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Taro Hirose Signs With German Team

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Former Red Wings left winger Taro Hirose has signed with EHC Munich of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, according to a team announcement.

Hirose, 28, spent last season playing out the back half of a two-year, two-way extension signed with Detroit in 2022. For the first time since turning pro in 2019, however, he was buried entirely in the minors with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, where the 5’10”, 170-lb playmaker had 27 assists and 36 points in 54 games. The Red Wings didn’t bring him back after reaching unrestricted free agency in July.

Hirose has appeared in 60 NHL regular season games, all with Detroit – most recently, a three-game call-up in March and April 2023. An undrafted free agent signing out of Michigan State, the Winnipeg native has been an AHL fixture, only logging a career-high 26 NHL appearances with the Wings in 2019-20.

Overall, the 2019 NCAA scoring champion posted four goals, 16 assists, 20 points, and a -17 rating in 60 games with Detroit in parts of five seasons. He joins a Munich roster highlighted by a few other former NHLers, namely Adam Brooks, Tobias Rieder, and Ben Smith.

International Notes: Nogier, Masin, Kallionkieli

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After some notable international signings earlier today, there’s more to cover. One is former Jets defenseman Nelson Nogier, who’s sticking in Europe for the third straight season after signing a one-year deal with Germany’s Straubing Tigers yesterday.

Nogier, 28, was a fourth-round pick of Winnipeg in 2014. He logged brief action with the Jets in the 2016-17 and 2018-19 campaigns, amounting to 11 total games of NHL experience with no points, a -1 rating and 5 PIMs. The 6’3″, 207-lb right-shot defenseman spent most of his time with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, where he posted 41 points in 242 games across six seasons with the organization.

After being traded to the Kings in a minor swap late in 2021-22, Nogier posted four points in 13 games for their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, before reaching unrestricted free agency that summer. He immediately headed overseas, heading to Kazakhstan with Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League. That’s where he spent the last two seasons, amassing 20 points and a -14 rating in 117 appearances. Late in the European transfer period, with regular seasons about to get underway, he’ll look to make an impact in Straubing alongside former NHLers Justin Braun, Taylor Leier, and others.

Some more overseas moves:

  • Former Lightning second-round pick Dominik Masin has signed in his native Czechia for the first time in his professional career, inking a three-year deal with HC Sparta Prague. Masin, now 28, logged 58 points in 273 appearances from the blue line for the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, from 2016 to 2020. He never received a call-up, though, and headed overseas upon becoming a restricted free agent during the pandemic. The Lightning still held his signing rights up until February of last year. Masin spent parts of the last three years playing for Ilves in Finland, helping them to a third-place finish in Liiga in 2022.
  • Former Golden Knights prospect Marcus Kallionkieli is returning to Poland, inking a one-year deal with GKS Katowice. The 23-year-old winger has had quite the peculiar ride, plagued by injuries for much of his time under contract with Vegas. Last year, the final one of his entry-level contract, the organization loaned him to Poland’s STS Sanok before reassigning him to Finland’s Kiekko-Espoo and then placing him on unconditional waivers for mutual contract termination in February. A fifth-round pick in 2019, the Finnish-Brazilian national had two goals in six games with their AHL affiliate in Henderson in 2020-21 and one goal in five games with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates during an injury-truncated 2022-23 campaign.

DEL’s Dusseldorfer EG Signs Tyler Angle

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Düsseldorfer EG of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga have signed center/left winger Tyler Angle, per Tobias Kemberg of D.Sports. It’s a one-year deal for the Niagara Falls native, who heads overseas early in his career.

Angle, 23, had spent the last four years playing in the Blue Jackets organization. He played mostly for their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, but he did log two games with Columbus in each of the past two seasons.

Early on, Angle looked like he might be a gem after falling to the seventh round of the 2019 draft, selected on the heels of a strong season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires. With the OHL pausing its operations for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Angle turned pro early on an amateur tryout with the Monsters. He immediately made an impact, posting 11 goals and 24 points in 23 games, leading the team in scoring during the shortened campaign.

