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Minor Transactions: 08/13/19

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As August continues and we get further into restricted free agent contract negotiations, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the hockey landscape. We’ll keep updating as more come in:

  • Northeastern has announced a pair of graduate transfers for the upcoming season, one with a very familiar hockey name. Brendan van Riemsdyk, younger brother of NHL players James van Riemsdyk and Trevor van Riemsdyk, will join the Huskies after three seasons at the University of New Hampshire. Undrafted, the 23-year old forward had 16 points in 36 games last season.
  • Former Kelly Cup champion Gabriel Verpaelst has signed on with the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL for next season, bringing his physicality to a new organization. Verpaelst has racked up 706 penalty minutes in 292 ECHL games including 65 fighting majors.
  • The Halifax Mooseheads and Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL have completed a trade, swapping Cameron Whynot and a 2021 third for Xavier Parent. Whynot was the ninth overall pick in the most recent QMJHL draft and is already a 6’2″ defenseman at the age of 16. He is eligible for selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, but still has a lot of development to do in junior. Parent meanwhile was also a high pick, selected fourth in 2017 by the Mooseheads. He recorded 34 points in 67 games last season and was part of the gold medal-winning Hlinka-Gretzky team. He was eligible this season but went undrafted by the NHL likely thanks in part to his 5’7″ stature.

Minor Transactions: 08/08/19

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As August continues and we get further into contract negotiations, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the hockey landscape. We’ll keep updating as more come in:

  • Anthony Florentino has signed a one-year contract with the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, continuing his professional career after two seasons with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Originally selected in the fifth round by the Buffalo Sabres in 2013, Florentino stayed at Providence College for all four years and never did get an NHL contract. Last year saw the defenseman record eight points in 62 games for Cincinnati.
  • The Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL have convinced one of their import selections to sign for the 2019-20 season, inking Vitali Pinchuk according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. Pinchuk was the 62nd pick in the CHL Import Draft earlier this year and will leave Belarus to start his North American career. The 17-year old is eligible for selection in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
  • Peter Worrell has been a member of the amateur and youth hockey community in Florida since his retirement more than a decade ago, and will now join the Panthers organization directly. The former NHL enforcer has been named the director of the Florida Panthers IceDen where he will continue to help build the hockey community in the state. Worrell played 342 games for the Panthers during his career, racking up 1,375 penalty minutes.

Minor Transactions: 08/07/19

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As August continues and we get further into contract negotiations, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the league. We’ll keep updating as more come in:

  • Jamie Devane and Yushiroh Hirano have joined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the 2019-20 season on AHL contracts. It’s been a great week for Japanese hockey after 2020 draft prospect Yu Sato decided to bring his talents to North America and now Hirano has landed an AHL deal. The 23-year old forward played his first season of professional North American hockey last year and dominated the ECHL, scoring 57 points in 67 games. Devane meanwhile has been in the AHL for years now, most recently with the Ontario Reign where he racked up 79 penalty minutes in just 27 games last season.
  • If you’re a CHL fan who has been impressed with Swiss goaltender Noah Patenaude at the current Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, you might get another chance to see him up close next season. The 16-year old has signed with the Saint John Seadogs and will make the jump to North America test his skills next season.
  • Jaakko Haarti may not be coming to the NCAA after all. The Finnish defenseman will play with the Lahti Pelicans instead for the upcoming season, taking away a top recruit for UMass. The 5’10” Haarti recorded 14 goals and 28 points in the top Finnish junior league last season in just 50 games.
  • The Charlotte Checkers have signed Cedric Lacroix to a two-way AHL contract, bringing in an ECHL standout for a new opportunity. Lacroix played his first professional season with the Wheeling Nailers in 2018-19 and recorded 42 points in 71 games. That was more than he had in four whole seasons at the University of Maine, but he didn’t forget his roots as a physical presence. In those 71 contests, Lacroix finished sixth in the league by racking up 215 penalty minutes including 12 fighting majors.

Yu Sato Signs In QMJHL

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If you were following along with the 2019 CHL Import Draft in June, you may have noticed something extremely uncommon partway through the first round. With the 24th selection, the Quebec Remparts picked Yu Sato of Japan. While countries like Finland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland are commonly represented in the draft, Japan is not. Six weeks later Sato has signed with the Remparts and will be suiting up for head coach Patrick Roy this season.

Sato, 17, is eligible for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and if selected would become just the third Japanese-born player ever picked. Defenseman Hiroyuki Miura was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in 1992 but never appeared in an NHL game, while goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji was picked by the Los Angeles Kings in 2004 and played four games for them in 2007. There was also the infamous Taro Tsujimoto incident in 1974, when Buffalo Sabres GM Punch Imlach created a fictional Japanese player to select in the late rounds as a joke.

