Nashville Predators Loan Joakim Kemell To Finnish Team
Joakim Kemell was one of the brightest stars for Team Finland in their silver medal effort at the 2022 World Junior Championship. After the Nashville Predators drafted him 17th overall in 2022 and signed him to his entry-level contract earlier this summer, though, he’ll be headed back to JYP in the Finnish Liiga for another season next year, per the team.
As Kemell wasn’t drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League, he could, in theory, have suited up for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals next season if Nashville and Kemell believed that was the best solution for him. However, it appears all parties involved believe another season in his home country against some more seasoned players is the better option for Kemell.
An unexpected faller in the 2022 draft, Kemell showed why the teams that passed on him were wrong with 12 points in seven games at the World Juniors earlier this month. He had 23 points in 39 Liiga games last season with JYP as well, and he’ll be expected to play an increased top-six role next season.
Minor Transactions: 08/22/22
The opening of the week has brought some big news into the NHL cycle, a rarity for this late in August. With the New York Islanders signing all of Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov, and Kieffer Bellows today, Islander fans can rest easy knowing some important young players are guaranteed to show up for training camp on time. However, there are many other destinations in the hockey world worth paying attention to, and we’ll keep track of those non-NHL transactions today right here.
- The Charlotte Checkers have signed forward Ethan Keppen to a one-year AHL contract, bringing him into the Florida Panthers system after going undrafted. Keppen was originally a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks, but the team elected not to sign him to an NHL contract after two separate AHL stints over the past two seasons. He’ll head to Charlotte with his exclusive NHL rights having expired, where he’ll look to make an impact after scoring 23 goals and 40 points in 42 games last season with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds.
- The Hershey Bears today have signed forwards Ryan Scarfo and Alexandre Fortin to AHL contracts for the 2022-23 season. Scarfo, a 28-year-old minor hockey veteran, had a career-best 12 points in 63 games last season with the Rochester Americans. He’ll try and stay on the Bears roster, but could be a candidate for designation to the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. Fortin, 25, has 24 games of NHL experience that came in 2018-19 with the Chicago Blackhawks. Last season, Fortin had nine points in 34 games with the Laval Rocket and 13 points in just 12 games with the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
New York Islanders Sign Noah Dobson, Alex Romanov, Kieffer Bellows
Per a series of team announcements Monday morning, the New York Islanders have finally locked up a trio of restricted free agents in defenseman Noah Dobson (link), defenseman Alexander Romanov (link), and forward Kieffer Bellows (link). Dobson and Romanov have signed three-year deals, while Bellows has signed a one-year deal.
The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reports Dobson’s deal carries a $4MM AAV, while TSN’s Chris Johnston reports Romanov’s deal has a $2.5MM cap hit. CapFriendly reports Bellows’ contract carries a $1.2MM cap hit, all in base salary.
Dobson, 22, enjoyed a career season in 2021-22, something that couldn’t be said for much of the team. The team’s 12th overall selection in 2018 displayed his full potential, leading the team’s blueline with 51 points in 80 games while averaging over 21 minutes a night. His defensive game has remained solid throughout his three-year career so far, but it was his offensive vision and confidence that spearheaded his breakout this year. He was never drafted to be a defensive stalwart, but not being a liability in his own end of the ice certainly helps his case to continue developing into a superstar defenseman.
Romanov, however, was drafted to be that defensive stalwart, and he took a real step towards that last season in Montreal despite playing in a porous system. Acquired this offseason in exchange for the 13th overall pick, Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello gets a great value signing here with a three-year term on that $2.5MM cap hit. Romanov showed that he can be a dependable defensive presence while playing top-four minutes, a role he’ll undoubtedly continue on the Island this season. A stark upgrade over the play of Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene, Romanov could likely play with Dobson on the team’s second pairing, one that could end up being their best one in a few seasons’ time. He set career-highs in 2021-22 with 79 games played, three goals, 10 assists, 13 points, and an average time on ice of 20:24.
Bellows has struggled to crack the lineup on a nightly basis under former head coach Barry Trotz, and he’s hoping a new face behind the bench will get him some more playing time. His offensive numbers finally showed great promise at the NHL level last season, posting 19 points in 45 games despite playing under 12 minutes a night. He’ll compete with veterans like Matt Martin and Zach Parise for spots in the lineup, as he’ll try to work his way into a consistent bottom-six role (with some power play time, hopefully).
All three players will again be restricted free agents at the end of their contracts.
Pittsburgh Penguins Re-Sign Mike Vellucci
Via a team release this morning, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall announced that the team has re-signed assistant coach Mike Vellucci to a two-year contract extension.
Vellucci, 56, is an extremely experienced and decorated coach and manager across the AHL and OHL. He served as the GM and head coach of the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers from 2001 to 2014, where he took home an OHL championship in 2007 and Coach of the Year honors in 2007 and 2013.
