East Notes: Maple Leafs, Lightning, Sabres
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Minor Transactions: 04/02/23
It’s another busy day across the hockey world as we reach an important stretch of the NHL season with several teams in the thick of tight playoff races, especially in the Western Conference. The New York Islanders take on the Carolina Hurricanes in what could be a first-round playoff preview, while the Los Angeles Kings take on the Vancouver Canucks in a game that could push L.A. ahead of the Edmonton Oilers in the race for the Pacific Division’s second seed.
In Europe, multiple playoff semifinals are underway, and today Frolunda HC captured a crucial victory against Vaxjo in Sweden, tying the SHL’s semifinals at one game apiece. In Germany, Grizzlys Wolfsburg tied their DEL semifinal against EHC Red Bull Munchen 1-1, while an important third-period tie-breaking goal by former New York Rangers prospect Ty Ronning helped ERC Ingolstadt win 6-3 over Adler Mannheim and tie their side of the DEL semifinals. As fans take in all of the hockey on offer today, teams around the world are making tweaks to their roster or preparing for next season. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- Stanley Cup champion and former NHL top prospect Brett Connolly is among the players leaving Swiss club HC Lugano, according to a team announcement. Connolly signed in Switzerland over the summer after spending most of last season with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. The Canadian forward, who is still just 30 years old and was a decent NHL goal-scorer as recently as 2019-20, did well in his first year overseas, scoring 12 goals and 38 points in 45 games. He was sandwiched between two other former NHLers, Markus Granlund and Mirco Mueller, in Lugano’s scoring rankings, and he helped his side reach the Swiss playoffs.
- Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Philip Samuelsson, the son of two-time Stanley Cup champion Ulf Samuelsson, is among the players announced not to be returning to the DEL’s Fischtown Pinguins. Samuelsson, 31, has 13 NHL games on his resume, the last few coming in 2015-16 with the Arizona Coyotes. Samuelsson played three straight seasons exclusively as an AHLer before heading overseas in 2019-20 to play most of the year in his native Sweden. He split the last three seasons between Leksands IF and IK Oskarshamn in the SHL before signing last summer in the DEL. He scored 31 points in 47 games for Fischtown, helping lead them to a playoff series win over the Nurnburg Ice Tigers.
- 2008 Minnesota Wild first-round pick Tyler Cuma has signed a two-year contract with Austria’s EK Zell am See, a club in the AlpsHL, a league with many second-tier Austrian clubs as well as teams in Italy and Slovenia. The 33-year-old blueliner has played in one career NHL game, which took place in 2011-12 with the Wild. Since then, he spent two more seasons in the AHL before deciding to head to Austria, and has now played nearly 300 games at the highest level of Austrian pro hockey. He’ll be moving down a level with this move after a season spent with Innsbruck HC, where he scored nine points in 43 games.
- Former New York Rangers prospect Andrew Yogan will not continue his career with the IceHL’s Graz99ers, per a team announcement. The 31-year-old has been a star in the ICEHL since leaving North America, with 247 points in 236 career games. Yogan made the choice to leave Austria in 2021 to play with HC Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak league, and the 52 points in 48 games he scored propelled the team to a Slovak Extraliga championship. Yogan split 2022-23 between Slovakia and Austria, scoring 15 points in 16 games for Poprad before transferring and scoring 13 goals and 20 points for Graz.
- Dylan St. Cyr‘s tryout with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins is over, per the team. The 23-year-old former Michigan State Spartan appeared in one game with the Griffins, saving seven shots in relief of Jon Lethemon during a March 31st loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. The son of famous women’s hockey goaltender Manon Rheaume, St. Cyr will now look for his next chance in professional hockey with some valuable first experience under his belt.
- 2013 San Jose Sharks fourth-round pick Fredrik Bergvik will not be returning to HockeyAllsvenskan’s Sodertalje SK for next season. The 28-year-old has been a tandem netminder for the second-tier Swedish side for the past four seasons, spending the last two as the backup for Nikita Tolopilo, who signed with the Canucks on Friday. Bergvik posted 2 shutouts and a 5-2 record in 10 total games played, with a .902 save percentage, and will now hit the open market for the first time in several years.
