Philadelphia Flyers Waive Tony DeAngelo For Purposes Of Buyout
Saturday: DeAngelo has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports, paving the way for the buyout to be completed.
Friday: It appears the rumored trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes won’t be happening after all. Today, the Flyers placed defenseman Tony DeAngelo on unconditional waivers, which CapFriendly initially clarified is for the purpose of contract termination. The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor later contradicted CapFriendly’s initial report, claiming DeAngelo’s waiver placement is for the purposes of a buyout, which was later confirmed.
After the Flyers acquired DeAngelo’s negotiating rights from the Hurricanes last summer and promptly signed him to a two-year, $10MM deal, his relationship with head coach John Tortorella became tenuous, culminating in a string of healthy scratches to end the season. Reporting suggested the Flyers and Hurricanes had worked out a deal to send DeAngelo back to Raleigh this offseason, which would have involved the Flyers retaining half of DeAngelo’s $5MM cap hit on the final season of his contract and receiving center prospect Massimo Rizzo in return. However, the league blocked the trade at the time, claiming it circumvented the salary cap, and didn’t permit the deal to go through until July 8, 2023, exactly one year after the initial trade, which sent DeAngelo’s rights to Philadelphia.
The trade never actually went through, though, and now DeAngelo will find himself free to sign with any team that will have him – including Carolina. The buyout option became available to the Flyers after settling with forward Noah Cates before his arbitration hearing.
The buyout will cost the Flyers $1.67MM against the cap for the next two seasons compared to a one-time $2.5MM cap hit next year via salary retention. While the team is in the throes of a rebuild and doesn’t anticipate spending to the salary cap, the decision to buy DeAngelo out rather than trade him does offer slightly more short-term financial relief.
DeAngelo is an elite offensive-minded defender but a rather significant defensive liability, which chiefly contributed to his fallout with Tortorella in Philadelphia. When taking into consideration he’s played on three teams in the past three seasons and has now been bought out twice in that time frame, it seems unlikely he’ll find any long-term commitments on the open market.
Moving on from DeAngelo will certainly shift more point-producing burden onto youngster Cam York, who looked quite capable last season with 20 points in 54 games. The 22-year-old signed a two-year, $3.2MM extension with the Flyers earlier this week.
DeAngelo, 27, led Flyers defensemen in scoring last season with 42 points in 70 games. It was his third straight full season posting more than 40 points – he played just six games in 2020-21 before getting involved in a post-game altercation with then-teammate Alexandar Georgiev, which resulted in a waiver placement and assignment to the team’s taxi squad for the remainder of the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Arizona Coyotes Sign Zach Sanford
The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Zach Sanford to a one-year, two-way deal, according to a team release. CapFriendly has confirmed the contract will pay Sanford $775K at the NHL level for the 2023-24 season.
Not that long ago, Sanford used to be a solid forward in the bottom six of the St.Louis Blues organization, winning a Stanley Cup with the team during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. During that regular season, Sanford suited up in 58 games for the Blues and had an incredible 16 goals and 14 assists, only averaging about 12 and a half minutes a night.
Following a tremendous year with the Blues, the team rewarded Sanford with a two-year, $3MM contract extension, taking him to the end of the 2020-21 NHL season. Unfortunately for him and the organization, Sanford fell back down to earth, only scoring 16 points the next season. Due to the drop in production, St.Louis shipped Sanford to the Ottawa Senators the following summer for a package that included forward Logan Brown.
His production did not improve in Canada’s capital, leading to Sanford spending time with both the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators since that trade. Although not suiting up much for the Predators at the professional level last season, Sanford put up a respectable 12 goals and 16 assists in 45 games playing for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.
As Sanford now takes his services to the Coyotes, access to playing time is more readily available for him. Arizona presumably has their top-six forward unit set for next season, but will likely cycle through numerous players this season to fill out the bottom of their forward core.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Anton Wahlberg, Brett Murray
The Buffalo Sabres have the first member of their 2023 draft class under contract, announcing the signing of forward Anton Wahlberg to a three-year entry-level deal. PuckPedia has the details of his contract, which carries a cap hit of $897K:
Years 1 and 2: $775K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus, $82.5K minors salary
Year 3: $885K salary, $95K signing bonus, $82.5K minors salary
The team also signed AHL depth forward Brett Murray to a one-year deal, keeping one of the Rochester Americans’ best scoring options in the organization on a two-way deal worth $775K in the NHL.
