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Minor Transactions: 10/19/23

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With the ECHL starting up its season tonight, NHL and AHL teams have been shuffling players to that level in recent days.  Some of those recent moves are highlighted in our latest batch of minor transactions.

  • The Senators’ AHL affiliate announced the assignments of forward Philippe Daoust and defenceman Donovan Sebrango to ECHL Allen. Daoust was a sixth-round pick back in 2020 but was limited to just nine games last season due to injury.  He had seven points with Belleville but will get more time to work on his rehab at the ECHL level.  Meanwhile, Sebrango was acquired from Detroit as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade this summer and split last season between their AHL and ECHL affiliates.  Both players are entering the second year of their entry-level contracts.
  • Colorado’s AHL squad announced that they’ve sent goaltender Trent Miner, forward Ryan Sandelin, and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother to ECHL Utah. Miner posted a 3.04 GAA along with a .910 SV% in 37 games with the Grizzlies last season and is in the final season of his entry-level deal.  Sandelin wrapped up his college career last year with Minnesota State (Mankato), putting up 29 points in 38 games which helped him earn a minor league deal.  As for Fairbrother, the Avalanche acquired him as part of the Alex Newhook trade this summer but missed all of last season with a knee injury.  He’s also in the final season of his entry-level pact.
  • Former NHL blueliner Christian Jaros is on the move to the KHL as he has signed with Severstal Cherepovets, per a team release. The 27-year-old received a two-year deal.  Jaros has 94 career NHL games under his belts over parts of five seasons between Ottawa, San Jose, and New Jersey but opted to head overseas last season, seeing action with two separate KHL squads.

Minor Transactions: 10/15/23

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It’s another busy day across the hockey world, although the NHL schedule is a bit sparse. Just two NHL games are set to be played today, though there has been quite a bit of action in the wider world of hockey.

Reigning German champions EHC Red Bull München were dismantled 6-2 by rivals Eisbären Berlin, thanks to two goals a piece from former NHLer Zach Boychuk and former AHLer Yannick Veilleux. Over in Scotland, a four-point performance from New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech’s brother, Michael Pelech, was not enough for the Glasgow Clan to overcome the Nottingham Panthers.

As one would expect, just as the schedule is busy across the world of pro hockey, so is the transaction wire. We’ll keep track of notable player movement here.

  • Just shortly after his release from Kazakh club Barys Astana, former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Jeremy Bracco signed a one-year contract with HK Sochi, a rival KHL club. Bracco, 26, joins two top NHL prospects (Matvei Michkov and Marat Khusnutdinov) in Sochi. Bracco has been a strong offensive producer outside the NHL, and is a former AHL First-Team All-Star and a one-time 40-point scorer in the KHL. Although Sochi already has quite a bit of offensive talent in their two NHL prospects, the addition of Bracco could bolster their attack even further.
  • Former Tri-City Americans captain Kyle Olson has signed overseas, officially heading to Europe for the first time in his young professional career. The 24-year-old 2017 Anaheim Ducks mid-round draft pick did not receive an entry-level deal from the club that drafted him and instead began his professional career three seasons ago on an AHL contract with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. After three seasons in Wilkes-Barre Scranton where he tallied just 33 points in 149 games, he found an ECHL contract in September of this year. Rather than play the season in the ECHL with the Reading Royals, though, Olson appears to have instead opted to play for HC La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss SL, the second tier of hockey in Switzerland.
  • L.J. Mooney, a potential top 2025 draft prospect, has decided to follow in the footsteps of his cousin Logan Cooley and commit to play college hockey at the University of Minnesota. Cooley, now an Arizona Coyotes forward, tore college hockey apart in his lone season as a Golden Gopher, forming a deadly trio alongside Matthew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud to pile points. While at this moment in time, it’s not easy to say that Mooney will end up the same caliber of player as Cooley, he remains a highly intriguing prospect and someone who could end up making a big impact for the Golden Gophers.
  • 23-year-old forward D-Jay Jerome has been traded in the ECHL, as he was sent from the Trois-Rivières Lions to the Newfoundland Growlers in exchange for cash considerations. Jerome split last season between the third-tier ECHL and fourth-tier SPHL, skating in 14 games and scoring eight points in each spell. Jerome has prior ECHL experience from the year prior, when he skated in 30 games for the Allen Americans and registered 10 points.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Snapshots: Matthews, Butcher, Mast

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In a rather lengthy interview with Mike Zeisberger of the NHL, franchise icon for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews, expresses his unwavering desire to stay in Toronto and is more than excited an extension was completed between the two sides. More than a year before he was originally set to become an unrestricted free agent, rumors were rampant suggesting Matthews may leave the Maple Leafs to sign with his hometown Arizona Coyotes or find an organization with less media pressure.