The young Remparts forward however is no joke. Sato played last season in Finland’s junior system and dominated, something he’d done in Russia’s junior league the year prior. If he can find some success in Quebec under Roy this season, perhaps there will be a new name added to the history books next June and potentially the first Japanese NHL skater a few years after that.

Snapshots: Shattenkirk, Miller, Malik

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There appears to have been more interest in Kevin Shattenkirk than most anticipated, making his one-year, $1.75MM pact with the Tampa Bay Lightning all the more interesting. Earlier today, it was reported that the Lightning and the Arizona Coyotes were just two of eleven teams that reached out to Shattenkirk. Now, The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein states that the Anaheim Ducks went so far as to make Shattenkirk a formal, multi-year contract offer. He notes that the Los Angeles Kings also entered the mix. Colleague David Pagnotta adds that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, and Winnipeg Jets were also serious contenders. As for some of the other possible suitors, there was rampant speculation that both the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers would have interest in Shattenkirk. At the end of the day, the veteran puck-mover clearly chose what he felt was his best opportunity to return to form as a high-scoring, dynamic defenseman, playing with the uber-skilled Lightning. There were surely offers for more money and term than what Shattenkirk ended up accepting to go to Tampa, and what remains is to make the most of that gamble by asserting himself as a top option on a crowded blue line and padding his stats before hitting the free agent market again next summer.

  • Despite Shattenkirk’s ties to the city during his collegiate career, it’s safe to assume that the Boston Bruins were not one of the teams interested in his services. The Bruins are having a hard enough time getting their own right-handed defensemen under contract with limited cap space, never mind adding another to the mix. Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo remain unsigned and the team has acknowledged that one or both may miss time during training camp due to to the rigors of difficult negotiations. Barring some magic from GM Don Sweeney and company, Boston will likely have to make a move to free up cap space. While many hope that it would be overpaid and ineffective veteran David Backes leaving town, such a trade would be hard to make and/or would cost the Bruins too much in picks or prospects. NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that defenseman Kevan Miller is instead the most likely casualty. Miller is a strong two-way defenseman who can make an impact on any team, when healthy. The problem is that he is not healthy as often as the Bruins have liked, leading them to invest heavily in defensive depth, such as signing John Moore last summer and extending Steven Kampfer and Connor Clifton in recent months. The Bruins have the depth to survive next season without Miller, after which he is likely to leave as a free agent anyway. Eliminating Miller’s $2.5MM cap hit may give the team just enough wiggle room to sign McAvoy and Carlo to long-term contracts. Meanwhile, even with so many teams facing salary cap issues, there would be a market for Miller’s services as a year-long rental to play a shutdown role for a contender.
  • NHL scouts will have to travel to the Czech Republic to evaluate one of the 2020 draft class’ top goaltenders in-person this upcoming season. 17-year-old Nick Malik, son of former NHL defenseman Marek Malik, was drafted by the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in this summer’s CHL Import Draft, but will not sign with the club. His Czech junior team, HC Ocelari Trinec, announced today that their starting goaltender will be staying through the 2019-20 season. Malik is considered one of the top handful of goaltenders early on in the 2020 evaluation process, with one scouting source, Future Considerations, naming him their No. 2 goalie and No. 59 overall prospect in their preliminary rankings last month. The Czech keeper, who was actually born in Raleigh, North Carolina while his dad was playing for the Hurricanes, has turned heads with his calm demeanor and lightning reflexes in net and performed very well at the U-17 World Junior Championship last year. Rather than split time with new Greyhounds acquisition Christian Propp, who made 51 appearances for the North Bay Battalion last season, Malik will likely be the undisputed starter for Ocelari and will have the chance to make more appearances in the Czech secondary pro league.

Minor Transactions: 07/31/19

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As July comes to a close and we get closer to the end of arbitration hearings and contract holdouts, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the league. We’ll keep updating as more come in:

  • Legendary Texas Stars forward Travis Morin has decided to retire from his playing career and take a job in the team’s front office. Morin’s #23 will be the first number retired by the team in a ceremony scheduled for October 19. The 35-year old forward played in just 13 NHL games but suited up 778 times in the AHL, scoring 625 points. 773 of those AHL games and all but one point came in a Texas uniform. In 2014 he was named regular season and playoff MVP en route to a Calder Cup with the Stars.
  • The Cleveland Monsters have signed Anton Karlsson to a one-year AHL contract. The 26-year old defenseman has played the last five seasons in the SHL, recording his best offensive output—13 points—in 2018-19. Undrafted, Karlsson will get a chance to show what he can do on North American ice and try to work his way towards an NHL contract down the road.
  • Selected 35th overall in the CHL Import Draft, Ville Ottavainen is on his way to the Kitchener Rangers. The 16-year old defenseman has signed with the OHL club and will play on their blue line next season. Ottavainen recorded 34 points in 49 games in his Finnish junior league last season and will try to bring that kind of production to North America. He is eligible for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Team Canada Announces Roster For Hlinka-Gretzky Cup

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One of the tournaments that has a huge impact on draft position is the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, held each year in August for the best U18 players in the world. Many of these players will be eligible for selection in the following draft, though some are even younger than that. It gives many fans a first chance to see some of the top stars that they’ll hear about for the coming season and an inside look at the prizes they’re competing for in the first round.

