Utah Signs Jaxson Stauber To Two-Way Deal
The Utah Hockey Club has signed goaltender Jaxson Stauber to a two-way contract, per a team announcement. He’ll participate in Utah’s first-ever training camp after being non-tendered by the Blackhawks last week.
Stauber’s NHL résumé consists of six games with Chicago in the 2022-23 season. He spent all of last year on assignment to AHL Rockford, where he had a .902 SV%, 2.85 GAA, two shutouts and an 18-8-3 record in 31 games.
An undrafted free agent signing by the Hawks out of Providence College in 2022, the 25-year-old Stauber has been largely solid since turning pro but didn’t have much of a future in Chicago with the younger, higher-ceiling trio of Drew Commesso, Adam Gajan and Arvid Söderblom also in the mix. He fared well in his limited NHL stint with the Hawks, posting a 5-1-0 record with a .911 SV% and 2.81 GAA.
Utah already has their NHL goaltending tandem set with Connor Ingram and Karel Vejmelka. That means Stauber is likely destined for waivers during training camp en route to beginning the season with AHL Tucson, where he’ll split duties with Matt Villalta, who’s signed through 2025-26.
They also have 21-year-old UDFA signing Anson Thornton under contract, but injuries limited him to just 13 combined AHL and ECHL games last season, and he didn’t perform well at either level. He needs more seasoning, and Utah will find a home for him in the low-level minors. Stauber thus serves as a one-year bridge with Villalta until Thornton or one of their high-end goalie prospects, Michael Hrabal and Rasmus Korhonen, sign their ELCs.
Oilers, Evan Bouchard Unlikely To Talk Extension This Summer
The Oilers aren’t likely to hold extension discussions with star defenseman Evan Bouchard this offseason, sources tell The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman. Bouchard is set to be an RFA with arbitration rights next summer as he’s entering the back half of a two-year, $7.8MM bridge deal.
Last season, Bouchard’s $3.9MM cap hit was arguably the most value-laden deal in the league, not including entry-level contracts. Bouchard came in fifth in Norris Trophy voting after posting 18 goals, 64 assists, 82 points and a +34 rating – all career-highs – in 81 games. The right-shot blue liner proceeded to have a record-breaking postseason, setting a new single-playoff high in assists (26) to beat out former Oilers defenseman and current assistant coach Paul Coffey‘s record, set in 1985. His +14 rating also led all skaters in the postseason as Edmonton advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final since 2006.
There’s little to dislike about Bouchard’s game as he fully hits his stride entering his age-25 season, even if he is prone to the occasional extremely visible one-on-one defensive lapse. His possession numbers, while already strong, flourished last year with a full season of Mattias Ekholm as his partner. The duo was arguably the best pairing in the league, controlling a mind-blowing 62.8% of expected goals through nearly 1,200 minutes together, per MoneyPuck.
Bouchard hasn’t had any significant health issues since reaching the NHL full-time, either. He’s only missed two games over the past three seasons.
With all that in mind, Bouchard projects to be the best defender to hit RFA status next summer, leading a group that includes Noah Dobson, Brock Faber and Luke Hughes, who should all get paid handsomely. It’s hard to imagine Bouchard landing anything other than a max-term eight-year deal, something the Oilers would surely find desirable with him being two years away from UFA eligibility when his current deal expires. Evolving-Hockey projects a $9.5MM cap hit on such an extension, a higher AAV than the long-term deal Cale Makar signed three years ago but a lower percentage of the salary cap. But if he builds on last season’s performance, Edmonton runs the risk of needing to shell out more cash to keep him around long-term by not getting an extension done now.
While a new GM will be handling Bouchard’s negotiations after Ken Holland‘s contract wasn’t renewed, the Oilers have issued eight-year deals to almost all of their core players in the Connor McDavid era. McDavid himself, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse are all currently on max-term deals.