Angle’s entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets went into effect in 2021-22, but the 5’10”, 172-lb forward never regained his scoring touch. His point-per-game production nearly halved, limited to 11 goals and 37 points in 71 contests the following year. By last season, Angle was no longer a fixture in the Cleveland lineup, only playing in 40 of 72 games and recording 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) with a -11 rating. On the heels of that performance, the Jackets opted not to issue him a qualifying offer when his ELC expired this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

His brief NHL usage did yield a goal, coming against the Sabres on April 14, 2023. He posted a -3 rating across his four appearances, five shots on goal, and an average of 9:54 per game while going 11-for-27 in the dot (40.7%).

Angle joins a Düsseldorf club headlined by former Avalanche defenseman Kyle Cumiskey on the back end. He’ll reunite with center Justin Richards, who played out 2022-23 with the Monsters on a two-way deal with Columbus and signed a deal with the German side earlier this month.

International Notes: Schneider, Richards, Melnick

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An AHL fixture is heading a bit off the beaten path this season. After 13 minor-league seasons and six NHL games, forward Cole Schneider has signed a two-year deal with Norway’s Storhamar, the team announced yesterday.

Schneider, 33, is coming off a tough campaign. The Williamsville, New York native signed on with the independent Chicago Wolves last season and was expected to be one of their top scorers, but he faltered with only 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 56 games. In the two seasons prior, Schneider had served as the captain of the Predators’ affiliate in Milwaukee and put up seasons of 60 and 51 points.

Since making his AHL debut all the way back in 2012, Schneider has totaled 247 goals, 327 assists and 574 points in 776 career games. That puts him inside the top 50 in league history in both goals and appearances. But his NHL call-ups were few and far between, only appearing in a half-dozen contests with the Sabres across the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, recording one assist and a +2 rating.

Schneider heads to a Storhamar team that went 33-3-9 last season and won the Norwegian Eliteserien championship, putting them in the continent-wide Champions Hockey League for 2024-25. He’s a major reinforcement for Storhamar’s first appearance in the continental cup since 2018-19. He joins former Avalanche, Blackhawks and Canadiens winger Andreas Martinsen as Storhamar’s only players with NHL experience under their belt.

More recent international signings:

  • Free agent center Justin Richards is heading overseas for the first time, signing a one-year deal with Germany’s Dusseldorfer EG. The 26-year-old Orlando native spent all of last season in the minors while on a two-way deal with the Sabres and became a Group VI UFA at the end of the year. The son of former Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards took a step back with AHL Rochester after a career-best campaign with Cleveland the year prior, only contributing 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 58 games with a -13 rating. Richards has two assists in three career NHL games with the Blue Jackets and Rangers across the 2020-21 and 2022-23 campaigns.
  • After six years of solid play in the AHL, center Josh Melnick signed a one-year deal with Karpat of the Finnish Liiga today, per a team release. Melnick, 29, had spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Wolves and four years before that in the Stars’ system with Texas. He was signed to an NHL contract by Dallas coming out of Miami Ohio in 2019 but never got a call-up. The 5’10”, 181-lb pivot has 129 points in 300 career AHL games.

International Notes: Caamano, Hamaliuk, Ekberg

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A six-year member of the Dallas Stars organization will be heading overseas for the first time in his career. The Grizzlys Wolfburf of the DEL announced the team signed former prospect Nicholas Caamano for the 2024-25 season.

Caamano originally joined the Stars organization as the 146th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft but would spend another two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Flint Firebirds and the Hamilton Bulldogs. The winger became an effective score in his last two years in the OHL with 60 goals and 121 points in 131 games.

Unfortunately, his offensive prowess did not transfer to the professional ranks as Caamano quickly became an average forward option at AHL Texas. Over six campaigns with the Stars’ top affiliate, Caamano participated in 246 contests while scoring 44 goals and 98 points. Dallas gave Caamano a decent opportunity between 2019-2021 but he only tallied three points in 36 NHL games.

