that actually allowed fewer total expected goals last year than in their record-breaking 135-point 2022-23 season.
With that in mind, JVR presents himself as an attractive candidate who could still likely crush 15 to 20 goals next season in a bottom-six scoring role. He’s likely to be a solid fallback option for interested parties in Sprong that don’t end up landing him.
Stats
2023-24: 71 GP, 11 G, 27 A, 38 P, +7, 20 PIMs, 13:30 ATOI, 49.6 CF%
Career: 1,011 GP, 311 G, 318 A, 629 P, -66, 394 PIMs, 16:11 ATOI, 50.2 CF%
Potential Suitors
van Riemsdyk hasn’t been firmly connected to any teams so far this summer. Given the suddenly shallow market for depth scoring, expect that to change as the weeks progress.
But in terms of speculative fits, it would be unwise to rule out a return to the Bruins. They have $8.64MM in projected cap space for next season remaining, per PuckPedia. Most of that will go toward a new deal for RFA netminder Jeremy Swayman. But as we’ve seen in recent days with Suter, JVR could be amenable to returning on a performance-bonus-laden deal with a league minimum $775K cap hit. It’s a type of contract that Boston general manager Don Sweeney is no stranger to signing as well, executing similar deals with Bergeron and Krejčí in the twilight of their careers to help keep their short-term financial situation as manageable as possible.
There’s still a need for another scoring-oriented winger in the Bruins’ bottom six, especially as an insurance policy in case 2021 first-rounder Fabian Lysell doesn’t crack the roster out of camp. They’ve replenished some offensive depth by signing Max Jones and acquiring Mark Kastelic from the Senators in last month’s Linus Ullmark trade, but both are checking forwards first and foremost with limited upside on the scoresheet.
JVR could also find a place to play in 2023-24 by returning to a former club in free agency for the second time in his career. A reunion with the Leafs, who haven’t made any notable additions at forward this summer, could make sense. Their left-wing depth took a hit when Tyler Bertuzzi departed for the Blackhawks in free agency last summer, and much like he would in Boston, van Riemsdyk could provide veteran insurance in case top prospects Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten, both of whom are expected to challenge for opening night roster spots, don’t make the team. It would be a difficult squeeze with just $955K in cap space remaining and new deals needed for depth RFA forwards Connor Dewar and Nicholas Robertson, although the latter has reportedly requested a trade.
Both would be decent playoff contenders for van Riemsdyk to join as he chases a Stanley Cup. Without a ring to his name, it’s likely he’ll be willing to sacrifice some cash on his next deal rather than take an above-market-value paycheck to offer veteran leadership to a rebuilder.
Projected Contract
As mentioned earlier, JVR’s deal will likely come across the finish line with a $775K cap hit since he’s now eligible for a 35+ contract. But there is a good amount of uncertainty about how much his performance bonuses could total. After last year’s solid showing, he’s likely in line for an overall pay bump over his previous $1MM salary, even if only a portion is guaranteed. Evolving Hockey pegged JVR to land a one-year, $1.5MM deal as a UFA this summer, a figure that still makes sense when including potential performance bonuses.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Bruins Re-Sign Michael Callahan, Alec Regula To Two-Way Deals
The Bruins announced today that they’ve re-signed defensemen Michael Callahan and Alec Regula to one-year, two-way contracts with $775K cap hits. Regula will earn $215K in the minors, PuckPedia reports. Both were RFAs after receiving qualifying offers last month.
Callahan, 24, has yet to make his NHL debut but solidified himself as a full-timer with AHL Providence in his second full professional season last year. He set career-highs across the board with three goals, 14 assists and 17 points in 70 appearances, posting a -14 rating while serving as an alternate captain.
He has good speed for his 6’2″, 201-lb frame and projected as a defensively sound two-way blue liner. However, it looks like he’ll be more of a stay-at-home type at the pro level, especially if he ever cracks the NHL. That’s far from a given and would be a solid return on the Bruins’ investment – they initially acquired Callahan’s signing rights from the Coyotes for a 2024 seventh-round pick (later traded to the Oilers, used to select D Bauer Berry) as he was wrapping up his collegiate career at Providence in 2022. He was initially a fifth-round pick of Arizona in 2018 out of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.