Today, Hockey Canada released its 22-player roster for the tournament, which starts on August 5th in the Czech Republic. Among the names are some spectacular talents, including Quinton Byfield who took home the 2019 CHL Rookie of the Year award and is projected to go very near the top of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Plenty of other talent like Cole Perfetti, Hendrix Lapierre and Jamie Drysdale have made the team, giving Canada a very exciting crop to keep an eye on.

Below is the full roster:

F Theo Rochette
F Ozzy Wiesblatt
F Justin Sourdif
F Jean-Luc Foudy
F Ridly Greig
F Connor McClennon
F Will Cuylle
F Hendrix Lapierre
F Quinton Byfield
F Jake Neighbours
F Cole Perfetti
F Mavrik Bourque
F Seth Jarvis

D Daemon Hunt
D Lukas Cormier
D Jamie Drysdale
D Jeremie Poirier
D Kaiden Guhle
D Donovan Sebrango
D Ryan O’Rourke

G Tristan Lennox
G Dylan Garand

Snapshots: Hughes, MacKenzie, Dwyer

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Jack Hughes hasn’t played a game in the NHL and Quinn Hughes has played just five, but already some are looking ahead to another member of the family. Young Luke Hughes, a 15-year old defenseman who will join the USNTDP next season is on the radar as a potential top pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and was recently profiled by Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet.

Hughes has the same exceptional skating ability as his older brothers, but already stands 5’11” and has plenty of time to grow. Even if he never becomes a hulking defenseman there seems to be a good chance the trio will all be in the NHL at the same time down the road. The young prospect is currently committed to the University of Michigan for 2021-22, the same school that Quinn went to for two seasons before signing his entry-level deal with the Vancouver Canucks a few months ago.

  • The CHL has hired former NBA executive Dan MacKenzie as the league’s first full-time president, responsible for growing the junior leagues and “enhancing the player and fan experience.” All three commissioners—David Branch of the OHL, Gilles Courteau of the QMJHL and Ron Robison of the WHL—will stay in their current positions and work with MacKenzie, who has spent the last eight years as managing director of NBA Canada.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have hired Patrick Dwyer as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers. Dwyer only just finished his playing career after suiting up for a season with the Belfast Giants, but is very familiar with the Hurricanes organization. The 36-year old played 416 NHL games, all with Carolina and recorded 93 points. He’ll join new Checkers head coach Ryan Warsofsky in trying to replace the success delivered by Mike Vellucci before he left for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization earlier this summer.

Snapshots: Dahlen, Teply, Boston University

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Many believe that talented, but under-performing forward Jonathan Dahlen may be primed for a breakout year in 2019-20, beginning his first full season with the San Jose Sharks. Dahlen, 21, was acquired by the Sharks at the trade deadline in a swap with the Vancouver Canucks for fellow Swedish forward prospect Linus Karlsson. Dahlen had failed to do enough in the AHL to earn a call-up to the Canucks in his first season in North America, but after a four-point outburst in the final seven games of the regular season with AHL San Jose, many felt a change of scenery could be all he needed to battle for an NHL spot this upcoming season. However, Dahlen may not break camp with the Sharks this fall because he may not even be in camp. Swedish news source Hockey Sverige reports that Dahlen is expected to return to his former club, Timra IK. Dahlen is in the final year of his entry-level contract, but that deal does include a European Assignment Clause, which allows Dahlen to play in Europe if he does not make the NHL club. The fact that this information has been leaked so early before training camp likely indicates that Dahlen either believes or knows that he won’t be playing for the Sharks in 2019-20 and would prefer to return home to Sweden rather than suit up for the Barracuda. Dahlen exercised his European Assignment Clause in the first year of his ELC, playing for Timra rather than the AHL’s Utica Comets. After a season in Utica last year that left a lot to be desired, Dahlen is likely eager to get back to his roots, especially since Timra has been promoted to the SHL from the minor league Allsvenskan since the last time he played there. If Dahlen does indeed jump overseas next season, it doesn’t mean his career with San Jose is over. The Sharks would merely need to make him a qualifying offer next season to retain his rights moving forward, should he re-discover his game and try again to make it in the NHL.

