Minor Transactions: Silye, Ottenbreit, Drevitch
After two seasons spent in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers, forward David Silye has elected to continue his career overseas. The 27-year-old pivot has signed a contract with Ferencvárosi TC, a Hungarian club that competes in the ICEHL, the top professional hockey league in Central Europe. Silye is a former point-per-game college hockey scorer who was the CCHA Forward of the Year in 2022-23, back when he was playing for Minnesota State-Mankato.
Since turning pro, Silye has struggled to translate his offensive production from the NCAA to the AHL. In 115 career AHL games across each of the last two seasons, Silye has scored just 24 points. While he was able to maintain his grip on a regular AHL lineup spot with the Wranglers, he wasn’t able to show enough signs of development that may have given the organization reason to offer him a contract extension. Now, he’ll head to the ICEHL and be teammates with another former high-scoring NCAA player, Carter Savoie. Ferencvárosi TC are a historic club in Hungary who made their ICEHL debut last season, going 17-24-7 and missing the playoffs.
More player movement from around the hockey world:
- Former AHL defenseman Turner Ottenbreit has elected to return to the KHL after two consecutive seasons in the AHL. The 6’3″, 195-pound defenseman scored 13 points in 57 games for the Wranglers last season, and in 2024-25 he played in 49 games for the Milwaukee Admirals, as well as seven AHL playoff contests. A WHL champion from his days with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Ottenbreit established himself as an AHLer in 2021-22 with the Iowa Wild, but left for the KHL in 2023-24, signing with Kunlun Red Star. The club has since been rebranded the Shanghai Dragons, and they’ve signed Ottenbreit for a contract next season.
- ECHL Savannah Ghost Pirates captain Logan Drevitch has announced his retirement from professional hockey. The ECHL All-Star served as the Ghost Pirates’ captain for the last two seasons. He concludes his pro career having spent it entirely in Savannah, for the entirety of the franchise’s history. He scored 178 points in 274 career ECHL games, and led the Ghost Pirates to their first playoff berth in franchise history this past season. Before turning pro, Drevitch played four seasons of college hockey at Merrimack, scoring 49 points in 114 games.
Penguins Announce ECHL Affiliation Changes
After 29 years of partnership, the Pittsburgh Penguins are making a change at the ECHL level. In a statement shared this afternoon from general manager Kyle Dubas, the club announced that the Wheeling Nailers will no longer be an affiliate, due to what Dubas called “very unique circumstances”. Just two hours later, the highly successful Florida Everblades were announced as their replacement.
Last month the Chicago-based Hoffmann Group was granted approval to acquire the Penguins, quite the step up from their only other venture into the hockey world, owning the Everblades. Based on that, today’s news was expected, but it is still a tough end for what was the longest ongoing ECHL/NHL partnership in the league. Located just 60 miles away in Wheeling, West Virginia, the Nailers offered a local farm club with a dedicated fan base which Dubas referred to as an “invaluable part of the organization’s player development process”. Penguins fans living close to the border had the option to attend Nailers games nearby and check in on prospects in an environment which brought the typical minor league charm.
NHL teams changing ECHL affiliations is not rare; the Wild, Blues, Jets, and Rangers have all done such in recent months. The Wheeling/Pittsburgh connection was special for how long it lasted, very uncommon in today’s landscape. Even outside of transitioning between teams, unfortunately the past few years have been tough for the ECHL, as last December there was a player strike which was eventually resolved. Needless to say, the stability the Penguins brought to the Nailers will be missed. Now, the Dallas Stars/Idaho Steelheads relationship is bumped to the top, having started theirs in 2005-06.
According to the team, Wheeling has developed more NHL talent than any opponent in the ECHL, with 71 total alums across various roles, 64 of whom were players. Notables include Josh Archibald, Tom Kühnhackl, and Carter Rowney. Dallas Stars netminder Casey DeSmith appeared in 13 games for the Nailers during the 2015-16 season, and one cannot forget prominent media figure Paul Bissonette, the former NHL enforcer playing for the team across 2005-08 and even posting 42 points in 2006-07, his most productive offensive season as a pro by a considerable margin.
Often a league for the less-heralded prospects, bright young goaltender Sergei Murashov and 23-year-old forward Avery Hayes form the next wave of younger talent who wore the Wheeling uniform and took to the ice in West Virginia.
