Flames Sign First-Round Pick Samuel Honzek
The Calgary Flames announced today they’ve signed forward Samuel Honzek, their first-round pick in last month’s 2023 NHL Draft. It’s a standard three-year, entry-level contract, and FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike reports it carries an average annual value of $950K. Selected 16th overall by the Flames, Honzek is the tenth 2023 first-round talent to sign his entry-level deal.
Calgary selected the 18-year-old Slovak forward out of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. Able to play both wing and center, Honzek leveraged his massive 6-foot-4 frame to register 23 goals and 56 points in 43 games for the Giants during an injury-shortened campaign. He may have gone earlier than some expected, but it’s hard to be too angry about the pick value Calgary got with Honzek in the mid-teens.
Honzek headlined a quietly intriguing 2023 draft class for the Flames, who also nabbed Canadian defenseman Étienne Morin in the second round and high-scoring Russian winger Aydar Suniev in the third. The intelligent and all-around smooth-skating Honzek is the prize of their class, though, and he ranks as the organization’s fourth-best forward in the pipeline, according to DobberProspects.
Calgary will likely return Honzek to junior hockey next season, which will slide his entry-level contract back a year to 2024-25. Given Honzek was 18 at the time of signing his ELC, Calgary is allowed to execute this maneuver twice. If he’s not ready for full-time NHL play in 2024 either, the Flames could delay the start of Honzek’s deal to 2025-26, keeping him under contract for a six-figure cap hit as far along as 2028.
Coyotes, Logan Cooley Close To Entry-Level Contract
It appears prized center prospect Logan Cooley will not be returning to the University of Minnesota for his sophomore season. Per a report from PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (backed up by this rather cryptic tweet from the team itself), the Arizona Coyotes are “gaining momentum” on signing Cooley to an entry-level contract and bringing him to the NHL in 2023-24. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds he’d be “very surprised” if Cooley does not sign within the next two days.
Cooley has been one of the more hot-button names in the Coyotes organization after he opted not to sign an entry-level deal earlier this offseason, a decision he partially attributed at the time to the team’s proposed arena plan in Tempe falling through. He acknowledged this to Morgan in an interview earlier this month but also said, “There’s still some things I want to accomplish in college before I make the step to the NHL. I’d say the arena played a little factor, but it wasn’t do or die like I’m not coming or anything like that.”
Arizona selected Cooley with the third overall pick in 2022, a pick that was somewhat controversial at the time with top prospect Shane Wright still available. They have to be excited with early returns, though, as Cooley led Minnesota all the way to a national championship loss with 22 goals and 60 points in just 39 games as a freshman. His points total was eclipsed only by fellow freshman and 2023 Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli, who went to the Columbus Blue Jackets at third overall last month.
Adding Cooley to a top-six forward group that’s already gained Jason Zucker in free agency suddenly gives the rebuilding Coyotes quite a formidable attack at the top of their lineup. Led by Clayton Keller, emerging as a true star after scoring 37 goals and 86 points in 82 games last year, Arizona’s offense is quickly resembling that of a playoff bubble team rather than a basement-dweller. They’re not likely to reach postseason play in 2024 with the state of their defense, but getting their best center prospect under contract is a big step in Arizona’s return to on-ice relevancy.
This certainly isn’t music to the ears of the University of Minnesota, who could unexpectedly lose their best player two months after he committed to rejoin the team. Cooley, along with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies and St. Louis Blues prospect Jimmy Snuggerud, arguably formed the best line in college hockey last season. Only Snuggerud will remain in a Golden Gophers jersey next season.
Signing a three-year entry-level deal would keep Cooley under contract in the desert through 2025-26, after which he’d be a restricted free agent. While unlikely, he is eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners this season.
Calgary Flames Reportedly Hire Kerry Huffman
The Calgary Flames are making a major addition to their professional scouting department, per Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey. Kerry Huffman, who’d served as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ director of pro scouting for the past two seasons, is on his way to Calgary to join their pro scouting department.
The 55-year-old Huffman has turned into a rather respected scout after a 401-game NHL career split between the Philadelphia Flyers, Quebec Nordiques, and Ottawa Senators. After last suiting up in 1999, it would be 15 years before Huffman returned to the sport, joining a Wilkes/Barre-Scranton area youth team as a head coach.
It’s been a quick rise up the front office ranks since then, becoming an AHL assistant coach before long in 2016 with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He served there for five seasons before joining Pittsburgh’s scouting department.
He now heads to Calgary, who will rely on their pro scouts heavily in the next few months as they consider trades for their pending UFAs – certainly defenseman Noah Hanifin, while forwards Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund could lead to some major trades as well, pending their extension statuses.