After an extremely active July 1 that saw the Oilers bring in Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner while retaining UFAs Connor Brown, Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark, the major legwork is over for acting GM Jeff Jackson. His main responsibility is now finding Holland’s successor, an item that could be checked off next week. Reports earlier this week indicated they have interest in former Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman, who the NHL deemed eligible to work in the league earlier this week after being barred for over two years “as a result of [his] inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach.” That announcement could come as early as next Wednesday.
Hockey Canada Names Coaching Staff For 2025 World Juniors
Hockey Canada announced yesterday its full coaching staff for its national junior team ahead of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, in which they’ll attempt to medal on home soil. The tournament is back in the Canadian capital this/next year, as Ottawa hosts it for the first time since 2009.
Back at the helm for the third time is former Senators head coach Dave Cameron. He’s gotten the Canadians to the gold medal game in both of his opportunities behind the bench thus far (2011, 2022), losing 5-3 to Russia the first time around but redeeming himself with a 3-2 overtime win over Finland 11 years later after the tournament was rescheduled to August due to COVID-19.
Cameron’s other high-level national team experience includes serving as an assistant coach for the 2016 World Championship and serving as an assistant at the WJC in 2009 and 2010. In league play, he’s spent the last three years as head coach of the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League, where he’s accumulated a 115-67-22 record and made the postseason each time.
He’ll have three assistants, the first of which is Sylvain Favreau, who’s coming off his first season as head coach of the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He guided the Voltigeurs to a QMJHL championship, their first since 2009, and also won a gold medal as an assistant coach for Canada’s U18 club at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Joining Favreau is Mike Johnston, who’s served as the general manager and head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks on and off since 2008. Penguins fans will remember him for his brief stint behind their bench in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns – he was fired in December 2015 and promptly replaced by Mike Sullivan, who led Pittsburgh to back-to-back Stanley Cups. It’s Johnston’s first call-up to the national team since 2009 when he served as Canada’s head coach at the U18 World Juniors. He was previously a national team fixture as GM, assistant coach, and head coach at various World Championship, World Cup and Olympic events in the 1990s.
The final assistant is Chris Lazary, who’ll serve behind the bench of the national team for the first time at any level with the upcoming tournament. The 42-year-old just coached the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit to a Memorial Cup as the host city, taking down the OHL champion London Knights 4-3 in the championship game after the Knights bounced them in the league’s Western Conference Final. He’s been the Spirit’s bench boss since being promoted from associate coach on Nov. 18, 2018.
Golden Knights Sign Callahan Burke, Robert Hägg
The Golden Knights have brought in forward Callahan Burke and defenseman Robert Hägg on one-year deals for 2024-25, per their CapFriendly pages. Burke’s is a two-way deal paying him $775K in the NHL and $300K in the minors, while Hägg’s contract is a one-way worth $775K.
Burke, 27, began his professional career as an undrafted free agent signing by the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2020 out of Notre Dame. The Massachusetts native worked his way up the organizational ladder, playing a season and a half for the Eagles before earning an entry-level deal from the Avalanche in December of 2021. He remained with the Avs on two-way deals for the next few seasons, eventually making his NHL debut over a two-game stint early in the 2022-23 campaign.
The Avs traded Burke to the Hurricanes just after this past season began, but without a full-time AHL affiliate in 2023-24, Carolina loaned him back to the Eagles for the entirety of the year aside from a one-game call-up in October. He didn’t register a point in his three combined NHL showings over the past two seasons, posting a -1 rating while averaging 8:14 per game. The 5’10”, 183-lb forward is coming off a decent season with the Eagles, tying his career-high of 16 goals and 39 points in 57 games.
He provides some veteran experience for AHL Henderson, where he’s likely destined for should he clear waivers during training camp.
Despite being signed to a one-way deal, a similar fate likely belies Hägg, who played just five games with the Ducks last season and spent nearly all of the campaign on assignment to AHL San Diego. Now 29, the Swede is a decent call-up option with nearly 350 games of NHL experience. He could provide some decent competition for Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak for an extra defense spot out of camp, but the latter signing a two-year, one-way deal earlier this week indicates Vegas is likely ready to give the 23-year-old more consistent big-league minutes.