Meanwhile, Regula returns to Boston still in search of his first NHL games since being acquired from the Blackhawks in last summer’s Taylor Hall trade. The 6’4″ right-shot defenseman turns 24 in August and was dominant on assignment to Providence last season after clearing waivers, leading the AHL with a +36 rating despite only playing in 55 games. He added four goals and 22 assists for 26 points, displaying solid puck-moving ability and reiterating that he likely has a future as an everyday NHLer somewhere down the line.
After such a performance, the Regula clearing waivers next fall isn’t a given. The Sharks took a flier on a similarly cast defender with little to no NHL experience off the waiver wire in Ty Emberson last season, turning him into a full-time NHLer as one of their top matchup options. Their situations aren’t exactly congruent, though. Emberson, who had been playing in the Rangers organization, had no NHL experience at the time of his claim, while Regula has 22 appearances under his belt across parts of three seasons with Chicago, recording a goal and a -5 rating.
Nonetheless, both could return as reinforcements on a Providence blue line that’s looking rather crowded. Boston added some veteran help for their affiliate in the form of UFAs Jordan Oesterle and Billy Sweezey last week.
KHL’s Barys Astana Signs Wade Allison
Former Flyers right winger Wade Allison is headed overseas. Barys Astana, the lone Kazakhstan-based club in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, announced today they’ve signed Allison to a one-year deal.
Allison, 26, is coming off a difficult 2023-24 season spent entirely in the minors after landing a full-time job in Philadelphia the year prior. The 2016 second-round pick failed to crack the team out of camp last fall and was placed on waivers, subsequently clearing and heading back to AHL Lehigh Valley, where he spent significant portions of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
The 6’2″, 205-lb power forward had previously put up good offensive production in the minors, tallying 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points in 38 games across his first two professional seasons. That, plus his physical acumen and good skating ability, landed him a job on the Flyers’ roster entering 2022-23, where he managed nine goals, six assists, 15 points and a -3 rating in 60 appearances in his lone full NHL season. He shouldered bottom-six minutes, averaging 12:54 per game, and had a negligible possession impact, with his CF% and xGF% both falling in line roughly with team averages.
They were solid enough contributions for someone who projected as an energy player regardless, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the fold entering last year. The AHL demotion was evidently demoralizing for Allison, who lost his scoring touch and managed only 10 goals and 17 points in 46 games on the farm before being traded to the Predators for Denis Gurianov in a swap of reclamation projects at the trade deadline. Allison didn’t earn a call-up to Nashville after the trade and finished the season with three goals and two assists for five points in 14 games on assignment to their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee.
Since he’d played less than 80 NHL games throughout his career and accumulated enough years of professional service, Allison became eligible for UFA status this summer via a Group VI exemption. Both he and Gurianov failed to stick with their new clubs, and the latter is expected to join him in the KHL next season.
Allison, a Manitoba native, hits pause on his North American professional career with 13 goals, nine assists, 22 points, a -3 rating and 40 PIMs in 75 games across parts of three seasons in Philly. A strong performance with Astana, whose roster for next season boasts former NHLers Nathan Beaulieu and C.J. Smith along with Avalanche center prospect Andrei Buyalsky, could guide him back to the NHL next summer.
Alex Meruelo Officially Dissolves Remaining Coyotes Assets
7/10: Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Meruelo has signed all necessary paperwork to relinquish his assets to the Arizona Coyotes. As of today, the National Hockey League owns all branding and intellectual property of the Coyotes’ franchise and can sell it to a prospective buyer.
6/25: Alex Meruelo, the owner of the inactive Coyotes franchise, informed staff yesterday that he’s walking away from the club, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports. The news comes less than a week after the Arizona State Land Department canceled an auction for a parcel of land Meruelo intended to use for a new arena for the franchise, which was officially deactivated this month after its hockey operations were sold to the Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group.
