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Reid Duke Signs AHL Contract

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The first player in Vegas Golden Knights history is staying with the organization, though it’s no longer under an NHL contract. Reid Duke has signed an AHL contract with the Henderson Silver Knights for the 2021-22 season.

The 25-year-old forward reached Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer after failing to play in any NHL games to this point in his career. Signed to an entry-level contract on March 6, 2017, just a few days after the Golden Knights gained official standing, he will always be the answer to an interesting piece of trivia. Unfortunately, that entry-level deal and the one-year contract that followed never really resulted in much, as Duke registered just 39 points in 114 AHL games.

Originally a sixth-round pick of Minnesota Wild, Duke never signed with that organization and instead ended up inking a deal with his former junior coach/GM Kelly McCrimmon, now GM of the Golden Knights. That WHL connection will continue, as new GM of the Silver Knights Tim Speltz should know Duke very well from his time with the Spokane Chiefs.

St. Louis Blues Sign James Neal, Michael Frolik To PTOs

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The St. Louis Blues have brought in a ton of veteran experience in one day, signing James Neal and Michael Frolik to professional tryouts. Both players will join the Blues for training camp as they look for NHL contracts.

Neal, 34, was once one of the most consistent goal scorers in the league, posting seasons of at least 21 goals for the first ten years of his career. Things changed in 2018-19 when he signed a five-year, $28.75MM contract with the Calgary Flames, as suddenly his goal scoring dried up and he was pushed further and further down the lineup.

After two up and down years with the Edmonton Oilers, Neal’s contract was bought out in July. He will still earn nearly $2MM from the Oilers in each of the next four years, meaning whatever he was to make on another NHL contract would just be a bonus. Though his overall play has obviously declined, Neal did actually score 24 goals in 84 games for the Oilers over those two seasons, 13 of them coming on the powerplay. If there’s any of that juice left, perhaps the Blues could use him as a sort of specialist to replace some of the scoring that left in the offseason, or that which could still be moved out.

Frolik, 33, is a bit of a different story. He was never a pure goal scorer, far from it in fact as he hasn’t recorded a 20-goal season since his sophomore year in 2009-10. Instead, he grew into a defensively capable support player who could be relied on for somewhere around 40 points a year. That offense disappeared over the last few years though and Frolik was limited almost entirely to the taxi squad for the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-21. In eight games, he failed to record a single point.

It’s hard to believe he’ll ever be an impact player again, but you could certainly do worse than Frolik if you’re looking for depth to keep on hand in case of injury. Having a player like him in camp prepares for that situation, given the Blues don’t have a huge number of young players pushing (or ready) for playing time.

As with any tryout agreement, it’s also important to remember that this does not mean the Blues have exclusive rights to these players. Any NHL team can still sign them if they wish, meaning this is a showcase to the whole league.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 09/17/21

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Hockey is coming. The NHL season is coming quickly, with real preseason action just around the corner. As we keep an eye on those RFA contract negotiations, there is still more happening in the minor and European leagues. As always, this is where you’ll find information on all the notable minor moves of the day.

  • The Grand Rapids Griffins have signed Dennis Yan to a one-year contract after he spent last season with the Black Wings 1992 of the ICEHL. Yan, 24, was a third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning when Steve Yzerman was running that organization, and a valuable contributor at the AHL level. In 13 games overseas last season he scored just five points, but will get a chance to resume his professional career in North America this year.
  • CapFriendly reports that Ryan Lohin has signed a professional tryout with the Seattle Kraken after failing to receive a qualifying offer from the Lightning this summer. Lohin, a seventh-round pick in 2016, split last season between the AHL and ECHL, scoring seven goals and 15 points in 25 games with the Syracuse Crunch.
  • Stuart Percy, a first-round pick in 2015, has signed with Motor Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic for the season that has already started. Now 28, Percy actually played 12 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but never did live up to his billing as a future top-four NHL defenseman. He spent last season in Finland, where he recorded 17 points in 50 games with Vaasan Sport.
  • The Laval Rocket have agreed to terms with Kevin Roy on an AHL contract for the upcoming season, bringing him over from the Tucson Roadrunners where he scored 11 goals and 30 points in 35 games. The 28-year-old winger hasn’t seen the NHL since the 2018-19 season but does have a pretty lengthy history in the minor leagues now, suiting up for the San Diego Gulls, Springfield Thunderbirds, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Roadrunners and soon the Rocket.