During the interview, when he was asked specifically about the rumors circulating about the next contract he would sign, Matthews said, “It was my mindset to come back all along. I felt I’ve been pretty clear about that. I really enjoy playing here, and I love the core guys I’ve been playing with going back to my early days here. And the way the staff treats us is amazing. I’ve kind of repeated these things, they’re all true, and it means a lot to me to be here. So, when I see stuff like some of the speculation this summer, I get a pretty good chuckle out of it because it’s just nonsense, to be honest with you“.

As many are well aware at this point, Matthews would sign a four-year, $53MM contract with the Maple Leafs, making him the highest-paid player in the NHL as soon as it starts. Although there was very little doubt that Toronto would regret re-investing in Matthews, he rewarded them early this season, scoring back-to-back hat tricks in the team’s first two games.

Other snapshots:

  • A little over a week before the start of training camp this autumn, new depth defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Will Butcher, sustained an injury that would keep him out of all on-ice activities for over a month. Today, Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that Butcher is back to practice in a non-contact jersey, and will likely be sent to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins very soon. Spending all of last season for the Texas Stars in the AHL, Butcher would score six goals and 37 assists in 65 games.
  • In smaller news, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal is reporting that the Providence Bruins, AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins, have sent defenseman Ryan Mast to their ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. Mast is a recent sixth-round pick of the Bruins back in the 2021 NHL Draft, and recently wrapped up a career with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, scoring eight goals and 22 assists in 50 games during his last season.

Minor Transactions: 10/12/23

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It’s another busy day on the NHL schedule, with quite a few teams set to make their season debuts tonight. Top prospect Adam Fantilli is set to debut for the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, while Red Wings fans will get their first regular-season look at Alex DeBrincat wearing the winged wheel.

Regular season hockey is back just about everywhere (save for the AHL which begins tomorrow) and as a result player movement remains active across the hockey world. As always, we’ll keep track of those transactions here.

  • Former Toronto Marlies star forward Jeremy Bracco and his club, the KHL’s Barys Astana, have mutually agreed to terminate the player’s contract. Bracco, 26, joined the KHL’s Kazakh club in July 2022 and had a solid first season there, scoring 14 goals and 40 points in 59 games. This season, though, Bracco has struggled and has only managed one point in six games. He’ll now look elsewhere to continue his pro career, whether it be in North America (where he is a former AHL First-Team All-Star and Calder Cup champion) or in Europe (such as Germany, where he played in 2021-22.)
  • The AHL’s San Jose Barracuda have signed two forwards to one-year AHL contracts: former NHLer Justin Bailey and former Brandon Wheat Kings captain Tanner Kaspick. Bailey, 28, has been on the NHL/AHL bubble for much of his pro career, skating in NHL games for three separate teams. He’s long been a quality top-six forward at the AHL level, and scored 19 goals and 32 points in 58 games for the Bakersfield Condors last season. Kaspick, 25, hasn’t yet made his NHL debut but has been a regular AHLer for most of his professional career. He scored six points in 43 games for the Iowa Wild last season playing in a checking role.
  • Undrafted forward Samuel Asselin, an undersized forward who once led the QMJHL in goals, may not have earned an NHL contract from the New York Islanders off the back of his PTO. What he earned instead was an AHL deal with the Bridgeport Islanders, something the team announced today. After his stellar final season of Major Junior hockey, Asselin spent his first year as a professional in the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators, scoring at a near-point-per-game rate. Since that season Asselin has been a full-time AHLer, and he set a career high in 2021-22 with eight goals and 30 points. He’ll now take his services to Bridgeport, likely with the hope of making a push for consideration for an NHL deal in the future.
  • Former Vegas Golden Knights prospect Peter DiLiberatore has signed a one-year ECHL contract with the South Carolina Stingrays, according to a team announcement. DiLiberatore endured a difficult 2022-23 campaign, one in which he suited up for four different teams across the AHL and ECHL. He finished the season playing in West Virginia with the Wheeling Nailers, scoring one assist in five games. Now in South Carolina, perhaps the stability potentially offered by this signing will help DiLiberatore translate some of the production he showed in college at Quinnipiac University to the professional level.
  • Last week, Jáchym Kondelík was placed on unconditional waivers by the Nashville Predators for the purpose of contract termination. Now a free agent, Kondelík has decided to sign in Czechia with Extraliga club Motor České Budějovice. Kondelík, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Predators at the 2018 draft, selected out of the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks. He went on to have a quality career playing NCAA hockey with the University of Connecticut, captaining the team as a senior. He turned pro near the end of 2021-22 and played 2022-23 with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, making it the first full season of his pro career. He scored just 11 points in 38 games, though, and now appears to prefer continuing his career closer to home.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