Leaving behind the more local organization, the Penguins are joining forces with an ECHL dynasty of sorts down south. The Everblades, based in Estero, Florida, brought home the 2026 Kelly Cup as ECHL Champions. It was their fourth title in the past five years, and fifth overall as a franchise since starting play in 1998. According to a 2025-26 ECHL Attendance Graph put together by Hockeydb.com, the Everblades ranked seventh in league attendance per-game, 6,552, a significant gap higher than Wheeling who ranked toward the bottom at just over 2,500. The two teams clashed in the playoffs this past season in the Eastern Conference Final, with Wheeling, of course, coming up short to the eventual champs four games to one.
As for what comes next for Wheeling, thankfully other nearby teams have ECHL vacancies; the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Buffalo Sabres. Even if they had to stretch out west, the Utah Mammoth also are without a current partner, per the league’s website. Whatever comes next for them, the Nailers will hope to reach the Kelly Cup Finals for the first time since 2015-16 and one day hang their first banner in the rafters.
Snapshots: Ducks, Stephens, Jets ECHL Affiliate
It seems like the hits will just keep coming in Anaheim this summer. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier’s price tag could be as much as a $15MM AAV, as he said on today’s episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek.
Surely in no mood to sell himself short after a team-leading 41-goal campaign at just age 22, the forward is in for a huge payday, although he’s not offer sheet eligible. Even just a few weeks ago, the idea of Anaheim having to choose between him or the dynamic 21-year-old center Leo Carlsson would seem impossible, but Philadelphia’s five-year $90 million offer sheet ($18MM AAV) has wrecked any hopes of a smooth July in Anaheim.
The clock is ticking, as general manager Pat Verbeek has just until this Friday to decide whether to match the record-setting offer. Assuming he does, the Ducks will be left with just over $9 million in cap room, still not enough to take care of Gauthier barring something unexpected. Even if Verbeek is able to move out a contract such as Frank Vatrano’s $4.5MM, one of three high-cost veterans along with Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn, there’s still hardly any breathing room, not to mention that the Ducks lost four big pieces on the back end, 35-year-old Nick Jensen being the only addition so far.
One has to ask, how did things turn so quickly for a playoff team who had so much cap room? It’s all hindsight now, but Verbeek did himself no favors in negotiation with Carlsson. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported that the Swede was looking for around $15MM earlier this summer, if not even less, an AAV which is now long gone as a possibility. Anaheim would take in four first round picks if they somehow let Carlsson walk away, a massive haul which could acquire another star caliber player via trade. With the picks themselves though, it’s highly unlikely they’d land another player of his talent without lottery luck. Whatever is in store for the Ducks in the next 48 hours will be fascinating to watch unfold.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Center Mitchell Stephens has re-signed with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in an AHL contract for two years, the team announced. A 2015 second-round selection of Tampa Bay, the now 29-year-old won a Stanley Cup in 2020 with the Bolts, making stops in Detroit, Montreal, and finally Seattle (Coachella Valley’s NHL franchise) in the past five years. With 123 NHL games under his belt, the Ontario native has 19 points. Stephens has landed at the AHL level as a solid contributor, recording 27 points in 69 games for the Firebirds this past season, good for ninth best on the team. His two-way acumen is especially impactful at the AHL level.
- The Winnipeg Jets announced a new ECHL affiliate, the Bloomington Bison. Unlike their AHL team the Manitoba Moose who share the same home arena, the Bison aren’t quite neighbors, located in Illinois. An ECHL expansion team founded in 2024, the club started out with an affiliation of the New York Rangers, going 37-30-2 last season and qualifying for the postseason. Any Bison player or opponent faces a long road to the highest level, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen. According to the league, 36 ECHL alumni players were on Stanley Cup rosters, and one cannot forget Brandon Bussi’s performance, the Carolina goaltender having played four games with the Maine Mariners in 2022-23.
Minor Signings: 07/05/26
Although the overwhelming majority of the heavy lifting is done for much of the league, teams continue to scour the free agent market to address their depth and improve their AHL affiliates. In addition, there are also players deciding to cross the Atlantic and begin professional careers overseas. Today, several recognizable names have signed, and we will continue to update the list throughout the day. Here are today’s minor signings:
- The AHL’s Providence Bruins announced the signings of two forwards to one-year AHL contracts: Wyatt Bongiovanni, Nolan Renwick. Bongiovanni, 26, is a center with 226 games of AHL experience who developed into a legitimate middle-six pivot over the last two seasons on the Belleville Senators. He enjoyed a career year in 2024-25, scoring 22 goals and 33 points in 54 games. He had 12 goals and 25 points in Belleville this past season before a March trade saw him finish out the year on the Hershey Bears. Renwick, 25, is also a center, one who recently concluded his first full season of pro hockey. He scored five points in 43 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and also played 28 games (combined regular season and playoffs) in the ECHL.
