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Minor Transactions: 10/29/2025

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Yesterday was a notably busy day for hockey, as all 32 NHL clubs took the ice as part of the league’s “Frozen Frenzy” programming. As a result, today’s calendar of games is light, with just one NHL game to be played: the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets. With that said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t games played in the wider world of pro hockey – the AHL has 12 games set to be played tonight, and numerous European pro leagues have also had games today.

Player movement outside the NHL has a similarly high level of activity, and here we’ll run down the notable moves of the past few days from around the world of professional hockey:

  • 170-game NHL veteran Nic Petan terminated his contract with Swiss pro side HC Ambri-Piotta today, ending a 15-game stint with the club that has gone very poorly. The 30-year-old signed a two-year deal with Ambri-Piotta this past summer with the expectation that he’d be one of the team’s most relied-upon offensive generators. But through 15 games, Petan has registered only four points. It wasn’t an issue of ice time, as he’s averaged nearly 17 minutes of time per game and two minutes of power-play time per game, both he and Ambri-Piotta as a whole have struggled immensely to put the puck in the net. That hasn’t been a problem for Petan for most of his (non-NHL) pro career, as he’s a former AHL All-Star who once led the entire CHL in scoring. He has 289 points in 296 career AHL games and was one of the AHL’s highest-paid two-way players, with a $550K AHL salary when he last played, but that sterling track record wasn’t able to translate to Switzerland. He’ll now look for a new landing spot to continue his pro career.
  • Lada Togliatti, one of the KHL’s worst teams so far this season, made a few player moves today. First, they placed 23-year-old Canadian forward Joshua Lawrence on waivers, placing in question the player’s KHL future. Lawrence, who is the brother of Tynan Lawrence, one of the top-ranked prospects for the 2026 draft, is an undrafted player who worked his way up the European pro hockey ladder to reach the KHL. After his time as a star scorer in the QMJHL ended, Lawrence played almost two highly-successful seasons in the Swiss second division before getting the chance to finish 2024-25 in Liiga with Lahti Pelicans. his 13 points in 22 games for the Pelicans earned him a shot in the KHL with Lada, but after scoring just two points in 14 games, he’s been waived.
  • To reinforce their forward group in the absence of Lawrence, Lada signed two KHL veterans to one-year contracts: Nikita Setdikov and Anton Burdasov. Setdikov, 30, brings nearly 300 games of KHL experience to the table, and he most recently played for Barys Astana, scoring 18 points in 51 games. The year prior, he was one of the top scorers for Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, scoring 30 points in 57 games. Burdasov, 34, has 663 games of KHL experience, and is a Gagarin Cup Champion as well as a former All-Star. He also played in Astana last season to limited success, but was a high-end, near point-per-game scorer as recently as 2022-23.
  • Former Boston Bruins farmhand Zane McIntyre has returned to the North American pro game after spending a year overseas. The 33-year-old netminder has signed a contract with the ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters, per the league’s official transactions report. McIntyre spent last season with the Straubing Tigers of the German DEL, playing in 28 games to an .889 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Among the 23 DEL goalies with at least 15 games played last year, McIntyre’s .889 save percentage ranked 22nd. With this newly-signed contract, he’s returning to the North American minor leagues, where he’s had quite a bit more success. A former top NCAA netminder, McIntyre has played in 300 AHL games and is a former All-Star. Since expected starter Jordan Papirny was recalled to the Henderson Silver Knights yesterday, McIntyre could get the chance to hold down the fort for the Knight Monsters for as long as Papirny remains in the AHL.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Nico Gross signed a three-year contract extension with his current club, HC Davos of the Swiss NL. A 2018 fourth-rounder of the Rangers, Gross hasn’t played pro hockey in North America to this point in his career, but appears to have settled in nicely in the top pro league of his home country. Gross won two NL titles with EV Zug in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to Davos in advance of the 2024-25 season. This extension comes at a somewhat curious time for Gross. His ice time has declined sharply so far in 2025-26 – Gross is averaging 14:28 time-on-ice per game so far this season, per the NL’s stats page, but averaged 16:59 time-on-ice per game last season.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Milton Oscarson signed a three-year extension with Örebro HK of the SHL, according to a team announcement. The Blackhawks spent a sixth-round pick at the 2023 entry draft to acquire him, but after he wasn’t able to develop offensively at the SHL level, they elected to let their exclusive rights to sign him expire this past summer. Although he hasn’t scored much, Oscarson has been a regular player for Örebro for more than three years now, and is currently playing 14:10 per game for the team, good for seventh among Örebro forwards.
  • After playing just six games for the team, the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs traded 2007-born defenseman Caden Campion to the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild in exchange for an eighth-round selection at the 2029 WHL Prospects Draft. The 6’1 right-shot blueliner spent last season in the BCHL, splitting his year between the Chilliwack Chiefs and Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Drafted 29th overall in the 2023 USHL Futures Draft, Campion’s WHL career hasn’t started off in ideal fashion, but this trade provides him with the chance to get a fresh start with a new team.
  • Gavin Gould, a two-time WCHA Champion with the Michigan Tech Huskies, has retired from pro hockey, per a social media announcement. Gould, 29, won back-to-back conference titles in his first two years playing college hockey but wasn’t able to build on that momentum in his final two years in the NCAA. He began his pro career in 2021 in the ECHL, and bounced between five different ECHL clubs across his nearly 200-game career. Gould’s most productive stretch came in 2021-22, when he scored 26 points in 23 games for the Allen Americans after a mid-season move from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.