Huffman’s dismissal in Pittsburgh was one of the first orders of business for incoming interim GM Kyle Dubas last month, as he was fired just a day after Dubas took his post. Some trades made in Pittsburgh the last few seasons weren’t exactly inspiring, especially the team’s acquisition of Mikael Granlund at last year’s trade deadline, but it’s impossible to place that blame solely on the scouting department.
Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz Passes Away
Chicago Blackhawks chairman and principal owner Rocky Wirtz has passed away suddenly after a brief illness, according to a statement from the team. Wirtz was 70 years old.
The Wirtz family has consistently left an indelible mark on the Blackhawks, for better or for worse, and Rocky was no different. Under his ownership, the team was revitalized, to say the least – his choices to get Blackhawks home games back on local television after the team selected Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in back-to-back drafts helped regenerate a dying interest in the team, and fans’ passions were soon rewarded with three Stanley Cups in a six-year span (2010, 2013, 2015).
He oversaw the longest sustained period of success for Chicago in recent memory. The team reached the playoffs in nine straight seasons from 2009 to 2017 after the team went over a decade without winning a playoff series. Things were rough for Chicago in the last few seasons, however, and not just on the ice.
As Pope notes, Wirtz’s last public appearance came over a year ago when the team introduced new general manager Kyle Davidson – a press conference that came just over a month after Wirtz was criticized heavily for comments made during a town-hall discussion regarding the team’s involvement in the 2010 sexual assault scandal involving former video coach Brad Aldrich. He shut down reporters inquiring about the team’s steps forward from the incident and how to rectify the organization’s culture, telling the media it was “none of your business” while his son, Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz, was trying to answer a question from The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus. Wirtz immediately apologized for his wording, releasing a statement that read, “I want to apologize to the fans and those reporters, and I regret that my response overshadowed the great work this organization is doing to move forward.”
It’s unclear what the immediate path forward is for Blackhawks ownership, but the team will surely stay in the hands of the Wirtz family as they continue a rich family legacy in the city.
PHR sends our condolences to the Blackhawks organization and the Wirtz family.
The Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope initially reported Wirtz had passed away.
East Notes: Bruins, Werenski, Elson
The Boston Bruins got some expected but tough news today, with captain and two-way dynamo Patrice Bergeron retiring after a fruitful 19-year career with the club. However, their focus can’t drift too far away from their main to-do list items still unchecked this offseason: new contracts for restricted free agents Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic.
Boston is facing arbitration hearings with both players. Swayman’s is up first on July 30, while Frederic’s is slated for August 1. The two parties have up until the start of the hearing to settle on a deal themselves – otherwise, their next contracts will be decided by an independent arbitrator. Independent Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty surmised today that a pair of recent arbitrators’ decisions, Chicago’s Philipp Kurashev (two years, $2.25MM AAV) and Toronto’s Ilya Samsonov (one year, $3.55MM AAV), have set the framework for Frederic’s and Swayman’s deals if they both reach arbitration. It’s worth noting that Samsonov was only eligible for a one-year deal via arbitration, given his pending UFA eligibility next season, while Swayman is still eligible for two. Even so, a combined $5.8MM cap hit for Frederic and Swayman would push the Bruins to the limit of the salary cap, per CapFriendly, and would likely result in the team carrying less than the maximum 23-man roster to start the season.
More out of the Eastern Conference today:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets need a giant refresh button after a disappointing and injury-laden campaign last season. No one needs it more than their number one defender, Zach Werenski, who’ll be ready to go after missing all but 13 games last season with a shoulder injury. Today he told reporters, including BlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda, that he’s met with incoming head coach Mike Babcock and is feeling revitalized ahead of an important transitional season for the club. Werenski said the conversation “kind of fired me up a little bit. I think from that point on, I just wanted to get to training camp and get the season going.” The 26-year-old left-shot defender registered eight points in his limited action last year and skated over 23 minutes per game.
- A rare press release error was clarified by CapFriendly today, confirming that minor-league forward Turner Elson will remain under contract with the Rangers next season despite the team saying they’d signed him to a one-year deal in 2022. CapFriendly reported the two-year deal correctly at the time. Elson, 30, played a bottom-six role with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack last year and will earn a minimum guaranteed salary of $250K in 2023-24. Coming to the Rangers last summer after a decade spent in the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, and Detroit Red Wings organizations, Elson registered a strong 17 goals, 24 assists and 41 points in a team-leading 72 games for the Wolf Pack. It’s been quite the winding career for the undrafted free agent, who has three NHL games to his name and has cemented himself as solid veteran leadership and scoring depth in the minors.
Pacific Notes: Ronni, DiCasmirro, BC Hockey
An intriguing prospect for the Calgary Flames will get a chance to rejoin his national team at next year’s World Junior Championship, as Finnish center Topi Ronni has been named to Finland’s roster for the World Junior Summer Showcase. Ronni joins an interesting slate of young Finns headed to the pre-season tournament held in Plymouth, Michigan, including top 2024 draft-eligible prospects Aron Kiviharju and Konsta Helenius, as well as recently-inked Seattle Kraken prospect Jani Nyman.
