Dmitri Samorukov Signs AHL Contract In Penguins Organization
The AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed former Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues defenseman Dmitri Samorukov to a contract for the 2023-24 season, per a team announcement today. The move does make him a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization on contract with their AHL affiliate. However, without an NHL contract, any NHL team can still place offers for (and sign) Samorukov.
A 2017 third-round selection of the Oilers, Samorukov was once viewed as one of their organization’s more intriguing defensive prospects. After a 2021-22 season in which he only appeared in one NHL contest for the Oilers, however, they dealt him to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for young forward Klim Kostin, a swap of young prospects who both needed fresh starts on new teams.
While Kostin panned out into a solid depth forward for Edmonton last year, the same can’t be said for Samorukov, who spent most of the season in the minors again. St. Louis only iced the 24-year-old in two games, in which he was held off the scoresheet and averaged 14:53 of ice time. He did, however, post a career-high four goals and 20 points in 69 games with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, with whom he played a top-four role.
Samorukov is only the second defender Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has under AHL contract. However, he’ll now need to compete with a bevy of Penguins prospects who will be given priority for ice time and development purposes. While he should still be an everyday player at the AHL level, he likely won’t receive as much opportunity as he did last season in Springfield while under contract with the Blues.
Minnesota Wild, Filip Gustavsson Agree On Multi-Year Deal
11:49 AM: Minnesota has officially signed Gustavsson to a three-year, $11.25MM contract, per a team announcement. The deal carries a cap hit of $3.75MM and will carry him to unrestricted free agent status in 2026. Per CapFriendly’s projections, the Wild now have $1.64MM in cap space with a minimum roster of 20 players, and they still have RFA defenseman Calen Addison to sign. The full breakdown of the deal is as follows, according to PuckPedia:
2023-24: $4.25MM
2024-25: $4MM
2025-26: $3MM (five-team no-trade list)
10:12 AM: The Minnesota Wild are nearing a multi-year settlement with young goaltender Filip Gustavsson ahead of their planned arbitration hearing on Friday, The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports.
It’s hard to argue with locking down Gustavsson long-term after the season he just had. Operating in tandem with veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, the 25-year-old netminder finished atop many goaltending stat categories and even got end-of-season All-Star team consideration. His .931 save percentage in 39 games played trailed only Boston Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark, who took home this year’s Vezina Trophy. He also stopped 24.2 goals above expected, according to MoneyPuck’s model, meaning he stopped about 0.63 goals per game more than the average goalie based on the shot quality he faced.
This isn’t out of nowhere, either. Despite being in his third NHL organization already, Gustavsson has been a rather highly-touted prospect since the Pittsburgh Penguins selected him 55th overall in 2016. While a performance like this may have seemed unlikely, Gustavsson has always had the potential to turn into a starting netminder. Considering the delayed age curve that’s in effect for many goalies, his arrival into NHL relevancy is right on time.
He’ll undoubtedly push for more games next season, and it seems it’s only a matter of time until he’s anointed the Wild’s first long-term full-time starter since Devan Dubnyk. It’s a scenario that seemed unlikely when the Wild acquired him in a one-for-one swap with the Ottawa Senators last summer for veteran Cam Talbot, who had a rather disappointing season in the nation’s capital and has since moved on to the Los Angeles Kings via free agency.
Gustavsson’s strong play continued in the postseason, too, posting a .921 save percentage in five games during the Wild’s first-round loss to the Dallas Stars.
Financial certainty for the Wild on their own terms, not from an arbitrator, is also an extremely desirable outcome here for general manager Bill Guerin. The team’s incredibly tight salary cap situation is no secret – with $14.75MM in dead cap dedicated to the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, every dollar (and every signing) is extremely consequential for the team’s ability to manage their day-to-day roster. The team likely will not be able to carry a full 23-player roster this season, limiting themselves to just one or two healthy scratches depending upon their injury situation.
