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Minor Transactions: 07/24/23

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It’s another busy Monday in the wide world of professional hockey, with quite a few players either finding new teams for next season or securing new contracts with the clubs they’ve already represented. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable moves from minor leagues and foreign professional leagues across the world.

  • 1001-game NHL veteran Tomáš Plekanec isn’t retiring anytime soon. The 40-year-old longtime NHL center signed a contract extension to remain the captain of Rytíři Kladno, his hometown team in the Czech Extraliga. Plekanec ended his NHL career in 2018-19 and after two seasons playing for Brno, he joined Kladno upon their promotion back to the top division. Joining all-time great Jaromir Jagr with the club, Plekanec has scored at almost a point-per-game rate the last two seasons and will likely continue to play a major role for the team in the coming campaign thanks to this new contract.
  • Luke Adam, a former Buffalo Sabres top prospect, has elected to leave Germany after a seven-year run in the DEL to sign with HC Plzen in the Czech Extraliga. The 33-year-old was a Sabres second-round pick at the 2008 draft and a few seasons after he was drafted he looked to be a long-term piece for Buffalo. In 2011, The Hockey Writers projected him as “a formidable 3rd line center for the Sabres for many years down the road,” and it’s easy to see why they did so by looking at Adam’s rookie season in pro hockey. He scored 29 goals and 62 points in 57 AHL games, winning the AHL’s Rookie of the Year award as well as AHL All-Star honors. But Adam’s standout qualities in the AHL never translated to the NHL, and he left for the DEL in the summer of 2016. Adam has a strong 233 points in 317 career DEL games and scored 17 goals and 36 points in 54 games for the Straubing Tigers last season. While the Tigers have made some major additions this summer, such as veteran NHL defenseman Justin Braun, they’ll be without Adam next season.
  • Former Winnipeg Jets prospect Scott Kosmachuk has signed a one-year, one-way KHL contract with Lada Togliatti in Russia. The player, who has eight NHL games on his record from 2015-16, is a 29-year-old 2012 third-round pick who played last season with TPS Turku in the Finnish Liiga, scoring 17 points in 29 games. Before arriving in Turku, Kosmachuk had a two-year run as the leading scorer for VSV EC in the ICEHL, racking up 93 points in 90 games and earning All-Star honors. If he can translate some of the production he’s had in Liiga, the ICEHL, and even the AHL going back to his 2017-18 campaign with the Hartford Wolf Pack, he’ll be a quality addition to Lada.
  • Lada added a second international import today: 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Troy Josephs. The 29-year-old has been around a point-per-game scorer with both the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers and Swiss second-tier’s EHC Visp. Though he struggled in the AHL, which presents a step up in talent level compared to the ECHL, Joseph more recently established himself in Switzerland’s top division with Lugano, posting 49 points in 86 games and proving he can hang in one of the world’s better pro leagues.
  • James Shearer, a former captain of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings and WHL champion, has made the decision to leave the ECHL after his first full season in the league to sign a contract in the United Kingdom with the EIHL’s Coventry Blaze. While Shearer is far from the first player to head to the EIHL after his ECHL rookie season, the move is somewhat surprising given the role Shearer played for the Utah Grizzlies as a rookie. In addition to posting 23 points in 54 games, the 26-year-old blueliner was, as Blaze head coach Danny Stewart put it, “eating up good minutes in playoffs and relied upon in key situations,” and also serving as a team alternate captain. The Grizzlies added defenseman Brian Yoon, the captain of the NCAA’s Colorado College, a few days ago, though, which may have prompted Shearer’s exit.
  • Former Dallas Stars prospect Emil Molin signed a one-year contract extension with KooKoo Kouvola in the Finnish Liiga, securing a second season with the club he joined last July. The 30-year-old winger had a decent debut season in Liiga, scoring 11 goals and 25 points. Those numbers are more in line with how Molin produced in his earlier days with Brynas IF, his former club, rather than his form later in his tenure there. Molin has one season of hockey in North America on his record, with 11 games total in the AHL and a 46-points-in-54-games run with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads.
  • 2015 Philadelphia Flyers fourth-round pick Samuel Dove-McFalls is headed to Germany, signing a contract with Lausitzer Füchse of the DEL2. Dove-McFalls was a high-end QMJHLer earlier in his career, winning a league championship with the Saint John Sea Dogs in 2016-17 and captaining the Rimouski Oceanic the year after. Dove-McFalls also was named the QMJHL’s Best Defensive Forward in his final season of major junior before beginning a four-year run of Canadian University hockey. The 26-year-old scored 13 goals and 34 points in 38 games for the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets and earned 16 AHL games with the Bakersfield Condors in what was his first full season as a professional hockey player. He’ll now join a team looking for promotion to the DEL and will likely play a major role at the club.