Ben Harpur Signs In KHL

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Veteran defenseman Ben Harpur has signed with the Shanghai Dragons of the Kontinental Hockey League for the remainder of the season, per Anton Panchenko of Championat. Harpur had hoped to land an NHL deal for this year and signed a professional tryout with the Panthers, but was released at the beginning of the month and wasn’t invited to their AHL camp, either.

Harpur, 30, has nearly 200 NHL games to his name but hasn’t logged any action since 2022-23 with the Rangers. He remained in New York’s organization for the following two seasons but played only for their AHL affiliate in Hartford. Injuries limited the 6’6″ lefty to just 36 total appearances in the minors from 2023-25, too.

An NHL return was an understandable long shot as a result, but a minor-league contract may have been within reach. Instead, the Ontario-born defender heads overseas for the first time in his 11-year pro career. He’ll do in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the China-based Dragons, who have longtime NHL bench boss Gerard Gallant at the helm and, with Harpur now in tow, carry nearly 2,000 games of combined NHL experience on their roster after rebranding from their former Kunlun Red Star identity last offseason. Harpur joins some familiar faces in Kevin Labanc, Alexander Burmistrov, and Ryan Spooner, among others. Gallant also oversaw Harpur’s most recent NHL games over two years ago.

Harpur joins a Dragons club that is quickly on the rise. The franchise never finished above .500 in their days as Kunlun Red Star, which began play back in 2016, but is off to a 9-3-3 start under Gallant and ranks second in the KHL’s Western Conference.

A fourth-round pick by the Senators in 2013, Harpur has logged time at the game’s top level with them, the Rangers, and the Predators. Topping out as a semi-reliable No. 7, the big stay-at-home rearguard has a career 2-19–21 scoring line with a -42 rating while averaging 15:38 of ice time per game. He also has 69 points and a -12 rating in 229 career AHL appearances.

Michael McLeod Signs With KHL’s Avangard Omsk

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After some lukewarm interest from the Carolina Hurricanes, Michael McLeod’s comeback bid to the NHL will prove unsuccessful. He will return to the organization where he played last season, as the KHL announced a three-year deal for McLeod with Avangard Omsk.

Toward the beginning of training camp, reports indicated that McLeod would inevitably sign with the Hurricanes to return to the North American professional circuit. Still, since the NHL determined that none of the acquitted players from the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial could sign until October 15th, it gave Carolina plenty of time to change their mind.

The Hurricanes faced significant backlash from fans over their decision to target McLeod and former Philadelphia Flyer Carter Hart after they became eligible to return. Carolina pivoted relatively quickly, with TSN’s Chris Johnston saying the two sides couldn’t “get to something both sides would be comfortable with.”

Now, McLeod will return to Russia on a relatively lengthy three-year pact with Avangard Omsk. He spent much of last season with the team, scoring three goals and 13 points in 19 games, and another three goals and six points in 13 games for Barys Astana. He had much improved offensive production in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, tallying one goal and eight points in nine postseason contests.

Avangard Omsk doesn’t have much in the way of former NHL talent outside of McLeod, though they do have former three-time AHL scoring champion Andrew Poturalski and former first overall pick Nail Yakupov. Additionally, the team is coached by Guy Boucher, former head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators.

Kevin Labanc Signs With KHL’s Shanghai Dragons

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Winger Kevin Labanc has signed with the Shanghai Dragons of the Kontinental Hockey League, the team announced. He had attended the Hurricanes’ training camp on a PTO but was released several days ago.