Of interest, this is a scenario that seemed extremely unlikely just one week ago. Smith had reported earlier that the two sides were likely headed to arbitration and were not close to a pre-hearing settlement. Evidently, Gustavsson and the Wild made up a lot of ground in negotiations over the last seven days. It was also reported earlier this summer that the Wild preferred a three-year term on a Gustavsson extension, buying one year of unrestricted free agency in the process.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Transactions: 07/31/23
NHL action is heating up today with a trio of depth signings this morning, followed by a potentially consequential agreement between the Minnesota Wild and promising netminder Filip Gustavsson. Transactions continue to flow in from around the minors and Europe as 2023-24 draws closer, too, so let’s take a look at today’s most notable non-NHL moves from around the hockey world:
- Former New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights forward Oscar Lindberg has signed a one-year contract with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK, per a team release today. The move marks a return to his native Sweden for the first time since 2012-13, when he notched 44 points in 52 Elitserien (now SHL) games for Skellefteå before heading to North America the following year with the Rangers organization. Since last suiting up in the NHL for Ottawa in 2019, Lindberg has bounced around Europe, playing for EV Zug and SC Bern in the NL and Dynamo Moscow in the KHL. He’s been quite productive, too, often posting point totals close to a point-per-game pace and continuing solid defensive play. He now joins a Skellefteå team ripe with NHL prospects, including Detroit Red Wings 2023 first-round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka on defense.
- After two years of service as an alternate captain for Czech Extraliga club HC Sparta Praha, defenseman Adam Polasek is staying in the Extraliga on a one-year deal with HC Ocelari Trinec, per the team. Polasek is a former Vancouver Canucks prospect, selected 145th overall in the 2010 NHL Draft. After spending the 2010-11 campaign in juniors with the QMJHL’s Prince Edward Island Rocket, Polasek signed his entry-level contract with the Canucks. He wouldn’t play out his deal, though, failing to find his footing in the minors and eventually having his contract terminated during its final season so that he could return home to Czechia. He’s spent most of his time in the Sparta Praha organization since then, save for a few short stints in Russia and Finland. The 32-year-old, 6-foot-3 defender now looks to bolster Trinec’s blueline, one that includes former NHLers Jakub Jerabek and Martin Marincin.
- Liiga club Kärpät was active this morning, signing a pair of North American forwards, Connor Bunnaman and Trevor Mingoia, to one-year contracts. Bunnaman, 25, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2016 and has since amassed over 50 NHL games and over 200 AHL games in the Flyers and Florida Panthers organizations. He spent last season solely with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, posting his second-most productive season ever in the minors with 16 goals and seven assists for 23 points in 61 games. Mingoia, who’s spent the last five years in Europe after a short-lived North American minor pro career, previously had two productive seasons in the Liiga with KooKoo, recording 64 points in 73 games between 2019 and 2021. Undrafted, the 5-foot-11 winger spent the last two seasons with the DEL’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Toronto Maple Leafs Re-Sign Nicholas Abruzzese
The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed forward Nicholas Abruzzese to a two-year, two-way contract extension, per a team announcement Monday morning. The deal’s average annual value is $775K, and PuckPedia confirms the full breakdown of his contract:
2023-24: $775K NHL salary, $175K minors salary
2024-25: $775K NHL salary, $250K minors salary, $350K guaranteed salary
This is Abruzzese’s second NHL contract after signing a two-year entry-level pact with the Leafs in March last year. The 24-year-old was a restricted free agent, Toronto’s last remaining unsigned player of the type.
After spending two fruitful collegiate campaigns with Harvard, Abruzzese had a solid first full pro season last year. Toronto’s fourth-round pick in 2019 has also gotten a cup of coffee in the NHL over the previous year and a half, posting a goal and two assists in 11 games (including two assists in two games to finish the 2022-23 campaign). His AHL stats were strong, posting 16 goals and 48 points in 69 games with the Toronto Marlies before going on a tear in the postseason, when he registered seven points in seven outings.
