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Edmonton Signs Cameron Wright, Recall Matt Savoie

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The Edmonton Oilers are bringing up some depth from their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. The team announced they have signed forward Cameron Wright to a one-year, two-way contract worth $925K and have recalled forward Matthew Savoie.

Wright has been bouncing around the AHL and ECHL over the last few years after finishing his college tenure at the University of Denver in 2021-22. His first professional season came a year later in the Colorado Avalanche organization, where Wright played 64 games for the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies and two for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

His first year with the Oilers organization came last season where Wright managed 48 games for the Condors. He became an effective goal scorer at the bottom of the lineup with 12 goals and 21 points in total.

It will be interesting to see how long Wright and Savoie stick around on Edmonton’s roster to begin the 2024-25 NHL season. The latter recently joined the Oilers organization in the offseason in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres and quickly became one of Edmonton’s top prospects.

This year would mark his first full year in professional hockey after small appearances with the AHL Rochester Americans and Sabres last year. The Oilers have yet to put Evander Kane on LTIR which will inevitably open up much-needed financial flexibility for the roster.

Vancouver Reassign Three To AHL, Place Two On SOIR

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The Vancouver Canucks are gearing up to announce their opening night roster for the 2024-25 NHL season. The team has made a few transactions in that effort announcing Arshdeep Bains, Erik Brannstrom, and Jiri Patera have been assigned to their AHL affiliate with Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua being placed on the season-opening injured reserve.

None of the moves are surprising with Vancouver trading for, and waiving, Brannstrom yesterday in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. Patera was also placed on waivers yesterday by the Boston Bruins and the Canucks can send him down without waivers since they were the only team to place a claim.

Bains played eight games for Vancouver last year but came away scoreless. He should be a relatively frequent call-up depending on the Canucks’ injury outlook with Bains scoring 16 goals and 55 points in 56 games for AHL Abbotsford last year.

The two injured reserve assignments, Demko and Joshua, are the most unsurprising designations among the transactions. Demko continues to work his way back from an injury suffered in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs without any concrete timeline for his return.

According to The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal, there is more positivity with Joshua, who has returned to the ice and is only a few weeks away from joining the team. Joshua missed all of training camp for the Canucks after undergoing surgery for his testicular cancer diagnosis. He’s expected to fully recover and join Vancouver’s roster in a few weeks.

Utah Hockey Club Signs Kailer Yamamoto

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The Utah Hockey Club has its first successful professional tryout agreement in league history. The organization announced they have signed forward Kailer Yamamoto to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Yamamoto is hopeful this contract will translate into a solid bounceback year for the former Edmonton Oilers prospect. He was drafted with the 22nd overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft as one of the smaller players in the class at 5’7″.

The NHL has changed quite a bit over the last few decades with smaller frame players becoming some of the game’s best but this has not been a reality for Yamamoto. He showed flashes of being a reliable top-six scorer as early as the 2019-20 season with 11 goals and 26 points in 27 games for the Oilers.

He fell into a middle-six role from 2020-22 scoring 28 goals and 62 points in Edmonton in 133 games. The team hoped Yamamoto would eventually blossom into a consistent top-six threat and opted for a two-year, $6.2MM bridge contract with their young forward in 2022.

Yamamoto only saw a year of this contract with the Oilers scoring 10 goals and 25 points in 58 games. Edmonton traded Yamamoto with Klim Kostin to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations the next offseason before he was eventually bought out.

The Seattle Kraken, a 280-mile drive from his native Spokane, became his new landing spot on the back of a one-year, $1.5MM contract. The one-year gamble proved bad for both parties as the Kraken limited Yamamoto to an average of 11:59 of ice time per game and the player produced his lowest offensive output since 2018-19.

The depressed season paved the way for Yamamoto to sign a PTO with the new Utah team for training camp. He’s scored three goals over four preseason contests and will now compete for a spot in Utah’s middle six.

TSN’s Chris Johnston was the first to report Utah had signed Yamamoto. 

Colorado Avalanche Sign Nikita Prishchepov To Entry-Level Contract

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After trading defenseman Erik Brannstrom to the Vancouver Canucks earlier today the Colorado Avalanche have stayed busy. The organization announced they have signed forward Nikita Prishchepov to a three-year, entry-level contract and he’ll report to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

Prishchepov was the ninth-to-last player selected in the 2024 NHL Draft at 217th overall to the Avalanche. He had previously been playing for the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres and will suit up professionally earlier than expected.

The 20-year-old Russian spent three years with Victoriaville after moving to North America from the subsidiary of the KHL, the MHL. He improved each year of his major junior career and finished with 45 goals and 135 points in 191 games for the Tigres. The Avalanche will hope for more discipline as he makes his way up the North American pipeline as Prishchepov finished with 189 PIMs in his QMJHL tenure.