Labanc, 30 in December, was once one of the league’s more intriguing young players, but his peak was early and short-lived. He fell to the Sharks in the sixth round of the 2014 draft but immediately exploded for a pair of 100-point seasons with the OHL’s Barrie Colts before turning pro with San Jose in 2016.

He stuck immediately, barely seeing any minor-league action in his first pro season and quickly emerging as a top-nine threat on a loaded Sharks group that still included all of Logan Couture, Tomáš Hertl, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Joe Thornton. By his second year, he was averaging over 14 minutes per game and by Year 3, he played in all 82 games while recording a 17-39–56 scoring line to rank sixth on the team in scoring.

That would be the end of Labanc’s forward progress. He was a restricted free agent after his breakout year and, in hindsight, the Sharks were blessed to be cap-strapped and only sign him to a one-year, $1MM bridge. As the Sharks crumbled the following season, so did Labanc, whose production dropped to 33 points in 70 games along with a team-worst -33 rating. They still chose to reward that with a four-year, $18.9MM contract, betting on his upside. He still averaged 32 points per 82 games over that deal, but availability was an issue – dragged down by the pandemic and a dislocated shoulder that cost him most of the 2021-22 campaign, Labanc only averaged 49 appearances per season. By the end of the contract, he was no longer a regular in San Jose’s lineup and sat as a healthy scratch 32 times in the 2023-24 season.

Unsurprisingly, the Sharks moved on. Labanc even failed to land a guaranteed offer in free agency and settled for a camp tryout with the Devils, who ultimately decided not to sign him. He still ended up landing a one-year, league-minimum contract with the Blue Jackets, though. He was a serviceable bottom-six depth scorer for Columbus, notching a 2-10–12 scoring line in 34 games in just 10:30 per night until another shoulder surgery ended his season in February.

Like the summer before, Labanc didn’t have any offers on July 1. He was receiving KHL interest from CSKA Moscow relatively early in free agency, but declined it in hopes of still landing an NHL deal. After not converting on his PTO with Carolina, though, he’ll head to the KHL’s lone China-based club (although they currently play in St. Petersburg) to play under longtime NHL head coach Gerard Gallant.

Evgeny Kuznetsov Signs With KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk

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There will be no NHL return for Evgeny Kuznetsov, at least for now. The veteran of 11 NHL seasons had been the subject of rumors for most of the summer but has now signed on to remain in his native Russia for another season with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, according to a league press release.

Kuznetsov, 33, returned to Russia last summer after a short-lived tenure with the Hurricanes. He managed six goals and 13 points in 30 combined regular-season and playoff games for the club after they acquired him from the Capitals at the trade deadline. The one-time All-Star had cleared waivers days before after exiting the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. On the whole, his scoring line for 2023-24 read 8-16–24 through 63 appearances. That was by far the worst point-per-game production he had, marking a sharp decline after having managed nearly a point per game for the Caps just two years prior.

Seeking stability, Kuznetsov accepted a mutual contract termination with Carolina last summer and promptly signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg. The move home allowed him to rediscover his once-consistently top-six caliber offensive skill set, flourishing alongside young NHL prospects like Ivan Demidov and Alexander Nikishin, and recording 12 goals and 37 points in 39 appearances. That resurgence rekindled his desire for NHL success, and he obtained a release from SKA back in April to facilitate it. There were still two undisclosed teams interested in signing him at the beginning of September, but training camp has now mostly passed without a contract being signed.

Another KHL season at or near a point per game could make Kuznetsov’s transition back to North America easier next summer, but for now, it’s still prove-it time. Kuznetsov joins a hot Metallurg squad off to a 7-1-2 start to rank fourth in the league, fueled by an early-season breakout from Blackhawks prospect Roman Kantserov, who has five goals and 10 assists through his first 10 games.

Kuznetsov was a first-round pick by Washington in 2010 and was dominant in their run to the 2018 Stanley Cup, leading the league in postseason scoring with 20 assists and 32 points in 24 appearances. His 568 points in 723 regular-season appearances for the Caps rank seventh in franchise history.

KHL’s Barys Astana Sign Tyler Wotherspoon

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Another depth player is headed overseas after failing to find a new home in North America. Earlier today, the KHL’s Barys Astana announced a one-year contract for defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon for the 2025-26 season.

Tyler, the older brother of Pittsburgh Penguins blueliner Parker Wotherspoon, will play his first professional season overseas after a lengthy run in the American Hockey League. The 32-year-old defenseman first joined the professional ranks with the Calgary Flames as the 57th overall pick of the 2011 NHL Draft.