  • One player making the reverse move, going from Europe to North America, is Chicago Blackhawks prospect Michal Teply. Teply played professionally in his native Czech Republic last season, but is ready to return to the junior ranks. After being selected No. 4 overall in the recent CHL Import Draft, Teply has delivered on the pick used by the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice, as the team announced he has signed. The Ice, who are moving from Kootenay to Winnipeg and looking for a fresh start after a second-to-last league finish, are likely to see immediate results from Teply. A big winger who uses his size well to create space and make plays, many were surprised that Teply fell into the fourth round for the Blackhawks. In fact, there was a consensus among the top scouting services that Teply was a surefire second- or third-round pick. From fourth round to fourth overall, Winnipeg still may have found a steal in Teply, as the skilled forward has already proven he can compete with men at the pro level and could be in for breakout year against junior competition.
  • Boston University has found its new starting goaltender via transfer. The program has announced that a pair of graduate transfers have joined the team in Alex Brink and Sam Tucker. While Brink was a nice piece as a depth forward at Brown University, Tucker is the big news. The 23-year-old keeper split starts in net for Yale University over the past three seasons, including leading the team in appearances in each of the past two years, and his numbers took a sharp upturn in 2018-19. He now joins an elite NCAA program in BU where superior defense and possession ability should allow him to excel even more. After losing Jake Oettinger to the pros, it was looking like the Terriers were going to enter next season with untested Vinnie Purpura in net, but Purpura can take another year to continue developing while Tucker presumably takes over the starter role. Brink and Tucker join a new group of players that is arguably the best recruiting class in the nation, helping to make up for an exodus of nearly a third of last year’s roster to the pros.

Snapshots: Maroon, Rantanen, Ryczek, Puutio

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Defending Stanley Cup champion Patrick Maroon tells NHL.com’s Lou Korac that “it’s tough right now” for veterans to find a contract. Given the meager increase of the salary cap and the immense number of restricted free agents still unsigned, there has been a considerable break in unrestricted free agent signings over the past week or two. 14 of PHR’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents still remain available, including Maroon, with little chatter pertaining to any of them. Maroon at least offers a glimmer of hope for his own situation, also informing Korac that he has had discussions with GM Doug Armstrong about a return to his hometown St. Louis Blues, saying that they’ve “had good conversations.” However, the Blues still have four RFA’s to sign, including three potential arbitration cases in Joel Edmundson, Oskar Sundqvist, and Ville Husso. Maroon will also be looking for fair value from St. Louis after taking a hometown discount last summer and becoming a key contributor for the team down the stretch and in the postseason. An extension won’t come easy for either side, but both parties and fans would surely like to see Maroon back in town next season. He and other unsigned veterans may just have to wait a while longer for offers to finally come through.

  • On the off chance that RFA Mikko Rantanen and the Colorado Avalanche cannot come to terms on an extension this summer, his KHL rights holder is preparing their pursuit. However, it’s not exactly a Godfather offer. Sport Express’ Igor Eronko reports that Ak Bars Kazan is willing to offer Rantanen a one-year, $4MM contract. While Eronko notes the lower tax rate in Russia and lack of escrow concerns, it’s still a very underwhelming number for a 22-year-old star forward coming off back-to-back 80+ point seasons. The Avalanche would be happy to top that salary, even taking the differences in tax and escrow into consideration. Rantanen is well within his right to be seeking a long-term contract with an AAV of $10MM+ or at least a bridge deal in the $8MM range, so Ak Bars’ offer is unlikely to move the needle toward a return to Europe.
  • Chicago Blackhawks prospect Jake Ryczek will have to prove himself in the AHL before earning an entry-level contract. The 21-year-old defenseman has signed a one-year deal with Chicago’s affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs, the team announced. Ryczek was a 2016 seventh-round pick, expected to be a long-term project developing at Providence College. Instead, Ryczek left the Friars midway through his freshman year and joined the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. The problem now is that Ryczek has aged out of the junior level with just a year and half of QMJHL experience and is still a raw prospect. Rather than use a limited roster spot to sign an unproven commodity, the Blackhawks will see what he can do in the AHL for the time being. Ryczek remains Chicago’s exclusive property until June 1st of next year.
  • The first overall pick in the CHL Import Draft has signed. Finnish defenseman Kasper Puutio, taken at No. 1 by the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos in June, has officially joined the team. Puutio began turning heads this past season when he was called up to the top level of Finland’s junior ranks at the age of 16 and performed well to boot. Draft source Future Considerations ranks Puutio as the No. 67 prospect for the 2020 NHL Draft in their early initial rankings, but some have called him a first-round caliber player, and that was before he joined the Canadian junior ranks. If he can continue to grow and produce in the more competitive WHL as a very young prospect, he could easily climb into the top 31 picks next year. Either way, the Broncos hope that they can take advantage of his puck-moving ability and competent defensive game for several years to come.

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