Meruelo told Coyotes staff yesterday that the franchise has “no plans to pursue further arena options” after the canceled auction, per Morgan. The City of Phoenix attested that Meruelo’s group did not attain the zoning permits necessary to acquire the land in time for the auction.
The news brings a swift end to the initial plan NHL commissioner Gary Bettman laid out in April when he announced the initiation of the transfer of the Coyotes’ hockey ops to SEG, which would then establish a new franchise – the Utah Hockey Club. Meruelo received a reported $1B for Arizona’s players, reserve list, draft picks and front office staff, which he would then pay back to the league as an expansion fee if he was able to construct a new arena within five years. That plan hinged on a contingency of Meruelo having an arena at least halfway built by the end of 2027, which is now impossible without the already last-ditch effort for the parcel of land in question in North Phoenix.
Meruelo retained the branding rights to the Coyotes and ownership of the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners as part of the sale. It’s unclear if he’s able to transfer the Yotes name and logo to a new owner, who could then try again to establish an expansion franchise in the Phoenix area. As for the Roadrunners, which will remain the minor-league affiliate of the Utah Hockey Club next season, they’ll play all of their home games in Tucson next season. A plan announced last month would have seen the Roadrunners play six regular-season home games out of the 4,600-capacity Mullett Arena on Arizona State University’s campus in Tempe, where the Coyotes played for the past two seasons. However, in line with the cancellation of the auction, that’s no longer the case.
Notably, Morgan reports there are “at least two groups with interest in bringing an expansion team back to Arizona.” However, without a dedicated arena, the timeline for expansion back to the state is likely extended past the five-year window of exclusivity initially afforded to Meruelo.
Meruelo intends to resolve the remaining assets that comprise the Coyotes, Sportico’s Barry M. Bloom reports. That process will involve returning the Coyotes name and logo to the NHL, which will theoretically allow them to sell the branding rights to the next ownership group to apply for expansion in the Phoenix area. He is retaining ownership of AHL Tucson but intends to relocate them to Reno, Nevada, after completion of a new 10,600-capacity venue there, likely ahead of the 2026-27 season.
PHR Live Chat: 7/10/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson will host his weekly live chat today at 2:00 pm Central. You can join the chat using this link.
Capitals Loan Ludwig Persson To Liiga’s Jukurit
For the second season in a row, the Capitals have loaned 2022 third-round pick Ludwig Persson to Finland. The 20-year-old forward will suit up for Jukurit in the top-level Liiga this year, the team announced today.
Persson, 20, has yet to play a game in the Washington organization despite signing his entry-level contract nearly two years ago. The Gothenburg, Sweden native has taken a tour of European leagues instead. The Caps first loaned him to BIK Karlskoga of the Swedish second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, where he was a decent depth contributor in his first full year of professional hockey with 15 points in 45 games.
things changed for the better last year after the Capitals loaned Persson to IPK, which plays in Mestis, Finland’s second-tier pro league. Persson quickly became a star for the Iisalmi-based club, leading them in scoring with 55 points (10 goals, 45 assists) in 48 games. He added 19 points in 19 playoff games as IPK took home its first Mestis championship since being promoted from the third-tier Suomi-sarja in 2016.
Clearly ready for increased competition, Washington will have Persson try his luck in a top-level Euro league for the first time since a lone appearance with Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League in 2022-23. He’ll join a Jukurit team that boasted a 30-20-3-7 record last season, its second-best since being promoted from Mestis in 2016.
It could be Persson’s last season in Europe before arriving in North America with AHL Hershey. While Persson’s entry-level contract had slid the past two seasons since he failed to play in at least 10 NHL games in each campaign, he’s no longer eligible for a slide. His deal will go into effect beginning with 2024-25 and will cost $814,999 against the cap if in the NHL through 2026-27, reduced from its initial $878.3K since he’s had $190K worth of signing bonuses paid out during the slide years.
Sharks Sign First-Rounder Sam Dickinson
1:11 p.m.: Dickinson’s ELC carries the maximum $975K cap hit, PuckPedia reports. He’ll earn a base salary of $877.5K after the deal takes effect but will earn a $97.5K signing bonus for the next three seasons, starting with 2024-25. When the contract takes effect, he’ll be eligible for up to $550K in Schedule ‘A’ performance bonuses in Year 1, up to $800K in Year 2 and up to $1MM in Year 3.
