New York Islanders Re-Sign Oliver Wahlstrom
The New York Islanders have taken care of business with their last notable restricted free agent, re-signing forward Oliver Wahlstrom to a one-year deal. The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reports that Wahlstrom agreed to his qualifying offer, which would carry a cap hit of just $874,125 next season.
The 23-year-old sniper went 11th overall to the Islanders in the 2018 NHL Draft, but he’s yet to really hit his stride as a pro hockey player. Last season certainly didn’t help matters – a lower-body injury kept him out past the new year and limited him to just 35 games.
He’s played 161 NHL games thus far in his career, notching decent production with 32 goals and 61 points, but he hasn’t cemented himself in a top-six role yet. That’s what he was drafted to do, and he’ll need to impress in his standard third-line minutes in order to move up a famously rigid Islanders depth chart.
He should get some help playing alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau, one of the better third-line centers in the league, but he’ll likely need some more power play opportunities under head coach Lane Lambert to get his goal-scoring confidence back after a trying couple of campaigns.
This is an important signing for the Islanders to get done in salary cap terms. They had very little flexibility, and getting Wahlstrom to agree to his qualifying offer leaves them with just enough space to remain cap-compliant to start the season with a full 23-player roster with no corresponding moves. However, it won’t be much – likely less than $500K of cap space on opening night.
If the Islanders are to reach the playoffs again in a competitive Eastern Conference, Wahlstrom’s depth scoring will likely be a big part of it. He’s set to be a restricted free agent again next summer.
Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Casey Fitzgerald
The defending Eastern Conference champions have made their second signing of the day. Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald is running it back with the Florida Panthers on a one-year, two-way contract after testing the open market, the team announced today. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Fitzgerald hit unrestricted free agency this summer under Group VI rules. This special designation applies to players with significant professional experience who don’t meet the standard eligibility guidelines for unrestricted free agency but have played less than 80 NHL games, allowing them perhaps to find a more significant role with another team earlier in their career. However, the 26-year-old Fitzgerald liked his fit in the Panthers organization, and he’s opted to return for another season.
The son of New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald found his way to the Sunshine State via waivers in January, heading south to the Panthers after the Buffalo Sabres attempted to assign him to the minors. He would play quite sparingly, though, playing just four out of 40 Panthers regular-season games after the claim and two out of 21 playoff games. All in all, that’s 55 healthy scratches for Fitzgerald in 61 games he’s been rostered for as a Panther.
A puck-mover by trade, Fitzgerald’s been adequate in limited NHL action but hasn’t demonstrated enough to push into an everyday spot in the lineup. The right-shot defender has nine assists in 63 games of NHL experience between the Sabres and Panthers but is still looking for his first NHL goal.
Buffalo’s third-round selection in 2016, Fitzgerald likely remains in a press-box role to start the season, even with Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour out with injuries. The team went bargain bin shopping on the back end, and their earlier UFA additions of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dmitry Kulikov, Niko Mikkola, and Mike Reilly likely push him down the depth chart. He could very well be waived again later on in the season and, if he clears, would be assigned to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
Snapshots: Pekarcik, ECHL, Hurricanes
One St. Louis Blues 2023 draft choice has found a playing home for next season. 76th overall pick Juraj Pekarcik will be heading stateside to the USHL, committing to the Dubuque Fighting Saints for 2023-24 after spending his career until now in his native Slovakia.
This is a rather consequential choice for the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who just used the second overall pick on Pekarcik in this year’s CHL Import Draft. However, the USHL has had quite the influx of Slovak talent in recent seasons, and it makes sense Pekarcik would choose to go to a league where he knows what the development experience will be like. The 6-foot-2 winger doesn’t turn 18 until September and registered 20 points in 16 games with HK Nitra’s junior club in the Slovak U-20 circuit last season. He also added ten points in seven games for Slovakia at last year’s IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship.
