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Golden Knights Sign Zach Aston-Reese, Tanner Laczynski

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The Vegas Golden Knights will shore up some depth at the forward position as player agent Dan Milstein reports the team has signed forward Zach Aston-Reese worth $775K at the NHL level and $475K in the AHL. They’re also bringing in depth forward Tanner Laczynski on a two-year, one-way deal worth $775K, per PuckPedia.

This move continues Aston-Reese’s journey across the NHL, with his last stop coming on a two-way deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Aston-Reese spent the bulks of that deal in the AHL, recording 14 goals and 30 points in 61 appearances and adding two points in nine playoff games. It was a down year, underlined by Aston-Reese’s lack of scoring through three NHL appearances.

Aston-Reese was once a stoutly-valued fourth-liner, staking his claim with five meager years with the Pittsburgh Penguins between 2017 and 2022. He was traded to the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline, as a part of a package for Rickard Rakell that also featured goaltender Calle Clang, forward Dominik Simon, and the second-round pick used to select top defense prospect Tristan Luneau. Aston-Reese would play in just 17 games with the Ducks, posting four points, before leaving the team for the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency. Toronto brought Aston-Reese a career-high 77 games, though his scoring remained meager, at just 14 points. Now in Vegas, Aston-Reese should provide an added layer of forward depth, though his overall NHL upside appears to be close to snuffed out.

Vegas also adds Laczynski for the same depth purposes, signing him after a breakout season in the AHL that saw Laczynski post 17 goals and 44 points in 49 games. It was the first high-scoring year of Laczynski’s professional career, which has been hampered at all levels by injury since his debut in the 2020-21 season. He’s suffered a string of hip and lower-body injuries, even requiring two separate hip surgeries in 2021. A healthy year ahead could pay dividends for Laczynski and the Golden Knights – with scoring upside evident but a full season hard to come by.

Stars Sign Casey DeSmith

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According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Dallas Stars have found their new backup goaltender as the team has signed Casey DeSmith to a three-year, $3MM ($1MM cap hit) contract.

DeSmith served as the Vancouver Canucks’ backup for much of the season, even filling a stretch of starts in the wake of injuries to Thatcher Demko. He posted modest totals in the spot starts, managing 12 wins and a .896 save percentage. It was a down year for DeSmith, after he managed a much sturdier 15 wins and .905 save percentage in 38 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year.

It was in Pittsburgh that DeSmith got his start, joining the organization as an AHL signing in the 2015-16 season, one year removed from the end of his collegiate career. But DeSmith was quick to bounce back to form though, recording 39 wins and a .919 save percentage across his first three seasons and 62 games in the AHL. That was enough to earn him an NHL call-up in 2017 – with Pittsburgh awarding DeSmith the first 50 games of his NHL career between 2017 and 2019. He was stellar in the initial test, posting a .917 save percentage and 21 wins.

DeSmith earned the AHL starting role in 2019-20, then the NHL backup role in 2020-21 following Matt Murray’s move to the Ottawa Senators. DeSmith held strong through his roles with Pittsburgh, emphasized by his stint in Vancouver marking the first time at any level of his pro career that DeSmith has posted a save percentage below .900. Dallas will be betting that he can return to his previously stout role next year, in a backup role that ceded 32 games to Scott Wedgewood last season.

Predators Sign Scott Wedgewood

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Nashville Predators have agreed to terms with goaltender Scott Wedgewood on a two-year contract. The deal carries an annual cap-hit of $1.5MM, per Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link).

Wedgewood has spent much of his career in the minor leagues, though he’s recently emerged as a capable backup – playing in just one AHL game since the 2020-21 season. That includes a full-time role backing up Jake Oettinger over parts of the last three seasons. That role led Wedgewood to a career-high 32 appearances this season – setting 16 wins and a .899 save percentage in the outings. It was a modest showing – but proved Wedgewood’s ability to show up when called upon, bringing his career totals up to 48 wins, 48 losses, and a .906 save percentage across 130 games. He managed similar totals in his stints in the minor leagues, tallying 94 wins and a .906 through 191 career games. Much of those came between his professional debut in 2012 and his move to the NHL in 2020.

Wedgewood will join the Predators in direct competition with top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, fighting for the backup spot behind the recently extended Juuse Saros. Whichever goalie loses out will move to the Milwaukee Admirals’ starting role, though even that spot could prove contentious after Troy Grosenick posted 17 wins and a .907 in 30 AHL games last year. Though, as it stands, Saros, Askarov, and Wedgewood are the only goaltenders under contract with the Predators.