This page will be further updated as transactions are reported

Frederik Gauthier Signs PTO With New Jersey Devils

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The New Jersey Devils have added another experienced NHL forward to the mix for training camp, signing Frederik Gauthier to a professional tryout. Gauthier joins Mark Jankowski, Jimmy Vesey and Tyler Wotherspoon who will also be in Devils camp on PTOs.

Now 26, Gauthier never did develop into the shutdown center that the Toronto Maple Leafs were hoping for when they selected him 21st overall in 2013. Standing 6’5″ and 239-lbs, the former Rimouski Oceanic star should be a physical presence on the ice that can lean on attacking players and punish defenders. Unfortunately, he has never seemed interested in playing the bruising style and using his frame to its full advantage.

In 170 career NHL games, Gauthier has just 204 hits and 31 points. All but two of those games came with Toronto, before playing for the Arizona Coyotes last season. Averaging just nine minutes a night to this point, securing a full-time NHL job is likely out of the question for the big center.

Still, he could certainly provide some depth for the Devils down the middle if he earns a two-way contract. The team isn’t really loaded with options for the bottom-six, which is likely exactly why these players keep agreeing to tryouts with the team as they look to secure NHL contracts.

Zack Smith Announces Retirement

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It’s been more than 18 months since Zack Smith last laced up his skates for an NHL game, and it turns out that match against the Vancouver Canucks on February 12, 2020 will be his last. The veteran forward announced his retirement today, speaking with Ian Mendes of The Athletic.

Smith, who played parts of 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators before spending the 2019-20 season with the Chicago Blackhawks, admitted that though he obviously loves the game, his “heart wasn’t into it the last couple of years.” He points to the moment in 2018 when he was placed on waivers by the Senators as one when he learned the “business side” of the game.

In 2020-21, Smith was still under contract with the Blackhawks but did not play after having back surgery the season prior. He is still dealing with pain and is now focused on his post-hockey health and life.

It was quite a career for the third-round pick, racking up 204 points in 662 regular season games. His most impressive season came in 2015-16 when he scored 25 goals and even received votes for the Selke Trophy as one of the league’s best defensive forwards. Though he did not ever lift the Stanley Cup, he did suit up 45 times in the postseason.

Montreal To Host 2022 NHL Draft

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The 2022 NHL Draft will be held in Montreal at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. The event will be held over two days, starting on July 7. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman released a statement:

We are proud to announce that, once again, we are conducting our Draft in front of the great fans of the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal, the site of the first NHL Draft in 1963, is a wonderful place to bring the NHL family together and to focus on the future of our game as our Clubs call the names of top prospects from around the world. We also thank Geoff Molson and the entire Canadiens organization for their cooperation and support while we needed to conduct the Draft remotely the past two years.

The Canadiens had been set to host the 2020 draft before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to be held virtually. The expectation since has always been that the league would return to Montreal as soon as it could, and now that is official.

The most interesting part about this announcement is that NHL free agency will not open on July 1, as it did prior to the COVID-shifted calendars. Agent Allan Walsh of Octagon Hockey tweets that the frenzy will be pushed back to mid-July, meaning once again it will be a condensed offseason. This is likely in part due to the extended season, as this year’s schedule is made up of 200 days thanks to an Olympic break in February.