That discipline carried into his final weeks with Victoriaville as he earned 20 PIMs in only 14 postseason games putting his team at a serious disadvantage. He finished with three goals and 11 points to end his career as the Tigres fell in five games to the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the QMJHL Conference Finals.

He’ll start down the middle of the ice with the Eagles and should serve as valuable center depth for the organization. His talents are still a bit raw but he’ll have a few years to iron out his foundation at the AHL level.

Hurricanes Sign Bryce Montgomery To Entry-Level Contract

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The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the most active teams today signing Skyler Brind’Amour to an entry-level contract earlier today and making 21 roster cuts. The organization announced another three-year entry-level signing with defenseman Bryce Montgomery who will make $854.9K at the NHL level and $55K in the AHL.

Montgomery, a product of the OHL’s London Knights, was drafted by the Hurricanes with the 170th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft. He focuses solely on physicality and the defensive side of the game with only two goals and eight points in 84 OHL contests.

He spent last season playing for Carolina’s ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, where his offensive play did pick up. He scored four goals and 12 points in 42 games finishing with a +4 rating.

Penalties have been an issue for Montgomery in the past with 70 PIMs in the OHL and 70 PIMs in the USHL in only 48 games. He appeared to be more disciplined throughout his time in the ECHL which may have led Carolina to signing this contract. He’s a large defenseman at 6’5″ and 231 pounds but needed to control his size more to make his way up the pipeline.

He will start the season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and should play a bottom-pairing role with another spot on the team’s penalty kill. It will take some time before Montgomery could potentially make the Hurricanes’ roster full-time but he will first look to earn his stripes in the AHL.

Waiver Wire: 10/6/24

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Today is the major day for the waiver wire as most teams in the NHL are preparing the 23-man rosters for the 2024-25 NHL season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that all players on waivers from yesterday have cleared. The following list is each player placed on waivers this afternoon as reported by PuckPedia.

Boston Bruins

F Patrick Brown
G Brandon Bussi
G Jiri Patera
D Billy Sweezey
F Jeffrey Viel

Buffalo Sabres

D Kale Clague
G James Reimer
F Lukas Rousek

Calgary Flames

G Devin Cooley
F Jakob Pelletier
F Cole Schwindt

Carolina Hurricanes

F Josiah Slavin
D Ty Smith
F Ryan Suzuki

Chicago Blackhawks 

D Isaak Phillips

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries
D Justin Holl
D William Lagesson
D Brogan Rafferty
F Joe Snively

Edmonton Oilers

D Josh Brown
F Drake Caggiula
F Raphael Lavoie
G Olivier Rodrigue

Los Angeles Kings

G Pheonix Copley
F Samuel Fagemo
F Jack Studnicka

Nashville Predators

D Marc Del Gaizo

New Jersey Devils

F Shane Bowers
D Nick DeSimone
F Nolan Foote
D Colton White

New York Islanders

D Samuel Bolduc
F Pierre Engvall
F Hudson Fasching
F Liam Foudy
G Marcus Hogberg
D Grant Hutton
F Fredrik Karlstrom
G Jakub Skarek

New York Rangers

D Matthew Robertson

Ottawa Senators

F Adam Gaudette
F Jan Jenik

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Sebastian Aho
F Bokondji Imama

St. Louis Blues

D Corey Schueneman
D Tyler Tucker

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Gage Goncalves
D Steven Santini
F Jesse Ylonen

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Matt Murray
D Marshall Rifai

Utah Hockey Club

G Matt Villalta

Vancouver Canucks

D Erik Brannstrom

Vegas Golden Knights

F Zach Aston-Reese
F Tanner Laczynski
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Washington Capitals

G Hunter Shepard

Winnipeg Jets

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Vancouver Canucks Acquire Erik Brannstrom From Colorado

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The Vancouver Canucks announce they have acquired left-handed defenseman Erik Brannstrom from the Colorado Avalanche. Heading back to Colorado will be defenseman Tucker Poolman with 20% of his salary retained by Vancouver and a fourth-round pick in 2025.

It’s a rare move for a recently signed unrestricted free agent to be moved before ever suiting up for the team. The Avalanche signed Brannstrom to a one-year, $900K contract after the young defenseman was non-tendered by the Ottawa Senators. He was expected to serve as a bottom-pairing puck mover for Colorado on a low-cost deal but the team has decided to go a different route.

He was originally drafted with the 15th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights but was shipped to Canada’s capital in the deal that sent Mark Stone to Nevada in 2019. He was always known as a fluid defenseman who could move the puck in transition and on the attack with 52 assists and 63 points in 90 AHL contests.

Unfortunately, Brannstrom has not been able to put it all together at the NHL level. He’s scored only seven goals and 69 points in 266 games for Ottawa — falling well short of expectations. He’s coming off the most offensively fruitful season of his career with three goals and 20 points in 76 games during the 2023-24 NHL season.