12:19 p.m.: The Sharks have signed defenseman Sam Dickinson, their second of two first-round picks in last month’s draft, per a team announcement. They didn’t disclose the financial terms of his three-year, entry-level contract, which could begin as late as the 2026-27 season if he plays fewer than 10 NHL games in each of the next two campaigns.
Dickinson, 18, is a left-shot blue liner who plays a rather well-rounded game. With the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League last season, the 6’3″ defender racked up 18 goals and 52 assists for 70 points and a sparkling +56 rating in 68 games. He added 13 points in 18 playoff games as the Knights took home the 2024 OHL championship, won a gold medal prior to the season with Canada’s U18 team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and was named to the OHL’s Second All-Star Team for his efforts.
He’s not as physically involved as you’d hope for from a defenseman checking in at over 200 lbs in his draft year, likely a reason why he fell out of the top 10. Dickinson was the consensus No. 6 prospect in TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s final polling of NHL scouts and wasn’t ranked any later than 10 by any of the major public scouting websites, but he ended up slipping to San Jose at 11 to complement first-overall selection Macklin Celebrini. He has solid two-way instincts, though, and is a great skater for his size, even if he doesn’t lay the body or block shots with aplomb.
Dickinson isn’t likely to play in the NHL full-time next season or even receive a nine-game trial, although the latter doesn’t seem impossible. He could, however, challenge for minutes as soon as 2025-26. A full-time assignment to the AHL won’t be in the cards for him for at least two more years, though, as he’ll need to be loaned back to his junior team if not in the NHL before his age-20 season, per the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.
He’s now the top defense prospect in the Sharks’ system, checking in above the 22-year-old Shakir Mukhamadullin and 23-year-old Henry Thrun, the latter of whom averaged 20 minutes per night in 51 games of NHL action last season and should be a full-time fixture beginning this fall. Second-pairing duties are likely the most realistic expectation for Dickinson’s long-term potential, although he does have top-pairing upside.
Free Agent Profile: Daniel Sprong
How some NHL players are deployed is a topic of much debate and, sometimes, confusion. Coaches will often ice certain veterans for more minutes than they’re suited for at that stage in their career, while others will keep flawed but skilled players buried in the lineup despite producing numbers that can’t be ignored. Daniel Sprong fits squarely in the latter category.
Sprong has been a strong volume scorer dating back to his junior days, but NHL coaches have kept him buried in their lineups, routinely averaging fourth-line minutes and occasional second power-play duties. A second-round pick of the Penguins in 2015, Sprong unexpectedly found his way into NHL action at age 18 the following season, scoring twice in an 18-game stint. He returned to junior hockey the following season, and despite recording a point per game in his first full professional season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2017-18, he didn’t have much of a future in the Pens organization. He made Pittsburgh out of camp in 2018-19 but averaged a measly 8:34 per game through 16 contests, producing four assists, before he was traded to the Ducks in exchange for developing defenseman Marcus Pettersson.
In Anaheim, Sprong showed flashes, recording 14 goals and 19 points in 47 games after the swap. But he played only eight games the following year, spending most of it in the AHL, before being traded again to the Capitals. And after another unstable year and a half in D.C., it took yet another trade to the Kraken for the Dutchman to truly find his stride.
Sprong was one of many breakout forwards on Seattle in their 2022-23 campaign, managing to score 21 goals and 46 points with a +13 rating in only 66 appearances. That was good enough for a 26-goal, 57-point pace had he played in all 82 games – ridiculous numbers considering he’d again averaged just 11:25 per game. It yielded some pretty incredible numbers. At even strength, his 3.09 points per 60 minutes were third in the league, only behind Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and then-Sabre Jeff Skinner.