- Providence also added two defensemen on one-year AHL deals: Max Wanner and Chris Ortiz. Wanner, 23, is actually a re-signing as he has been part of the Bruins organization for the last year and a half, since arriving from the Edmonton Oilers in the Trent Frederic trade. The 2021 seventh-round pick ranked as high as No. 4 in the Oilers’ prospect pool (back in summer 2024, per Alan Mitchell of The Athletic) but has seen his developmental momentum stall. He scored just three points in 29 games for Providence last season and was reassigned to play in the ECHL for the first time in his career. Ortiz, 25, is a left-shot defenseman who has excelled at the ECHL and more recently shown a capability to play in a depth role in the AHL. He’ll give Providence some high-level depth and likely begin as a top blueliner in the ECHL, where he has a career-high scoring pace of 39 points in 45 games.
- Michael Sgarbossa, a former No. 1 center at the AHL level, originally signed a one-year contract to play for Switzerland’s Rapperswil-Jona Lakers. That contract has now been terminated by mutual agreement, with the team’s official release citing personal reasons and a desire to stay in his native Canada. A two-time AHL All-Star and a Calder Cup champion, Sgarbossa left North America to sign in Switzerland last summer, suspending an AHL career that had lasted over 600 games. Sgarbossa was productive in Switzerland, scoring 31 points in 39 games across two clubs: HC Lugano and SC Bern. Now, it’s unclear where Sgarbossa will continue his pro career, though a return to the AHL could be in the cards.
- Former Anaheim Ducks farmhand Jaxsen Wiebe has signed a deal to join HC Presov of Slovakia’s Extraliga. The 24-year-old forward was an undrafted WHL signing by the Ducks organization who has spent the last three seasons playing in the AHL and ECHL. Wiebe has 38 points in 60 ECHL games across those three campaigns, and six points in 36 AHL games. The signing means Wiebe will exit the North American pro ranks and begin his European professional career.
This page will be updated as more signings are announced throughout the day.
Minor Signings: 07/04/26
Although the overwhelming majority of the heavy lifting is done for much of the league, teams continue to scour the free agent market to address their depth and improve their AHL affiliates. In addition, there are also players deciding to cross the Atlantic and begin professional careers overseas. Today, several recognizable names have signed, and we will continue to update the list throughout the day. Here are today’s minor signings:
- The Syracuse Crunch, AHL affiliates of the Tampa Bay Lightning, have signed forward Elliot Desnoyers to a one-year AHL contract. The 24-year-old winger was a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2020 NHL draft, and was once one of the team’s more promising prospects. After captaining the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads and landing on Canada’s World Junior Championships team, Desnoyers turned pro in 2022-23 and had a strong rookie season in the Flyers organization. He scored 23 goals and 44 points in 65 AHL games, earning a call-up to play in four NHL games and ranking as the No. 7 prospect in the Flyers’ system per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. That has proven to be the high point of Desnoyers’ pro career thus far, and he has still not recaptured that form in the three seasons following 2022-23. After departing the Flyers organization, Desnoyers signed with the Minnesota Wild, but the move cost him his full-time spot in the AHL. He spent most of last season in the ECHL, scoring 31 points in 45 games. He’ll look to re-establish himself in the AHL, and give his career some positive momentum with the Crunch.
- The Crunch have also signed Zachary Uens, a 2020 fourth-round pick of the Florida Panthers. A 6’2″, 201-pound left-shot defenseman, Uens split last season between the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds and ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. He has played in 48 career AHL games compared to nearly 200 in the ECHL. He will provide the Crunch with some organizational depth on their blueline and is most likely to spend the bulk of his time in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears. Uens is a two-time Kelly Cup champion from his days with the Florida Everblades.