Minor Transactions: 07/23/23

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As NHL teams deal with arbitration cases and potentially court one of the remaining NHL-caliber free agents on the open market, there is still quite a bit of player movement activity in minor and foreign professional leagues. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves here:

  • Lukáš Klok, a UFA signing from last summer by the Arizona Coyotes who ended up playing just four games in the Desert, signed a two-year contract with the KHL’s Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Klok is a 28-year-old Czech blueliner who has significant experience in several European pro leagues. This deal returns Klok to where he played in 2021-22, and Klok’s KHL stint was arguably the most successful of his career on an individual basis. Seeing as he scored 31 points in 44 games and earned an NHL contract the last time he played for Nizhnekamsk, it’s easy to see why he’d want to re-unite with the club after a difficult 2022-23 that saw him bounce from Arizona to Sweden before finishing the year in Switzerland.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Dávid Skokan is moving on from his club of the last three seasons, Slovakia’s HK Poprad. The 34-year-old has been a star in the Slovak league in recent seasons, although he’s seen his numbers decline more recently. Over his first two campaigns in Poprad Skokan scored 83 points in 78 games, but this past season he only managed 18 points in 36 games. Having lost his spot as Poprad’s leading scorer, Skokan will look for his next opportunity in pro hockey.
  • Former Vancouver Canucks prospect Andrew Sarauer is hanging up his skates, according to an announcement from his club Fehérvár AV19. Sarauer, 38, had been with Hungary’s ICEHL club since 2013, save for one season spent in Austria. He once served as Fehérvár’s captain and has totaled over 350 points in over 450 games playing pro hockey in Central Europe. Sarauer has also represented Hungary at international events, including the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championships. He last played in North America in 2012-13, and he was a prolific scorer in the ECHL with 238 points in 250 career games there.
  • Jonas Emmerdahl, the captain of the EIHL’s Fife Flyers, has signed a contract extension to remain with the club. The 31-year-old Swedish blueliner has logged 151 games across three seasons in Scotland and has posted 42 points. Before heading to the United Kingdom, Emmerdahl was a steady presence in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of hockey in his home country. Fife have been one of the EIHL’s worst-performing teams during Emmerdahl’s tenure there, but the hope will be that he can help lead a turnaround next year playing on this contract extension.
  • One of the players Fife is likely hoping will lead that turnaround is Aleksi Mäkelä, a player the team signed today. Although Mäkelä spent last season playing in Italy in the AlpsHL, he does have an impressive resume including over 250 games in the Finnish Liiga and a Liiga championship from his 2017-18 season with Kärpät. He’ll join Emmerdahl on the left side of Fife’s blueline and will provide the type of experience in a high-end European league that can be very valuable.
  • After four consecutive campaigns in the HockeyAllsvenskan, including a run to the league quarterfinals last season, Kristianstads IK now find themselves back in Sweden’s third-tier HockeyEttan. Today, the club announced on social media that they have secured the services of their captain, Dennis Svensson, for another season as they look to bounce back from this setback. The 30-year-old center returned to Kristianstads upon their promotion to the second tier, having just finished the prior season in the SHL with Djurgården. He had played for Kristianstads before both in HockeyEttan and at the youth level. He scored 12 points in 25 games last season and will likely play a crucial role in the team’s upcoming campaign.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Philadelphia Flyers Loan Aleksei Kolosov To KHL

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The Philadelphia Flyers signed prospect Aleksei Kolosov to a three-year entry-level contract last week after he spent last season playing for Minsk Dynamo in the KHL. Now with the 21-year-old netminder under contract, the Flyers have officially announced that they’ve lent Kolosov back to Minsk for next season. The Belarus-born goaltender has spent his entire KHL career with Minsk dressing in 79 games and putting up a 28-39-7 record with a 2.73 GAA and a .909 save percentage.