He then moved on to the Carolina Hurricanes organization, where he served as an assistant general manager and the director of hockey operations from 2014-2019, including spending the last two years as the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Charlotte. With the Checkers in 2019, Vellucci coached at the AHL All-Star Game, won the Calder Cup, and was named the AHL Coach of the Year. He then spent one year as the GM and head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before joining Pittsburgh’s NHL staff.
Since joining the Penguins as an assistant coach in 2020-21, Vellucci has primarily been responsible for managing the team’s forwards and penalty-killing units. The team has a record of 83-41-14 since Vellucci joined their NHL staff, but he’s yet to experience a playoff series win with the Penguins at this level.
Speaking on the deal today, Hextall gave the following statement:
Mike is a dedicated coach who has proven to be a valuable addition since joining Pittsburgh. We’re excited to have him back behind the bench for two more seasons.
Pittsburgh’s penalty kill is ninth overall in the NHL (81.5%) since Vellucci joined the bench in 2020. This season, he’ll be tasked with working newcomers like Jan Rutta into the penalty-killing fold while still working closely with the team’s offense.
Mason McTavish Named 2022 World Juniors MVP
After his Team Canada won gold last night at the much-delayed 2022 World Junior Championships in Edmonton, Anaheim Ducks prospect Mason McTavish was named the tournament’s MVP by the IIHF. He also took home the IIHF Directorate Award for Best Forward, while Florida Panthers prospect Kasper Puutio won Best Defender and Minnesota Wild prospect Jesper Wallstedt won Best Goalkeeper.
This World Juniors team was the seventh different team McTavish played on in the 2021-22 season if you count the canceled WJC in January as a separate team. He saved his best performance of the year for last, leading the tournament with an astounding 17 points in just seven games. As captain of the squad, McTavish led the team in goals with eight and tied his future Ducks teammate, Olen Zellweger, for the team lead in assists with nine.
McTavish’s next stop will be Ducks training camp next month. While not a guarantee, it would be a shocking development at this point if McTavish was not a full-time member of the Ducks next season.
In the WJC playoffs, McTavish played at least 20 minutes of every game Canada played, including a whopping 26:50 in their gold medal game overtime win — not to mention his game-saving save just seconds before the eventual winner.
New York Rangers Hire Ari Vuori
As announced on Friday, the New York Rangers have added Ari Vuori to their front office as Director of European Scouting.
Vuori, 60, is an esteemed name in NHL circles with plenty of relevant and successful experience. Getting his start as a European Scout with the Los Angeles Kings in 1996-97, he stayed with the team all the way until 2007, partially responsible for drafting star Europeans such as Olli Jokinen (1997), Lubomir Visnovsky (2000), and most notably Anze Kopitar (2005).
That success continued during a stint with the Detroit Red Wings from 2008-2015, but Vuori has most recently served as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Director of European Scouting since then. Over the past few seasons, the Maple Leafs have consistently been one of the most active teams in bringing over European free agents and sometimes making solid impacts, most notably Ilya Mikheyev.
With Vuori in the fold, the Rangers immediately have an upgraded front office. He’ll undoubtedly steer the teams’ assessments of European talent in the right direction and provide a valuable liaison with incoming European free agents.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Tyson Kozak
The Buffalo Sabres have signed forward prospect Tyson Kozak to a three-year, entry-level contract, per a team release Friday. Per CapFriendly, the contract carries a cap hit of $850K with a rather unique signing bonus structure.
The Sabres drafted Kozak in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft with the 193rd overall pick. The 19-year-old center had 32 goals, 37 assists, and 69 points in 66 games last season with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. Barring a massive unforeseen development in which Kozak makes the Sabres out of camp, he’ll return there next season as well.
Buffalo director of player development, Adam Mair, called 2021-22 “an excellent year” for Kozak, while Rochester Americans assistant coach Michael Peca also spoke highly of the player during development camp in July:
Watching him out there, you’d think he went in the top three rounds, to be honest with you. The kid’s impressive. He’s quiet, he’s unassuming, but he’s a real hockey player. He does everything right on the ice.
Kozak is a solid member of what seems to be a promising 2021 draft class for the Sabres. He’ll join his peers in Josh Bloom (Saginaw, OHL) and Olivier Nadeau (Gatineau, QMJHL) as 2021 Sabres draftees returning to the CHL next season.
His strengths rely on his two-way game, as alluded to by Peca. He’s a smart offensive player who shows good instincts away from the puck and has a surprisingly physical play style given his 5′ 11″, 165 lb frame.
Tucker Poolman’s Health Status Still Uncertain
After signing a four-year, $10MM contract with the Vancouver Canucks last offseason, defenseman Tucker Poolman was limited to just 40 games in his first campaign in British Columbia. Dealing with migraines and post-concussion symptoms throughout the season, Poolman had just three points all year and played just 17 minutes per game.