- 2017 Detroit Red Wings third-round pick Zachary Gallant has signed an AHL contract with the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliates of the New Jersey Devils. A 6’2″, 195-pound forward with the versatility to play left wing or center, Gallant has spent most of his professional career at the AHL level. After serving as the captain of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes for two seasons, Gallant turned pro in 2020-21 and spent the next two seasons with the San Jose Barracuda, scoring just 18 points in 78 games. He then went to play USports hockey for two years with McGill University, before returning to the pro ranks with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2025. Last season, he scored five points in 39 games for the AHL Penguins, while also scoring six points in five ECHL games for the Wheeling Nailers. He is a fourth-line center candidate for Utica.
- The Roadrunners re-signed veteran defenseman Robbie Russo to a one-year AHL contract extension, extending the 33-year-old defenseman’s second tour with the team by an additional campaign. A veteran of 700 AHL games, Russo has not played in the NHL since 2016-17 but remains a valuable, effective AHL blueliner. The two-time AHL All-Star had a down season in 2024-25, scoring just 17 points, the lowest point-per-game production of his entire professional career. But Russo has scored at least 30 points in a season seven times, and that number goes even higher if one considers scoring rate instead of raw totals. Russo is a Calder Cup champion from his days in the Detroit Red Wings organization and will bring some veteran stability to the Roadrunners defense.
- Former Ohio State Buckeyes captain Scooter Brickey has decided to leave the North American pro ranks to sign a one-year KHL contract with Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The 27-year-old played five seasons of college hockey from 2019 to 2024, before turning pro and joining the AHL Penguins. Brickey played in a total of 55 games across two full campaigns in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but failed to claim a regular lineup spot. This past season, he even faced three reassignments to ECHL Wheeling. With his grip on an AHL roster spot slipping, Brickey has decided to exit the Penguins organization and try his luck in Russia.
- Linus Weissbach, a playmaking winger who was once Cole Caufield‘s linemate at the University of Wisconsin, has signed a KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg. The 28-year-old has spent the last two seasons playing for his hometown SHL club Frölunda HC, and even won the Champions Hockey League with the team last season. The 5’9″ winger was able to translate his stellar NCAA production to the AHL level, scoring 117 points in 191 career games with the Rochester Americans. But he chose to return to Sweden rather than remain in North America. Now, he is on the move once again, headed to the KHL in what is a relatively rare move for a Swedish player.
- Former San Jose Sharks prospect Brandon Coe, who scored 121 points in his final OHL regular season and playoffs just four years ago, has signed a deal with Slovak club HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas. Coe was once ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Sharks’ system per Elite Prospects, but was unable to translate his stellar production in junior hockey to the pro game. After three consecutive low-scoring seasons with the AHL’s Barracuda, Coe left the North American pro game to begin his European career. He signed with EHC Red Bull Salzburg in the ICEHL, the top professional league covering Central Europe. While Coe was solid in Salzburg, scoring 26 points in 38 games and four points in four champions hockey league games, the team endured its worst league playoff finish in a half-decade. After four consecutive ICEHL championships, Salzburg failed to win a single game in the playoffs. They were swept in the league quarterfinals by Italian side HC Pustertal. Now, Coe will depart Salzburg and test his luck in Slovakia.
This page will be updated as more signings are announced throughout the day.
Morning Notes: Casey, Lafreniere, Doug Messier Award
According to James Nichols of NJHockeyNow, Seamus Casey, who switched agencies to CAA Hockey, doesn’t appear to have a yearning to move off the New Jersey Devils at the moment. However, it should be noted that when a player does switch agents, it usually means they’re not trying to stay on their current team. Casey was formerly represented by Eddie Mio of Octane Sports, per puckpedia.
The 22-year-old defenseman has been with the Devils on his entry-level contract, entering the final season of a three-year, $2.85MM ($950K AAAV) deal. Casey played two games up in the NHL this past season, with 29 games in the AHL with the Utica Comets, scoring 19 points in that span. He was sidelined with a lower-body injury that saw his last game played against the Syracuse Crunch on January 25 of this year. In the 2024-25 season, Casey scored 8 points in 14 games with New Jersey. He was originally a 46th overall selection as a second-round pick back in 2022.
Additional Notes:
- Alexis Lafreniere of the New York Rangers is likely to remain a Ranger, according to The Athletic. New York has been taking calls on the 24-year-old, former first overall pick in 2020, but aren’t actively shopping the winger, unless a team approaches them and knocks their socks off in a deal. Lafreniere is a valuable asset for New York; 28 of his 57 points in 2025-26 came during the last 27 games of this season, which he can hopefully build on in 2026-27 with linemates Mika Zibanejad and Gabriel Perreault. The Rangers have him until the end of the 2031-32 season on a $52.15MM ($7.45MM) deal.