It also means as PuckPedia points out, that the majority of players with signing bonuses will have them paid before the draft and free agency. That could drastically affect teams’ plans and player movement heading into the draft, as huge chunks of salary will have already been paid out.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Nolan Allan

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed first-round pick Nolan Allan to his three-year, entry-level contract. The deal will come with a cap hit of $870K and an AAV of $925K. Allan was the very last player off the board in the first round this year, selected with the Tampa Bay Lightning pick that Chicago received in the Seth Jones trade.  PuckPedia provides the full breakdown of the deal:

2021-22: $750K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $25K bonus at 5 NHL GP, $57.5K at 10 NHL GP
2022-23: $750K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, $25K bonus at 5 NHL GP, $57.5K at 10 NHL GP
2023-24: $832.5K salary, $92.5K signing bonus, no games played bonuses

Allan, 18, is a very interesting pick for the simple reason that he has basically shown no offensive upside to this point. The 6’2″ defenseman has just 11 points in his 81 WHL games to this point and is known almost entirely for his contributions in his own end. That’s why it was a surprise to some when the Blackhawks picked him at the end of the first round, but there’s certainly a lot to like about his defensive game.

He very well may cap out at a third-pairing defenseman in the NHL and some will critique the Blackhawks for not shooting higher with their selection, but the team obviously believes he can be a valuable piece of the puzzle. That certainly won’t be this season, though Allan will be taking part in the team’s rookie tournament that starts later this week. In all likelihood, he’ll go back to the WHL for another season to continue his development, which will also allow his contract to slide forward a year, not burning the first season of the entry-level deal.

New York Islanders Expected To Sign Paul LaDue

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Sep 16: CapFriendly reports that the deal will be a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level, $275K in the AHL and includes a $325K minor league guarantee.

Sep 10: Free agent signings by the New York Islanders are difficult to officially pin down, given how the team refuses to announce them, but at least one more player is expected to end up there. Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports that Paul LaDue will sign with the Islanders, though does not give any contract details.

LaDue, 29, signed a one-way contract with the Washington Capitals for last season, but ended up spending the entire year on the practice squad or in the minor leagues. He didn’t suit up for a single NHL game, the first time that has happened since turning pro in 2016. Originally a sixth-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, LaDue played three years for the University of North Dakota, winning a national championship in 2016.

At the NHL level, he’s played in 71 total games, all with the Kings and registered 19 points. The 6’2″ defenseman is a valuable depth piece, even if he has yet to prove he can handle a full-time role. With the Islanders, it’s unclear where LaDue fits in exactly, given how uncertain their depth chart is at this point. The team could very well have other players who have agreed to contracts that will be battling for those last few spots, or perhaps things are setting up for LaDue to secure a roster spot out of camp.

Even if he doesn’t secure that roster spot, LaDue represents solid injury insurance as the team attempts to go on another long playoff run.

Andy Andreoff, Dmytro Timashov Sign With Islanders

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Official confirmation on anything New York Islanders-related is difficult to come by these days, but it appears as though two more players can be added to the unofficial organizational depth chart. Arthur Staple of The Athletic tweets that the team has signed Andy Andreoff and notes that Dmytro Timashov may also be back. CapFriendly reports that the Andreoff deal is a two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level, $275K in the AHL and includes a $325K minor league guarantee. They add that Timashov’s deal is a two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level, $160K in the AHL and includes a $205K minor league guarantee. Both are for just one year.

The 30-year-old Andreoff actually has 179 games under his belt to this point in his NHL career, though just 20 of those have come since the end of the 2017-18 season. A former full-time member of the Los Angeles Kings, he’s been forced to spend most of the last few years in the minor leagues. In 2020-21, he played in six games with the Philadelphia Flyers, going scoreless and registering nine penalty minutes.

Timashov, 24, is perhaps more exciting, given his relative youth and offensive upside. The former Toronto Maple Leafs forward spent last season with the Islanders organization on a one-year, two-way deal, but was not extended a qualifying offer this summer. Timashov would have been arbitration-eligible but became an unrestricted free agent when he failed to receive a QO. Though he played in just one game at the NHL level and has just 45 under his belt to this point, the fifth-round pick is still a somewhat intriguing option because of the scoring numbers he has put up at the minor league level.

He had 11 points in 22 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers this season but scored 49 in 72 the last time he played a full season in the minor leagues. A Calder Cup winner with the Toronto Marlies, he could provide some interesting bottom-six depth for the Islanders this season.

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