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Brennan Menell Signs In KHL

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Sep 19: Menell has indeed signed a one-year contract with Dynamo Moscow, becoming only the third American-born player to join them in team history.

Sep 14: It wasn’t so long ago that Brennan Menell was considered an up-and-coming defenseman who would soon push for NHL playing time. Undrafted, he had become a star for the Iowa Wild of the AHL, and even got into five games with the Minnesota Wild. Now, it appears he’s headed back to the KHL, as Sport-Express is reporting that he has signed a contract with Dynamo Moscow.

Menell, 25, already spent one season overseas, playing the 2020-21 campaign with Dinamo Minsk. He was outstanding for the KHL club that year, registering the most assists by any KHL defenseman and finishing with 38 points in 47 games. He was even better in the playoffs where he had seven points in five games, but that success didn’t follow him back to North America.

In easily his worst professional season to date, Menell had just 11 points in 38 games split between the Toronto Marlies and Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Perhaps that is why he’s headed back overseas, along with the fact that he became a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. There just hasn’t been much NHL opportunity for the smooth-skating Menell, who is a classic example of offensive defensemen not being able to crack into the higher level as a depth option. Still just 25, it likely isn’t the last we’ve heard of him.

Andrew Hammond Signs In KHL

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As reported a few days ago, Andrew Hammond will no longer be headed to Florida Panthers’ training camp. A one-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk was announced today, as the Hamburglar heads to the KHL for 2022-23. The release indicates that Hammond will fly to Russia as soon as his visa is worked out.

While he is 34 now and getting closer to the end of his playing career, it is somewhat surprising that Hammond has chosen to go to the KHL. He has never played overseas before, he had secured a PTO with the Panthers, he is coming off a season with 11 NHL appearances, and he has been a strong AHL performer for nearly a decade.

Still, perhaps he is excited about the opportunity he will receive with Traktor, where he can form a goaltending room with Emil Garipov, who has been brutal through two games so far this season. Ilya Proskuryakov, a 35-year-old netminder who spent last season in the VHL, and Sergei Mylnikov, a young goalie with barely any KHL experience are there too, not much competition for the consistent play of Hammond.

At this point in his career – Hammond will turn 35 in February – a year in the KHL may end any chance of another appearance in the NHL. Through 67 appearances at the highest level, Hammond posted a 31-20-7 record with a .916 save percentage and four shutouts. He also posted a .924 in five playoff appearances, losing three of them.

Nelson Nogier Signs In KHL

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After splitting last season between the Manitoba Moose and Ontario Reign, Nelson Nogier is off to the KHL. The minor league defenseman has signed a one-year deal with Barys Nur-Sultan, leaving North America after parts of six years in the AHL.

While a player with just 11 NHL games signing in the KHL isn’t usually much of a story, Nogier’s Group VI unrestricted free agency and subsequent departure ends a decades-long trade tree, one that originated with the most famous transaction in NHL history. As Sportsnet’s Steve “Dangle” Glynn points out, Nogier was the last remaining piece of the Wayne Gretzky tree.

The 26-year-old was a fourth-round pick of the Jets in 2014 and actually made it to the NHL just a few years later, but hasn’t been able to establish himself at the highest level. When he was swapped for Markus Phillips earlier this year, he joined the tree, and after Phillips was left unqualified by the Jets and signed with Assat in Liiga, Nogier became the very last branch.

Trade trees are just for fun, but it is somewhat surprising that Nogier wasn’t able to secure at least a minor league deal in the AHL to this point. Perhaps he wasn’t willing to play for that and was looking for a bigger opportunity, but he has been a capable defenseman for years. He is even coming off his longest playoff appearance, where he added three points in five games for the Reign.

Minor Transactions: 09/12/22

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Hockey is so close you can taste it. In less than a month, regular season games will be happening for the 2022-23 campaign and the long grind toward the Stanley Cup will have started. Over the next few weeks, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor signings to see where minor league and fringe players will ply their trade this season.

  • Jake McGrew, who was not issued a qualifying offer by the San Jose Sharks earlier this summer, has signed with AIK in Sweden for the upcoming season. The 23-year-old sixth-round pick spent most of last season with the San Jose Barracuda, scoring 12 goals and 23 points in 57 games. Now an unrestricted free agent, he’ll try to continue his development overseas.
  • Maxim Letunov, dealt to the New York Rangers at the deadline in exchange for Tarmo Reunanen, has signed with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL after becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. Letunov, 26, played three games in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks in 2019-20 and scored one goal.
  • Adam Johnson, last seen with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, has signed with the Augsburger Panther in the DEL. The 28-year-old forward has 13 NHL games to his name, all of them with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who signed him in 2017 out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

This page will continue to be updated with any further transactions. 

Minor Transactions: 09/04/22

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Just a few weeks from now, NHL teams will be taking the ice to do battle in the preseason. Meanwhile, minor league and European clubs continue to make additions to their own rosters in preparation for the regular season. As always, we’ll keep track of today’s notable minor moves right here.