- The Professional Hockey Players Association has unveiled a new award, the Doug Messier Award, which is presented annually to the ‘Most Outstanding Player’ in the AHL and ECHL, as voted by their fellow players. This year’s winners, the first-ever winners, were AHL Providence Bruins goaltender Michael DiPietro, who led the league with a record of 34-8-1 while leading the AHL in save percentage (.930) and goals-against average (1.91), and ECHL Kansas City Mavericks’ Marcus Crawford, whose 86 points led the league in scoring. The PHPA says, “Recipients of this award exemplify excellence, professionalism, and the kind of character that earns the respect of their peers: qualities that reflect Doug’s enduring impact on the game.”
Morning Notes: Robertson, Stortini, Murray
As the peak portion of the offseason inches closer, much of the Dallas Stars’ plans to improve their roster likely hinge on how much salary cap space they will end up devoting to star winger Jason Robertson, who is a pending RFA. As a result, one might be under the impression that Dallas is under some pressure to get a Robertson deal done as quickly as possible, so they can enter free agency and peak trading season with a level of cost certainty. That impression is misguided, though, according to Stars GM Jim Nill.
In a radio appearance on “Baldy and Bruce” on 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas, Nill characterized the ongoing negotiations with Robertson’s representation, which is led by Andy Scott of Octagon, as “good,” also saying that the team and player have “no real deadline” on when to finalize a deal, and won’t rush into things. Nill also called Robertson “a priority” for the team to re-sign and expressed optimism that a deal both sides can be happy with would eventually get done – but it may take some time. Robertson, 26, scored 45 goals and 96 points last season and is positioned to receive a substantial raise from the $7.75MM cap hit on his current contract.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The New Mexico Goatheads, a new expansion team set to join the ECHL, announced the hire of former NHL winger Zack Stortini as their first head coach in franchise history. Stortini was a highly physical grinder during his playing days who got into over 250 career NHL games, almost exclusively with the Edmonton Oilers. He’s also a former AHL captain, racking up over 600 games played and 1,825 penalty minutes across a 13-season AHL career. Stortini’s coaching career began in 2019-20 as an assistant for the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, and he has spent the last four years as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The teams Stortini helped coach went 57-65-9 in the OHL and 141-116-31 in the AHL. He’ll now get his first chance to be a head coach for the Colorado Avalanche’s ECHL affiliate.
- Former Buffalo Sabres winger Brett Murray has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Shanghai Dragons, officially confirming his departure from the DEL and the Nürnberg Ice Tigers. A depth winger in the Sabres organization for a half-decade, Murray departed North American professional ranks to sign in the German top division last summer. His season in Germany went well, as he scored 17 goals and 33 points in 36 games. In North America, the 6’5″ winger developed into a quality AHL scorer, potting 27 goals and 49 points in his most recent campaign for the Rochester Americans, coming in 2024-25. Murray has played in a total of 26 NHL games, scoring six points.
Blues Announce New ECHL Affiliation
Every summer, there are at least one or two AHL/ECHL affiliation changes. The Islanders’ upheaval of their feeder system, highlighted by their choice to relocate their longstanding AHL club in Bridgeport to Hamilton, Ontario, left their ECHL affiliate since 2017, the Worcester Railers, without a parent for next season as well.
That’s changed now, as Worcester will serve under the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds as the Blues’ secondary minor-league affiliate through at least the 2030-31 season, the team announced. It’s the first affiliation change in Worcester’s history; their inception coincided with the beginning of their initial agreement with the Islanders.
Worcester never yielded any skaters for the Islanders, who ended up climbing the ladder all the way to the NHL, but there were a handful of goaltenders who came in the system. The most impactful among that group actually did so, ironically, while a member of the Blues organization. Colten Ellis, who was lost on waivers to the Sabres at the beginning of the season, was a third-round pick by St. Louis in 2019 and spent the vast majority of his first professional season on loan to Worcester while the Blues’ didn’t have a full-time affiliate, posting a .905 SV% in 34 games for them in the 2021-22 campaign.