- Michal Jordan is leaving the Lakers. The former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman is among the players not returning to Switzerland’s SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, per a team announcement. The 32-year-old spent 19 games in Switzerland after transferring there in December. Before that point, he had captained the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk, playing over 250 games there. Jordan last appeared in the NHL in 2015-16 and will now look elsewhere to continue his pro career.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 03/31/23
It’s been a busy day across the hockey world, despite just four NHL games on the schedule. Today’s news cycle featured major headlines such as a season-ending surgery for William Eklund and the announcement of Jonathan Toews‘ return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup. Over in Europe, some big games have been played, including two contests in the DEL Semifinals in Germany, and the first game of the SHL semifinals: a 6-2 win for Vaxjo over Frolunda. Two thrilling overtime contests were completed in Finland’s Liiga semifinals, including a double-overtime victory by Champions Hockey League winners Tappara Tampere.
As fans across the hockey world enjoy all the action on offer this Friday, teams in both minor leagues and foreign leagues are completing transactions and either making changes for this season or preparing for 2023-24. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- Earlier this month, we covered reports that former NHL defenseman Juuso Riikola would be headed to Switzerland for next season. Today, those reports were made official as Swiss club SCL Tigers have announced that they have signed Riikola to a one-year contract for 2023-24. Riikola, 29, has 80 career NHL games on his resume and last played in North America last season, when he scored 35 points in 53 games for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. This season Riikola scored 19 points in 42 games as an alternate captain for the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn, helping them reach the first round of the SHL’s playoffs. Now, he’ll continue his pro career with the Tigers, hoping to keep them in Switzerland’s top league after the team just barely avoided relegation this season.
- The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, have signed NCAA free agent Max Andreev to an ATO agreement, one that will become a standard AHL player contract next season. The Cornell University product, 23, has scored 65 points in 77 games over the last three seasons he’s played. He made the ECAC’s Third All-Star team last season and served as an alternate captain this season, helping lead Cornell to an upset victory over the defending national champions the University of Denver. He’ll now join one of the AHL’s top teams with the hope of fashioning a professional career for himself and potentially even earning an NHL contract down the line.
- The AHL’s Iowa Wild have signed CHL free agent defenseman Landon Kosior to an ATO agreement for the rest of this season. Kosior, 20, is an undrafted blueliner who spent his major junior career with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. Kosior served as an alternate captain for the team this season and scored 63 points in 60 games, his first WHL campaign above the point-per-game threshold. As is generally expected for junior players who gain more experience, Kosior’s numbers took major jumps as he got older, and he went from 23 points in his first season with Prince Albert to the aforementioned 63 this season. With this ATO, Kosior will get his first taste of pro hockey with Iowa, and will likely get to follow along as the team prepares for the Calder Cup playoffs.
- 2022 Anaheim Ducks fifth-round pick Connor Hvidston has been signed to an ATO agreement by the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. The deal allows Hvidston to dip his toes into the waters of professional hockey now that his WHL season with the Swift Current Broncos is over. Hvidston was one of the youngest prospects available at the 2022 draft, just days from being in the 2023 class. He’s scored 21 goals and 65 points in 59 games this season, which ranks him third in team scoring. Seeing as he’ll have to wait until next September to turn 19, he’s still a ways away from turning pro full-time, but with this ATO agreement, he’ll at least get a firsthand look at what it takes to play professional hockey in the Ducks organization.
- Another Cornell University player has signed his first pro contract: defenseman Sebastien Dirven. The 24-year-old teammate of Andreev signed with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers after playing three seasons with the Big Red. The big six-foot-three, 200-pound blueliner doesn’t have much of an offensive game (just 15 points in 93 career NCAA games) but will add some size and snarl to the Nailers’ blueline as they conclude what has been a difficult 2022-23 season.