Wotherspoon played several more years with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks before joining the Flames organization, where he achieved a seven-goal, 37-point performance during the 2012-13 season in 61 games. He debuted in the NHL the following year, tallying four assists in 14 games with Calgary, and another one goal and nine points in 48 games for their then-affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat.

The native of Burnaby, British Columbia, spent an additional four years in the Flames organization, concluding his time with a career-high of seven goals and 37 points in 67 AHL games during the 2017-18 season, with a +19 rating. From the 2018-19 season to the 2024-25 campaign, Wotherspoon bounced around various locations, all in the AHL, with the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, and Montreal Canadiens organizations.

As the assistant captain for the Laval Rocket last year, Wotherspoon concluded his professional tenure in North America for the time being with a two-goal, 18-point performance in 72 games. He’ll now join a Barys Astana team that has started the 2025-26 season with a 3-4-1 record through their first eight contests, one year after finishing in last place in the Eastern Conference.

KHL’s Barys Astana Terminate Olivier Rodrigue’s Contract

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In a relatively vague announcement, the KHL’s Barys Astana announced that they’ve mutually agreed with netminder Olivier Rodrigue to terminate his contract. The club announced that Rodrigue sustained an unspecified injury during training, and a subsequent medical evaluation revealed that he required additional treatment.

There could be several reasons why Rodrigue and Barys Astana decided to terminate his contract altogether. Hesitating to speculate too much, it could be a season-ending injury, or an injury that Rodrigue prefers to have treated in Canada or the United States, negating any reason for him to remain in Kazakhstan.

Additionally, there’s credibility to an argument that Rodrigue has been dealing with an injury for some time, given how his performance collapsed last year with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. In the 2022-23 season, Rodrigue managed a 14-14-1 record in 29 games with a .912 SV% and 2.77 GAA. Earning more playing time the following season, Rodrigue put up a 19-12-5 record in 37 games with a .916 SV% and 2.73 GAA.

Given the uncertainty in net for the Edmonton Oilers for the past several years, Rodrigue appeared to be a safety net the Oilers could give an opportunity to should their goaltending completely collapse. Unfortunately, all hope for a future in Edmonton fell apart for Rodrigue this past season.

Playing primarily for the Condors, Rodrigue recorded an 18-16-8 record in 41 games with a .897 SV% and 3.12 GAA. In his two appearances with the Oilers, Rodrigue earned one loss with an .862 SV%, giving up three goals on 18 shots in an April 7th start against the Anaheim Ducks.

Edmonton decided not to issue Rodrigue a qualifying offer this summer, leaving to last month’s contract with the Barys Astana. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to play through that deal, and it’ll be interesting to see if he lands in a different AHL organization over the course of the season.

Blues Sign Justin Carbonneau, Nikita Susuev

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The St. Louis Blues have signed 2025 first-round pick Justin Carbonneau to his entry-level contract. The team also announced they’ve signed 2023 seventh-round pick Nikita Susuev to his entry-level deal. Carbonneau was one of 33 forwards named to the Blues’ 2025 training camp roster on Wednesday. Reports suggest that he could even have a chance at making the NHL roster straight out of camp, per Marco D’Amico of RG Media.

PuckPedia reports that Carbonneau will have a cap hit of $975K before performance bonuses and an AAV of $1.392MM with those bonuses factored in.  They add that Susuev, who doesn’t have any performance bonuses in his deal, will have a cap charge of $855.

Word that Carbonneau could be headed for pro games sooner rather than later comes as no surprise. He was the main standout at the team’s 2025 rookie camp, held immediately following the NHL Draft. Fans were quickly tuned into the high-energy, hefty, and aggressively-physical style that Carbonneau brings to the ice. He was perhaps the best play-driver in the QMJHL last season, and finished the year with 46 goals – tied for the league-lead – and 89 points – second in the league – in 62 games played. Carbonneau was also the only player in the league to record more than 60 points and penalty minutes (61).

Draft pundits praised Carbonneau’s heft and strength throughout the season. He already stands at 6-foot-2, 205-pounds – plenty of size to cushion an early move to the NHL. If he doesn’t make the Blues, or if the team opts to return him after nine games, he will return to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for a fourth season. He has already amassed 168 points in 162 games with the team.

On the other side, Susuev – often spelled Susuyev – could finally make a push away from Russian hockey. He has bounced around the country’s major, minor, and junior leagues over the last three seasons. He’s also bounced around organizations, and ended up suiting up for five different clubs – helped along by three different loan-outs – last season alone. His stat line became a slog as a result – officially sat at 12 points in 21 MHL (junior) games, five points in 14 VHL (minor-pro) games, and one point in seven KHL (major-pro) games.

