Alex Galchenyuk Signs With KHL’s St. Petersburg
August 25: Galchenyuk has indeed signed in the KHL, although it’s not with the expected team. He’s joining SKA St. Petersburg on a two-year contract, according to the team. Galchenyuk recently took a plea deal for a misdemeanor charge as part of the July incident, which resulted in five other charges against him being dropped, per Katie Strang of The Athletic.
August 6: Per a report out of Russia, free agent forward Alex Galchenyuk is likely to sign with the KHL’s Spartak Moscow this summer. Galchenyuk had signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes when NHL free agency opened on July 1, but the team terminated his contract over a week later after Galchenyuk was arrested on a number of charges, which included a private property hit-and-run and resisting arrest. The 29-year-old issued public apologies to the Coyotes organization and the Scottsdale, Arizona, police department and is currently in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
Galchenyuk, who has now amassed over 650 NHL games over an 11-season career, played a career-low 11 NHL games last season for the Colorado Avalanche and spent most of the campaign in the minors. Returning to the Coyotes would have brought him back to the organization where he’s had his most productive seasons since the Montreal Canadiens, who drafted him third overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, dealt him away in 2018. Formerly a 30-goal scorer, Galchenyuk was held off the scoresheet entirely in his games with Colorado last season, but he did post 16 goals, 26 assists and 42 points in 42 games while in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles.
Even in limited minutes with Colorado last season, Galchenyuk no longer looked comfortable in NHL action. Averaging just 7:06 per game, Galchenyuk posted a rather horrid relative Corsi for percentage at even strength of -11.6. Head coach Jared Bednar‘s usage of him likely didn’t help matters, though. He started just 39.2% of his zone starts at even strength in the offensive zone, by far a career low.
It’s unclear for how long Galchenyuk is expected to sign with Moscow, but after his arrest and lack of sustainable NHL play last season, it’s conceivable he plays the rest of his pro career overseas. Galchenyuk was born in the United States and has represented the U.S. internationally, but was born to Belarusian parents and is fluent in Russian. He has never played professionally in Russia, however. If he does indeed join Spartak, he’d line up alongside a forward corps ripe with former NHLers, including Alexander Burmistrov, Nikolay Goldobin, Andrei Loktionov, and Shane Prince.
Coyotes Confirm Extension For Assistant Coach John Madden
As expected, the Arizona Coyotes announced they’d signed assistant coach John Madden to a multi-year contract extension today.
When the initial report of head coach Andre Tourigny’s extension came in from PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan earlier this week, he expected similar announcements for Tourigny’s assistants to follow in the coming days. Morgan had reported earlier in the summer that Tourigny would not put pen to paper on an extension until agreements were in place for the rest of his staff.
Arizona announced an extension for Mario Duhamel yesterday, so only goalie coach Corey Schwab is left without a deal in place, at least officially. Duhamel, Madden and Schwab are joined on Tourigny’s bench by assistant Blaine Forsythe, who joined the Coyotes earlier this summer after a 16-year stint with the Washington Capitals.
Madden, 50, will continue in his role in the desert as the team’s primary penalty kill coach, an area in which he excelled during his playing days as a four-time Selke Trophy finalist (and winner in 2001). Last season was his first behind the Arizona bench, and the team’s 74.6% penalty kill success rate managed to escape the league’s bottom five. While not anything impressive, it’s hard to truly judge a team’s defensive metrics during a rebuild.
He’s now entering his seventh year of NHL coaching experience. Madden previously served as an assistant for the Florida Panthers from 2013 to 2016 and an assistant for the San Jose Sharks from 2020 to 2022. In between, Madden took on the head coach role for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters from 2016 to 2019 in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization.