Hägg was a second-round pick of the Flyers in 2013, suiting up in 236 games for them over five seasons before being traded to the Sabres in 2021. Since then, he’s played spot duty on the Panthers’ and Red Wings’ blue lines as well as Anaheim’s.
Islanders Sign Marc Gatcomb, Fredrik Karlström
The Islanders have signed depth forwards Marc Gatcomb and Fredrik Karlström to one-year deals. Gatcomb’s is a two-way pact worth $775K in the NHL and $125K in the AHL, per PuckPedia. PuckPedia also reported Karlström’s signing as a one-way pact yesterday, but CapFriendly has his deal as a two-way worth $775K in the NHL and $250K in the minors.
It’s the first NHL contract for Gatcomb, who turns 25 later this month. That makes him slightly too old for an entry-level contract, so this is a standard two-way deal. After finishing up a four-year stint at UConn in 2022, he’s spent the last two seasons on AHL contracts with the Canucks’ affiliate in Abbotsford, where he’s totaled 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points in 112 games. Most of that offense came this past season, recording nine goals and 20 points in 61 games.
Gatcomb’s development has been a slow climb since his freshman year at UConn in 2018-19 when he scored just one goal in 31 games. Now an everyday fixture at the second-highest level in the North American pyramid, he’ll look to take another step forward this season after he’s presumably assigned to AHL Bridgeport during training camp.
Karlström, meanwhile, does have some NHL experience to his name. The third-round pick of the Stars in 2016 made eight appearances during brief call-ups for Dallas in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, posting one assist and a +3 rating while averaging 8:18 per night. Since coming to North America three years ago, he’s spent nearly all of his time on assignment to AHL Texas, where he compiled 47 goals and 99 points in 184 games. He played in all 72 regular-season games for Texas last year and produced a career-high 21 goals and 44 points, along with a +14 rating.
He’s the more likely of the pair to see an NHL call-up this season, but both are likely slated for Bridgeport to open the campaign.
Capitals Re-Sign Alex Limoges To Two-Way Deal
The Capitals are bringing back one of their top minor league scorers for another season, as they’ve re-signed forward Alex Limoges to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. He’ll earn a $300K salary while in the AHL and cost $775K against the cap if on the NHL roster.
Limoges, 27 in September, has yet to make his NHL debut but has been one of the AHL’s more consistent scorers over the past few seasons. After finishing his collegiate career at Penn State during the pandemic, the undrafted Virginia native spent two seasons on AHL contracts with the Ducks’ affiliate in San Diego before landing an entry-level deal with the Jets in 2022. He spent the entire season on assignment to AHL Manitoba, though, and didn’t receive a qualifying offer the following summer, paving the way for him to sign a two-way deal contract with the Capitals last offseason.
The 6’1″, 201-lb forward has averaged around 0.80 points per game throughout his minor-league career, a number he climbed slightly north of this season. On assignment to AHL Hershey for the entirety of the season, Limoges finished second on the team in scoring with 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) in 62 games with a +17 rating. He added 13 points in 20 playoff games as he helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship.
Limoges’ likelihood of receiving an NHL recall dwindles as he ages, but he’s likely still among the Caps’ top five or six options to bring up from the minors if injuries strike. His new deal represents a decent raise from last season’s $235K AHL salary. While he was an RFA this summer, he’ll age out by the end of 2024-25 and will be a UFA upon expiry.
Sharks Sign Carl Grundström To Two-Year Deal
The Sharks have signed left winger Carl Grundström to a two-year, $3.6MM contract, per a team release. The team also officially announced a two-year deal for Ty Dellandrea, as reported earlier Thursday. Grundström’s deal will carry a $1.8MM cap hit until expiry in 2026.
Grundström spent the 2023-24 season with the Kings, where he’d spent his entire NHL career to date after being acquired from the Maple Leafs as part of the Jake Muzzin trade in 2019. The 26-year-old winger was limited to 50 appearances last season by injury, posting eight goals and four assists for 12 points.