Other international notes:

  • Former Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospect Dillon Hamaliuk is also hopping across the pond next year as HC Nove Zamky of the Tipos Extraliga announced they had signed the forward on the team’s Instagram. Hamaliuk was originally drafted by the Sharks in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft after the young forward scored 11 goals and 26 points in 31 WHL contests. Hamaliuk’s short but strong stretch in the WHL never materialized into anything better as he’s been middling between the AHL and ECHL over two professional years in North America.
  • It appears that 2025 NHL Draft hopeful Filip Ekberg will be taking his talents to the OHL as he’s reportedly told Almtuna IS of HockeyAllsvenskan that he will not be returning to the team next season. The winger was drafted by the Ottawa 67’s in last year’s CHL Import Draft and will likely suit up in Canada’s capital next year. Ekberg was utilized as a solid playmaker in Sweden and is projected to fall somewhere near the end of the first round in 2025.

International Notes: Butcher, Currie, Trivigno, Bednard

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After spending the last two years buried in the minors, a veteran NHL free agent is heading overseas for the first time in his career. Defenseman Will Butcher, who made the NHL All-Rookie Team and finished ninth in Calder Trophy voting in 2017-18, has signed a one-year contract with Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana of the KHL, per a team announcement.

Butcher began 2023-24 on a two-way contract with the Penguins, posting seven points in 14 games for AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before being traded to the Wild in January. He didn’t receive a call-up to Minnesota after the move, instead finishing the season with nine points in 24 games on the farm with AHL Iowa. The 29-year-old reached the UFA market on July 1.

The 2013 fifth-round pick of the Avalanche last suited up in the NHL for the Sabres in 2021-22, where he posted eight points and a -10 rating in 37 games in a bottom-pairing role. Despite attending the University of Denver, Butcher opted not to sign in Colorado after graduating in 2017 and instead landed with the Devils as a free agent.

Viewed as one of the top college FAs in quite some time after captaining the Pioneers to a national championship, Butcher was a power-play force in his rookie campaign in New Jersey with 44 points in 81 games, but he was never able to rediscover that kind of offense. He carried decent possession metrics at even strength even when his point totals dipped, but NHL teams quickly soured on his undersized 5’10”, 190-lb frame.

Other recent international signings of note:

  • Former Oilers forward Josh Currie, who spent last season in the AHL with the Belleville Senators on a two-way deal with Ottawa, has signed with German club Kölner Haie, per a press release from the team. It’s the Canadian’s second stint overseas after suiting up with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Currie last suited up in the NHL with the Penguins for one game in 2020-21 and had five points (two goals, three assists) in 21 games worth of call-up action with Edmonton in 2018-19. The 31-year-old has been productive in the AHL, racking up 240 points in 383 games in parts of seven seasons.
  • Left winger Bobby Trivigno has found a home overseas after being non-tendered by the Rangers last month, landing a two-year deal with Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League. New York signed the 25-year-old as a free agent out of UMass in 2022, but he didn’t see an NHL call-up over the course of his entry-level contract. The diminutive but energetic winger produced 12 goals and 45 points in 117 games with AHL Hartford.
  • Former Panthers goalie prospect Ryan Bednard is heading to England with the EIHL’s Nottingham Panthers, per a team announcement. Bednard, 27, was a fifth-round pick of the Cats in 2015 and signed his entry-level deal after a successful three-year stint at Bowling Green but never got a chance in the NHL. He was non-tendered in 2021 and has bounced around on AHL and ECHL contracts since. The Michigan native spent most of last season with the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits, with a .911 SV% and a 20-12-0 record in 33 games.

Minor Transactions: 7/18/24

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As expected, signing activity across the NHL has largely dried up with training camps still more than a month and a half away.  However, there are some NHL-drafted prospects and players formerly on NHL contracts that have found new places to play in recent days.  We’ll run through those moves here.