West Notes: Hintz, Mikheyev, Winnipeg

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Before their opening night matchup tomorrow night, Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News gives some clarification on the status of Dallas Stars’ forward Roope Hintz, sharing that he will be a game-time decision. Since September 27th, during training camp, Hintz has been out of the Stars’ lineup due to an upper-body injury, and Dallas does not seem keen to rush him back for the start of the regular season.

Starting off the first year of an eight-year, $67.6MM extension signed last season, Hintz will surely be a key missing part of the Stars’ lineup if he is unable to play. Dallas will be able to survive for the time being with him out of the lineup but would have a hard time replacing a player of his caliber in the lineup if it is more long-term.

At the very least, with the addition of Matt Duchene this summer and an incredibly affordable one-year, $3MM deal, the Stars appear to have added appropriate depth in case something such as this transpired. Not only do the Stars appear headed for a war with the Colorado Avalanche for the Central Division, but they are also looking to compete as the top team in the Western Conference, and potentially the entire league.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • One player who is confirmed to not be playing opening night is Ilya Mikheyev of the Vancouver Canucks. Relaying on the news from the head coach of the Canucks, Rick Tocchet, Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet announces Mikheyev will indeed miss the season opener. Mikheyev is still rehabbing from an ACL injury sustained last season in January, an injury that would prematurely end his season.
  • Murat Ates of The Athletic shares that the Winnipeg Jets have sent Simon Kubicek, Mark Liwiski, and Thomas Milic to their ECHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals. Last year, Kubicek also played in the AHL for the Manitoba Moose, while Liwiski spent his entire season in the ECHL for the Wichita Thunder. Milic, on the other hand, was the 151st overall selection for the Jets in the 2023 NHL Draft, coming out of the Seattle Thunderbirds organization of the WHL.