There is some optimism on Poolman’s health status, though, although it remains to be seen whether or not he’s healthy enough to play once the high-intensity training camp environment begins. His agent, Dean Grillo, noted to The Province’s Ben Kuzma that Poolman has indeed been training and skating all offseason, slowly trying to work his way back up to game readiness without inducing a recurrence of concussion symptoms.
As Kuzma notes, headaches and migraines have been a persistent issue for Poolman throughout his career, with various degrees of linkage to concussions. With other injuries such as major shoulder surgery and shot-blocking-related ailments, the 29-year-old Poolman has faced a lot of adversity in his NHL career.
If Poolman can’t return to start the season, expect Kyle Burroughs to get some more reps in the NHL as a third-pairing, defensive-minded body. Burroughs had five points in 42 games last season with Vancouver.
Breaking Down The Sean Monahan Trade Conditions
Seeing conditional draft picks get dealt is commonplace in this day and age. However, the stipulations on them are usually easy enough to understand. Whether it’s a third-round pick dropping down to a fourth if a player doesn’t play enough games for their new team, or a second-round pick upgrading to a first if the team in question wins the Stanley Cup, the conditions on trades are sensible, at least for the majority of the time.
The Montreal Canadiens seem to buck that trend, though. Starting with some lengthy conditions on the Christian Dvorak trade prior to last season, the Canadiens have agreed to an even more complex (and frivolous, depending on who you ask) set of conditions on the 2025 conditional first-round pick that they acquired today from the Calgary Flames, along with Sean Monahan. So much so that it’s worth its own post, with reference drawn from CapFriendly’s posting and reporting on the topic.
There are three possible umbrella scenarios that could determine which draft pick Montreal actually receives:
Scenario 1: If Calgary’s 2024 first-round pick falls between 20th and 32nd overall, Montreal can elect to receive Calgary’s 2024 first instead of their 2025 first.
Scenario 2: Calgary receives the 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick sent to them by the Florida Panthers in the Jonathan Huberdeau trade.
Scenario 3: Calgary does NOT receive Florida’s 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick.
Scenario 1
This is easily the simplest and potentially most likely scenario if the Flames are still rolling strong two years from now. If Montreal opts to swap out an unknown 2025 first-rounder for a late 2024 first-rounder, then the trade tree ends and Montreal receives no additional compensation.
Scenario 2
Now, things get complex with the addition of Florida’s 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick. In the event that both the Flames’ and Panthers’ 2025 first-round picks are NOT in the top 10, the Canadiens will receive the better of the two selections.
However, if the Flames’ 2025 first-round pick is a top 10 pick and the Panthers’ pick is not, Montreal is guaranteed to receive the Panthers’ pick. If the opposite is true, Montreal will receive Calgary’s selection.
Scenario 3
This is the most unlikely yet most complex scenario. If Florida’s 2025 first-round pick ends up as a top-ten choice, they’ll retain the pick and send their 2026 first-rounder to Calgary instead. This has two possible implications for Montreal:
If Calgary’s 2025 first is NOT top 10: Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick, and, if Florida’s 2025 first-round pick is not top ten, but was transferred to another team due to prior conditions AND is a better pick than Calgary’s, Montreal will also receive Calgary’s 2025 fourth-round pick as compensation.
If Calgary’s 2025 first is top 10: If Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick is first overall, Montreal will receive the better of Florida’s and Calgary’s 2026 first-round picks AND Calgary’s 2025 third-round pick. If Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick falls between selections 2 through 10, Montreal will receive the pick.
All in all, if the reported conditions are correct, the Canadiens have the potential to receive one of the following five outcomes:
2024 Calgary first-round pick
2025 Calgary first-round pick + potential 2025 Calgary fourth-round pick
2025 Florida first-round pick
2026 Calgary first-round pick + 2025 Calgary third-round pick
2026 Florida first-round pick + 2025 Calgary third-round pick
IIHF Determines Groups For 2023 World Junior Championship
While the quarterfinals in the delayed 2022 World Juniors rage on with Finland and Sweden already moving on to the semifinals, there’s some significant news regarding next year’s tournament, set to start in just a few months. Today, the IIHF and Hockey Canada jointly released the groupings for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. The groupings are as follows:
Group A (Halifax): Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, Austria
Group B (Moncton): United States, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia
As the IIHF maintains its no-relegation policy due to COVID, the groups were able to be determined on short notice prior to the conclusion of the delayed 2022 tournament. The 2023 tournament, awarded to Atlantic Canada, will see Group A play at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS, and Group B play at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, NB.
The federation also said that a minimum of 10 pre-tournament games will be played in various communities throughout the two provinces. The full game schedule for the tournament will be available in the coming weeks, per the release.