But that was in a contract year, and he could have landed a semi-rich short-term deal had he taken Seattle to salary arbitration that summer as he was eligible to do. With money needed elsewhere in the lineup, the Kraken opted to walk away, relinquishing his signing rights by not issuing him a qualifying offer. He landed on the open market, signing a one-year, $2MM pact with the Red Wings.
Sprong was still effective as a depth scorer in Hockeytown, but his production took a small step back to 18 goals and 43 points in 76 games. Part of that was due to some puzzling deployment from head coach Derek Lalonde, who deployed him in far more defensive situations at even strength than he’d dealt with in Seattle. That caused his possession numbers to tank, too, seeing his even-strength shot attempt share dive by nearly nine percent from the year before and his expected goals share dive to a career-worst 45%, per Hockey Reference.
Now, aside from the de facto retired Joe Pavelski, Sprong remains the top offensive talent remaining in the second week of free agency. In fact, he and Pavelski are the only two names left unsigned from our Top 50 UFAs list released less than two weeks ago.
Stats
2023-24: 76 GP, 18 G, 25 A, 43 P, -5, 22 PIMs, 12:00 ATOI, 46.4 CF%
Career: 344 GP, 85 G, 74 A, 159 P, -2, 66 PIMs, 11:57 ATOI, 50.3 CF%
Potential Suitors
The Sharks have been active in adding veteran talent this summer to support a forward core led by rookies Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith beginning next season. Most of it has come via bottom-six checking depth, though, with Ty Dellandrea and Barclay Goodrow the notable additions there. Tyler Toffoli was also picked up for some more serious scoring reinforcements, but there is still likely a vacancy for a top-nine forward – especially if captain Logan Couture isn’t healthy to start the season.
Still in California, the Kings could also use a depth winger to replace Arthur Kaliyev, who remains under team control after being qualified last month but isn’t likely to sign a new deal in LA. Sprong has plenty more experience and consistency on his résumé in the bottom-six role that Kaliyev’s filled and carries more upside for a marginal increase in cash.
The Bruins still have some cap space to burn as well and need a more offensively-inclined name to take responsibility away from checking wingers like Justin Brazeau, Trent Frederic and new addition Max Jones. He’d have a decent shot at playing top-nine minutes in Boston at even strength, too, giving him an attractive destination to land more minutes and increase his market value.
Projected Contract
Most players who make it past the initial wave of UFA craziness usually have to settle for one-year deals. Evolving Hockey had predicted a three-year deal in the $3.3MM AAV range to begin with, but it’s unlikely he’ll receive that kind of term with the dust settled on pretty much everyone’s long-term planning. He could still very well land something around that cap hit, but likely on a one-year deal as he had in Detroit last year.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Blue Jackets Sign Jake Christiansen To Two-Way Deal
The Blue Jackets have signed RFA defenseman Jake Christiansen to a one-year, two-way deal, a team announcement states. It’s worth $775K NHL/$350K AHL with a $400K guarantee, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Christiansen was among the 14 players who filed for salary arbitration last week.
Christiansen, 25 in September, has 44 games of NHL experience to this point in his career. Those have all come in Columbus over the past three seasons. He’s scored once and added six assists for seven points with a -11 rating while averaging 13:41 per game, struggling to keep up defensively in the process.
He’s been much better in the minors, where he’s totaled 140 points (40 goals, 100 assists) in 202 games with a -6 rating in four seasons with AHL Cleveland (and briefly Stockton). That includes a 2023-24 season that saw him rack up 13 goals and 46 points in 62 games, earning him a nod on the AHL’s year-end Second All-Star Team after representing the North Division in this year’s All-Star Game. The left-shot Vancouver native has always had an appealing shot from the blue line, leading the entire AHL in goals by defensemen with 13 in 2021-22 and doing the same in juniors with WHL Everett in 2019-20.
There are a couple of spots on the Blue Jackets’ blue lineup for grabs after the team non-tendered Jake Bean and bought out Adam Boqvist. Only five defensemen are signed to one-way deals for next season, including league-minimum veteran pickup Jack Johnson. Christiansen will be in a competition with 2022 sixth-overall pick David Jiříček and 2022 12th-overall pick Denton Mateychuk for roster spots out of camp.