Minor Transactions: 10/10/23

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The start of the NHL regular season has finally come, with three games on the schedule including the highly anticipated NHL debut of generational prospect Connor Bedard. But while the NHL season is just beginning, top leagues across the hockey world are already several weeks into their regular season. As a result, player movement remains active and as always we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Russian center Marat Khusnutdinov, the 37th overall pick in 2020 and the number-six prospect in the Minnesota Wild system per EP Rinkside was traded in the KHL today. (subscription link) He was sent to HK Sochi alongside monetary compensation, with his former club receiving Croatian forward Borna Rendulic in return. It’s a major swing for Sochi, who are trading their leading scorer to SKA in order to acquire Khusnutdinov. The 21-year-old center had an extremely impressive 2022-23, scoring 41 points in 63 games in a league notoriously difficult for young players to succeed in. He’s gone scoreless through six games this season, though, and has been receiving below 10 minutes of ice time in some games. Now, he’ll have the chance to potentially play with superstar prospect Matvei Michkov, a player who also began this season with SKA, and who has scored 12 points in 11 games to start the season.
  • In a somewhat surprising move, Ottawa Senators goalie prospect Leevi Merilainen, 22, was assigned to the ECHL’s Allen Americans. This is likely a result of Mads Søgaard and Kevin Mandolese earning the right to serve as the Belleville Senators’ AHL tandem, though it could also be that the Senators would prefer Merilainen get some ECHL experience under his belt before he’s exposed to the rigors of the AHL full-time. Merilainen is one of the Senators’ best goalie prospects, and he spent 2022-23 mostly with Kärpät in Liiga, posting a .917 save percentage and 2.05 goals-against-average in 42 games played.
  • According to a report from SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, Carolina Hurricanes prospect Noel Gunler will return to Sweden for the 2023-24 season. Gunler was loaned to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals earlier this week, but could end up instead loaned overseas where he has played most of his pro career. Seeing as Gunler scored eight goals and 18 points in just 31 AHL games last season, there has been some belief that his development would not be best served by playing in the ECHL. Since the Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate of their own, the only option for Gunler to play in the AHL would be on loan to another AHL franchise. Since premium offensive roles in the AHL are typically reserved for proven AHL veterans or prized prospects of a team’s NHL affiliate, it would be no surprise if the Hurricanes struggled to find a suitable landing spot for Gunler. As a result, if this report out of Sweden is to be believed, Gunler will end up playing 2023-24 in the SHL rather than the ECHL.
  • AHL enforcer Brandon Baddock has found a new team, signing a one-year AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs. The 28-year-old spent last season with the Iowa Wild, scoring seven points in 67 games to go along with 130 penalty minutes. Baddock brings grit and physicality to the table, something the IceHogs might have prioritized due to the number of young prospects still relatively new to pro hockey slated to play on their roster.
  • Montreal Canadiens 2022 seventh-round pick Miguël Tourigny is slated to make his North American pro debut with the ECHL’s Trois-Rivières Lions. The five-foot-eight blueliner was assigned to Montreal’s ECHL affiliate today. Tourigny’s development has been somewhat unconventional thus far, as the 21-year-old spent his first professional season in Slovakia, where he scored 26 points in 44 games. Tourigny does not yet have an entry-level contract with the Canadiens but did sign a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Laval Rocket this summer.
  • Goalie prospect Tomáš Suchánek, 20, has signed a one-year AHL contract with the San Diego Gulls, according to a team announcement. Suchánek made a name for himself at the 2023 World Juniors, leading the tournament in save percentage (.939) and earning a silver medal for Czechia. He was a WHL Second-Team All-Star as the starter for the Tri-City Americans as he posted a .912 save percentage in 46 games played. Now, he has a definite landing spot in pro hockey after a successful tryout with the Ducks organization.
  • 23-year-old Swiss defenseman David Aebischer (not to be confused with the former NHL netminder) will be changing clubs this summer, as he’s signed a five-year contract with HC Lugano. Aebischer is currently in his third season as a regular blueliner with SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, another National League team. Aebischer routinely plays over 20 minutes per night with the Lakers is off to a fast start with the club, scoring eight points in 10 games. He’s slated to become a long-term anchor for Lugano, and if he can keep up something close to his current scoring pace he may even draw NHL interest down the line, though being undersized (he’s five-foot-ten) by NHL standards will work against him.
  • Columbus Blue Jackets prospect goalie Nolan Lalonde was traded to the OHL’s Sarnia Sting today alongside three draft picks, with former San Jose Sharks prospect Benjamin Gaudreau headed to the Erie Otters in return. Lalonde, 19, posted a grisly .868 save percentage with the Otters last season and has struggled to the tune of a .837 mark in four games this season. Perhaps a fresh start with the Sting will help reverse his OHL fortunes.
  • Former ECHL star Brady Ferguson has carved out a solid career for himself in the SHL as a middle-six forward with Rögle BK, and he even earned the honor of wearing an “A” on his jersey starting last season. He won the 2021-22 Champions Hockey League with the club, and has now decided to extend his contract with the club by another season. As has teammate Michael Kapla, a defenseman who also played with Ferguson in the ECHL. Kapla, 29, is the former captain of UMass-Lowell and actually has five NHL games on his resume. He scored 28 points in 44 games last season for Rögle.
  • Former Norwegian rookie of the year Eskil Wold impressed by playing 49 games in the Finnish Liiga at the age of 20. But he only scored one goal and two points for HPK Hämeenlinna, and this season he has decided to transfer to a lower level of competition. He’s signed with the Nybro Vikings of HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish pro hockey, and will likely have a chance to be more productive there than he was able to be in Liiga.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Snapshots: Houston, Lafrenière, Cooke

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Despite NHL commissioner Gary Bettman saying recently that league expansion wasn’t imminent, many didn’t believe him. In fact, his comments re-ignited an expansion discussion that was already hot, bringing it to a fervor not quite seen in a while. One city that’s remained a constant in expansion discussions over the past few cycles is Houston. TSN’s Chris Johnston boosted a report from the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen today, pointing out that the Toyota Center in downtown Houston is undergoing significant renovations: one of them being the addition of ice-making equipment in a big first step to bring the arena to NHL readiness.