  • Veteran defenseman Adam Almqvist, a 2009 seventh-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, has signed a one-year deal with KHL club Traktor Chelyabinsk. Almqvist spent 2021-22 with another KHL club, Dinamo Minsk, and scored 26 points in 41 games. The Swedish blueliner has 2 games of NHL experience under his belt, both coming in 2013-14, and he played a major role for the 2012-13 Grand Rapids Griffins, who won the Calder Cup. By playing in the KHL, Almqvist, who has represented Sweden in international tournaments in the past, will be ineligible to be called up to the Swedish national team.
  • Minor-league fixture Arvin Atwal, who has served as an AHL/ECHL tweener defenseman for most of his professional career, is headed back to North America. After spending 2021-22 with HK Spisska Nova Ves of the Slovakian league, Atwal has chosen to sign a one-year deal with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. The 26-year-old blueliner has 583 PIM’s in 177 career ECHL games and should bring some physicality to a Cyclones franchise he played for from 2016-17 through 2018-19.
  • Dominik Furch, a longtime starting netminder in European leagues, has signed closer to home. The 32-year-old Furch backstopped Farjestad BK to an SHL championship last season and has signed a three-year contract with HC Kometa Brno. Furch, who has spent much of his career as a quality starting goalie in the KHL, brings championship experience to a Brno club that had a mediocre 2021-22. Perhaps most notably from an NHL perspective, the addition of Furch could displace Matej Tomek as the team’s starting goalie, which would be a setback in the career of the Philadelphia Flyers 2015 third-round pick.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Kodie Curran Signs In KHL

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When the Anaheim Ducks signed Kodie Curran in 2020, he came with a considerable amount of hype. Though the offensive defenseman had never before played in the NHL, he had dominated several European leagues, including winning the SHL Most Valuable Player award after putting up 49 points in 48 games. Because of his age, he wasn’t limited to an entry-level contract, so the Ducks gave him a two-year, one-way deal that paid him $1MM in each season.

Unfortunately, that hype quickly evaporated as his high-risk style limited him to the AHL. Curran played in 24 games for the San Diego Gulls in 2020-21, scoring 13 points, and then was waived at the beginning of the 2021-22 season. He would clear, spend most of the year with the Gulls, and then be included in the Hampus Lindholm deal at the deadline, going to the Providence Bruins in the process.

Now, after making $2MM and never seeing the NHL, Curran is headed back overseas. He has signed a one-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he will once again try to dominate a league outside of North America. Given that he will turn 33 in December, it seems unlikely that he’ll ever get a better chance at the NHL, and with so much success overseas it wouldn’t be surprising to see him finish his career somewhere other than the AHL.

In all, his contract with the Ducks resulted in 29 points in 62 minor league contests.

Minor Transactions: 08/30/22

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As far as late August goes, we’ve had a pretty busy 24 hours in the NHL, with the trade of Adin Hill to the Vegas Golden Knights last night, followed by a massive extension for Tage Thompson to stick with the Buffalo Sabres for seven more years. Not to be forgotten, the Minnesota Wild also added that forward they were rumored to be looking for, inking former Anaheim Ducks prospect Sam Steel to a one-year deal. Busy as the last day was in the NHL, there’s still action going on around the hockey world, and we’ll keep track of some of those other transactions here:

  • A big trade went down in the WHL this afternoon, the Saskatoon Blades announcing they’ve acquired forward Conner Roulette and a third-round pick in the 2026 WHL prospects draft from the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for overage forward Kyle Crnkovic (link). The 20-year-old Crnkovic spent the previous five seasons with the Blades organization. Always a solid contributor, he broke out in 2021-22, tallying 39 goals and 55 assists in 68 games for Saskatoon. Roulette, 19, was a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2021 and has spent the previous four years with the Thunderbirds, having his own breakout this past season with 24 goals and 42 assists in 65 contests.
  • Former Nashville Predators draft pick Wade Murphy is headed back to North America, signing with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL, after spending last season in Austria (link). A seventh-round pick by Nashville in 2013, the forward has spent the bulk of his professional career in the ECHL after a three year college career. The stint in Austria was a successful one for Murphy, who had 23 points in 38 games for Ljubljana Olimpija, the most he’s had in a professional season to date.
  • The Laval Rocket, the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, have signed forward Brett Stapley to a one-year AHL contract for the 2022-23 season, the team announced (link). Stapley, 23, was a seventh-round pick by Montreal back in 2018 and recently finished up his fourth season at the University of Denver. The North Vancouver, BC native had a solid college career, capped off by a breakout 2021-22 with 18 goals and 25 assists in 41 games. With the Canadians in a full rebuild, if Stapley can have a strong transition from college to the professional ranks, he may still have a chance to break into the NHL.
  • The Jacksonville Icemen announced they have signed Jake Witkowski to a one-year contract (link). The forward recently finished his college career, playing four years at Boston University prior to a season at Canisius College in 2021-22, where he had 11 points in 32 games. Interestingly, Witkowski is older than the typical college free agent, having turned 26 a few days ago.
  • Toronto Marlies defenseman Joseph Duszak won’t be returning for the 2022-23 season, instead heading to Dinamo Minsk of the KHL (link). Duszak, 25, spent three years at Mercyhurst College, joining the Marlies after an impressive 47 points in 37 college games in 2018-19. The Long Island native would split the 2019-20 season between the Marlies and the Newfoundland Growlers (the Marlies’ and Toronto Maple Leafs’ ECHL affiliate), joining the team full-time thereafter. Like in college, Duszak broke out in his third full professional season, recording seven goals and 45 assists in 61 games on the Marlies blueline this year.