Susuev did spend the majority of the 2023-24 campaign, his age-19 season, on the KHL’s Spartak Moskva. He only racked up six points in 40 games from a depth forward role, but nonetheless gained invaluable experience on a team that finished fourth in their conference. He’s a high-skill winger, with the flash to beat defenders and the instinct to crash the net. His hockey IQ was praised by Russian scouts ahead of the draft, and he could quickly become an interesting player to follow if and when he joins the AHL ranks. For now, Susuev has officially missed the start of Spartak’s season due to injury, and it is unclear what his next step will be.

Prospect Notes: Iginla, Kindel, Konyushkov

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Mammoth prospect Tij Iginla’s 2024-25 campaign was cut short after needing to undergo surgery on both hips back in early December.  However, he told reporters including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link) that he has now fully recovered and been cleared for contact, meaning he will be a full participant in training camp later this month.  The 19-year-old was the sixth overall pick in 2024 and had gotten off to a strong start with WHL Kelowna before the injury where he notched 14 goals and 18 assists in just 21 games.  Still too young to play in the AHL full-time (unless the NHL and CHL can reach an agreement on allowing one 19-year-old per NHL team to play in the minors, something that hasn’t happened yet), his options will either be to play with Utah or return to the Rockets with the latter being the likeliest scenario.

Other prospect news from around the NHL:

  • The Penguins selected Benjamin Kindel with the 11th pick in the draft back in June, a pick that came as somewhat of a surprise given that most rankings had him safely in the back half of the first round. But Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that there were whispers that Pittsburgh was so sold on Kindel’s upside that they actually looked to move up into the top ten to make sure they landed him.  Kindel had 35 goals and 64 assists in 65 games with WHL Calgary last season while adding 15 points in 11 playoff games which certainly would have helped his draft stock.
  • Back in July, Canadiens prospect Bogdan Konyushkov signed a one-year extension in the KHL, keeping him under contract through 2026-27. However, as he told Denis Klesarev of Sport-Express, the blueliner acknowledged that he still wants to try his hand in North America, suggesting that he will eventually sign with Montreal.  The 22-year-old logged nearly 23 minutes a game last season with Torpedo while collecting 17 points in 67 games and could be an intriguing option for the Canadiens if and when he decides to come to North America.

Brandon Yip Announces Retirement

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Former Colorado Avalanche forward Brandon Yip has announced his retirement from professional hockey via a social media post from his team, the KHL’s Shanghai Red Dragons. This news confirms recent speculation. Yip spent seven of his final eight seasons with the Kunlun Red Stars, who relocated to Shanghai this summer. His sole year away from Kunlun in that span came with the Liiga’s Mikkelin Jukurit during the pandemic season in 2020-21.

Yip became a beacon of Chinese hockey in the second-half of his career. He joined Kunlun in 2017, after three years in Germany’s DEL, and earned the captaincy for the top Chinese club after just one season. He would carry the Red Stars’ ’C’ for six more seasons. Residency in China also helped Yip – a Chinese-Canadian – join Team China at the 2022 Winter Olympic Qualifiers. He posted one assist in four tournament games, and six points in four games at the Division-II-A World Championship, that season. His performance was a major part of China’s promotion to the Division-I-B World Championship in 2023, where he scored four points in five games. Yip served as China’s captain in all 13 games he played with the club.

Yip’s career took him across the hockey world before settling in China. He earned an eighth-round selection in the 2004 NHL Draft after scoring 131 points in 99 BCHL games, through two seasons in the league. He followed his draft selection with a four-year tenure at Boston University, where he scored 108 points in 138 games. Colorado promoted Yip to the NHL the year after his collegiate career ended, and he managed a hardy 11 goals and 19 points in 32 games.

That was enough to earn Yip a nightly lineup role for the 2010-11 season – but he wasn’t able to keep the high-tempo offense rolling. He scored just 22 points in 71 games that year, kicking off a slide of underwhelming play that’d carry through the next four seasons. Yip moved to the Nashville Predators in 2012, and Phoenix Coyotes in 2013, but ultimately found himself in a full-time AHL role by 2014. He chose to move away from North America two years later, ending his NHL career at 56 points in 174 games.

Now taking the first step beyond his playing career, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Yip take on a new role with Team China. He boasts the most NHL experience of any player in the country’s brief international hockey history. Currently, 74-year-old Perry Pearn – once a journeyman NHL assistant coach – serves as the head coach of China’s Men’s team and junior team.

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