The addition is part of an ongoing $30MM renovation to the arena, currently the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. The Rockets owner, Tilman Fertitta, will likely be the name to put in a bid for an NHL franchise should the league take applications for team 33 (and potentially 34) soon. Houston, the fifth-largest TV market in the United States, hasn’t had a notable pro hockey team since the AHL’s Houston Aeros were relocated to become the Iowa Wild in 2013.

Elsewhere around the league tonight:

  • After a much-publicized disappointing preseason, there’s more bad news for New York Rangers winger Alexis Lafrenière. The team announced Saturday night he’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not practice today. While he is likely to start the season on his off-wing alongside Filip Chytil and Artemi Panarin, it certainly hasn’t been the start under new head coach Peter Laviolette that Lafrenière has been looking for. The 21-year-old first-overall pick in 2020 had 39 points in 81 games last season.
  • Many NHL fans from the 2000s and early 2010s will remember enforcer Matt Cooke, who earned himself many lengthy suspensions over the course of his 16-season, 1,046-game NHL career. After only coaching for a few seasons at the high school level in Minnesota since retiring in 2015, he’s now being entrusted with the head coaching job of an NHL affiliate. The ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, the second-tier affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced today Cooke will be their next head coach. Cooke succeeds Eric Wellwood, who was promoted to an assistant role with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies last summer.

Minor Transactions: 10/05/23

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With the start of the NHL regular season now under a week away, the opening-night rosters of many NHL teams are coming more and more into view. That has a trickle-down effect for the rest of pro hockey, as a player finding out he won’t have his PTO made into a full-time NHL deal could prompt that player to sign a contract with an overseas team, for example. This, alongside the ups and downs of early-season hockey in top pro leagues overseas, has prompted quite a bit of player movement and as always we’ll keep track of those transactions here.