Minor Transactions: 08/25/23
The following is a list of notable minor-league and overseas transactions for August 25, 2023:
- Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Adam Johnson has signed a one-year deal with the EIHL’s Nottingham Panthers, according to a team release. Johnson, 29, heads to Britain after spending last season in Germany with the DEL’s Augsburger Panther. There, he tied for fifth in team scoring with seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points in 45 games. An undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2017, Johnson recorded four points in 13 games with Pittsburgh from 2018 to 2020. He last suited up in North America in the AHL in 2021-22, splitting the season between the Ontario Reign and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
- The ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones have signed OHL standout James Hardie to a one-year contract extension, per a team announcement. Hardie, 21, suited up in two regular-season games and ten playoff games for the Cyclones to conclude last season after finishing his major junior career as captain of the Mississauga Steelheads. After clocking over a point-per-game over the past three seasons with Mississauga, it’s admittedly surprising Hardie wasn’t able to secure an AHL contract, but perhaps a lackluster playoff performance in Cincinnati (just a goal and an assist) hurt his ability to land a contract in North America’s second-highest pro tier. Instead, he’ll again suit up for the new ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, hoping to work his way up the pro ladder.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Winnipeg Jets Announce ECHL Affiliation With Norfolk Admirals
The Winnipeg Jets have signed a new affiliation agreement with the Norfolk Admirals of the ECHL for the 2023-24 season, according to a team release.
Winnipeg hasn’t had a full-time ECHL affiliate since the 2020-21 season, the last of a four-year partnership with the Jacksonville Icemen. The last two seasons were their first without an ECHL affiliate since the franchise’s inaugural season in Winnipeg in 2011-12.
The Admirals had spent the last two seasons affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes and the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The agreement ended this summer, with the Wolves franchise choosing to operate independently of an NHL parent club.
This Norfolk franchise is not the same one some hockey fans will remember from the 2000s and early 2010s. That team played in the AHL from 2000 to 2015, after which they relocated to San Diego to become the Gulls, the current top affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. The current iteration of the Admirals began in 2015, relocating from Bakersfield to continue playing in the ECHL.
It’s been an extremely tough stretch for the Admirals since relocating, however. They’ve finished well below the .500 mark every season since their inception and are still looking for their first playoff appearance.
They haven’t even cracked the 30-win mark since their inaugural 2015-16 season, but that’s something the Admirals are hoping to change by signing on with the Jets. Admirals general manager and head coach Jeff Carr gave the following statement:
Last year, our organization made a concerted, positive transformation to our on and off-ice product that our incredible city and fanbase has been desperate for. This affiliation helps us build a solid base as we continue to ascend in our new culture. Winnipeg’s dedication to winning and development is no secret in the hockey world. With the depth that Winnipeg has and their view on development, they’re going to be very involved with our roster. We both felt joining forces together with the goals of character, winning, and development outweighed any obstacle of geographical distance.
It certainly will be a haul for any player shuttling between Norfolk and the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. The cities of Winnipeg and Norfolk are separated by a straight-line distance of 1,375 miles and separated by an indirect commercial flight of at least five hours. While most NHL teams have brought their AHL affiliates closer to home over the past decade, it’s still somewhat common for ECHL affiliates to be more than halfway across the continent from their NHL (or AHL) parents.
One player in the Jets organization set to be impacted considerably by this move is goalie prospect Thomas Milic, The Athletic’s Murat Ates notes. Winnipeg’s fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft is set to return to his final season of major junior hockey with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds in 2023-24 but is a likely candidate for a starting role in the ECHL when he does turn pro. The 20-year-old netminder earned his draft selection after being passed over twice, thanks to winning a gold medal with Canada at the World Juniors and a WHL championship with Seattle last season.
Atlantic Notes: DeBrusk, Peksa, Red Wings
Independent Boston Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty surmises that Brandon Hagel‘s recent eight-year, $6.5MM AAV extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning likely sets the table for Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk‘s next deal. The circumstances surrounding DeBrusk are a bit different, however. Not only is DeBrusk two years older than Hagel, but he’s slated for unrestricted free agency next summer – a threat Tampa wasn’t facing with Hagel, at least not imminently.
The two players have performed relatively similarly over the past two seasons. DeBrusk has 52 goals and 92 points in 141 games since 2021, while Hagel has 55 goals and 108 points in 158 games. Both have shown the ability to be high-end complementary players to stars in the top six, and Hagel was paid as such this week. With DeBrusk, however, it seems more prudent for the Bruins to wait it out and see how he starts the season without David Krejci or Patrice Bergeron to serve as his center. If DeBrusk’s production trails off with decreased support down the middle, the Bruins could very well trade DeBrusk or let him walk to UFA if his ask is similar to Hagel’s.