More from across the league today:
- The Buffalo Sabres confirmed the Jacksonville Icemen as their next ECHL affiliate today, as expected. It amounts to a swap of affiliates between the Sabres and New York Rangers, now affiliated with the Cincinnati Cyclones, Buffalo’s previous affiliate in the second-tier minor league. The current Sabres team does have one connection to the Icemen – assistant coach Jason Christie, who coached the Icemen for four seasons before heading to the Sabres in 2021 and remains the ECHL’s all-time leader in games coached.
- Without an AHL affiliate to store their prospects next season, the Carolina Hurricanes have loaned a trio of Finnish prospects back to their home country, per team reporter Walt Ruff. 20-year-old defenseman Aleksi Heimosalmi will head back to Assat, where he’s spent the past two seasons on loan from Carolina after they selected him 44th overall in 2021. Right wing Tuukka Tieksola, their 2019 fourth-round pick, is heading back to Finland with Lukko after recording 24 points in 52 games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last year. Lastly, forward Ville Koivunen is heading back to Karpat, where he’s played most of his career to date after recording 28 points in 52 games with them last season. Doing this early in the summer gives Carolina less to worry about when figuring out where to assign their prospects closer to the start of the season.
Florida Panthers Sign John Ludvig
The Florida Panthers announced today they’ve agreed to terms with restricted free agent defenseman John Ludvig on a two-year, two-way contract. The team did not disclose financial details.
The 22-year-old left-shot defender will be a restricted free agent again at the end of his new deal and will likely be eligible for arbitration at that point. After COVID and injuries significantly limited Ludvig’s playing time since turning pro in 2020, he finally put together a full-time pro campaign last year with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, skating in 54 games and recording 17 points.
It really was a strong first impression for Ludvig, who worked his way into Charlotte’s top four with solid defensive awareness and a good bit of physicality to his game. Born in Canada to Czech parents, Ludvig went to the Panthers with the 69th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Standing at 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds, Ludvig still needs another season or two before he’s ready for NHL action considering his delayed development, but it does look like there’s some NHL upside there. He flashed solid offensive instincts in his post-draft season with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, serving as the team’s captain in 2019-20 and exploding for 62 points in 60 games before turning pro the following year.
Connor Bedard Signs Entry-Level Contract With Blackhawks
9:08 a.m.: Chicago has now made the deal official, confirming the maximum cap hit of $950K for Bedard on his three-year ELC. CapFriendly provides the full breakdown of the deal, which carries the same structure in all three seasons: an NHL salary of $855K, a $95K signing bonus, a Schedule ‘A’ performance bonus worth $1MM, and a Schedule ‘B’ performance bonus worth $2.5MM.
8:09 a.m.: 2023 first-overall pick Connor Bedard has agreed to terms with the Chicago Blackhawks on his three-year entry-level contract today, The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports.
The surely multi-million dollar commitment from Chicago to Bedard on his 18th birthday is quite the present. Signing Bedard to his ELC officially paves the way for him to suit up in a Blackhawks uniform on opening night in a few months, as expected.
Labeled the best prospect since Connor McDavid in 2015 and Auston Matthews in 2016, Bedard will look to make a splash with the Blackhawks next season after dominating the WHL with the Regina Pats, notching 71 goals and 72 assists for 143 points in just 57 games. His 2.51 points per game tied him for the highest rate in a single season for a 17-year-old with former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rob Brown, who had 173 points in 69 games with Kamloops in 1985-86.
With that in mind, Bedard is expected to assume a first-line center role in the Windy City out of the gate, a glimpse into the team’s long-term future after an aggressive roster restructuring. The Blackhawks made multiple roster moves this offseason with Bedard in mind, acquiring a former Hart Trophy winner in Taylor Hall and retaining some skill for the top-six in Andreas Athanasiou to give Bedard at least some talent to play with in a Chicago forward group devoid of much to write home about.
Bedard’s six-figure cap hit could be the biggest bargain bin deal in the league by its conclusion in 2025-26, at which point he’ll be able to sign quite a lucrative second deal with the salary cap expected to rise north of $92MM by that point.
