Minor Transactions: 8/4/25
As we creep a little closer to training camps starting up, there have been a handful of minor moves around the hockey world recently. We’ll run through those here.
- Veteran goaltender Anton Khudobin has announced his retirement at the age of 39, Shaiba.kz relays. Khudobin spent parts of 14 seasons in the NHL, compiling a 114-92-33 record with a 2.52 GAA and a .916 SV% with six different teams. After spending most of 2022-23 in the minors, he opted to play in Russia but didn’t play much at the VHL or KHL levels. Khudobin didn’t suit up at all last season but has now made his retirement official.
- The Hurricanes’ affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, announced (Twitter link) the re-signing of center Nikita Pavlychev and the signing of defenseman Jacob Friend to one-year contracts. Pavlychev had his best AHL performance last season, picking up 25 points in 63 games after primarily playing in the ECHL for the previous four years. As for Friend, he split last season between playing in Austria and Germany but has three years of playing in the minor pros in North America.
- After being moved in the KHL just a few days ago, Matvei Guskov has a new team once again as he has signed with HK Sochi. The Wild drafted Guskov in the fifth round back in 2019 but he has struggled since then, especially last season where he had just four goals in 38 games spread between three other KHL teams. Sochi’s rosters usually aren’t as deep so Guskov may have a pathway to a bigger role and more production now with this move. Minnesota continues to hold his NHL signing rights indefinitely.
- AHL Rockford, affiliate of the Blackhawks, announced the signing of defenseman Tyson Feist to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old only played in six AHL games last season, spending most of the year with ECHL Orlando where he had 17 points in 57 appearances. However, Feist saw action in 32 AHL contests in 2023-24 and will be looking to see more regular action at that level in 2025-26.
Central Notes: Girard, Milota, Guskov
While Colorado ultimately wasn’t able to re-sign defenseman Ryan Lindgren (who instead inked a four-year deal with Seattle), their efforts to do so called into question the future of Samuel Girard with the team. Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now speculates that the Avalanche could be open to moving the blueliner. While he was deployed as their third defender during the regular season, his usage dropped to third-pairing minutes in the postseason and if head coach Jared Bednar feels that’s the more optimal spot for him moving forward, he’d be a pricey third-pairing player at $5MM through the next two seasons.
Although the Avs are into cap compliance after some offseason shuffling, they could still use some more flexibility on that front, especially with Martin Necas eyeing a significant extension for 2026-27. On the other hand, Girard is one of just two left-shot blueliners in the Avalanche’s top six so if they were to move him, it might be more of a player-for-player swap that would see them get another blueliner in return rather than a true cap-clearing move.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Predators prospect Jakub Milota has been traded in the QMJHL as Cape Breton announced that they traded the netminder to Blainville-Boisbriand. The 19-year-old was a fourth-round pick in 2024, going 99th overall and is coming off a decent season with the Eagles that saw him post a 3.22 GAA and a .903 SV% while also earning a late-season ATO with AHL Milwaukee. The Preds have until June 1, 2026 to sign Milota so it’s safe to say 2025-26 will be a key season for him.
- Wild draft pick Matvei Guskov is on the move in the KHL as the league announced earlier this week that he has been traded from Traktor Chelyabinsk to Severstal Cherepovets. The 24-year-old was a fifth-round pick back in 2019 with Minnesota holding his rights indefinitely with no transfer agreement in place between the NHL and the Russian Hockey Federation. Guskov is coming off a tough year that saw him record just one goal and three assists in 38 games between three different KHL teams.
Jimmy Vesey Receiving KHL Offers
Free agent winger Jimmy Vesey is receiving offers from multiple Kontinental Hockey League clubs without an NHL offer on the table so far this offseason, according to Daria Tuboltseva of RG.org.
Vesey, 32, finished the season with the Avalanche after they acquired him from the Rangers in March in the Ryan Lindgren deal. He was hoping for a more consistent role in Denver after a string of healthy scratches in New York led Vesey to tell Larry Brooks of the New York Post that he was “kind of dying by being here,” but that didn’t happen. He only played in 10 of Colorado’s final 21 regular-season games and did not dress in their first-round playoff loss to the Stars.
Vesey finished the season with a 5-3–8 scoring line in 43 games of action between the Rangers and Avs, his fewest NHL appearances in a single season since beginning his career in 2016. The 6’2′, 203-lb winger also averaged a career-low 10:39 per game with only 12 blocks and 32 hits. His possession impacts were similarly pedestrian, as they have been for most of his nine NHL seasons.
Understandably, Vesey was not offered an extension by the Avs and has had a hard time finding a deal nearly a month into free agency. That has him “seriously considering offers” from the KHL as compared to trying to look for a minor-league contract to continue playing in North America.
SKA St. Petersburg has been the most aggressive in pursuing the veteran of over 600 NHL games, Tuboltseva reports. He’s also fielded calls from Ak Bars Kazan, Dinamo Minsk, and Kunlun Red Star, where he could reunite with former Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, under whom he spent the 2022-23 season.