  • Seven years after he was selected fifth overall at the 2016 NHL draft, former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Olli Juolevi has made the decision to return to Europe to continue his professional career. The 25-year-old Helsinki native has signed a short-term contract with the SHL’s Timrå IK, a club off to a strong 4-2 start. The deal is set to last until Liiga’s November break. Juolevi had previously been playing for the Arizona Coyotes on a PTO but failed to earn a full-time contract in Arizona after a few preseason contests. Last season was Juolevi’s first since the year he made his NHL debut that he didn’t skate in a single game at the NHL level, and he ultimately played in 38 games for the San Diego Gulls, scoring 14 points.
  • 2022 Arizona Coyotes second-round pick Julian Lutz has made an interesting move for his development, leaving defending DEL champions EHC Red Bull München in order to play USHL hockey for the Green Bay Gamblers. It’s a somewhat unusual move, as traditionally players move from developmental leagues into top professional leagues, not the other way around. But this move is somewhat understandable for Lutz, who has been buried in a depth role on a stacked Munich team. Going to Green Bay will allow the six-foot-two, 185-pound winger to play against his peers, and will give him the opportunity to have a monster season and put up the kind of box score numbers his resume currently sorely lacks.
  • Former WHL and AHL star Brendan Ranford has signed a one-year contract with HC Slovan Bratislava, the club he previously represented for the 2020-21 season. Since leaving the AHL for Europe in late 2018, Ranford has become an impactful, top-line scorer in three different European leagues. He’s spent the last two seasons in the DEL, posting 95 points across 95 total games. Slovan are likely signing Ranford with the hope of adding an elite scorer, which is what Ranford was when he last played in Slovakia, as he scored 12 goals and 32 points in just 29 games. The historic club based in Slovakia’s capital have gotten off to a slow 2-3-1 start in this 2023-24 Tipos Extraliga season, so perhaps this move will give the club the spark it needs to resume its place among the country’s elite clubs.
  • The ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads have signed two forwards just at the start of their pro careers: Nick Nardella and Daniel Hardie. Nardella, 24, signed an ATO with the Cincinnati Cyclones last season at the conclusion of his NCAA career with Michigan Tech. He ended up scoring one assist in four games in Cincinnati before he moved to the Iowa Heartlanders, where he impressed scoring three goals in three games. Now, he’ll head to Idaho alongside Hardie, who hasn’t yet made his pro debut but was once the leading scorer of a QMJHL team, the 2018-19 Charlottetown Islanders.
  • Former College hockey star Trevor Mingoia, once an NCAA Champion with Providence College, has had his contract with Liiga’s Kärpät terminated by mutual agreement. This wasn’t the winger’s first go-around in the top division of Finnish hockey, although Mingoia’s time with KooKoo Kouvola from 2019-2021 was notably more successful. Mingoia spent two seasons with KooKoo and scored a total of 27 goals and 64 points in 73 games. Kärpät were likely optimistic they would get that kind of form out of Mingoia after he starred for two seasons in the DEL with the Wolfsburg Grizzlys, helping them to the DEL semifinals last season, but it wasn’t to be and now both parties will look elsewhere moving forward.
  • Veteran Swedish forward Robin Alvarez has decided to test himself playing in Finland for the first time in his career, signing a one-year contract with Ilves Tampere of Liiga. The 36-year-old veteran has exclusively played in his native Sweden so far in his career and has logged over 700 career games combined between the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan levels. Alvarez brings extensive Champions Hockey League experience to Ilves, having played a total of 31 games in the prestigious European tournament. Ilves currently sit fourth in the Liiga table and are looking to gain ground on their neighbors Tappara Tampere, the defending Liiga and Champions Hockey League winners.
  • Defenseman Teemu Suhonen, once a star blueliner for Jukurit Mikkeli in both its Liiga and Mestis days, has signed a one-month contract with a rival Liiga club: Vaasan Sport. The undersized 34-year-old defenseman spent last season with Liiga’s JYP, scoring 15 points in 46 games. Sport said in its announcement of the deal that the club needed to act quickly to respond to an injury to defenseman Carl-Johan Lerby, and their signing of Suhonen should help the team survive Lerby’s absence.
  • Slovakia’s HK Nitra have agreed on an early contract termination with forward Patrick Bajkov, a key summer signing of the club. Nitra were likely hoping that Bajkov’s prolific scoring at the ECHL level (he managed 69 points in 71 games for the Reading Royals in 2021-22) would translate to the top level of Slovak pro hockey. That hasn’t happened, though, and Bajkov will now conclude his tenure with Nitra at six games, a run where he failed to register a point and found himself tagged with a minus-seven plus-minus rating. Bajkov last played for Nitra in their October 1st contest, but skated under 2:30 of total ice time as the club fell by a 9-3 score. As Nitra seek a reboot after a catastrophic start to the season, it’s been agreed upon by both parties that ending Bajkov’s contract is the best path forward for each side, especially seeing as a replacement for Bajkov, Stephen Harper, was brought in a few days ago.
  • The so far undefeated Cardiff Devils have made an addition to their forward corps, signing power forward Brandon Alderson to an EIHL contract. The six-foot-three, 194-pound veteran has been a point-per-game scorer in the OHL, ECHL, DEL2, and Slovak league, and is coming off of an exceptional campaign playing third-division pro hockey in Germany. Alderson scored a whopping 37 goals and 79 points for the Hannover Scorpions, and Cardiff are likely hoping that his track record of high-scoring numbers can translate to the top division of pro hockey in the United Kingdom.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Morning Notes: Pitlick, Hämeenaho, Jack

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New York Rangers forward Tyler Pitlick is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, according to the New York Post’s Mollie Walker. Walker also relays word from Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette saying that Pitlick would be re-evaluated today. Pitlick, 31, was an offseason signing of the Rangers and had been in contention for a fourth-line role while playing on a $787.5k cap hit.

One how this injury might impact the ongoing battle for the Rangers’ fourth-line right winger spot, if at all. Fellow offseason signing Alex Belzile was waived and sent to the AHL despite holding the versatility to play both center and wing and having outscored Pitlick on a point-per-game basis last season, so if Pitlick remains out Belzile could get another chance. But what’s more likely is that Belzile remains in the minors as he’s already cleared waivers, with Pitlick’s job instead for the time being going to prospect Will Cuylle, whose situation we covered in the recent Big Hype Prospects piece.