Among U-25 forwards in Chicago’s top-six next season, he’ll likely be joined by 2020 17th overall pick Lukas Reichel, who’s coming off a pair of excellent campaigns in the minors with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs and added 15 points in 23 games with the Blackhawks last year. Those two are the shining stars at forward of a prospect pool that’s quickly grown into one of the league’s best, including a pair of top-20 picks in Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore still to come.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Morgan Barron
The Winnipeg Jets signed restricted free agent forward Morgan Barron to a two-year contract today, the team announced via press release. The contract is worth $2.7MM and carries a cap hit and average annual value of $1.35MM.
It’s a nice bit of work for the two sides, who avoid arbitration with the two-year pact. The Jets still have quite a bit of work to do with Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and Logan Stanley needing new deals, but it’s a good dent in their remaining offseason work.
The 24-year-old forward is coming off a career year in 2022-23, setting career-highs in goals (eight), assists (13) and points (21) while transforming into an everyday NHLer for the first time, skating in 70 regular season games for the Jets. As part of the trade return for Andrew Copp at the 2022 trade deadline from the Rangers, Barron looks to develop into a solid bottom-six forward who could have staying power in Winnipeg. He also appeared in all five games of Winnipeg’s first-round playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Barron will look to build on those offensive totals next season, although he’s likely to start the campaign in a fourth-line role. A healthy Cole Perfetti, plus full seasons from depth players like Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter, likely push him down the depth chart slightly, although he’s shown the ability to be effective in a limited role.
Boston Bruins Sign Three Players
The Boston Bruins signed a trio of restricted free agents to one-year, two-way contracts today, per a team announcement. Goaltender Michael DiPietro, defenseman Alec Regula and defenseman Reilly Walsh all agreed to deals with $775K cap hits.
In doing so, the Bruins have retained some notable depth pieces for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, and they’ve also taken care of business with all their restricted free agents aside from their two pending arbitration cases – forward Trent Frederic and goalie Jeremy Swayman.
DiPietro will get another shot at trying to work his way up the organizational ladder after coming over from the Vancouver Canucks via trade last year. Once regarded as one of the better goalie prospects in the league, some perceived rushed development on Vancouver’s part, as well as limited play during the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly stunted the 24-year-old’s development. Boston decided to assign DiPietro to the ECHL’s Maine Mariners for most of last season, where he regained some confidence by compiling a 19-9-0 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 29 games. PuckPedia later added DiPietro’s minor-league salary will be $80K.
Regula recently came over to the Bruins from the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the trade return for winger Taylor Hall. The 22-year-old is now in his third NHL organization after being selected 67th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 2018, but he’s shown good defensive upside during his time in the minors and has 22 NHL games under his belt with the Blackhawks. The 6-foot-4, 218-pound right-shot defender put up five goals, 16 assists and 21 points in 51 games for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs last year.
Walsh also arrived in Boston via trade this summer, coming over from the New Jersey Devils in a minor swap nearly a month ago. At 24, Walsh immediately became one of the more promising young defenders in the Bruins’ system, and he’ll be one of Boston’s first call-up options (along with Regula) if injuries strike. He’s displayed solid two-way skills in the minors, recording nine goals, 32 assists and 41 points in 71 games with the AHL’s Utica Comets last year. He does have one NHL game under his belt, recording an assist in his lone appearance with the Devils in 2021-22.
All three players are slated to become restricted free agents with arbitration rights at the season’s end.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Linus Weissbach
The Buffalo Sabres signed left wing Linus Weissbach to a one-year, two-way contract today, the team said in a release. Weissbach’s new deal carries a $775K cap hit; however, the team did not disclose the complete structure of his contract.
With no pending arbitration cases, Weissbach was Buffalo’s last unsigned restricted free agent. Weissbach was eligible for arbitration but chose not to file.
The Swedish winger had quite a solid sophomore campaign with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, finishing fourth on the team with 47 points in 69 regular-season games last season and recording his first 20-goal campaign in the pros. He added on three goals, seven assists and ten points in 12 games of postseason play as the Americans advanced to the Eastern Conference Final, losing to the eventual Calder Cup champion, the Hershey Bears.