Abruzzese seems unlikely to make Toronto’s opening night roster, however. Pontus Holmberg has more experience in the NHL (he played 37 games last year) and likely has a leg up on a fourth-line center role to start the season. That’s not to say Abruzzese won’t get any NHL looks, though. It wouldn’t surprise many to see him get more than the two games he received last season, and he’ll be in the first tier of potential call-ups to the Maple Leafs from the Marlies, along with other prospects in their early 20s such as Alex Steeves and Nicholas Robertson (if he doesn’t make the Leafs out of camp).
The New York-born center will still have a year remaining before he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency when his deal expires in 2025, meaning he’ll still be an RFA in two years. Unlike this summer, he’ll be eligible for arbitration at that time.
New Jersey Devils Re-Sign Kevin Bahl
The New Jersey Devils re-signed defenseman Kevin Bahl today to a two-year contract worth $2.1MM with an annual average value of $1.05MM, according to a team release. Bahl will earn $900K in actual salary in 2023-24 and $1.2MM in 2024-25 under the terms of the deal. After signing Bahl, the Devils have re-signed all their restricted free agents this offseason.
A 23-year-old left-shot defender out of New Westminster, British Columbia, Bahl played a career-high 42 games with the Devils last season and largely avoided AHL assignment, skating in only three games in the minors with the Utica Comets. Playing a physical, two-way game by trade, Bahl improved significantly on his previous short NHL stints in 2022-23, continually working his way up the team’s depth chart and playing in 11 of 12 postseason games for the Devils. He finished the regular season with two goals, six assists, eight points, a +4 rating, and 35 penalty minutes.
The hulking 6-foot-6 Bahl now looks to keep his pace and stay in the Devils’ lineup full-time, even with promising prospects like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec ready (or close to ready) for full-time NHL duties. New Jersey will likely bet on Bahl to replace some of the grit and defensive acumen they lost when Ryan Graves departed for the Pittsburgh Penguins in free agency earlier this month, and they’ll likely increase his ice time from last year’s 14:01 per game in the process. Giving Bahl a seven-figure cap hit certainly demonstrates an organizational belief in the player.
After signing Bahl, CapFriendly projects the Devils to be comfortably cap-compliant with $1.92MM in projected space, assuming a full 23-player roster. This projection assumes youngsters like Hughes and Nolan Foote make the team but not 2020 seventh-overall pick Alexander Holtz. The Devils have $2.575MM in dead cap this season thanks to $2MM wrapped up in the Cory Schneider buyout, a $325K penalty from the Janne Kuokkanen buyout, and the nearly-finished yearly $250K recapture penalty for terminating Ilya Kovalchuk‘s supermassive 15-year, $100MM contract in 2013.
When this contract concludes in 2025, Bahl will still be a restricted free agent. He’ll also be eligible for arbitration at that time.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Jesse Ylönen
The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to terms on a one-year, two-way contract with restricted free agent forward Jesse Ylönen, per a release issued Monday morning. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports Ylönen’s NHL salary is $775K, while he’ll earn $200K in the AHL with a $275K minimum salary guarantee.
An early second-round selection of the Canadiens in 2018, the 23-year-old Finn played a career-high 37 games in a Canadiens jersey last season and looks well on his way to becoming a full-timer in the NHL. 2022-23 was a major offensive breakthrough for Ylönen at the NHL and AHL levels. He recorded six goals and 16 points with the Habs and a career-best points pace of 32 in 39 games with the Laval Rocket.
He mostly played a bottom-six scoring role with the Habs last season, sometimes seeing under 10 minutes of ice time per game. However, he did elevate into the team’s top six at times later in the season when injuries struck, actually seeing a fair bit of playing time alongside number-one center Nick Suzuki in the absence of star sniper Cole Caufield, who missed the latter half of the season thanks to shoulder surgery.