The 2016 second-round pick was a solid fourth-line checking winger from the moment he entered the league five years ago, and little has changed since. In 236 career showings in L.A., the Swede had provided solid depth offense with 40 goals and 67 points while recording 564 hits. He’s stayed mostly disciplined despite his physical play, never tallying more than 26 PIMs in a single season.
With the Kings looking to shore up their defensive depth, they dealt Grundström’s signing rights to their NorCal rival in exchange for stay-at-home defender Kyle Burroughs last week. It took a few days, but San Jose now has him under contract, avoiding a potential arbitration hearing. It’s a $500K raise annually over Grundström’s previous deal. He’ll compete for ice time with other grinders like Klim Kostin and Luke Kunin in San Jose’s bottom six.
Sharks Sign Ty Dellandrea To Two-Year Deal
The Sharks have signed right winger Ty Dellandrea to a two-year, $2.6MM deal, according to PuckPedia. He’ll cost $1.3MM against the cap in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Dellandrea, 24 later this month, has 151 games of NHL experience, all of those coming with the Stars over the past four years. An RFA this summer, the Sharks acquired his signing rights from Dallas for a 2025 fourth-round pick on June 19.
The 2018 13th overall pick looked like he had locked down a full-time NHL role after playing in all 82 games for Dallas in 2022-23, but he fell out of favor in the most recent campaign. In that 2022-23 season, Dellandrea scored nine goals with 19 assists for 28 points with a +9 rating. He was deployed in fourth-line minutes at even strength but was an important part of the Stars’ penalty kill, averaging just over two minutes per game there to bring his nightly average to 14:12.
But in 2023-24, he played just 42 games for Dallas, posting nine points and a -10 rating. He spent the whole season on the NHL roster but sat for about half of it as a healthy scratch, including a nearly three-week stretch in January. He averaged 12:40 per game on the year, still seeing significant usage shorthanded when dressed, but his even-strength minutes were reduced by a decent margin.
Time is slowly running out for Dellandrea, who scored 70 points in 47 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds in his final season of junior hockey, to develop offensively. The Sharks still likely see upside in Dellandrea as a potential future third-line fixture with a solid two-way game, especially considering his strong showing in his one full season in the minors (50 points in 68 games with AHL Texas in 2021-22). They can be patient with his development, too – he won’t be UFA-eligible until 2028.
The Sharks have been focused on adding some more NHL-experienced talent to protect their developing forward prospects in recent weeks. They claimed forward Barclay Goodrow off waivers, signed Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg in free agency, and brought in depth winger Carl Grundström in a trade with the Kings, although he’s still an RFA in need of a deal. That’s likely GM Mike Grier‘s next order of business after getting one done for Dellandrea today.
PHR Live Chat: 7/3/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson will start up his weekly Wednesday live chat at the top of the hour. You can join the queue and submit your questions using this link.
Senators Acquire Jan Jeník From Utah
Utah has traded RFA forward Jan Jeník to the Senators, per a team announcement. Another unsigned RFA, forward Egor Sokolov, is heading to Utah in exchange for Jeník.
Jeník, 24 in September, had been with the Coyotes organization since being drafted in the third round in 2018. He’s never broken into a full-time NHL role, although he does have 22 games of experience over the past four seasons. He’s notched four goals and two assists, and a -4 rating in that time, averaging just 9:51 per game.
The Czech forward has been solid on the farm with AHL Tucson, though, peaking with 47 points in 51 games two years ago. He’s put up top-six numbers since, finishing this season with 16 goals and 36 points in 55 games. The move had been a long time coming – he was seeking trade options as far back as last August – and now gets the fresh start he desires in Ottawa.
Utah acquires a player just a few months older in Sokolov, although he wasn’t drafted until 2020 as an over-age selection in the second round. Like Jeník, he’s posted strong AHL numbers without getting an extended NHL look. He trailed off somewhat this past season, though, scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 71 games. It was his lowest per-game average with AHL Belleville since turning pro four years ago.
Both players need new deals, but they’ll come in as cheap two-way agreements over the next little while. The chances of either making their new teams’ rosters are slim, although Jeník arguably has a better chance with Ottawa’s slimmer forward depth and their need for players on six-figure cap hits.