Buffalo selected Wahlberg with their first of two second-round picks in last month’s draft, utilizing the 39th overall pick to bring him into the organization. The rangy Swedish center has pro-level size already at 6-foot-3 and 192 pounds and plays a rather well-rounded game. There were definitely players with higher NHL ceilings available at Wahlberg’s pick, but he was certainly a safe option early in the second round that’s hard to make much fuss about.
Wahlberg’s spent most of his development with the Malmo Redhawks’ junior program in Sweden’s top U-20 league. Last season, his 27 points in 32 games were eclipsed by quite a few peers within his class, but he did earn an extensive look against pros in the SHL, recording two goals and two assists in 17 games for the Redhawks.
He’s a player the organization is quite high on – general manager Kevyn Adams said after selecting Wahlberg that they were trying to trade up into the late first round to select him. He’s already arrived stateside, too, getting to know the organization at development camp earlier this month.
That being said, given he’s not a first-round pick, his SHL team has the final say in where he’ll play if he’s not in the NHL right away, which is the likely scenario. Malmo has Wahlberg under contract for 2023-24 and will almost certainly want him back in the fold as they try to avoid relegation, meaning Buffalo will loan him back to Sweden for the upcoming season. Doing so will slide the beginning of his ELC to 2024-25.
Murray, on the other hand, will continue his stay in the Sabres organization after tallying 49 points in 71 games for the Americans last season, which ranked third on the team. The 24-year-old does have some NHL experience under his belt, playing in 21 games for the Sabres over the past few years after they selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft. In four total seasons in Rochester, Murray has amassed a total of 56 goals and 69 assists for 125 points.
Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Jonathan Gruden
The Pittsburgh Penguins have made their second signing of the day, locking in forward Jonathan Gruden for the upcoming season by re-signing him to a one-year contract extension. The two-way deal keeps the restricted free agent in the Penguins organization for 2023-24 with a $775K cap hit; PuckPedia reports his AHL compensation will be $100K.
The son of new Toronto Marlies head coach and former NHLer John Gruden, the 23-year-old winger was originally a fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in the 2018 NHL Draft. Gruden’s signing rights were dealt to the Penguins as part of the trade return for goalie Matt Murray in October 2020.
A versatile two-way winger, Gruden had a strong development season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2022-23, registering 16 goals and 15 assists in 54 games. He worked his way up the Penguins’ depth chart to be one of their top call-up options, making his NHL debut for Pittsburgh this January and playing a fourth-line role for three games.
Gruden won’t be on the Penguins’ NHL roster to start the season, but he is set to reprise a top-six role in the minors in 2023-24. The Michigan-born winger will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next offseason.
AHL Transactions Ledger: 07/14/23
Welcome to today’s edition of the AHL Transactions Ledger as we continue to summarize all the off-season player movements in the NHL’s primary feeder league. As affiliates gear up for the upcoming season, front offices across the league are hard at work, fine-tuning their rosters and adding supplemental pieces to the nucleus of each team – their NHL parent’s top prospects. As always, here’s a full list of today’s noteworthy signings, trades, and other transactions in the AHL:
- Czech defenseman Filip Kral has signed a one-year contract with the Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga, departing the Toronto Marlies after the Maple Leafs did not issue him a qualifying offer last month. The 23-year-old now heads to one of the top teams in Finland after playing a total of 92 games with the Marlies across the past three seasons, recording seven goals and 22 assists. Kral made his NHL debut last season after injuries decimated Toronto’s defense early on, playing a very limited role in two games on the team’s West Coast road trip in late October 2022. A two-way defenseman who excels in playing the puck in tight spaces, Kral was Toronto’s fifth-round selection in the 2018 NHL Draft.
While they did lose Kral, the Marlies went a long way toward filling out next year’s depth, signing six players out of the junior and college ranks to one-year deals:
- Diminutive forward Jackson Berezowski, 21, turns pro after playing his entire junior career with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, amassing 232 goals and 102 assists in 273 games. He leaves as the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer and served as team captain since 2021. Last season, he recorded career highs with 48 goals and 81 points, tying for the WHL lead in power-play goals with 22.
- 24-year-old Brock Caufield, the older brother of Montreal Canadiens star sniper Cole Caufield, heads to the Marlies after appearing in 172 games for the University of Wisconsin over five seasons, totaling 33 goals and 41 assists. Born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Caufield was part of the Wisconsin team that won the Big Ten regular-season championship in the 2020-21 season. A winger like his brother, Caufield will look to leverage a strong finish to his collegiate career into a full-time AHL role with the Marlies in 2023-24.