A likely contender to land on the team’s final roster for the 2024 edition of the WJC, Ronni will look to have a strong showing and improve on his 2023 performance which saw him fail to get on the scoresheet in five contests for the Finns. Standing at 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds, Calgary selected Ronni 59th overall in 2022 and is still looking to make a major impact in the professional ranks. He got into just 22 games with Liiga side Tappara last year, recording two goals and three assists. He’ll try and build on those totals as well next season, as he remains unsigned by Calgary and will re-join Tappara for 2023-24. Finland, meanwhile, will look to Ronni to help them get back to the medal rounds after a disappointing quarterfinal loss last year.
More from the Pacific Division today:
- The Edmonton Oilers have added to their minor-league coaching staff, naming Nate DiCasmirro an assistant coach for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors today, per a team release. DiCasmirro fills out Bakersfield’s coaching staff, replacing former NHL forward Josh Green, who served just one year with the Condors. The 44-year-old coach spent the last two seasons on the bench of the AHL’s Iowa Wild but did not have his contract renewed by parent club Minnesota this summer. The Iowa job was DiCasmirro’s first in the AHL after retiring from pro hockey in 2019. Over a 17-year pro career, DiCasmirro also played 401 games in the AHL between 2002 and 2008.
- After its major league split from Hockey Canada earlier this year, British Columbia junior hockey has undergone a major restructuring. The junior-A BCHL left the national governing body to gain the ability to recruit U-18 prospects from Canadian provinces outside of British Columbia, leaving the BC Hockey governing body without a league at the country’s second-highest junior level below the major-junior CHL. Today, BC Hockey promoted three junior-B leagues – the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Pacific Junior Hockey League, and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – to junior-A status, bringing them to the same level as the BCHL. The BCHL consistently sees its players head onto collegiate careers in the NCAA as well as drafted directly to NHL teams, such as Carolina Hurricanes 2023 first-round selection Bradly Nadeau.
Flyers Sign Alexis Gendron To Entry-Level Contract
The Philadelphia Flyers announced they’ve signed forward Alexis Gendron, a seventh-round pick from their 2022 draft class. The team did not disclose the financial terms of Gendron’s contract, although CapFriendly reports it’s a three-year contract worth $860K per season. Gendron will earn $775K in the NHL, an $85K signing bonus, and an $82.5K salary in the minors in each season.
Selected six spots before the draft concluded, Gendron is the first member of Philadelphia’s 2022 draft class to sign his entry-level contract. The team’s top prospect from that year, fifth-overall pick Cutter Gauthier, is expected to return to Boston College for his sophomore season in 2023-24 and remains unsigned. Philadelphia acquired the 220th overall pick used to select Gendron and the signing rights to defenseman Tony DeAngelo, whom they bought out earlier this month, from the Carolina Hurricanes.
Gendron, 19, can play both right wing and center and was selected out of the QMJHL from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Amidst a strong post-draft season in the Q, he was dealt to the Gatineau Olympiques in December 2022, and he went on to post the most postseason goals of any QMJHLer in this year’s playoffs with 14 in just 13 games.
The undersized forward relies on his creativity to generate offense, and he’s got a distinctive eye for plays such as bank and stretch passes. He obviously has decent shooting acumen, too, and while he’s not a defensive liability, he likely won’t be tasked with much penalty-killing responsibility in the NHL at just 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds.
Gendron will likely return to Gatineau in 2023-24 for his final season in juniors, although due to his 20th birthday falling before January 1, he’s not eligible for an entry-level slide, and the Flyers will burn the first year of his contract regardless of how many NHL games he plays. Gendron is eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, however, another unusual quirk because of his late December birthday.
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Tony DeAngelo
3:49 PM: PuckPedia confirms it will be a one-year, $1.675MM contract for DeAngelo and the Hurricanes.
2:12 PM: The Carolina Hurricanes are closing in on a one-year deal for defenseman Tony DeAngelo in the $1.6MM range, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The signing concludes a weeks-long courtship of DeAngelo by the Canes, who previously had the right-shot defender on their roster for the 2021-22 campaign.
DeAngelo’s former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, bought out the 27-year-old earlier this month after a proposed trade to send him back to Carolina at 50% salary retention fell through. While he is coming off three straight 40-point campaigns, his defensive deficiencies and a laundry list of off-ice controversies are nothing to shy away from. He’s now the only player in NHL history to get bought out twice.