Last season, Kolosov had much better numbers than his KHL career average as he went 13-21-5 with a 2.55 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. His numbers aren’t exactly sparkling, however at 21 years old he has been playing professional hockey against men for the better part of three seasons and has shown himself to be formidable.

The 2021 third-round pick has NHL potential but will be an undersized netminder at just 6’0” and 185 pounds. In today’s NHL the average goaltender is generally at least 6’2” and 200 pounds, although in recent seasons undersized goaltenders have become much more of a norm. Juuse Saros stands just 5’11” and weighs 180 pounds showing that small netminders can put up elite numbers in the NHL.

Given that Kolosov will be spending his fourth season in the KHL, it’s not unreasonable to think he could be pushing for a job with the Flyers before his entry-level contract expires in 2025-26. His likeliest path will be to play out the year in Minsk before graduating to the Flyers AHL affiliate in year two of his contract.

Minor Transactions: 07/16/23

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As free agent activity in the NHL slows down, most of the player-movement focus in the world’s top league revolves around upcoming arbitration cases for restricted free agents. Just as those prominent players and their representatives are hard at work negotiating terms of new contracts or preparing cases for the arbitration process, teams across the hockey world are hard at work signing players and adding players to their rosters for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of notable transactions from around the world of professional hockey here.

  • Zachary Senyshyn, a player perhaps best known for being part of the Boston Bruins’ infamous trio of consecutive first-round picks at the 2015 draft, has decided to continue his pro career overseas. The speedy 26-year-old forward has signed a contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings of the DEL. The move comes after Senyshyn’s most recent season in North America, a year where he struggled to make much of an impact and ended up traded for future considerations mid-season. While Senyshyn scored 19 goals and earned an NHL call-up in 2021-22 he only managed 18 points in 62 games in 2022-23. Senyshyn already crossed the 260 professional games threshold last season and this year crossed the 320 game threshold, meaning per the AHL’s development rule he no longer qualifies as a “development player” under any of those two limits. That would make earning another shot in the AHL even more difficult and has likely contributed to his choice to take his services to Germany.
  • The AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins have re-signed forward Trenton Bliss to a one-year contract extension. Bliss is fresh off a stellar campaign in the ECHL for the Griffins’ affiliate, the Toledo Walleye. He scored 40 points in 38 regular-season games and 14 points in 13 playoff contests. The 25-year-old former Michigan Tech All-Star was the ECHL’s Rookie of the Month for January and clearly impressed in the third-tier league. While he struggled to make much of an impact in his extensive AHL exposure (he scored just four points in 30 games for Grand Rapids) this extension gives him another chance to compete for an AHL job or potentially return as a leading scorer for the Walleye.
  • 24-year-old Nicholas Guay has earned a one-year contract extension from his club, the Trois-Rivieres Lions, after a solid first season in the ECHL. Guay is a former captain of two QMJHL teams and was a top scorer at the Major Junior level. He dipped his toes into the world of professional hockey in 2021-22 but had more success playing University hockey, scoring 25 points in 18 games. He potted 12 goals and 47 points for the Lions last season, tied for third-most on the team, and will now be able to return to their lineup and make a push for consideration for an AHL call-up/
  • Former ECHL scorer Matthew Alfaro is off to Germany after his first campaign as a relatively regular AHLer. The 26-year-old Calgary Native played his way into the AHL relatively quickly after making a strong start to his pro career in 2020-21. He scored 41 points in 61 games for the Wheeling Nailers and the following season managed to skate in a total of 36 AHL games, notching 12 points. That combined with his point-per-game production with the Nailers earned him a more regular job in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, though he only managed nine points in 37 games of combined regular-season and postseason action. Now, he’s off to play for the Ravensburg Townstars of the DEL2, one of the oldest clubs in German hockey.
  • Vladislav Kodola, a middle-six center in the KHL, has signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Minsk after a recent trade landed him back in his home country. Once an import player for the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, Kodola developed into a quality professional player with Cherepovets Severstal in the KHL, eventually becoming one of the team’s top forwards. He scored a career-high 32 points in 54 games in 2020-21 and even earned the right to represent Belarus at the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championships. He was traded to Dynamo Moscow last summer and his production declined, which likely contributed to Moscow dealing him to Minsk, where signed this two-year deal.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Minor Transactions: 07/15/23

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As we’re just a month-and-a-half away from the start of the professional hockey season in Europe, (the first games of the Champions Hockey League season are scheduled for the last day of August) many teams are hard at work signing players and finalizing the team they’ll be hoping will bring them to glory in 2023-24. As always, we’ll recap player movement from around the hockey world here, from minor leagues to the European pro hockey circuit.