- Forward Neil Shea, 23, spent last season with Sacred Heart University, recording 30 points in 37 games. The Marshfield, Massachusetts-born Shea earned a spot on the Atlantic Hockey First All-Star Team and also appeared in six games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves on a tryout after his collegiate season concluded. Shea split his NCAA career between Sacred Heart and Northeastern University, collecting a total of 27 goals and 40 assists in 123 games.
- 5-foot-9 forward Tate Singleton, 24, recently completed his college career at Ohio State University, playing 140 games and contributing 33 goals and 37 assists. In the 2022-23 season, Singleton achieved career highs with 11 goals and 16 assists. Like the others, he’ll look to leverage a strong finish to his collegiate career to win one of the limited spots available on the Marlies and avoid assignment to the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.
- The only NHL-drafted player on this list is 23-year-old left wing Tyler Weiss, whose signing rights with the Colorado Avalanche are set to lapse by August 15 if he doesn’t sign an entry-level contract. The 109th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft played 159 games during his collegiate career with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, amassing 116 points over five seasons.
- Last but not least is 21-year-old right-shot defender Nolan Dillingham, who spent the past season with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, recording six goals and eight assists in 45 games. The Ontario-born defender has good size at 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds and served as Sarnia’s captain last season. He’ll aim to embark on a pro career with his hometown Marlies, but given their deep blueline, Dillingham is the most likely player on this list to play out next year in the ECHL.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Emil Pieniniemi
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that they’ve signed defense prospect Emil Pieniniemi to a three-year, entry-level contract, which PuckPedia reports carries an NHL salary of $775K, a signing bonus of $95K, a games-played bonus of $80K, and a minors salary of $82.5K in all three seasons. The contract carries a cap hit of $870K.
The 18-year-old Finn was Pittsburgh’s third-round pick in this year’s draft at 91st overall. He’s the first player taken outside of the first two rounds to sign his entry-level contract.
Pieniniemi did go a bit earlier in the draft than some thought, as most public scouts had him pegged as a fifth- or sixth-round pick. It’s obvious the Penguins believe in Pieniniemi’s defensive upside, which he showed as the hallmark of his game while playing in the Finnish U-20 circuit last season.
He does carry a prototypical frame for a defender that NHL teams desire at 6-foot-2, although he still needs to grow into it a little more before he’s pro-ready. His game revolves around his physicality and how he uses it to shut down the other team’s attack, with Elite Prospects describing his defensive style as “pinching aggressively and gapping up early, guiding opponents towards the boards before engaging physically.”
That’s not to say he’s an offensive liability – he did show the possibility of being an adept puck-moving defender at the pro level. Playing for Karpat in the top Finnish junior league, Pieniniemi tallied 13 points in 31 games and made his professional debut in the Liiga, dressing for one game with Karpat in December 2022 but not seeing any ice time.
Pittsburgh will likely loan Pieniniemi back to Karpat for the 2023-24 season, which will result in his entry-level contract sliding to start in 2024-25.
St. Louis Blues Sign Dalibor Dvorsky
2023 top-ten pick Dalibor Dvorsky has another major career milestone under his belt just a few weeks after the draft: his first NHL contract. The St. Louis Blues signed their tenth-overall selection to a three-year entry-level contract today, per a team release.
The team did not disclose contract details. However, it’s important to note his signing doesn’t mean he’ll be playing in North America next season – as expected; he’ll be loaned back to SHL club IK Oskarshamn to honor the first year of a two-year deal he signed with them before the draft, reports Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland.
CapFriendly also confirms Dvorsky is eligible for an entry-level slide twice, given his signing age of 18, meaning a full-time loan to the SHL this season would kick the beginning of his ELC to 2024-25 (or later, if he plays less than ten NHL games again in 2024-25).
It’s likely Dvorsky is ready for some NHL looks after an additional year of development in Europe, though, and this upcoming year should likely be Dvorsky’s last in the Swedish professional circuit. The Slovak national spent most of his development from 2016 onwards playing in Sweden, where he registered 14 points in 38 games playing in the second-tier pros for HockeyAllsvenskan club AIK last season.
His draft stock varied a bit throughout the season, as his Allsvenskan production didn’t quite live up to the tantalizing flashes he showed when playing against his own peer group in Swedish juniors and internationally. Still, few Blues fans should complain about landing him at tenth overall, and today’s signing could very well begin a long tenure in St. Louis as a top-nine fixture.
New Jersey Devils Sign Chris Tierney
Veteran forward Chris Tierney has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the New Jersey Devils, per a team announcement, cementing his home for the 2023-24 campaign. The deal is worth $775K in the NHL and $400K in the AHL.