Elsewhere from the Atlantic Division today:
- It appears Toronto Maple Leafs goalie prospect Vyacheslav Peksa will be staying in North America, according to The Score’s Kyle Cushman. There had been some conflicting reports on whether the Leafs would loan Peksa back to Russia for 2023-24 – Peksa himself told Cushman earlier this summer he anticipated staying in Toronto (with the AHL’s Marlies) this season, while assistant general manager Hayley Wickenheiser told reporters at development camp that Peksa would be loaned out. Peksa, a 2021 sixth-round pick, posted a sparkling .921 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average on a struggling Bars Kazan team in the Russian second-tier VHL last season.
- The Detroit Red Wings have announced their roster for their first event of the 2023-24 league year – their annual prospect tournament held in Traverse City. On offense, they’ll have 2022 and 2023 top-ten picks suiting up in Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson, among others. 2021 first-round selection Sebastian Cossa will also participate between the pipes.
Minor Transactions: 08/24/23
Yesterday was the busiest day in the NHL news cycle in quite some time, seeing multiple high-profile extensions, including Auston Matthews‘ $13.25MM AAV mega-deal for four years. Those aren’t the only transactions worthy of coverage, however. Many moves continue to trickle in as the offseason rolls on from the minor, major junior and European ranks.
- The OHL’s Niagara IceDogs have acquired forward Gavin Bryant and a 2027 third-round pick in the OHL Priority Selection Draft from the Owen Sound Attack in exchange for forward Declan Waddick, according to a team release. Bryant, 19, is coming off a breakout season unfortunately shortened by multiple injuries which limited him to 30 games. However, he did produce near a point-per-game rate when he did play, recording ten goals and 16 assists for 26 points while serving as an alternate captain. He heads to a Niagara team that won just 12 games last season while mired in off-ice instability. Waddick, NHL draft-eligible for the first time in 2023, led the IceDogs in goals last season with 28. He added 21 assists to finish with 49 points in 64 games, finishing second on the team.
- The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have signed former OHL Saginaw Spirit defenseman Mitchell Smith to a one-year ECHL contract. The deal represents the Solar Bears’ second defensive addition of the last few days, with the team bringing in sophomore defenseman Chris Perna on Tuesday. While Perna is a stay-at-home defenseman with a year of pro experience under his belt, Smith is an offensive defenseman set to make his professional debut in the fall. Smith has tallied 102 points across the last two OHL seasons with the Spirit and ranked second among Saginaw blueliners in scoring in that time frame, behind only 2022 10th overall pick Pavel Mintyukov. Smith with get a chance to establish himself as an offensive difference-maker from the back end in Orlando with the hope he’ll eventually be able to climb the ladder of North American pro hockey and get a look in the AHL.
- Former Kingston Frontenacs captain Ted Nichol has signed a one-year ECHL deal with the Kalamazoo Wings. Nichol, 26, has 14 professional games under his belt after concluding a four-season career at the University of Guelph earlier this year. His playing rights were acquired by the Wings from the Everblades, the team he made his pro debut with last season, as part of a March trade that sent Logan Lambdin to Florida. Nichol only managed three points in 14 games with Florida last season but will look to earn a bigger role on head coach Joel Martin’s team.
- Zane Franklin, a former WHL star with the Kamloops Blazers, has re-signed with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. The feisty 24-year-old winger enjoyed something of a breakout season in Idaho last year, scoring 16 goals and 33 points in 55 games. The Steelheads were dominant in the ECHL regular season and made a run all the way to the Kelly Cup Finals, and this signing will allow the franchise retain a useful contributor from that squad.
- Atro Leppänen, one of the breakout stars of the 2022-23 season of Finland’s second-tier league, has earned a contract with a Liiga club: Vaasan Sport. The 24-year-old left-shot blueliner led Kiekko-Espoo to a Mestis title last season, leading the league in scoring by a blueliner. He ranked fourth in league scoring as a defenseman and now will get the chance to try to translate that success to the highest level of Finnish hockey.
- Longtime Swiss National League forward Reto Suri, a veteran of nearly 700 games in the Swiss top flight, will retire at the end of the season according to his club EV Zug. Suri recently injured his knee and is expected to be out for four-to-six months, and now with some clarity on that injury the club has issued some clarity on the player’s long-term plans. Suri only managed three points in 30 games for Zug last season but has long been a quality contributor in the Swiss league, managing 15 or more goals four times and 30 or more points six times. He’s represented Switzerland internationally at both the Olympics and the IIHF Men’s World Championships, and when he retires he will do so having recently won a Swiss league championship with Zug in 2021-22.