- 2016 Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Noah Carroll has signed his first professional contract, landing with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates. Carroll has spent the last four years with the University of New Brunswick on the Canadian university circuit, playing 59 games there. Before that point, the six-foot-one defenseman played for the Soo Greyhounds and Guelph Storm in the OHL, a major junior career highlighted by a 37-point final season during which he was an alternate captain.
- Cade Borchardt, the captain of one of college hockey’s better programs at Minnesota State, has signed with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. The 24-year-old’s production took a hit this season, going from 41 points to 20. But despite that decline in numbers, Borchardt earned the honor of captaining his team and finishes his collegiate career with a respectable 85 points in 121 games. In signing Borchardt, the Mavericks, who currently rank second in the ECHL’s Mountain Division, infuse some energetic young talent to their roster as they continue to grapple for playoff position.
- The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings have signed two players out of St. Cloud State University: Aidan Spellacy and Brendan Bushy. Spellacy, 24, is a forward who scored 12 points in 35 games this season. He’s served as an alternate captain for St. Cloud State and Robert Morris University, and he also captained his high school team, meaning he could bring some off-ice value to the Wings beyond his on-ice utility. Bushy, 24, is a six-foot-two blueliner who scored 11 points in 41 games this season playing in a top-four role.
- Former Owen Sound Attack star and OHL Champion Cameron Brace is transferring to Germany, per an announcement from his new team, the DEL’s Frankfurt Lions. The 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons in the SHL with IK Oskarshamn, scoring 52 points in 99 games there. Brace earned his shot at the SHL level after a proving himself as a professional in Denmark’s top league, where he scored 110 points in 78 games for Herning Blue Fox. Brace has fashioned himself a solid overseas professional career in the last few years, and now that career will continue in Germany.
- Longtime DEL veteran Max Renner has signed a contract for next season with the Augsburg Panthers. The 31-year-old has nearly 300 DEL games on his resume with most coming with the Straubing Tigers, save for the last two seasons spent with the Bietigheim Steelers. Renner scored nine points in 56 games last season and brings an established veteran presence to the Panthers’ defense corps.
- The ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz have signed forward Nico Feldner to a two-year contract, per a team announcement. Feldner has played the past two seasons entirely with HC Innsbruck, save for a six-game stretch with the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers in England. Feldner scored 17 points in 43 games for Innsbruck this season and should be counted on to bolster Linz’s forward corps for the next two years as they look to return to the ICEHL’s playoffs next season.
- Matus Spodniak, a top scorer at the NCAA Division-III level with Adrian College, has signed an amateur tryout agreement with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel. The 25-year-old native of Kosice, Slovakia scored 94 points in 60 games across two seasons with Adrian College, and now the Fuel are looking to roll the dice on him to see if he can translate his game to professional hockey. This tryout will represent a significant jump in competition level for Spodniak, and he’ll have a relatively short period of time to make an impression with one of the East Coast league’s top teams.
- Spodniak’s teammate, Ty Enns, also signed an amateur tryout agreement with an ECHL club: the Toledo Walleye. Enns, 24, scored 50 points in 31 games this season and scored a total of 140 points in 106 games at the Division-III level. As mentioned with Spodniak, this jump to the ECHL will be a significant increase in difficulty for Enns, but at the very least it should be encouraging that the ECHL’s third-best team is willing to give him a tryout opportunity.
- The ECHL’s Maine Mariners are another club to dip into the pool of college free agents, signing University of Windsor forward Sean Olson. The 24-year-old scored 40 points in his 54-game career for Windsor, and standing six-foot-three 203 pounds as some size down the middle to the Mariners’ group of pivots.
Minor Transactions: 03/20/23
It’s been a busy day across the hockey world, with multiple top European professional leagues in the thick of their playoffs. In Sweden, Djurgardens IF took a step towards promotion back to the SHL with a 4-1 victory over BIK Karlskoga, while both Skelleftea and Vaxjo completed dominant wins in their own playoff contests. In Finland, eight teams did battle in playoff matchups with highlights including a 1-0 overtime victory for HIFK Helsinki thanks to a goal from former Edmonton Oiler Iiro Pakarinen. As hockey fans across the globe enjoy all the action from Europe to the NHL, teams are still making adjustments to their rosters. We’ll keep track of those transactions here.