Avalanche Re-Sign Jonathan Drouin

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Colorado Avalanche have signed forward Jonathan Drouin to a one-year contract. A few moments later, Pierre LeBrun confirmed it would be a one-year deal for Drouin and Colorado with a salary of $2.5MM.

Although Drouin’s departure looked inevitable due to a dismal cap situation in Colorado, the two sides worked out an agreement even after Drouin was allowed to negotiate with other clubs. Drouin’s salary for the 2024-25 season is more than a 300% raise on his previous contract — and it still looks like a bargain for the Avalanche.

After falling out of the picture in Montreal, Drouin signed in Colorado on a one-year, $825K deal last summer to reunite with former Halifax teammate, Nathan MacKinnon. Turning out to be on one of the most valuable contracts in the league, Drouin rewarded the Avalanche’s confidence with 19 goals and 56 points during the 2023-24 regular season. Drouin missed a considerable amount of time in Colorado’s run through the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs but still managed to tally three assists in three games.

Drouin will have even more responsibility for the Avalanche this season as the team waits on the status of Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog. Nevertheless, he should find a home in the team’s top six and may even log the most minutes next to MacKinnon. If the team is content with Drouin next to their top talent, it could allow them to move Mikko Rantanen around the lineup to boost the other lines.

Red Wings Sign Cam Talbot, William Lagesson

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Darren Dreger of TSN reports the Detroit Red Wings have signed goaltender Cam Talbot to a two-year, $5MM contract. Additionally, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff the Red Wings have also signed defenseman William Lagesson to a one-year contract paying him the league minimum of $775K.

Throughout the 2023-24 NHL season, the Red Wings used four different goaltenders as the team posted a .897 save percentage and a 3.33 GA/G. Hoping to rectify some of the inconsistency in the net, Detroit landed Talbot on a two-year deal after an impressive season with the Los Angeles Kings.

Playing on another one-year contract, Talbot posted a 27-20-6 record in 52 starts and a solid .913 save percentage behind a solid Kings’ defense. With one of the main criticisms behind the Red Wings’ poor goals-against being their defense, it will be interesting to see how Talbot can perform behind a less capable defensive structure. Additionally, if netminder Ville Husso can remain healthy for the 2024-25 season, head coach Derek Lalonde will get crafty in his decision-making to spread out the available starts.

Lagesson comes to the Motor City after a disappointing season split between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks. Likely destined for AHL Grand Rapids, the former fourth-round pick is coming off a season in which he scored only four assists in 40 games while averaging almost 15 minutes of ice time per game. Lagesson has value as a physical defenseman but shouldn’t factor in too much at the NHL level in a crowded Detroit blue line.

Kings Sign Joel Edmundson To Four-Year Contract

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Los Angeles Kings are close to signing free agent defenseman Joel Edmundson to a four-year, $15.2MM contract. The deal has been made official, per CapFriendly, moving Edmundson to the West Coast and completing the feat of playing in all four divisions.

Edmundson was a popular defender at the 2024 Trade Deadline, with his rights ultimately being moved from the Washington Capitals to the Toronto Maple Leafs, though Edmundson would play in just nine regular season games with the Leafs while nursing an undisclosed injury. He also appeared in seven postseason games, recording one assist – his lone point in 16 games with Toronto.

Amidst a turnover of their defense, and perhaps anticipating their big additions in free agency, Toronto opted to leave Edmundson unsigned, putting him back in a market excited about his hefty frame and long reach. The Kings were one of many teams tied to the defender, alongside Boston, Utah, and his original club of St. Louis, shares TSN’s Darren Dreger.

That competition may have sparked a July 1st bidding war, as Edmundson will walk away from free agency with a $350K raise from his last contract, despite posting just 32 points in 193 games over the course of the contract. He’ll look to support Los Angeles in the loss of Matt Roy, who’s held down a confident top-line role for the last three years. Top-pair minutes will likely go to Vladislav Gavrikov or Michael Anderson before they go to Edmundson, though the 31-year-old defender could be primed for a boost in ice time after middling through third-pairings over the last three seasons.

Capitals Sign Brandon Duhaime

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Washington Capitals have signed forward Brandon Duhaime to a two-year, $3.7MM contract.

Duhaime, 27, joins his third team in the past few months. The fourth-line energy winger first broke into the league with the Wild in 2021-22, unexpectedly playing in 80 of 82 games while providing solid value with 17 points, 122 PIMs and 201 hits while averaging 10:13 per game.

He hasn’t quite rediscovered that level of play, though, and injuries hampered his effectiveness over the next few seasons in Minnesota. The Wild dealt him to the Avalanche at the trade deadline, where he finished the season with five points and 53 hits in 18 games. In playoff action with Colorado, he mustered a goal and a -2 rating in 11 games but averaged fewer than eight minutes a night.