Now for some other notes from across the hockey world:

  • New Jersey Devils prospect Lenni Hämeenaho is off to a blistering hot start in the Finnish Liiga, and EliteProspects’ Lassi Alanen writes on X that Hämeenaho is off to “one of the hottest starts to the season from any 18-year-old in Liiga history.” Playing for Ässät Pori, a quality middle-of-the-pack Liiga team, Hämeenaho has scored eight goals and nine points in just nine games, putting him at a 53-goal pace should he manage to play a full 60-game season. It’s extremely unlikely Hämeenaho will maintain this pace, of course, but what is likely is that Hämeenaho will finish with a far more productive year than the one he had in 2022-23, and it could be the type of season that vaults the 2023 53rd overall pick into top prospect status.
  • The ECHL announced yesterday that its Board of Governors had “approved the Transfer of Controlling Interest in the Allen Americans” to “ALA Hockey, LLC, an entity controlled by Myles and LaSonjia Jack.” For fans of the NFL, that name might be familiar as its of former NFL linebacker Myles Jack, once a key cog in a ferocious Jacksonville Jaguars defense. As our friends at Pro Football Rumors covered, Jack retired in August and now appears to be entering sports ownership alongside his mother. According to the ECHL, this purchase is particularly historic as “Jack, and his mother LaSonjia Jack, are the first African-American majority owners in professional hockey history.” Jack is purchasing a quality team in the Americans, as they’re a two-time Kelly Cup winner, they haven’t missed the playoffs in four seasons, and are Texas’ only ECHL franchise.

Minor Transactions: 10/02/23

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It’s another busy day around the world of hockey, with activity both on the schedule and on the transaction wire. The highlight of today’s slate of games overseas was a contest between SKA St. Petersburg and HK Sochi in the KHL. Top NHL prospect Matvei Michkov’s three-point performance lifted Sochi over St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is the club that owns Michkov’s KHL rights, and Michkov may have had extra motivation to put together a strong performance as St. Petersburg opened the season with Michkov as a healthy scratch before loaning him back to Sochi.

Beyond just games, today featured quite a few moves in top European leagues as well. As always, we’ll keep track of them here.

  • 2010 13th overall pick Brandon Gormley has found a team for 2023-24. According to an official announcement, he’s signed a one-year contract with the Iserlohn Roosters of the DEL. Gormley heads to Germany to reinforce the blueline of a Roosters team that has struggled early on in this DEL campaign. They have currently surrendered the most goals in the DEL through six games of league play, so the hope will be that Gormley can translate his extensive experience in top European leagues into defensive stops for the Roosters.
  • The SHL’s IK Oskarshamn have struggled mightily at the start of this SHL campaign, so the club has responded to its injuries and underperformance by agreeing to a short-term contract with veteran forward Olli Palola. Palola, 35, is a highly experienced name in European hockey, having represented his country at two IIHF Men’s World Championships. He’s led the Finnish Liiga in goals before and is a former Liiga All-Star, so perhaps his addition will serve as a spark that will help improve the club’s form. Palola split last season between the SHL’s Timra IK and HIFK Helsinki, scoring a total of 13 points in 35 games.
  • After spending a season playing in Italy, Shawn McBride has made the decision to return to the North American pro circuit. He’s signed a one-year ECHL contract with the Idaho Steelheads, the club he spent 2021-22 with. McBride floundered in pro hockey until arriving in Idaho, where he would score 12 goals and 35 points in 69 games. That solid showing earned him a contract in the AlpsHL with the Broncos in Italy, and scored 16 goals and 36 points in 36 games there, and now he’s back in the ECHL for another go-around with the Steelheads.
  • Veteran defenseman Anton Mylläri has signed a contract containing a three-month trial period with the Lahti Pelicans, the club he played for last season. 2022-23 was Mylläri’s first full season in Liiga, and he acquitted himself well, helping the Pelicans reach the league finals where they would ultimately fall to Tappara Tampere. Mylläri was a top-four defenseman for the Pelicans last season, averaging 18:00 time on ice per game, and now will get a chance to resume that role for a Pelicans team that has got off to a slow start in 2023-24.

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