- Montreal Canadiens prospect Alexander Gordin had his contract terminated by his KHL club, HK Sochi. The 2020 sixth-round pick spent most of the season at the second-tier VHL level, scoring eight goals and 12 points for HK Rostov. He notched two points in six KHL games for Sochi, although he didn’t see a whole lot of ice time, including one game where he played just 25 seconds. The Canadiens have the exclusive rights to sign Gordin indefinitely, and although there is no word on whether he’s planning on heading to North America, this contract termination does give him options for where to continue his development.
- Five-year NCAA veteran Michael Underwood, 24, signed a PTO agreement with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles today. Underwood spent this season with Michigan State University in the Big 10, scoring five points in 38 games. The six-foot-one stay-at-home defenseman won the ECAC with Clarkson University in 2018-19, and will get his first taste of pro action with the Eagles, who are currently trying to lock up a Calder Cup playoff spot.
- The ECHL’s Florida Everblades signed Chayse Primeau, who is the son of former NHLer Keith Primeau and the brother of Montreal Canadiens AHL netminder Cayden Primeau. The 25-year-old has spent the past five seasons with playing college hockey, spending four years with the University of Nebraska-Omaha before transferring to Notre Dame for his final year. He has amassed 95 points in 154 career games, and was named an NCHC Second-Team All-Star in his senior season at Nebraska. He’ll now join the Everblades, who are right in the thick of a competitive race for the ECHL’s South Division title.
- After four seasons as a regular contributor at the SHL level for Vaxjo, netminder Viktor Andren struggled after signing a two-year deal with Brynas IF. He was eventually loaned down a level, to HockeyAllsvenskan, and has spent most of his time there over the past few seasons, save for brief cameos with the top division. This season, though, Andren has thoroughly impressed, posting a 2.04 goals-against-average and .921 save percentage for Almtuna IS. While he was unable to earn his club promotion to the SHL, his strong performance could pave his way back to Sweden’s top league. SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that Andren has decided to play for Djurgardens next season. As previously mentioned, Djurgardens is currently in the race to be promoted back to the SHL, and should they make it there Andren would see time in their crease, potentially in a tandem arrangement with Vegas Golden Knights prospect Carl Lindblom.
- HockeyAllsvenskan’s IF Bjorkloven has signed two key players to contract extensions: 2018 Buffalo Sabres fourth-round pick Linus Cronholm, and two-time Champions Hockey League winner Mattias Norstebo. Both blueliners have played regular minutes for Bjorkloven and are currently attempting to defeat Vasteras IK in the chase for promotion to the SHL. The Sabres let Cronholm’s rights expire this past summer, choosing not to sign him to an entry-level contract, but he nonetheless seems to be fashioning himself a solid pro career in Sweden.
- Patrick Obrist is extending his playing relationship with Swiss club EHC Kloten for a ninth season. The 30-year-old Austrian was on hand when the team suffered relegation from Switzerland’s top league in 2017-18, and helped lead them to promotion last season. This season, he scored five goals and nine points in 47 games and helped Kloten avoid relegation.
- After spending the last year with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL, forward Tyler Kobryn has been released, according to the ECHL’s official transactions wire. The 26-year-old has scored 26 points in 120 career ECHL games, including six goals and nine points in 39 games this season. The former NCAA Division III forward’s release could be motivated in part by the recent signing of college free agent Mitch Walinski, who has scored three points in his first five games in the ECHL.
- The ECHL’s Wichita Thunder have released forward Brett Van Os, a player they acquired in a January trade from the Norfolk Admirals. The former Western Michigan University forward scored 12 points in 25 games for Wichita, but may be ceding his spot on the team to recent signing Jason Pineo and trade acquisition Brett Boeing.