  • 938-game NHL veteran Anton Strålman has signed a contract with HV71 in his native Sweden, a move that likely marks the conclusion of his North American pro career. Strålman, 36, last played top-division pro hockey in Sweden way back in 2006-07, the second of two seasons he spent manning the blueline for Timra. Although Strålman earned a one-year, $1MM contract from the Boston Bruins last season the depth of Boston’s blueline meant it was extremely difficult for Strålman to earn a place in the NHL lineup. He ultimately played only eight games in Boston, his final one coming in late November. He finished 2022-23 in the AHL, and will now shift his focus to a league he led in average ice time the last time he played there.
  • Ostap Safin, a 2017 Edmonton Oilers fourth-round pick, has signed a tryout contract with Lada Togliatti in the KHL. Now 24 years old, Safin earned an entry-level deal from the Oilers in 2018, nearly a year after he was drafted. He had scored 58 points in 61 games as an import player in the QMJHL, and looked like a promising prospect for Oilers fans to track. Then a significant shoulder injury cost Safin most of his 2018-19 season, and while he managed to return for the postseason he could only muster two points in 23 games. Safin turned pro the following year and played in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder, earning a spot in the ECHL All-Star game and scoring 35 points in 54 games. Safin failed to find a place in the AHL, though, and by the end of 2021-22 his time in the Oilers organization had clearly concluded. He left for his native Czechia to play in their top league, but only scored 13 points in 41 games for HC Sparta Praha. Now, he’ll look to earn a job in the KHL and translate his tantalizing physical tools into tangible production in a challenging pro league.
  • The AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals have announced the signing of Carson Gicewicz to a one-year AHL contract. The six-foot-three New York native just wrapped up his second full season as a professional hockey player and has logged a total of 117 games in the AHL, almost all with the Rockford IceHogs. An NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champion at UMass Amherst, Gicewicz has carved out a role as a physical depth center in the AHL. The 26-year-old was traded by the IceHogs to the Rochester Americans for their playoff push in the middle of last season, although he only skated in three games for the Amerks. With this one-year deal he latches on with the Admirals and will likely be under consideration for a fourth-line center role, similar to the role he occupied in his brief time in Rochester.
  • After one season playing Canadian University hockey, former QMJHL star Simon Pinard has made the choice to turn pro. According to a team announcement, he’s signed a two-year AHL contract with the Henderson Silver Knights, the affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights. Pinard, 22, is an undrafted player who spent last season at the University of New Brunswick, scoring 29 points in 29 games. The season before, he scored 91 points in 67 games in the QMJHL splitting time between the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Gatineau Olympiques. By signing Pinard to a deal with a two-year term, the Silver Knights are clearly making a bet that the five-foot-eleven Canadian forward can translate some of his USports and QMJHL productivity to the professional level.
  • 2022-23 was longtime Cleveland Monsters center Justin Scott’s first away from Cleveland, the only pro team he’s suited up for. Now, the 2023-24 campaign is set to be Scott’s first away from North America. The 27-year-old has signed with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL. Scott parlayed a successful final season with the Barrie Colts in the OHL and an exceptional 17 goals in 15 games playoff run into a an entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Scott was solid in his first season in the AHL, scoring 13 goals and 23 points in 53 games. While he endured a difficult sophomore slump, Scott quickly grew into a reliable regular for the Monsters and by his finals season there he was wearing a letter on his jersey and scoring 16 goals and 34 points in 76 games. Scott didn’t fare nearly as well in his one season with a different AHL club, the Colorado Eagles, scoring just 11 points in 53 games. Now he’s off to Germany, where he could end up an important all-around player for a club looking to make a deep playoff run after losing in Game Seven of the DEL Quarterfinals to Wolfsburg.