  • Free agent blueliner Nick Cicek has signed a one-year deal with Adler Mannheim, the DEL team announced. The 24-year-old started last season in San Jose’s system before being moved to Vancouver where he remained in the AHL.  Between the two teams, Cicek had four goals and 12 assists in 67 games, resulting in him being non-tendered last month.  Cicek does have 16 career NHL appearances under his belt, all coming in the 2022-23 campaign where he had four assists.
  • Capitals prospect Ilya Protas has signed with OHL Windsor for the upcoming season, per a team announcement. Protas, whose brother is a regular in Washington, was a third-round pick last month, going 75th overall.  The 18-year-old, who signed his entry-level deal with the Caps earlier this month was the third-overall selection in the CHL Import Draft and the top selection from an OHL-based club following a strong showing with USHL Des Moines.  In 61 games with the Buccaneers last season, Protas had 14 goals and 37 assists.
  • Still with Washington, the Capitals farm team in Hershey was busy today as the team announced six signings, all on one-year contracts. Joining the Bears are forwards Grant Cruikshank, Austin Magera, Micah Miller, Justin Nachbaur, and Tyler Weiss, along with defenseman Jayden Lee.  The five forwards played professionally last year – primarily at the ECHL level – while Lee is turning pro after a five-year stint at Quinnipiac.
  • After being non-tendered by Dallas last month, free agent forward Max Ellis has found a new place to play as he has joined Jukurit in Finland, per a team release.  The 24-year-old spent last season in Toronto’s system, getting into 36 games in the AHL with the Marlies where he had four goals and ten assists.  His signing rights were thrown into the draft day trade for the rights to Chris Tanev but that was simply for contract-matching purposes.
  • Panthers prospect Vladislav Lukashevich has changed his college commitment. Nathaniel Bott of the Lansing State Journal relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner will now play at Michigan State next season instead of Northern Michigan.  The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick back in 2021, going 120th overall and spent last season with USHL Tri-City where he had 11 goals and 32 assists in 54 games.

Overseas Signings: LaDue, Brooks, Reinke

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A few players with NHL games under their belt have headed overseas within the past 24 hours:

  • After nearly breaking out as a roster regular with the Kings before the pandemic, Paul LaDue’s days in the NHL appear to be over. MoDo of the Swedish Hockey League has signed the 31-year-old defenseman to a one-year deal. LaDue is coming off a two-year, two-way deal with the Islanders that was spent entirely on assignment to AHL Bridgeport. The North Dakota native was once a solid puck-mover at the AHL level during his days in the Los Angeles system, but his offense dried up with the Isles, going without a goal and registering only 16 assists combined over 93 games the past two years. LaDue last suited up in the NHL with the Islanders in 2021-22, his lone appearance in a New York sweater. The other 69 of his 70 career NHL games came in L.A., where he scored five times and added 13 assists for 18 points in parts of four seasons.
  • Center/left winger Adam Brooks is heading to Germany on a one-year deal with EHC Munich of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Brooks, 28, heads to Europe for the first time after spending the first seven years of his professional career in North America, primarily in the AHL. Like Ladue, he hasn’t seen NHL ice since 2021-22, instead suiting up for the past two seasons with AHL Lehigh Valley while under contract with the Flyers. Brooks posted 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 43 NHL games for the Canadiens, Golden Knights, Jets and Maple Leafs from 2019-20 to 2021-22.
  • Still in the DEL, Eisbären Berlin has inked right-shot defender Mitch Reinke to a one-year contract. Injuries limited Reinke to just 25 games with AHL Coachella Valley last season after he signed a two-way deal with the Kraken late in the offseason. The 28-year-old has just one NHL game to his name, coming with the Blues back in 2017-18 after they signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan Tech. Since then, the entirety of his pro career has been spent in the AHL, although he did also make one playoff appearance for the Blues in 2021 after spending a good chunk of the COVID-shortened season on the taxi squad. Reinke is a good puck-mover and strong skater and, if healthy, should be able to rehab his value in Germany and potentially earn another NHL contract next summer.