- The USHL’s Madison Capitols acquired Latvian import netminder Patriks Bērziņš from the Tri-City Storm in exchange for multiple draft picks. The 19-year-old University of Maine commit has represented Latvia at two IIHF World Junior Championships and was highly impressive at the 2023 tournament, posting a .914 save percentage and 2.47 goals-against-average in six games. Bērziņš outperformed U.S. netminder and eventual 41st overall pick Trey Augustine at the tournament, but ultimately was not selected at the 2023 draft. Bērziņš split time between the USHL with the Storm and the NAHL with the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks last season, and now will likely get a chance to be a number-one USHL netminder before heading to college for 2024-25.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Edmonton Oilers Sign Evan Bouchard
August 24: PuckPedia has the breakdown of Bouchard’s deal, which is expected to become official today. He’ll earn $3.5MM in 2023-24 and $4.3MM in 2024-25, all in base salary. He’ll be due a $4.3MM qualifying offer as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights upon expiry in 2025.
August 23: The Edmonton Oilers are closing in on a two-year extension with their last remaining RFA, defenseman Evan Bouchard. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the deal will be worth around $3.9MM per season.
Bouchard, Edmonton’s tenth-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, all but solidified his trajectory as a bonafide top-four defenseman last season. In his second full-time NHL campaign, Bouchard recorded at least 40 points after doing so in his rookie season and improved on already decent possession metrics.
It was the postseason, however, where Bouchard earned himself widespread attention. Despite getting eliminated in the Second Round, Bouchard led all defensemen in playoff points last season with four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in just 12 games. Averaging 23 minutes per game, Bouchard put his skills as a developing elite power-play quarterback on full display, recording 15 of his 17 points on Edmonton’s top special teams unit.
While Bouchard could have very well secured more money and term with unlimited resources, all signs pointed to a bridge deal throughout the negotiation process. Oilers general manager Ken Holland still finds himself in quite a tricky dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit, having his options extremely limited on the free agent market and needing to settle for bridge deals with Bouchard and center Ryan McLeod to conserve space.
A $3.9MM cap hit for Bouchard would put the Oilers roughly $400K over the cap with a roster of 22 players, per CapFriendly’s projections. Assigning a player to the minors and starting the season with a 21-player roster will make the team compliant. The odd player out could very well be 2020 first-round pick Dylan Holloway, thanks to an unfortunate numbers game, as he’s the team’s only potential assignment candidate who does not require waivers. Others, such as 2019 second-round pick Raphaël Lavoie, will likely be claimed if exposed on the waiver wire.
Next season, Bouchard is set to reprise his role alongside Mattias Ekholm on the team’s second pairing, which performed incredibly well down the stretch after the Oilers acquired Ekholm near the trade deadline from the Nashville Predators. It was their most effective pairing in terms of generating offense in the postseason, too. The right-shot defender will again slot in as the point man on the Oilers’ world-beating top power-play unit boasting Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
As the 23-year-old develops, look for him to eclipse the 20-minute-per-game mark for the first time this season. He’s seen 19:48 and 18:31 of action per game in each other last two seasons, respectively.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dillon Simpson Retires, Begins Coaching Career
Veteran defenseman Dillon Simpson has announced his retirement from professional hockey and revealed his new role as an assistant coach with the University of North Dakota hockey program, according to a release from the Fighting Hawks. The son of former Edmonton Oiler Craig Simpson, his decision to step away from active professional play marks the conclusion of a career that spanned nine seasons in the minors and nearly 500 AHL games.
Simpson’s professional journey began in 2011 after being selected in the fourth round by the Edmonton Oilers as an over-ager after a decent freshman season at North Dakota. He would spend the entirety of his pro career in the Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets after turning pro in 2014. He did only ever play three NHL games, all coming with Edmonton in the 2016-17 season, but grew into a respected leader and shutdown defender at the AHL level.
Post-retirement, Simpson, 30, returns to the school he captained during his senior season and accumulated 75 points and a +22 rating across four seasons and 156 appearances.