Unfortunately for Ylönen, he’s a good prospect on a team with several other youngsters that arguably have higher ceilings. For that reason, he may find himself on the outside looking in on Montreal’s opening night roster, and he could begin the season in the minors with Laval again. He’ll have to battle for ice time with former first-round picks such as Alex Newhook and Juraj Slafkovsky, a race he won’t likely win. However, Ylönen could still unseat a veteran like Joel Armia in the team’s bottom six if he forces the team’s attention at training camp.
Ylönen will be a restricted free agent again in 2024. He will be eligible for arbitration after not being eligible this offseason.
Maple Leafs’ Rodion Amirov Reportedly Making Progress In Cancer Recovery
One of the scariest pieces of NHL news in recent memory came across the wire in February 2022, when then-Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas revealed that 2020 first-round pick Rodion Amirov had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The 21-year-old winger has not played hockey since and continues on a long road to what is hopefully a full recovery.
There hasn’t been much news on Amirov’s health since the end of last year when Amirov came to Toronto to attend the team’s Hockey Fights Cancer night in November but returned to Russia to continue treatment shortly after and could not train. At the time, it was viewed as a setback in his recovery – Amirov had said in an interview earlier that summer he was hoping to return to the ice by that time.
However, there is some positive news regarding the young forward’s health today. Rinat Bashirov, the director of sport for Amirov’s KHL team, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, told Russian outlet Sport-Express that there’s a “positive trend” in Amirov’s recovery, but he’s continuing treatment. According to Bashirov (albeit a translated quote), Ufa believes Amirov will return to the ice at some point, although there’s no clear timeline.
Amirov reportedly signed a one-year contract extension with Ufa earlier this summer, allowing him to remain closely tied with the club and pursue treatment with their guidance. He also remains under contract with the Maple Leafs, although his three-year, entry-level contract expires next summer.
PHR extends its best wishes for Amirov’s long-term health and positive recovery.
Coyotes, Jack McBain Reach Pre-Arbitration Settlement
The Arizona Coyotes and young center Jack McBain have reached a two-year settlement ahead of their scheduled arbitration hearing today, according to a team release. The deal earns him $1.6MM per season, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
This settlement is a win for the Coyotes, who get the two-year contract they desired and a cap hit below the midpoint of the team and player filings submitted Friday before today’s planned hearing. The Coyotes had filed for a two-year, $1.2MM AAV deal, while McBain filed for a one-year, $2.25MM contract, putting the salary midpoint at $1.725MM.
McBain, 23, brings an intriguing blend of size and two-way potential to the bottom of the Coyotes’ lineup. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, Arizona acquired McBain’s signing rights from the Minnesota Wild in March 2022 after McBain informed the Wild he wouldn’t be signing with them after finishing his collegiate career at Boston College.
The Toronto-born center had a ten-game stint with the Coyotes to end the 2021-22 campaign in which he didn’t look entirely out of place, recording two goals and adding an assist on the heels of a point-per-game season in college and an Olympic appearance for Canada. That late-season experience in the NHL gave him a leg up heading into 2022-23, where he played in all 82 games as a rookie and finished 12th on the team in points with 26 and eighth in goals with 12.
Arizona now has a bit of a logjam at center, though, with youngsters Barrett Hayton and Logan Cooley and veterans Nick Bjugstad and Travis Boyd, meaning McBain is likely once again slated for a fourth-line role next season, potentially even on the wing. He did post a somewhat subpar faceoff win rate of 44% last season, although the whole team wasn’t adept in that department – only Hayton posted a win rate higher than 50% out of the team’s four everyday centers.
CapFriendly has not registered McBain’s deal at the time of writing, but once it is, Arizona will have roughly $7.15MM in cap space with a full roster of 23 players, per their projection.
As PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan points out, it’s also worth noting that the Coyotes are now in a rather tricky position regarding their total registered contracts within the organization. They’re now at 49 out of the 50-contract maximum and still have restricted free agent Jan Jeník to sign to a deal, which, if he’s signed, would leave them without the ability to make any player acquisitions without getting rid of a contract (e.g., waiver claims, free agent signings).
