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Minor Transactions: 6/20/23

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Buyouts are the transaction du jour in the NHL, with the first window about a third of the way through completion. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Patrik Nemeth, and Zack Kassian are three players who will now unexpectedly need to look for new homes next season, while others are settling on their short-term futures in other leagues. As always, we’re keeping an eye out for any of today’s notable moves outside of the NHL:

  • ECHL standout and 2017 Hockey East champion Ryan Dmowski has signed a one-year deal with HK Poproad in the Slovak Extraliga, the team announced. The 26-year-old forward helped his Idaho Steelheads finish first in the ECHL during the regular season and reach the Kelly Cup Final, leading the team by a decent margin with 41 goals and 85 points in 91 combined regular-season and playoff games. Dmowski’s strong performances in the ECHL over the past few seasons haven’t translated to any sustained AHL production, though, and he’ll choose to play high-level professional hockey in Europe without a realistic NHL opportunity in the cards.
  • Undrafted CHL free agent Landon Kosior will begin his professional career with the AHL’s Iowa Wild, as the Minnesota Wild affiliate announced they’ve signed him to a one-year, two-way AHL deal. Passed over in the 2020 NHL Draft, Kosior’s since exploded on the blue line for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and notched over a point per game there in his final season. Set to turn 21 in August, Kosior will now look to stick in second-tier pro hockey and catch the eye of the Wild’s NHL brass.
  • A former top undrafted free agent prospect is getting another chance in the AHL as the Milwaukee Admirals have brought in Tye Felhaber on a one-year AHL deal. Once a promising signing by the Dallas Stars in 2019 after he recorded 109 points in 68 games with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, Felhaber’s AHL production never came close to translating to pro hockey. He had to settle for an ECHL contract for 2022-23, which paid massive dividends – he exploded for 63 points in 51 games with the Fort Wayne Komets and even recorded a respectable 13 points in 21 games on loan to Milwaukee. He’ll get a full-time chance there now as the 24-year-old looks to revive his career.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: 06/17/23

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It’s been a quiet day for news in the NHL, with perhaps the most significant development being a report that the Seattle Kraken are looking to move on from former backup goaltender Chris Driedger. But while the NHL slowly moves into its offseason, pro teams across the hockey world are hard at work trying to add players for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of any notable moves here:

  • Former Minnesota Wild center Tyler Graovac could be headed to the KHL’s Admiral Vladivostok, according to a rumor out of Russia. The 30-year-old with 84 NHL games on his resume has played the last two seasons in the KHL, one in Belarus with Dynamo Minsk and this past year with Podolsk Vityaz in Russia. He’s played decently well at each stop, and has a combined 20 goals and 46 points in 93 career KHL games. Should this rumor prove true he’ll head to the third team of his KHL career looking to aid Vladivostok back to the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
  • Alex Ierullo, a star forward in the ECHL, has signed a three-year contract with Asiago Hockey, a club in the Central European ICEHL. It’s a significant development for Ierullo, as pacts with a three-year term aren’t exactly common in the European pro hockey circuit for import players, especially for those who have never played in Europe. Asiago is likely comfortable making such a significant investment due to just how strong Ierullo’s season was. He ranked third in the East Coast league with 87 points in just 60 games, leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in points with a whopping 35-point lead over the next-highest scorer on his team. Ierullo has played in the AHL for a total of nine games but hasn’t been able to translate his ECHL success to the next level, which has likely been what’s paved his way to Europe.
  • After his first full season as a professional hockey player, former Arizona State University star Johnny Walker has decided to head overseas. He’s signed a contract with the Dundee Stars of the EIHL, the top professional hockey league in the United Kingdom. Walker was once an above-point-per-game scorer in the college ranks but availability issues have mired his more recent seasons. In 2022-23 he played 33 games with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL, scoring a respectable 12 goals and 18 points. He added on a whopping 171 penalty minutes in that span of games, and will now bring his hard-nosed play to Scotland.
  • Gretsky has signed a contract extension in Russia. Well, Vyacheslav Gretsky that is. The 26-year-old Belarusian forward saw his first extended action in the KHL this past year for Amur Khabarovsk, scoring five points in 43 games. With Gretsky on their squad for at least another year, Khabarovsk will hope that lineup continuity from last season will help them reach the playoffs after finishing second-to-last in their conference last season.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: 06/16/23