The Canucks placed Brannstrom on waivers relatively quickly after acquiring him meaning this trade was largely based around the salary cap. Vancouver will only be on the hook for $500K of Poolman’s contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.

The remaining $2MM on Poolman’s contract will comfortably sit in Colorado’s LTIR. He’s not expected to play this season after missing all of last year and playing only three games in the 2022-23 season. The Avalanche will continue to accrue salary cap space giving them more flexibility down the road when Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin can return.

Edmonton Oilers Place Four Players On Waivers

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The defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers are placing four players on waivers as they put the finishing touches on their 2024-25 opening night roster. The organization announced it had placed forwards Drake Caggiula and Raphael Lavoie, defenseman Josh Brown, and goaltender Olivier Rodrigue on waivers.

Caggiula and Brown are depth players with an outside chance of making the roster in specific roles. Neither player was expected to play meaningful minutes for the Oilers this season but will now start the season with their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, assuming both clear waivers tomorrow.

The demotion of Brown will give Edmonton some cap relief, as well. The organization signed Brown to a three-year, $3MM contract on the opening day of free agency this past summer and the Oilers can now entirely remove that cap hit since his salary falls below the $1.25MM threshold.

Placing Lavoie on waivers to start the season may be a bold call by Edmonton’s brass. The team drafted Lavoie with the 38th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft and he’s coming off back-to-back quality campaigns with the Condors. He’s proven to be a quality scorer at the AHL level with 53 goals and 95 points in 127 games since the start of the 2022-23 AHL season.

Lavoie appeared to be an NHL-caliber scorer the Oilers could plug into their bottom-six to start the year and there’s a legitimate chance he’ll be on another team’s roster by tomorrow afternoon. If not, he will start the year in Bakersfield and should serve as an immediate call-up should the Oilers find themselves in injury trouble early.

Rodrigue struggled early upon his start with the Condors during the 2020-21 AHL season but has grown his prospect quality since. He finished last season with a 19-12-5 record in Bakersfield with a .916 SV% and 2.73 GAA. His demotion is mostly circumstantial as Edmonton doesn’t have the financial flexibility to carry three netminders during the season. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard will start the year as the team’s tandem.

Blue Jackets Place Dmitri Voronkov On Injured Reserve

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are set to open the 2024-25 NHL season without forward Dmitri Voronkov. The team announced they’ve placed Voronkov on injured reserve with an upper-body injury from their most recent preseason contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He originally came to the organization as the 114th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft from the Kontinental Hockey League. He spent four more years suiting up for the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan but the Blue Jackets quickly pulled him to North America after his impressive 2022-23 KHL season where he scored 18 goals and 31 points in 54 games.

Voronkov became one of the few bright spots on Columbus’ roster last year scoring 18 goals and 34 points in 75 contests finishing fifth on the team in scoring as a rookie. The season was good enough for some outside consideration for the Calder Memorial Trophy as Voronkov placed 11th in voting.

It will be a while before Voronkov follows up on his strong rookie campaign with Aaron Portzline of The Athletic indicating that Voronkov will be out long-term. The Blue Jackets did not give a timeline for his return in their original announcement.

It’s another blow to a forward core that is still facing the void of Johnny Gaudreau after his tragic death in August. Voronkov was expected to be a reliable scorer Columbus could plug into their top- or middle-six even before the team signed unrestricted free agent forward James van Riemsdyk to a one-year deal. The Blue Jackets will need big years out of several players if they hope to improve or maintain their 2.85 GF/G from a year ago.

Jack Campbell Enters NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program

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The National Hockey League and its Players’ Association have announced Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jack Campbell has entered the Player Assistance Program and will be away from the team indefinitely. Campbell signed a one-year, $775K contract with the Red Wings on the opening day of free agency this past offseason.

It’s an unfortunate turnaround for Campbell as he had hoped to rebuild his value on a one-year contract in Detroit after a disappointing 2023-24 season with the Edmonton Oilers. Campbell signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Oilers after a 2021-22 season in which he earned a .914 save percentage in 49 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Campbell would only see two years of his five-year, $25MM contract in Edmonton.

The team bought him out at the end of the 2023-24 season after Campbell posted a 22-13-4 record in 39 starts from 2022-24 with a .886 SV% and 3.53 goals-against average. The Oilers sent Campbell down to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, after only five games last year and he proved much better in the minor leagues. He secured an 18-13-1 record with the Condors in 33 games with a .918 SV% and 2.63 GAA in his first AHL competition since 2018-19.

Campbell was always likely to find himself with the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, with the team having one of the most crowded creases in the league. Detroit was poised to enter the 2024-25 NHL season with Ville Husso, Alex Lyon, and prospect Sebastian Cossa already under contract and brought in Campbell and Cam Talbot over the offseason. Campbell will now look to the Player Assistance Program for help and work through whatever he is going through.

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