McBain will again be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when his new contract expires in 2025.
PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan was the first to report the two sides were close to a settlement.
Arbitration Breakdown: Trent Frederic
We’re entering the final few days of the salary arbitration calendar, meaning most of the remaining notable restricted free agents will have contracts in place for next season by the end of next week. There are a number of notable cases that remain unsettled, including a pair of high-end young goalies in the Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman and the Minnesota Wild’s Filip Gustavsson. Swayman’s hearing is today, meaning we’ll learn his contractual fate for next season on Tuesday. However, there’s a teammate of Swayman’s and an important depth piece for the Bruins facing an arbitration hearing of his own – forward Trent Frederic, who now has just 48 hours remaining until his arbitration hearing on Tuesday.
Filings
Team: two years, $1.4MM AAV
Player: one year, $2.9MM AAV
Midpoint: $2.15MM AAV
(via Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman)
The Numbers
2022-23 was a breakout year for Frederic, recording career highs in offensive categories across the board. While he may not be a long-term top-flight center solution as the Bruins envisioned when they selected him 29th overall in 2016, the 25-year-old has grown into an extremely effective bottom-six power forward. His scoring skyrocketed this season despite not seeing a major increase in ice time, and he didn’t sacrifice the solid defensive play he’d shown in his two prior full NHL seasons. His 17 goals were sixth on the powerhouse Bruins last year despite playing under 12 minutes per game.
If advanced analytics hold any bearing in arbitration hearings, Frederic’s side should use them to their advantage. Many of his possession-based metrics indicate his production this season isn’t a fluke, as his ability to drive play has steadily grown during his time in the NHL. However, it is fair to wonder if an increase in ice time (and, therefore, tougher matchups) may diminish his effectiveness slightly. It’s an important factor to take into consideration, as Frederic is expected to play a bigger role on the Bruins next season with wing depth like Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi no longer on the team.
His NHL career doesn’t carry a terribly long track record, though, something that may give the arbitrator some pause. Frederic hasn’t cracked the 200-game mark in his career, and he only transformed into an everyday NHLer this season, oftentimes being healthy scratched at points throughout the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns.
2022-23 Stats: 79 GP, 17-14-31, +28 rating, 57 PIMs, 120 shots, 11:55 ATOI
Career Stats: 198 GP, 29-25-54, +25 rating, 194 PIMs, 284 shots, 11:27 ATOI
Potential Comparables
Comparable contracts are restricted to those signed within restricted free agency which means UFA deals and entry-level pacts are ineligible to be used. The contracts below fit within those parameters. Player salaries also fall within the parameters of the submitted numbers by both sides of Frederic’s negotiation.
Philipp Kurashev (Blackhawks) – Kurashev is a few years younger than Frederic but has a similar amount of NHL experience. Like Frederic, he also posted career-highs in offensive categories last season but had less production and infinitely worse defensive results. However, Kurashev was relied upon to play heavy minutes (more than 17 minutes per game) for a lottery Blackhawks team – likely more responsibility than he was fit to handle. An arbitrator awarded Kurashev a $2.25MM AAV last week, coming in above the midpoint of Boston’s and Frederic’s filings. Given Frederic’s better scoring and two-way play but extremely sheltered minutes, this could fall close to the arbitrator’s final decision here.
Warren Foegele (Hurricanes) – This comparison may be a bit dated (Foegele had his arbitration award in November 2020), but played a much more similar role on the Hurricanes to Frederic’s on the Bruins than in the Kurashev comparison outlined above. After a season in which Foegele registered similar offensive production to Frederic (30 points in 68 games), an arbitrator awarded him a $2.15MM deal for the 2020-21 campaign. It presents a solid argument for the arbitrator to rule right down the middle of Boston’s and Frederic’s filings.