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The NHL offseason is beginning to ramp up now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded, and today saw the Vancouver Canucks make a major move by buying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The New York Rangers also took care of business today with a defenseman of their own, Zac Jones, inking him to a two-year extension. As teams across the hockey world chip away at their offseason work, we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan signed a two-year contract with Liiga runner-ups Lahti Pelicans. Jordan is fresh off of representing Czechia at the IIHF Men’s World Championships where he helped his country advance past the group stage, before being eliminated by the United States. He split this past season between the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk and Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in the Swiss National League. He scored a combined 15 points in 41 games and with the Pelicans will hope to help them go on another long playoff run.
  • 2019-20 ECHL Defenseman of the Year Alex Breton has signed a one-year contract extension with HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. The 25-year-old former Gatineau Olympiques captain was an instant-impact player in the ECHL after aging out of Canadian junior hockey, but he couldn’t quite gain a foothold in the AHL in PTO opportunities with two teams. In 2020 Breton made the choice to head overseas to play in Slovakia, and in 2021 he was traded to HC Slovan Bratislava, a club in the Slovak capital. That trade was a significant opportunity for him and he ended the year a Slovak champion, paving his way back to North America with the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL. After scoring 25 points in 30 games Breton left for Slovakia once again, signing with HC Kosice in February. He won a second Slovak championship of his career this spring, and will now extend his stay in Kosice another season.
  • Cody Kunyk, a star forward in the Finnish Liiga for five of the last six seasons has decided on a new destination to continue his pro career: Germany. Kunyk signed a contract with the Frankfurt Lions, and after scoring 10 goals and 33 points in 60 games for Karpat this past season he’ll likely be a go-to offensive option for Frankfurt. Kunyk has one NHL game on his resume, a 2013-14 contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last played in North America in 2017-18 with the now-defunct Alaska Aces of the ECHL and the Utica Comets of the AHL.
  • Former San Jose Sharks prospect Jake Kupsky is headed overseas for the next stop in his professional career, signing a contract with HKM Zvolen in Slovakia. Kupsky, a 27-year-old netminder who was a 2015 seventh-round pick of San Jose played in 38 games for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL last season and made the ECHL’s All-Star game. But lost his role as the team’s main starter this past campaign as Idaho went on a historic run of regular-season success. He did earn the first AHL call-up of his career, though, and will look to carry on that momentum over in Slovakia.
  • Two-time Liiga champion Jere Karjalainen is ending his return to Finland’s top league after one year, as he’s inked a contract with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. Karjalainen was a staple in the top-six for Liiga’s Tappara Tampere from 2014-2020, helping them win back-to-back titles. He was a leading scorer for them in 2019-20 with 49 points in 57 games, and parlayed that success into a two-year run in the KHL. He spent this past season with Lukko in Liiga and now will head to Germany for the first time in his pro career.
  • 32-year-old defenseman Ralfs Freibergs helped lead Latvia to a historic Bronze Medal win at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month, and now he’s signed with a new team a few weeks later. Freibergs signed a deal with HK Mountfield in the Czech league, where he has nearly 250 games of experience. Freibergs scored a crucial opening goal to help Lavtia defeat Switzerland at World’s and will hope to have similarly clutch moments in Czechia with his new club.
  • The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have acquired 25-year-old defenseman Chris Perna from the Tulsa Oilers. The team cited a December 2022 trade that sent forward Dante Sherriff to Tulsa in exchange for future considerations as the return for the deal, with Perna serving as the “future considerations” Orlando received for Sherriff. Perna made his pro debut this past season with the Oilers, skating in 54 games and scoring eight points. He was a regular face on a Tulsa team that had a difficult 2022-23 and is joining a Solar Bears team that, like Tulsa, is hoping to have a bounce-back season.