  • While the Tigers bring in one import player in Scott, they lose another as Canadian defenseman Trent Bourque signed a contract with Tingsryds AIF of HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish pro hockey. The former St. Louis Blues draft pick has spent parts of the last two seasons in the DEL with the Tigers, though he didn’t feature in the team’s playoff push or series against Wolfsburg. The six-foot-two 25-year-old former OHL mainstay began his pro career in the ECHL but couldn’t quite find his footing during AHL call-ups, leading to a move to Europe. With this new contract, Bourque is set to help Tingsryds in their attempt to avoid relegation to third-tier HockeyEttan after only narrowly avoiding that fate in 2022-23.
  • Tikhon Chayka is beginning his pro career after two seasons as the number-one goalie for the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL. Chayka, who turns 20 in August, signed with Dynamo Minsk in his native Belarus. While Chayka is highly unlikely to feature in the KHL immediately, he was decent in his two seasons in the WHL. While his numbers declined in 2022-23, he had a solid .904 save percentage in 51 games in 2021-22. He could be in line to see time in the crease in Minsk once the incumbent starting goalie, Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alexei Kolosov, heads to North America to begin his recently-signed entry-level deal.
  • After four seasons at Canisius College, 24-year-old defenseman Lincoln Erne is turning pro. He’s signed a one-year ECHL contract with the Tulsa Oilers, and heads to Oklahoma after a strong senior collegiate campaign. Erne led Canisius to the NCAA Tournament and an AHA conference championship. The minutes-eating defensive defenseman doesn’t have much of an offensive game but will hope to bring his trademark physicality, size, and defensive responsibility to Tulsa and begin to climb the ladder of North American pro hockey.
  • After three seasons in the ECHL, former Boston College defenseman Luke McInnis is changing teams for the first time. The 24-year-old blueliner signed a contract with the Indy Fuel, confirming his exit from the Orlando Solar Bears, his club of the last three years. The Fuel acquired McInnis’ rights from Orlando in a trade last month, targeting the undersized defenseman after he ranked second among Solar Bears blueliners with 25 points in just 45 games. While the Solar Bears endured a difficult campaign, the Fuel made the ECHL playoffs and have now added some defensive reinforcements for next season.
  • Former Minnesota Wild prospect Gustav Bouramman has signed a one-year contract extension with his current club, the Graz99ers of the ICEHL. The deal lands Bouramman a second campaign in Austria, marking the first time in his professional career that he’s spent consecutive campaigns with the same organization. Bouramman overcame some early injuries to score 18 points in 31 ICEHL games, helping Graz reach the postseason. Before he landed in the ICEHL Bouramman spent three years playing in the HockeyAllsvenskan, and before that point he began his pro career as a regular on the blueline of the Rapid City Rush in the ECHL.
  • The EIHL’s Guildford Flames have secured the services of bruising defenseman Kyle Locke for a third campaign, inking him to a one-year extension. Called “probably the most significant physical presence” on the Flames’ roster by his head coach, Locke has logged 133 total games for Guildford and helped them to the EIHL playoffs in back-to-back years. He’s combined for 147 career penalty minutes in his career in the EIHL, and will now continue his career in England as the most menacing player on the Guildford defense.