Artturi Lehkonen (Canadiens) – Lehkonen had filed for arbitration with the Canadiens in the summer of 2021, but the two sides came to a pre-hearing agreement on a one-year deal worth $2.3MM. Lehkonen was the same age as Frederic at the time of signing and produced similarly strong two-way results, although Lekhonen had significantly more NHL experience at the time of signing, with 338 games under his belt. However, he was coming off a down season – just seven goals and 13 points in 47 games, hurting his stock.
Projection
No matter what, it does seem Frederic will be signing a two-year contract unless the arbitrator awards significantly in his favor. As Frederic was the party that filed for arbitration, Boston is free to choose between a one-year or two-year pact based on the AAV awarded by the arbitrator. The contract would walk Frederic directly to unrestricted free agency, but it’s something Boston is evidently comfortable with based on their filing.
The comparisons outlined place Frederic’s likely award very near to but likely slightly above the midpoint of $2.15MM. It seems unlikely the arbitrator would go any higher than $2.5MM on an award, though, especially considering his limited ice time and consistent fourth-line role. Regardless, it’s likely he’ll more than double his $1.05MM salary from the last two seasons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
West Notes: Oilers, Wild, Blackhawks
The Edmonton Oilers have been one of the NHL’s more interesting teams to watch over the past decade, finally overcoming years of what could best be described as dysfunctionality to once again become yearly postseason contenders on the backs of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a rough-and-tumble road for the team since making their first playoff appearance with this core in 2017 – there’s still the sense this core hasn’t lived up to expectations without a Stanley Cup Final appearance to show for their rather electrifying success at times. Today, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal argued that, for whatever reason you choose to believe, the Oilers’ rather stagnant offseason is a sign of better things to come.
It didn’t really matter this summer if the Oilers and general manager Ken Holland wanted to make a big splash – they simply couldn’t make anything work with an airtight salary cap situation and RFAs Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod to re-sign. Staples illustrates this example with past Oilers teams of the 1980s glory days, but championship-caliber teams are rarely built through major free agency additions. Keeping a similar core intact and nurturing it, giving it time to grow while continuing to develop chemistry, has led to positive results in the past.
Despite the mounting pressure to perform in Edmonton, the sky isn’t falling – they’ve lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion in back-to-back seasons and have put up good performances against great teams in both runs, especially during their Battle of Alberta win against the Calgary Flames in 2022. Consistency between the pipes remains an issue, though, perhaps the most impossible problem to solve for any team in the league.
More tidbits to end this Saturday night from around the Western Conference:
- While forward Oskar Sundqvist was visibly elated to return to the St. Louis Blues this offseason in free agency, the club with which he won a Stanley Cup championship in 2019, it wasn’t the only option for his future he had in mind. In an interview with The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford earlier this week, Sundqvist revealed he greatly enjoyed his post-trade deadline stint with the Minnesota Wild, and there was mutual interest in an extension to keep him in the State of Hockey. However, there wasn’t a feasible way to keep him around with a heavy salary cap crunch on Minnesota’s end, thanks to nearly $15MM in dead cap caused by the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts. Sundqvist did end up signing a league-minimum one-way contract with the Blues, however, who were also in a tight financial situation after acquiring center Kevin Hayes at a reduced price from the Philadelphia Flyers. Sundqvist did well in Minnesota, posting seven points in 15 games down the stretch before injuries kept him out of most of their First Round playoff loss against the Dallas Stars.
- The Chicago Blackhawks’ ownership is adding a junior hockey powerhouse to their portfolio in the USHL’s Chicago Steel, according to a report from The Athletic’s Scott Powers. The Steel are arguably the most recognizable franchise in American top-flight junior hockey, capturing the league’s regular-season title four seasons in a row and churning out high-end NHL prospects such as projected 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini and Columbus Blue Jackets star center prospect Adam Fantilli in the process. It’s a major move for the Blackhawks’ parent, the Wirtz Corporation, just days after principal owner and chairman Rocky Wirtz passed away unexpectedly at the age of 70.