In fact, the agreement marks the first time the Blues will have an ECHL affiliate after concluding their partnership with the Tulsa Oilers when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They’ve spent the last six years without one, but as the ECHL now sits at 30 teams, there’s room for them on the carousel to jump back in.
It’s a smart logistical move for the Blues. They have one of the most distant AHL affiliates in the league, with over 1,100 miles separating St. Louis and Springfield, Massachusetts, but they’ll now at least have their two minor-league feeders located in the same state to make life easier on both of them.
Checkers Sign Luca Fantilli, Three Others To AHL Contracts
The Charlotte Checkers have made additions at every position with a series of one-way, AHL contracts. Forward William Bitten, defensemen Mitch Vande Sompel and Luca Fantilli, and goaltender Vinnie Purpura have each agreed to deals with Charlotte for the 2026-27 season.
Vande Sompel is the only re-signee of the bunch. He has spent the last two seasons with the Checkers after joining form the Chicago Wolves partway through the 2023-24 season. His 2024-25 season was cut to only 13 games by a nagging upper-body injury. He underwent a bi-lateral shoulder surgery to address the issue and returned healthy enough to double his appearances in 2025-26 – despite missing much of the middle-season with brief injuries. His season was marked by 11 points and a plus-14 in 36 games. On the heels of his highest-scoring season since the 2022-23 campaign, the oft-injured Vande Sompel will earn another year in his utility role in Charlotte.
Bitten will make a return to North America on this new deal. He spent the last two seasons in Russia’s KHL – split between stints with Moscow Spartak and HC Sochi. Bitten combined for 40 points in 80 games in his international tour, just below the mark of his typical AHL scoring. He’ll seek the higher marks in this return. The AHL veteran scored 103 points in 178 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds between 2021 and 2024. That includes 21 points in 18 games during the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs and a career-high 45 points in 65 games during the 2022-23 season. Bitten was a physical and effective role player through four years with the Iowa Wild and three years with Springfield. He also played one assist in four games with the St. Louis Blues in the 2022-23 season.
While Bitten moves back to the AHL, Purpura will seek a promotion from the ECHL. That is where he has spent the last four seasons after signing into the pros out of Long Island University in 2023. Purpura worked his way into the Adirondack Thunder’s backup role in the 2023-24 season, earning 15 wins and a .908 save percentage along the awy. He swapped to the Reading Royals for 2024-25 and grew his save percentage to a .922 in 25 games. The Royals then swapped Purpura to the Savannah Ghost Pirates this season. The move brought Purpura the first starting role of his career, though it brought a dip back to a .910 save percentage in 36 games. On the heels of that step forward, he will now target the Greensboro Gargoyles’ starting role, with the Checkers’ backup role in sight.
Fantilli, the older brother of Columbus Blue Jackets star Adam Fantilli, will be the only newcomer of the bunch. He spent the last four seasons at the University of Michigan where he filled a nightly role dating back to his freshman year. Despite that, his role began near the bottom of the lineup and took one step forward each season. By his senior year, Fantilli filled a top-pair role and scored 17 points in 40 games – just four fewer than he managed in 108 games through the first three seasons of his collegiate career. He is nonetheless an effective, defensive-defenseman whose strong stick could earn him a nightly role in Charlotte.
Blues Sign Will Cranley To One-Year Extension
The St. Louis Blues have signed goaltender Will Cranley to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Cranley spent last season as the third-string netminder for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. He has slowly risen the ranks of the pro circuit since making his ECHL debut in 2023, three years after the Blues selected him in the sixth-round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Cranley racked up six wins and a .892 save percentage in 10 AHL games last season. He posted much more encouraging numbers in the ECHL, where he totaled 14 wins and a .915 Sv% in 18 games during the regular season. Despite those strong numbers, Cranley was not included in Florida’s race to the ECHL’s Eastern Conference Finals. While that limited his postseason appearances to part of one start with Springfield, it also served as a small bode of confidence in Cranley’s spot in the AHL.
After racking up 34 wins and a .896 save percentage in 74 career ECHL games, Cranley seems well-set for a full-time promotion next season. He will compete with Vadim Zherenko and Georgi Romanov for starts in Springfield’s crease. Zherenko posted the best statline of the bunch last season, with 17 wins and a .902 Sv% in 42 games. Romanov recorded nine wins and a .896 Sv% in 28 games. His numbers should be surmountable for the 24-year-old Cranley, though Zherenko appears set to hold onto the starting role for the foreseeable future.