Brandon Davidson Signs In KHL

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After seven NHL seasons and 180 games played, defenseman Brandon Davidson has signed a two-year contract with Kunlun Red Star in the KHL, per the league.

The writing was on the wall for Davidson who, at age 31, spent the entirety of the 2021-22 season in the AHL for the first time since 2013-14. A member of the Buffalo Sabres organization for the past two seasons, Davidson was an alternate captain for the AHL’s Rochester Americans last year and had six points in 23 games. Davidson last played in the NHL on March 16, 2021, in a game against the New Jersey Devils.

A 2010 sixth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, Davidson had made a home for himself in the mid-2010s as a stable seventh defenseman for the Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Islanders. He remained entirely in the NHL from 2015-16 until the 2018-19 season, where he was sent to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs for a brief stint as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He’s yet to play a full NHL season since.

Davidson is still decent minor-league depth and could very well get two-way offers or AHL deals when his KHL contract expires in 2024.

Minor Transactions: 08/24/22

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We’re inching closer to the opening of NHL training camps, and most teams have finalized their offseason work. That being said, there are still some players looking for a spot for next season, especially in minor leagues and in Europe. We’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • The Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, added defenseman Adam Brubacher today on a one-year, two-way (AHL/ECHL) deal, per a team announcement. Brubacher, 26, turned pro in 2020 after a four-year career at the Rochester Institute of Technology and made his AHL debut with the Manitoba Moose. Brubacher split time last season between the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets and should add some depth to a Condors blue line that could be without valuable contributors such as Dmitri Samorukov or Vincent Desharnais for extended periods next season.
  • Veteran KHL defenseman and 2010 Boston Bruins draft pick Maxim Chudinov signed a full contract with KHL club Ak Bars Kazan. Chudinov had been with the team on a tryout contract until now. Chudinov did not play in 2021-22 but was a KHL regular from 2010-2019, taking the ice for three KHL clubs.
  • The Kunlun Red Star, the KHL’s Chinese franchise, signed Canadian forward Brett Pollock to a one-year contract. Some might remember Pollock as a former star winger for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL and a 2014 second-round pick of the Dallas Stars. Pollock split time last season between the IceHL and the Swedish Allsvenskan and joins a Kunlun team in desperate need of help after a last-place finish in 2021-22.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect and 2016 top-50 draft selection Chad Krys is headed overseas. After being traded from the Blackhawks to Toronto last season in exchange for enforcer Kurtis Gabriel, Krys played in 36 games for the Toronto Marlies and has evidently decided that Europe is the best place to continue his pro career. Krys has signed a contract with the IceHL’s Vienna Capitals and will look to help them return to the playoffs this season.
  • Cedric Pare, a former Boston Bruins sixth-rounder who scored 88 points in his final QMJHL season, has signed a contract with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Pare spent 2021-22 in the AHL with the Belleville Senators, scoring 10 points in 41 games. Pare returns to an ECHL where he has had success in the past, as he scored 40 points in 67 games in his rookie ECHL season with the Utah Grizzlies.

German Rubtsov Signs In KHL

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2016 Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick German Rubtsov has signed a one-year contract with Spartak Moskva in the KHL, per the team.

Rubtsov, a 24-year-old center, was taken 22nd overall in 2016 with the upside of being a high-end, two-way middle-six center. Things have never quite panned out for him at the professional level, though, as his AHL production had steadily decreased over the past few seasons. The Flyers dealt Rubtsov to the Florida Panthers as part of the Claude Giroux trade last season.

Down the stretch, Rubtsov had just one goal in six regular-season and playoff games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. It wasn’t enough to convince the Panthers to issue him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer.

At 24, Rubtsov is nearly in his prime already. Although it is just a one-year deal, it’s extremely likely that Rubtsov’s chance at an NHL career, or even a career in North America, is completely gone. There’s always the chance that a move back home and a different system is able to help Rubtsov rediscover his game, but it would have to be a magnificent step forward for an NHL team to come calling for him next offseason.

Next season in Moscow, Rubtsov will join a Spartak team that’s made the playoffs for the past five seasons.

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