Snapshots: Karlsson, McCudden, Valiev

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Last week, we covered growing rumors that the Pittsburgh Penguins were pursuing a trade for San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, the 2023 Norris Trophy winner. Today, The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported some new details on the Penguins’ Karlsson chase, writing “the Penguins were extremely close to landing Karlsson on July 1” and that “a deal was close to being completed that morning.” (subscription link) It’s long been speculated that a third team would be necessary for the Penguins to be able to absorb Karlsson’s cap hit, so it’s possible that this reported deal fell through due to cap-related considerations.

Given just how difficult moving money between teams has been due to the flat-cap environment, it’s no surprise Karlsson remains on the Sharks’ roster nearly two full weeks after that deal was nearly completed. What Yohe’s report indicates, though, is that the Penguins are earnest in their efforts to acquire Karlsson and that the possibility he joins Kris Letang and Ryan Graves on Pittsburgh’s blueline is more realistic than some might think.

Some other notes from across the hockey world:

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced this morning that assistant coach Kenny McCudden has departed the organization. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen issued a statement that added some clarity to the situation. McCudden was entering the final year of his contract and was slated to work on new head coach Mike Babcock’s staff. In his statement, Kekalainen indicates McCudden had a “desire to either sign a contract extension or look at other opportunities,” while Kekalainen’s preference is that “everyone [on the coaching staff] gets to know each other before deciding on extensions.” So, with those two opposing preferences laid out, McCudden’s departure seems to have been the natural outcome. Now he will seek other opportunities after coaching for eight seasons in Columbus and helping contribute to what was arguably the most successful period in franchise history under former head coach John Tortorella.
  • Former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Rinat Valiev has been traded in the KHL. According to the KHL’s Admiral Vladivostok, Valiev has been acquired by Ak Bars Kazan, his former club, for monetary compensation. Valiev, 28, left North American pro hockey after the 2019-20 season and didn’t play in 2020-21. He spent 2021-22 mostly with Ak Bars Kazan, skating in two games for their KHL team and 23 games in the VHL, the league below the KHL. Valiev signed a two-year deal with Vladivostok in advance of 2022-23 but played in just 18 games this past season and just two in the 2023 calendar year. He’s been sent back to Ak Bars Kazan and will hope to feature more regularly in their KHL lineup in 2023-24.

Offseason Notes: Johnson, Svechnikov, Yakupov, World Juniors

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Continuing to round out their bench, the Anaheim Ducks have announced that they have hired Brent Johnson as an assistant coach. Much like their approach with hiring Greg Cronin as head coach, Thompson is another coaching veteran with over 20 years of experience behind the bench.

Primarily serving as the head coach of the New York Islanders AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, for the last nine seasons, Thompson brings an all-time 328-286-73 coaching record in 687 games at the AHL level. Unfortunately for Thompson and the Islanders, the team only qualified for the playoffs in three of those seasons, never managing to get past the second round. The most coaching success Thompson has ever seen came back in the 2010-11 season in the ECHL, coaching the Alaska Aces to a Kelly Cup Championship, as well as the ECHL Coach of the Year award.

Over the course of his coaching career, Thompson has primarily spent it developing players into NHL talents, and the Ducks have no shortage of those players. The team did sign several veterans this offseason, but the team is clearly building around young talents such as Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Jamie Drysdale.

Other notes:

  • A convincing argument can be made that the Carolina Hurricanes have had the best offseason of all 32 clubs in the NHL, and they received more positive news today. Chip Alexander of Raleigh News & Observer reported today that forward Andrei Svechnikov will resume skating for the first time this Friday. Shortly before the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Svechnikov went under the knife to repair his knee, which kept him out for the remainder of the season. Before the injury, Svechnikov was well on his way to recording another 30-goal season, something the Hurricanes will be looking forward to again next season.
  • Spending the last five seasons in the KHL, former-first overall pick, Nail Yakupov is on the move once again. The press service of the KHL announced today that Yakupov has reached a one-year agreement with HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Last season, Yakupov played for Avangard Omsk, scoring 10 points in 16 games. Avangard Omsk would make it all the way to the Conference Finals in pursuit of the Continental Cup in 2023 but were quickly dispatched by Ak Bars Kazan in five games.
  • It appears the IIHF World Juniors Championship will be returning to the United States in 2026. Gord Miller of TSN reports that Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Las Vegas have all inquired about potentially hosting the tournament. The next one will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, followed by Ottawa, Canada in 2025. The last time the United States hosted the tournament came back in 2018, as it took place in Buffalo, NY.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Alexei Kolosov

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Just one day after one of their organization’s goalies, Ivan Fedotov, had his KHL contract registered despite holding a valid NHL contract, the Flyers have made another move regarding a KHL goalie. They’ve signed one of their organization’s top goalie prospects, Alexei Kolosov, to a three-year entry-level deal.

According to CapFriendly, the contract carries a $925k cap hit and a $80k AHL salary for its three-year duration. Kolosov’s agent, Aljoša Pilko, wrote on Twitter that his client would “start and finish the season with Dinamo Minsk,” meaning even with the signing of this entry-level deal he’ll be staying in the KHL for another season.