Used heavily in shutdown situations, Simpson spent the last four seasons in a leadership role for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, including serving as the team’s captain for the last two. He fell out of a regular role last season thanks to an early-season injury, however. Simpson skated in 29 games in 2022-23, recording a goal and an assist. He never won a Calder Cup but remained an integral part of AHL Bakersfield and Cleveland’s systems for nearly a decade.
PHR extends its best wishes to Simpson in his retirement and hopes for the best in his coaching career.
Snapshots: McDavid, Kuznetsov, Matthews
Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews will always be inextricably linked. They were selected with back-to-back first-overall picks by, as of now, the two best Canadian teams in the league. Therefore, it’s not surprising public discourse has shifted once again to McDavid’s future in Edmonton after Matthews signed his four-year, $53MM extension in Toronto yesterday.
Speaking with Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, when asked about a contract extension, McDavid said, “We’re super comfortable [in Edmonton],” but an extension is also “three years down the road. We’ve got to kind of see where our lives are at and kind of go from there.” He went on to re-avow his commitment to winning a championship with Edmonton’s core. While the tonality of McDavid’s statement may raise some eyebrows, it really shouldn’t – the Oilers’ superstar isn’t exactly known for his unfiltered approach to interviews. While there is always the chance McDavid departs in free agency should things in Edmonton go horribly wrong over the next few seasons, it’s far from becoming a likely scenario, at least at this stage.
More from the NHL today:
- One surprisingly quiet storyline throughout the offseason has been that of Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who the team confirmed had requested a trade earlier this summer. In an interview with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, Capitals incoming head coach Spencer Carbery said he’s spoken with Kuznetsov multiple times this summer and “it sounds like there’s a real focus to his preparation for next season.” While it’s far from a confirmation he’s rescinded his trade request, Kuznetsov staying in the nation’s capital and returning to form could very well thrust Washington back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, something captain Alex Ovechkin would certainly love to see while he chases the NHL’s all-time goals record.
- Matthews’ extension may be the richest per season of the salary cap era, but it still hasn’t surpassed McDavid’s deal as taking up the highest percentage of the salary cap when signed, Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva points out. McDavid’s eight-year, $100MM deal, which kicked in for the 2018-19 campaign, took up a record 16.67% of the cap’s Upper Limit when it was signed in July 2017. Matthews’ deal, on the other hand, which carries an average annual value of $750K higher than McDavid’s, takes up 15.87% of the cap at the time of signing.
AHL Coachella Valley Signs Jack LaFontaine
The AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds have signed netminder Jack LaFontaine to a one-year contract, per the team, bringing the former Carolina Hurricanes draft pick into the Seattle Kraken organization.
A 2016 third-round pick, LaFontaine’s post-draft career got off to an inauspicious beginning at the University of Michigan for two seasons in a backup role. After then taking a year off from school to play in the BCHL, LaFontaine joined the University of Minnesota, where he became the team’s undisputed starter and, during the 2020-21 campaign, was arguably the best goalie in college hockey, posting a .934 save percentage and 22-7-0 record en route to winning the Mike Richter award for the NCAA’s top collegiate goalie.
His fifth season in college didn’t go quite well, posting a 2.69 goals-against average and .900 save percentage in 20 games before deciding to turn pro in the middle of the season and sign an entry-level contract with Carolina. He made two NHL appearances for them, stopping just 32 of 41 shots in 75 minutes of action. His time in the minors after signing didn’t go swimmingly, posting just a .885 save percentage and a 4-3-7 record in 13 games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
The minor-league performance was discouraging enough for the Hurricanes to cut him loose at the end of the season, opting not to issue him a qualifying offer in favor of other goalies in the organization they believed had higher ceilings. It led to LaFontaine signing an AHL contract last summer with the Syracuse Crunch, the affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He played just five games in Syracuse last season, instead spending most of 2022-23 in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears, where he again struggled with a .898 save percentage and an 11-14-1 record. He did look much improved in his stint with Syracuse, though, posting a .924 save percentage and 2.36 goals-against average in his limited stint.
LaFontaine will now look to secure a backup role in Coachella Valley and get his career back on track. He’ll have to beat out Kraken free agent signing Ales Stezka for the job, though, and he’s coming over to North America after posting a .924 save percentage and 2.14 goals-against average in 39 games with HC Vítkovice in the Czech Extraliga last season.