Despite leading the Flyers’ defense in points and finishing second in average time on ice, head coach John Tortorella scratched DeAngelo multiple times to finish off last season, fracturing the relationship between the player and his hometown team. The league blocked the reported trade sending DeAngelo back to Carolina at a cap cost of $2.5MM, half of his $5MM salary with the Flyers, citing cap circumvention as their reasoning.
DeAngelo now heads back to Raleigh, where the Hurricanes have demonstrated an ability to cover up the defender’s deficiencies that arise from his one-dimensional play. Recording ten goals and 51 points in 64 games, DeAngelo recorded a career-high +30 with Carolina during his only season there and spent most of his time alongside Jaccob Slavin on the team’s top pairing, whose elite shutdown play helped DeAngelo play to his strengths offensively without hurting the team in the goals against column.
The question is now where DeAngelo fits in on Carolina’s defense, which has seen a significant makeover with Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov added to the fold in back-to-back offseasons after DeAngelo’s departure. Right-shot Brett Pesce remains with Carolina, but without a contract extension in place beyond next season, he’s a likely trade candidate as the offseason draws on.
A looming wild card is where Carolina stands in trade talks for San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, whose status on the block is no secret after a Norris Trophy-winning campaign. Multiple reports state the Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins are the two frontrunners for his services, which would undoubtedly plug up a deep right side and make it hard for DeAngelo to earn much ice time in his second stint with Carolina. Could DeAngelo find himself on the move again in a matter of weeks as part of a trade package for Karlsson? Per Seravalli’s initial report, it’s unclear whether his short-term pact with the Hurricanes includes trade protection.
A $1.6MM cap hit leaves Carolina with roughly $900K in cap space as things stand, per CapFriendly, so DeAngelo is likely the last of their major free agent additions. The team has been quite busy on the open market this summer, adding Michael Bunting and Brendan Lemieux in addition to DeAngelo and Orlov.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Kraken Re-Assign Jani Nyman To Finland
The Seattle Kraken re-assigned forward prospect Jani Nyman to Ilves in the Finnish Liiga today, according to a team announcement. The move solidifies Nyman’s home for next season and returns him to the organization where he’s spent the past six seasons developing.
Seattle selected the 18-year-old right winger with the 49th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. After a strong rookie season in the Liiga, registering ten goals in 29 games for Ilves, Seattle signed the bulky sniper to a three-year, entry-level contract in June. He also appeared for the Finnish national junior team at the 2023 IIHF World Juniors, notching two goals and an assist for three points in five games.
While 2022-23 was his rookie season in Finland’s top men’s league, it wasn’t his first full professional season. Nyman spent his draft year on loan with KOOVEE in the Mestis, the country’s second-tier league behind the Liiga. While not a standard league for draft-eligible prospects to suit up in, Nyman excelled there, leading the team (by far) with 18 goals and 35 points in 34 games.
Standing at 6-foot-3 and 217 pounds, he possesses a pro-ready frame despite being more than a year away from his 20th birthday. He does bring an intriguing blend of shooting ability and size, and while he’s far from a sure thing at the NHL level, he is one of the Kraken’s more intriguing forward prospects.
Nyman now looks to build on his skills in a familiar environment before likely coming stateside in 2024. Given his age, he’s an entry-level slide candidate, meaning his ELC will toll to 2024-25 unless he plays ten or more NHL games in the coming season, an unlikely event given today’s news.
2024 Top Prospect Artyom Levshunov Commits To Michigan State
17-year-old Artyom Levshunov, projected as one of the best defensemen available in next year’s 2024 NHL Draft, has made a rather impactful decision regarding his short-term future. The potential top-five pick has committed to Michigan State University and will suit up there for the 2023-24 season, Nathaniel Bott of The Lansing State Journal reports.
The right-shot Belarusian defender suited up for the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers last season, notching 13 goals, 29 assists and 42 points in 62 games. After earning USHL All-Rookie Team honors, he’ll stay in the American Midwest as he looks to preface a long pro career with a solid collegiate stint.
Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff ranked Levshunov third overall behind the projected one-two punch of Macklin Celebrini and Cole Eiserman earlier this month in a pre-season ranking of 2024 draft-eligible prospects. A staunch two-way defender, he carries added value as a right-handed shooter. He’s on track to become the highest-drafted Belarusian in NHL history, surpassing Ruslan Salei (drafted ninth overall by Anaheim in 1996).
Notably, Levshunov has opted not to head to state rival University of Michigan, who’s churned out a remarkable four top-five picks in the past three seasons, including just the third freshman ever to win the Hobey Baker Award – Columbus Blue Jackets third-overall selection Adam Fantilli.
It’s a gigantic commitment for Michigan State. They now look to elevate themselves into the Big Ten conference’s upper echelon alongside Michigan and Minnesota with some new faces, including Tampa Bay Lightning first-round selection Isaac Howard via the transfer portal.