Despite being just 21 years old, Kolosov led the goalie tandem in Minsk last season, playing in 42 regular season games. He played better than the team’s other netminder, 23-year-old Konstantin Shostak, posting a .912 save percentage and 2.55 goals-against-average in that time frame.

While Kolosov’s numbers aren’t quite up to the standard set by some elite KHL prospects in years past (such as Igor Shesterkin or Ilya Sorokin) they are quite impressive for a goalie his age, especially on a team that only barely managed to reach the KHL playoffs.

The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor reports that the “Flyers are very high” on Kolosov, who they drafted 78th overall at the 2021 draft, and “see him as a big part of their goaltending future.” With this entry-level deal signed, the Flyers have set in stone Kolosov’s eventual crossing of the Atlantic to play for their organization in North America.

The hope for this season will be for Kolosov to have another strong season in his native Belarus before likely seeing some time the year after with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

KHL Registers Contract For Ivan Fedotov

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Last summer, the Flyers thought they were getting top prospect Ivan Fedotov to play for them, inking him to a one-year deal.  Instead, he wound up spending the season fulfilling his military obligations and did not suit up in a game.  That permitted Philadelphia to toll the netminder’s contract, rolling it over to next season.  However, in the meantime, Fedotov agreed to terms on a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow a while back on a deal beginning in 2023-24, hoping to stay overseas.

Earlier this week, Sport-Express in Russia reached out to the KHL for more information and they indicated that they asked the NHL to get clarification on Fedotov’s status.  At that time, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated that it is their opinion that Fedotov has a valid contract with the Flyers for the upcoming season.  The NHL and KHL have previously operated with a Memorandum of Understanding between the two leagues, meaning one league can’t poach a signed player away from the other.  The NHL suspended that agreement last year.  Meanwhile, the KHL announced today that they disagree with the NHL’s assertion and have registered the contract for Fedotov with CSKA Moscow.

For the first time now, both leagues believe they have a legitimately-registered contract with Fedotov for the upcoming season, meaning they’re entering some uncharted territory when it comes to determining who is correct.  The KHL’s announcement indicates that Fedotov’s clearly-stated preference is to remain in Russia.

The 26-year-old was drafted by the Flyers in the seventh round back in 2015 (188th overall) and has emerged as one of the top goalies in the KHL while putting up a stellar 1.61 GAA with a .943 SV% in the 2022 Olympics.  Last summer, the plan was for him to serve as the backup to Carter Hart and when that option fell through, they turned to internal options Felix Sandstrom and Samuel Ersson.

Now, veteran Cal Petersen is also in the mix after the team took on his contract in a pre-draft three-way trade involving Los Angeles and Columbus.  However, with two years and $10MM left on his contract, it’s safe to say that he would pass through waivers successfully next season if they needed to open up a roster spot for Fedotov should the NHL and Flyers prove successful in any hypothetical hearing to determine his fate and get him to North America for 2023-24.

Notably, Fedotov is only one year away from reaching NHL unrestricted free agency so if his long-term intention is to remain in Russia, if the NHL is able to enforce his contract with them, he could simply play out the season in North America and then head back to the KHL for 2024-25 and beyond.  Alternatively, Fedotov’s camp may ask Philadelphia to simply do a mutual termination of his contract although doing so would mean that the Flyers would relinquish his NHL rights immediately.

The KHL’s decision today to register Fedotov’s contract is an important next step in the process of determining where the netminder will play next season.  But with relations between the two leagues not at their best at the moment, it’d be surprising if this announcement was the end of the discussion as it relates to where Fedotov plays in 2023-24.