East Notes: Maple Leafs, Lightning, Sabres

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While the Toronto Maple Leafs did finally win a playoff series this season, a five-game loss at the hands of the Florida Panthers in the second round erased most of the team’s forward momentum and goodwill with the fanbase. Team president Brendan Shanahan and new general manager Brad Treliving seem content to keep the team’s core intact, so any answers from outside the organization are likely going to come through free agency.

The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel today speculated defenseman Dmitry Orlov should be the team’s top target on the unrestricted free agent market, citing a need for a more puck-moving inclined defender to replace Jake Muzzin and Rasmus Sandin. He’ll likely cost more than $6MM per season on a multi-year deal, one that may not age particularly well given he’s already 31, but he showed with both Washington and Boston this season that he can still handle big minutes and big competition with strong results on both sides of the puck.

Among forwards, Siegel listed Connor Brown, Evan Rodrigues, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Lars Eller as potential adds on the open market.

Also in the Eastern Conference news cycle today:

  • Stealing the Ottawa Senators’ thunder from earlier this week, Sportico reports the Tampa Bay Lightning are selling a minority stake in the club to Arctos Sports Partners at a massive $1.4 billion valuation. It’s over a ten-fold rise in franchise valuation in 13 years – majority owner Jeff Vinik purchased the team in 2010 for just $170MM. He’ll retain his majority stake in the team, so this won’t lead to any notable changes at the top of the franchise’s organizational pyramid.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have mutually agreed not to extend their affiliation with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reported Thursday. Per Lysowski, the team is close to an agreement with a new affiliate at that level. Since 2017, two netminders with playing time in Cincinnati had advanced to Buffalo’s NHL lineup: Michael Houser and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Philadelphia Flyers Announce Qualifying Offers

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Weeks in advance of the June 30 deadline, the Philadelphia Flyers have become the first team to announce which of their pending restricted free agents are receiving qualifying offers. Forwards Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, and Olle Lycksell, as well as defensemen Ronnie Attard and Cam York, all received qualifying offers from the team and their rights have been retained. Forwards Evan Barratt and Kieffer Bellows and defenseman Wyatte Wylie were left unqualified, and they’ll hit unrestricted free agency on July 1 if left unsigned.

The Flyers also confirmed that goalie prospect Ivan Fedotov, who missed the entire 2022-23 campaign due to military obligations in Russia after intending to leave for the United States, has had his contract tolled over to the 2023-24 season. It’s unclear what his status is and if he’s expected to join the team, but he will be under contract.

Philadelphia acquired Barratt, 24, in an October 2022 minor trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. The 2017 third-round pick spent nearly the entire season in the ECHL with the Flyers’ affiliate, the Reading Royals, where he did well with 50 points in 46 games. After managing to stick in the AHL full-time with Chicago the past two seasons, however, it was a disappointing development that he couldn’t hold the same role in the Flyers organization. He’ll spend next season overseas, where he’s already signed a contract with the DEL’s Nurnberg Ice Tigers.

Bellows was the 19th overall selection in the 2016 draft but ended up on waivers this season after the New York Islanders decided he couldn’t stick in the NHL. Philadelphia claimed him, but the 25-year-old scored just three goals in 27 NHL games and never got anything above a fourth-line role. His power-forward style has yet to truly translate to any sustained success at the NHL level, and he remains unsigned for 2023-24.

Wylie is the youngest of the Flyers to go unqualified, still just 23 years old. After a fifth-round selection in 2018, though, he’s failed to become an every-night AHL player and appeared in 45 games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season. After a strong pair of seasons to finish out his junior career with the Everett Silvertips in 2019 and 2020, though, he should be able to find at least an AHL contract on the open market if the Flyers don’t retain him by the end of the month.

Snapshots: Pesce, Third Overall Pick, Florida Everblades

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The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the NHL’s most consistently competitive franchises in recent years and a major reason for their success has been the fact that they’ve thus far avoided giving out the types of inefficient, expensive contracts that eat up too much salary cap space and have sunk other team’s competitive hopes. A byproduct of that tendency to stick to their own valuations of players and not let the market dictate their plans has been that they’ve seen some talented players leave, players other clubs might have found a way to retain. Players such as Dougie Hamilton and Vincent Trocheck are examples of this, and perhaps the next player to be added to that list could be defenseman Brett Pesce.