Minor Transactions: 7/13/24

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The hockey summer has entered a standstill, with moves around Europe headlining much of the news. We’ll keep track of the notable signings here:

  • Starting in North America, former St. Louis Blues forward prospect Keean Washkurak has signed a one-year, minor league deal with the Belleville Senators. Washkurak entered unrestricted free agency this summer, after not receiving a qualifying offer from St. Louis. He didn’t have much to show prospective new teams, with just four goals and 10 points in 63 AHL games last season. It was another low-scoring and low-minutes year for Washkurak, who’s totaled a measly 46 points across 176 AHL games since turning pro in 2020. He’s so far spent his career on two two-way NHL contracts with the Blues – a status that he’ll now have to work his way back to with Belleville.
  • Goaltender Zane McIntyre has signed a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL, Germany’s top league. The move ends McIntyre’s nine-year tour around the AHL; a trip that took him through stops with six different clubs, including the Providence Bruins and Iowa Wild. McIntyre has generally filled a backup role throughout his career, ultimately totaling 153 wins and a .908 save percentage in 300 AHL games. He’s now set for his first full year in Europe, though he did spend a brief six games with the KHL’s Dynamo Riga during the 2020-21 season.
  • Kyle Keyser is joining the string of goaltenders moving internationally, signing a one-year deal with the Kunlun Red Star, China’s KHL club. Keyser has spent the last six seasons with the Providence Bruins, though he’s split his time between the roles of AHL backup and ECHL starter. The 25-year-old Keyser has totaled 29 wins and a .902 in 73 AHL games and 16 wins and a .891 in 42 ECHL across his career. He’ll fight for better production in a more prominent role with Kunlun.

* This post will be updated throughout the day.

Morning Notes: KHL, Megna, Damiani

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Legalities in how Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League operates have become important in recent months. Their relationship with the IIHF and Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) left their clubs open to sanctions when KHL side CSKA Moskva signed Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov to a two-year contract last summer despite his having a valid contract with Philadelphia. That will no longer be the case, as the KHL released a statement yesterday announcing that they’ve gained independence from the IIHF and FHR, giving them a similar status internationally as the NHL. In doing so, KHL clubs no longer need IIHF permission or governance to sign players from foreign leagues – likely the biggest reason for the move. In their statement, the league said they’ll “continue to respect the validity of contracts of other leagues” and that “Experience with the NHL shows that both parties continue to fulfill their obligations even in the absence of a signed Memorandum.”

Other updates to kick off your Wednesday:

  • The AHL’s Colorado Eagles have signed UFA forward Jayson Megna to a two-year contract, the team announced yesterday. Megna, 34, spent last season on a two-way deal with the Bruins, which yielded a lone call-up for their final game of the regular season. The Fort Lauderdale native spent parts of four seasons with the Eagles while under contract with the Avalanche from 2019-20 to 2022-23, posting 82 points (41 goals, 41 assists) in 103 games. The Nebraska-Omaha product has 204 NHL appearances under his belt since making his debut with the Penguins back in 2013-14, amassing 12 goals, 21 assists and 33 points with a -28 rating in fourth-line minutes.
  • Former Flames and Stars prospect Riley Damiani is taking his talents overseas on a one-year deal with Augsburger Panther of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga, per a club announcement. The 24-year-old pivot was a Dallas fifth-round pick in 2018, but after parts of five seasons with their AHL affiliate, he was traded to the Flames for Emilio Pettersen at this year’s trade deadline. Damiani finished the season with only one goal in 14 games while on assignment to AHL Calgary and wasn’t given a qualifying offer upon the expiration of his contract last month, making him a UFA. Damiani made seven NHL appearances for Dallas back in 2021-22, posting a goal and an assist while averaging 8:32 per game.

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