He’ll look to reprise a fourth-line role in Washington as he helps ease the loss of Beck Malenstyn and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, key parts of their bottom six last year that both found their way to the Sabres via trade and free agency.

Sabres Sign Jason Zucker

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Buffalo Sabres have agreed to a one-year, $5MM contract with free agent forward Jason Zucker.

Zucker, 32, projects to be a cheaper veteran replacement for Jeff Skinner, who had the final three seasons of his $9MM AAV contract bought out on Saturday. Unfortunately, he’s also a lower-ceiling option. Zucker had just 14 goals in 69 games split between the Coyotes and Predators last season, his lowest offensive output in a healthy season since 2015-16.

He’s still a viable depth scoring option, just likely not in a top-six role for a team intent on making the playoffs. Buffalo likely believes there’s some rebound potential they can unlock by sticking him with some faster, younger linemates – potentially in the top six alongside Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. However, Zucker is seven years removed from his career-best 33-goal, 64-point season in Minnesota – is it fair to expect him to sniff rediscovering that?

Zucker does play a physical game for his smallish frame (5’11”, 192 lbs), though, an area Skinner’s game notably lacked. It’s a facet of Buffalo’s team game they’re likely looking to improve under head coach Lindy Ruff next season. Unlike Skinner, Zucker also has a strong history of recent possession numbers and plays a much more well-rounded game. Still, for a $5MM price tag, they’re likely hoping for at least 20 goals and 45 points out of him this year.

Oilers To Sign Viktor Arvidsson

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Edmonton Oilers have agreed on a contract with forward Viktor Arvidsson. According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN, it will be a two-year, $8MM agreement between Arvidsson and the Oilers.

It’s a nice value signing for acting GM Jeff Jackson, who gets a more experienced and dependable linemate for Leon Draisaitl. The 31-year-old Arvidsson didn’t have a ton of market value this summer after being limited to just 18 games with injuries last season, but he still managed six goals and nine assists for 15 points for the Kings when in the lineup. He scored at least 20 goals in each of his two seasons in L.A. and had 59 points, the second-highest tally of his career, in 2022-23.

Now, Arvidsson jumps to the other side of a burgeoning Edmonton-Los Angeles rivalry after losing to the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs for three years in a row. He’s scored 30 goals twice in his career, although they both came during his time with the Predators in the 2010s.

If he stays healthy, he should easily outperform his $4MM cap hit in an advantageous situation alongside either Draisaitl or Connor McDavid, but likely the former. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry in 2026.

Blackhawks To Sign Alec Martinez, Laurent Brossoit, Three Others

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Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Chicago Blackhawks have signed defenseman Alec Martinez to a one-year, $4MM contract. Additionally — the team has also agreed to terms with goaltender Laurent Brossoit on a two-year, $6.6MM contract, forward Craig Smith on a one-year, $1MM contract, and forward Pat Maroon on a one-year, $1.3MM contract. And while they didn’t qualify him yesterday, winger Joey Anderson is sticking around in Chicago. He’s inking a two-year deal with an $800K cap hit, The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports.

The Blackhawks had quite a few dollars to throw around today and this grouping of players doesn’t even represent all of the organization’s signings today. Chicago has taken a major step forward in their rebuild with these moves, as they’ve grabbed arguably the best goaltender available on the market in addition to two veteran talents with Stanley Cup pedigree. Martinez and Maroon have combined for six Stanley Cup rings throughout their careers and will bring a wealth of experience and leadership to Chicago’s lineup.

Martinez recently wrapped up a four-and-a-half season run with the Vegas Golden Knights while he saw his spot on the depth chart slowly deteriorate. After scoring 32 points in 53 games during the 2020-21 season, Martinez fell to 17 points in 59 games this past year while seeing his ice time drop by nearly three minutes on average. Due to the moves Vegas made on their blue line, Martinez’s time with the organization unceremoniously ended.

In terms of production, Maroon and Smith bring similar power to the roster. Both individuals play with a physical edge while Smith can be counted on for more goals. Factoring in the retention of Anderson on a two-year deal, the Blackhawks bottom-six will be significantly harder to play against than just a season ago.

Finishing up with Brossoit, Chicago brings in some help behind Petr Mrazek. Seeking a larger opportunity outside of a backup role, Brossoit should be set to share the net with Mrazek instead of operating behind a more talented netminder. After winning a Stanley Cup Championship with the Vegas Golden Knights, Brossoit returned to the Winnipeg Jets on a one-year deal in which he would produce a 15-5-2 record in 22 games while posting a .927 SV% and 2.00 GAA.

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