Per a report from The Athletic, “If Pesce’s demands aren’t realistic to what Carolina had in mind” for his next contract, the Hurricanes “may very well trade him this summer.” (subscription link) Pesce, 28, will see his $4.025MM AAV contract expire next summer and could be looking to secure a significant raise after seeing himself go underpaid due to that contract relative to the immense on-ice value he’s provided. Pesce set a new career high in points this past season and is widely respected as a top-of-the-line defenseman in his own end. He’d likely fetch a significant return if traded, so it seems the Hurricanes may consider trading Pesce this summer in order to recoup some value rather than risk retaining him through the expiry of his contract next summer, only to see him leave for another team with Carolina receiving no compensation in return.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • With the Blue Jackets aggressively pursuing upgrades to their roster that will help them win in the short-term, many have wondered if the Blue Jackets would consider trading the third overall pick in this year’s draft in order to get a quality, established player. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen spoke on the prospect of trading the pick, according to the Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger. Kekalainen said it would take “an awful lot” in order to convince the team to trade that pick, and although they’ve received trade calls nothing yet has come close to being enough for the team to consider making that deal. The Blue Jackets have long sought after a true first-line center to build their forward corps around, and with promising pivots such as Leo Carlsson and Will Smith expected to be available for Columbus to draft, it seems Kekalainen would need to be truly wowed by an offer in order to move the third pick.
  • The ECHL’s Florida Everblades secured their second consecutive Kelly Cup championship last night, sweeping the league’s finals against the Idaho Steelheads, a team that went on a historic run during the regular season. The Steelheads went 58-11-3 and stormed to the Kelly Cup finals but couldn’t find an answer to former University of North Dakota netminder Cam Johnson and the Everblades. Former Merrimack College captain Tyler Irvine scored the championship-clinching goal midway through the third period of the contest, leading the Everblades to the third title in their franchise history.

West Notes: Gavrikov, Predators, Bouchard

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Today’s cap-shedding trade by the Kings has sparked speculation that the move was made to make room for an agreement with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.  That deal isn’t in place and if it does get done, it might be a shorter-term deal than expected.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Gavrikov’s camp has told Los Angeles that they’re looking for a two-year contract.  Considering that Gavrikov is 27 and in his prime, it feels like this is the right time to look for a long-term agreement.  However, the blueliner is coming off a bit of a quiet year and the salary cap is expected to start going up more after next season so Gavrikov could be positioning himself to have a shot at a bigger payday in a couple of years compared to what he could get this summer.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Predators announced that they have reached an affiliation agreement with ECHL Atlanta for next season. It will be the fourth straight season that the Gladiators have a new affiliate after having Boston, Ottawa, and Arizona over the last three years.  Nashville, meanwhile, was one of four NHL teams this season that did not have a direct ECHL affiliation.
  • Gary Bettman’s recent confirmation that the Upper Limit of the salary cap is only set to go up by $1MM isn’t ideal for most teams but Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal argues that it at least gives the Oilers some certainty as it pertains to defenseman Evan Bouchard. The 23-year-old is coming off his second straight season of at least 40 points and was quite productive in the playoffs, notching 17 points in 12 games; he still leads all playoff blueliners in scoring despite being ousted in the second round.  With Edmonton’s cap situation, they’re basically stuck doing a bridge contract with Bouchard, an outcome that’s basically cemented with the recent cap confirmation.

Washington Capitals Extend Affiliation Agreement With South Carolina Stingrays

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The Washington Capitals and the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays have extended their affiliation agreement through the 2025-26 season, per a team release Thursday morning.

The upcoming 2023-24 season will be the 10th consecutive campaign the Capitals and Stingrays have been affiliated with each other. The Capitals were also previously affiliated with South Carolina from 2004 to 2012.

In the combined 17 seasons of affiliation, the Stingrays have only missed the playoffs twice. Considering Washington’s prioritization of minor league success with their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, South Carolina’s strong play at the ECHL level comes as little surprise.

Their success includes winning the Kelly Cup in 2009 and clinching three conference championships since 2015. The Stingrays achieved a record of 45-22-4-1 this season, finishing first in the ECHL’s South Division and second in the Eastern Conference.