At 25 years old, Weissbach is a bonafide top-six AHL winger. How much farther he can rise from there remains to be seen. Still, his high-energy play and consistent forechecking earned him a qualifying offer last month and at least one more season of action in the Sabres organization.
Getting any games played within the organization out of a seventh-round pick is generally a victory for a team’s scouting department, and it’s fair to say the Sabres’ scouts can be happy with their choice after selecting Weissbach 192nd overall in 2017. The 5-foot-10 winger has gathered 84 points in 136 games over two seasons in Rochester after a successful four-year stay at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned Big Ten All-Rookie honors in 2017-18 and an All-Star team nod in 2020-21.
Snapshots: Blues, Lightning, Coyotes
Settling with Alexey Toropchenko today gave the St. Louis Blues come salary cap flexibility, says CapFriendly. Much like the Philadelphia Flyers did with Anthony DeAngelo, settling with Toropchenko, the Blues’ last remaining player who had filed for arbitration, opens a second buyout window for the team, which will open in three days and last for 48 hours. The rules for this unique buyout are limited, though – a player must have been on their reserve list at the trade deadline and must carry a cap hit of at least $4MM.
The Blues are cap-compliant but barely – CapFriendly projects them with roughly $290K in space with a full 23-player roster. They’ve expressed a clear desire to move out one of their aging top-four defensemen via trade, but nothing’s manifested yet, and it’s becoming less and less likely as the offseason trods on. It’s entirely possible general manager Doug Armstrong could choose to execute a buyout for someone like Nick Leddy, who’s struggled during his time in St. Louis and carries a $4MM cap hit through 2026. It would be a hefty buyout, running through 2028-29, but it wouldn’t carry a cap penalty of more than $2MM in any of the six seasons – it might be appealing.
More from around the NHL this weekend:
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are also granted a second buyout window after settling with forward Tanner Jeannot before arbitration. The team has cut costs wherever possible, but they still have less than $1MM in cap space, even taking into account Brent Seabrook‘s long-term injured reserve relief. Unfortunately for them, there are no possible candidates here – all of their players carrying a cap hit of $4MM are core parts of the team and won’t be considered for a buyout. General manager Julien BriseBois is prepping for another long season of cap management on a day-to-day basis.
- PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan today offered updates on a pair of Arizona Coyotes RFA forwards – Jan Jenik and Jack McBain. Morgan notes that Jenik’s deadline to accept his qualifying offer passed yesterday, meaning the team now has to negotiate a new deal with him to return to the desert. The 22-year-old was a 2018 third-round pick and notched 23 points in 30 games with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners last season. Morgan also notes that there hasn’t been any progress between the Coyotes and McBain on a new contract with his arbitration hearing looming at the end of the month, although they still have about two weeks to come to a deal before the hearing.
Minnesota Wild Avoid Arbitration With Brandon Duhaime
It appears the Minnesota Wild and winger Brandon Duhaime have worked out a deal before their arbitration hearing, which was set for Thursday. The two sides have agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth $1.1MM, the team announced Sunday.
The one-year deal will walk Duhaime to unrestricted free agency next summer. A 2016 fourth-round pick of the Wild, Duhaime made his NHL debut early in 2021-22 and hasn’t looked back – he’s played 131 games over the past two seasons with the Wild and has avoided assignment to the minors. He’s demonstrated solid consistency and defensive awareness, leading to an everyday role in the lineup when healthy.
He gets some nice seven-figure compensation because of that, and the Wild get some much-needed financial certainty out of the way without risking an arbitration ruling that could upset their delicate dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit. CapFriendly does list the Wild with just over $7MM in projected cap space after signing Duhaime, but that’s with just 11 forwards and new contracts needed for Filip Gustavsson and Calen Addison.
While it’ll be close, getting Duhaime locked in for next season under $1.5MM is a solid win for general manager Bill Guerin. It should spare him enough room to get the Gustavsson and Addison extensions done, albeit likely short-term, and keep a core together that’s gotten the Wild to the playoffs in four straight seasons.
Duhaime finished last season with nine goals and one assist in 56 games.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the Wild and Duhaime had reached a deal.