Minor Transactions: 07/05/23

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It’s another busy day for transactions across the hockey world, and while NHL moves are just starting to trickle in (such as the Montreal Canadiens signing recent top-five pick David Reinbacher to his entry-level deal) teams in minor and foreign leagues have already been hard at work completing deals to upgrade or change their rosters. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket have agreed to a one-year contract with 22-year-old Noah Laaouan, a two-time recipient of the QMJHL’s Kevin Lowe Trophy for Best Defensive Defenseman. Laaouan is fresh off of his first season as a professional, one he split between the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners (two games) and ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators (57 games). Laaouan’s deal is a two-way AHL/ECHL deal, meaning he’s more likely to end up with the Trois-Rivieres Lions though he’ll get a chance to compete with guys like Tobie Bisson and Miguel Tourigny for a role on Laval’s defense.
  • Longtime AHL veteran Vincent LoVerde, a two-time Calder Cup Champion and two-time AHL All-Star, has parted ways with his club from last season, the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star. The 34-year-old departs China after one season there, his first in the KHL. LoVerde has over 500 games of AHL experience and while he didn’t do much winning in Kunlun he did win an ICEHL championship with EHC Red Bull Salzburg in 2021-22. Now an unrestricted free agent, LoVerde may elect to return to North America or potentially continue his pro career elsewhere in one of Europe’s leagues.
  • Defenseman Jake Chelios, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios and a former AHL top-four defenseman, has signed a two-year extension with the Red Star to remain in the KHL through his age-34 season. Chelios, who represents China in IIHF events and played for them at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has been with Kunlun since 2019-20 and logged 180 career games with them. Chelios was an impact player in the AHL for a few seasons with the Charlotte Checkers from 2015 to 2017, but now seems to have elected playing with the Red Star as the best option for his career moving forward.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Johan Mattsson signed a one-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, confirming his exit from his team from last season, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. The 31-year-old 2011 seventh-round pick played 35 games for Yekaterinburg last season, posting a .919 save percentage in the process. He’s got a career .917 save percentage in 60 KHL games playing in both Russia and Latvia (back when Dynamo Riga was in the KHL) and has also had success in his native Sweden. He’s won two Champions Hockey League titles, an SHL title, and been a top HockeyAllsvenskan goalie. Now, he’ll compete against incumbent Dmitry Nikolayev (.929 save percentage in 42 games last season) for starts with St. Petersburg.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners signed forward Cameron Askew to a one-year contract extension. The deal will allow Askew, 26, to play a third season in Maine, the place where Conor Garland’s former QMJHL running mate has carved out a regular role as an ECHL power forward. Askew scored a career-high 23 goals and 38 points in his first season with the Mariners, and this past season he scored 15 goals and 32 points in 17 less games. The Mariners have made the ECHL playoffs the last two seasons, and now they’ve locked up a player who helped them reach that point each year for another campaign.
  • After a difficult season saw him part ways with his club of the last two seasons, 23-year-old German winger Tim Wohlgemuth has signed a deal with the DEL’s Cologne Sharks. Despite his young age, Wohlgemuth has already racked up 233 career games in Germany’s top pro league, and been reasonably productive to boot. In 2021-22 Wohlgemuth was among the league’s top young scorers with 35 points in 52 games, though this past season his production declined to 24 points in 51 games. Now, he’ll get a chance to play for a club a little bit lower on the league’s pecking order than Mannheim, and perhaps take on a larger role as a result.
  • At just 18 years of age, Austrian defenseman Patrick Söllinger broke into a more regular role with his hometown club, the ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz. Söllinger, a six-foot-one left-shot defenseman, played in 22 games for Linz and represented Austria at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Now, he’s been rewarded with his first professional contract, and with it he will in all likelihood get a chance to become an everyday player in Linz and help them return to the ICEHL playoffs for next season.
  • Former WHL and ECHL power forward Alex Roach, a British Columbia native, is extending his pro career in Germany another season. Roach spent the last two seasons playing in the DEL with Cologne, and now he’s moving down a division to sign with EHC Freiburg of the DEL2. Although Roach has more experience at the DEL level and has even played in the Champions Hockey League, he’s got DEL2 experience as well and has scored 36 points in 81 games at that level. Freiburg has been a middling DEL2 club for a few years now and in the past has had some close calls with relegation, so with this signing, they’ll hope Roach’s experience can inch them a little bit closer to promotion to the DEL.
  • Scott Conway, the Player of the Year and leading scorer of the EIHL, the United Kingdom’s top pro hockey league, has signed with HC Dukla Trencin of the Slovakian Extraliga, per a team social media announcement. The English-Canadian forward scored 168 points in his 104-game EIHL career, taking home numerous honors for his two-year stint as the league’s top offensive player. Conway has also found success in the ECHL, NCAA, BCHL, USHL, and now has a chance to make a career for himself in a league generally considered to have a higher talent level than the EIHL in Slovakia.

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