Capitals senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan issued the following statement:

We are pleased to renew our partnership with the South Carolina Stingrays. For several seasons, the Stingrays have provided our prospects a winning environment in which they can develop, and we are looking forward to continuing our affiliation.

While it’s rare for any high-end NHL prospects to see ECHL time, aside from the occasional goaltender, ECHL teams still directly influence organizational success. AHL and ECHL teams maintain tight relationships, and a winning culture at one level tends to bleed through to the other. These affiliates can also prove vital in developing more raw prospects not quite ready for extended AHL time, something the Capitals exhibited this season.

Five players who participated in games for South Carolina this season attended the Capitals’ 2022 training camp. Among them were forward Bear Hughes, defensemen Martin Has and Benton Maass, and goaltenders Garin Bjorklund and Clay Stevenson.

Hughes, the Capitals’ fifth-round draft pick in 2020, proved himself a valuable asset for the Stingrays with 36 assists and 59 points this season. However, Washington no longer holds his exclusive signing rights. Stevenson, who joined the Capitals as a free agent in March 2022, seamlessly transitioned to pro hockey ECHL, ranking among the league leaders in various statistical categories, and showing he may be a potential call-up option for Washington in 2023-24.

Kings Recall Tobias Bjornfot And Cal Petersen

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With their AHL affiliate in Ontario being eliminated on Friday, Los Angeles has elected to bring a couple of extra players up.  They announced that defenseman Tobias Bjornfot and goaltender Cal Petersen were recalled from the Reign while also loaning goaltender David Hrenak to Greenville of the ECHL with the Swamp Rabbits still playing at that level.

Bjornfot is no stranger to being recalled this season as this is the ninth (and final) time that he is getting promoted.  The 22-year-old played in ten games with the Kings during the regular season, the fewest appearances at the top level he has had in the last three seasons.  In those contests, Bjornfot picked up an assist along with 11 hits and 12 blocks while logging a little over 14 minutes a night.

At the minor league level, Bjornfot was a bit more productive but certainly didn’t light up the scoresheet either, collecting five goals and seven helpers in 50 games.  It should be his final season in the minors as he’ll be waiver-eligible next season and it’s unlikely that Los Angeles will want to risk losing him for free by trying to send him down again.

As for Petersen, it has been a year to forget for the 28-year-old.  After a rough start to the year that saw him post a save percentage of just .868 in 10 appearances, he cleared waivers at the beginning of December and was sent down to the minors.  He fared a bit better down there, putting up a .904 SV% in 40 regular season contests but that type of performance won’t be enough to see him pushing for playing time in the postseason.  Instead, he’ll likely serve as the third-string option, allowing Hrenak to go back to the ECHL where he spent the majority of his season.

Boston Bruins Extend ECHL Affiliation Agreement

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The Boston Bruins announced via a team release Monday morning that the team has signed a two-year extension of their affiliation agreement with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. The move locks in some organizational stability and will make Maine the team’s longest-tenured ECHL affiliate since a five-year partnership with the Atlanta Gladiators from 2015 to 2020.

While it’s a rare occurrence nowadays for NHL teams to send skaters multiple levels down to the ECHL, it remains a viable and well-tracked development path for netminders to get heavy workloads as they graduate from junior or college programs. The Bruins currently have one prospect under NHL contract assigned to Maine: 23-year-old netminder Michael DiPietro, acquired from Vancouver earlier this season.

It’s also an impactful choice for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, who make transactions with the ECHL much more regularly. The newly-minted general manager of Providence, Evan Gold, gave a statement on the extension:

We are thrilled to extend our affiliation agreement with the Maine Mariners. The collaboration between Boston, Providence and Maine has been instrumental in helping our prospects improve not only their hockey skillsets on the ice, but also their work ethic and approach to becoming professionals off the ice. We are excited to continue to partner with the Mariners’ coaching staff and front office as we strive to provide the best development opportunities for our players.

For Boston, the extension keeps its entire professional development system locked within New England, with its minor-league affiliates nearby.

The affiliation agreement, previously set to expire after this season, will now last through the 2024-25 campaign.

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