Tierney split last season between the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens organizations and was assigned to the minors for the first time in seven seasons while with the Panthers. After a four-year run with the Ottawa Senators, during which his offensive production steadily declined, Tierney signed a two-way deal with the Panthers in free agency last summer before Montreal claimed him on waivers in February of 2023.
The 29-year-old natural center accumulated three goals and ten points in 36 NHL games last year, his lowest totals since turning pro in 2014. He still produced a decent clip in the minors, scoring three goals and adding 13 assists for 16 points in 20 games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
A second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2012, Tierney does bring nearly 600 career games of NHL experience to the Devils organization, but he’s not expected to play a significant role with the team this season. With the team losing some depth pieces to free agency, such as Jesper Boqvist and Miles Wood, Tierney does stand a chance to make the Devils out of training camp, although likely as a 13th or 14th forward.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Ontario product will be an unrestricted free agent again next summer.
Arizona Coyotes Terminate Alex Galchenyuk’s Contract
July 14: 11:09 a.m.: The Coyotes have completed the termination process, meaning Galchenyuk cleared waivers. The team released a full statement:
We are aware of the incident involving Alex Galchenyuk and strongly condemn this type of behavior. Once the Club was made aware of the allegations, we immediately began the process of terminating his Standard Player’s Contract through the proper channels in conjunction with the National Hockey League. As a result, the Arizona Coyotes today have exercised the team’s right to terminate the contract of Alex Galchenyuk due to a material breach of the terms of his Standard Player’s Contract. The Club will have no further comment at this time.
July 13, 4:40 p.m: The Athletic’s Katie Strang reports that Galchenyuk “was arrested on July 9 on a number of charges including private property hit and run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest, Threatening or Intimidating.”
Strang also added clarification from Scottsdale Police that the hit-and-run incident was “only property damage and no injuries.”
July 13, 12:25 p.m.: ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports the Coyotes “had discovered an ‘off-ice situation’ impacting Galchenyuk that was previously unknown to the team,” influencing the termination.
July 13, 11:18 a.m.: The Arizona Coyotes are parting ways with forward Alex Galchenyuk after they brought him back to the organization for his third stint just under two weeks ago. The team has placed him on waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract today.
Arizona did not say this is a mutual termination – potentially meaning that Galchenyuk has violated terms set forth in his contract in a manner that is grounds for termination. The team specified they wouldn’t be commenting further, and PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan adds the NHLPA is reviewing the circumstances surrounding Galchenyuk’s termination.
Galchenyuk now lands on waivers, where all 31 teams can claim his one-year, two-way contract for next season for free. He had signed a deal carrying a base salary of $775K, a minors salary of $225K, and a minimum guaranteed salary of $325K with Arizona on July 1. Without any insight into why his contract is being terminated by the Coyotes, though, a claim is unlikely.
The 2012 third-overall pick spent most of last season in the minors with the Colorado Avalanche organization, producing at a point-per-game clip with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He failed to register a point in 11 appearances with the Avalanche after posting 21 points in 60 games with the Coyotes the season before.
Galchenyuk will become an unrestricted free agent again if the termination goes through, permitting him to sign anywhere he chooses inside or outside the NHL.
Philadelphia Flyers Sign Olle Lycksell
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed restricted free agent forward Olle Lycksell to a two-year, two-way contract, per a team announcement. The deal is worth $1.575MM and carries an average annual value of $787.5K.
A 2017 sixth-round pick, Lycksell is quickly climbing up the organizational depth chart after a pair of very impressive seasons in other leagues. The 23-year-old Swede posted 45 points in 53 games for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, finishing second on the team in scoring during his first campaign in North America while playing heavy minutes.
It was the season before that where he saw a real breakout, though, finishing off his Swedish pro career (for the time being) with 34 points in 47 games for SHL side Vaxjo Lakers HC while on loan from the Flyers. Now, Lycksell has some financial security for the next two seasons, during which time he’ll attempt to break through into the Flyers’ lineup full-time.
He did make his NHL debut last season, not looking entirely out of place and registering an assist in eight appearances. With some free agent additions (and a healthy Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier) in the fold, however, the chances of him being on the Flyers’ opening night roster are slim.
That being said, he’s set to reprise a top-line role with the Phantoms and continue working toward rounding out his game. With another year of pro hockey under his belt, look for Lycksell to provide some solid value for the Flyers in the second year of this deal.
When his contract expires in 2025, he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.