East Notes: Dadonov, Gritsyuk, Hagens, Peddle
One of the more under-the-radar signings on the opening day of unrestricted free agency this month was the Devils signing winger Evgenii Dadonov to a one-year, $1MM contract that also contains $2.25MM in games played and playoff bonuses. He told Sports.ru’s Dmitry Shevchenko that he had two or three other similar offers on the table in terms of money and bonus-laden structure while not giving much consideration to the offers made for him to return home to the KHL. Dadonov is coming off a 20-goal, 20-assist season in Dallas but saw his role reduced in the playoffs which likely didn’t help his cause on the open market this month.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Still with the Devils, prospect winger Arseni Gritsyuk acknowledged to Alexey Shevchenko of Sport-Express that he has a European Assignment Clause in his deal. It will kick in if he’s not on New Jersey’s roster by November 15th. The 24-year-old had a strong showing with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL last season, notching 17 goals and 27 assists in 49 games, helping earn him a one-year, entry-level pact back in May. It appears Gritsyuk is open to starting the season with AHL Utica but only for a short period of time.
- While the Bruins could probably use James Hagens in their lineup for the upcoming season, Boston.com’s Conor Ryan suggests that the best thing for their new top prospect would be to stay in college for another year. Hagens was a point-per-game player in 37 games for Boston College last season, an impressive performance as an underager, leading some to think he could be ready to make the jump. But rather than throw him into the mix in what could be another retooling season, Hagens might be better off being the undisputed top player for the Eagles (following the departures of Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault) for next season, then getting a few games in with Boston once his college campaign comes to an end.
- Penguins prospect Brady Peddle has decided to head to major junior as QMJHL Charlottetown announced that they’ve signed the blueliner for the upcoming season. The 18-year-old was a third-round pick last month, going 91st overall after spending last year with USHL Waterloo where he had 10 points in 62 regular season games and 10 more in 15 playoff outings. Peddle is committed to Michigan State for 2026-27 and that appears to remain the intention so his junior stint is expected to just be for 2025-26.
Andrew Poturalski Signs In KHL
In late May, the Sharks and winger Andrew Poturalski agreed to mutually terminate the final season of his contract, allowing him to pursue an option overseas. That opportunity has now come to fruition as Avangard Omsk of the KHL announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Poturalski to a one-year contract.
The 31-year-old has been a prolific scorer at the AHL level but it has not translated into many NHL opportunities. Last season, Poturalski was the top point producer in the AHL with 30 goals and 43 assists in just 59 games with AHL San Jose but he only got a chance to play in three games with the Sharks, something he voiced some frustration about after the season.
For his career, Poturalski has played in 527 AHL games over parts of ten seasons, notching 161 goals and 332 assists. The bulk of that production has come over the last five years when he led the league in scoring three times. That included a 101-point showing in 2021-22, the first player at that level to crack 100 points since the 2009-10 campaign when a pair of Hershey players reached that plateau.
But for all that production in the minors, Poturalski has seen action in just nine NHL contests over four seasons where he has a trio of assists. Instead of continuing to be a top threat in the AHL and hoping for a chance at some point in the NHL, he walked away from a guaranteed $500K payment from the Sharks and will try his hand at something different as he makes the jump overseas for the first time.
East Notes: Blake, Red Wings, Prokhorov
Late Thursday, the Hurricanes raised some eyebrows when they signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45MM contract extension after just one professional season. It was reported at the time that the deal carries some salary deferrals; PuckPedia relays (Twitter link) that a total of $15.9MM in signing bonus money over five seasons in the agreement is deferred to July 1st, 2034, the day after the deal expires. In doing so, the cap hit goes from $5.625MM per season to $5.117MM. As part of the contract, Blake also gets a 10-team no-trade clause starting in July 2031 that will remain in place until 15 days before the 2034 trade deadline. Given that the other years of the deal cover RFA-eligible seasons, he wasn’t eligible for trade protection in those campaigns.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now speculates that the Red Wings might not be done with moves on the back end this summer. They added Jacob Bernard-Docker and re-signed William Lagesson but with the tendency to carry eight defensemen under GM Steve Yzerman, a bit more depth would be useful so that they don’t necessarily have to bring up a youngster from AHL Grand Rapids at the first sign of injury. Alternatively, they could stand to benefit from trying to upgrade their current top six, a group that largely struggled last season and has pretty much been untouched over the offseason.
- Islanders prospect Daniil Prokhorov has signed a tryout deal with Dynamo Moscow, the KHL team announced. The winger was a second-round pick last month, going 42nd overall after putting up 20 goals in 43 games at the MHL level. A big winger standing six-foot-six, Prokhorov is certainly a project player for New York and will need a few more years back home whether he’s able to crack the KHL roster this season or not.
Morning Notes: Berard, Nabokov, Kärki
Rangers winger Brett Berard played through most of his rookie season with a labrum tear, he told Mollie Walker of the New York Post.
He sustained the shoulder injury back in November in what was just his fourth career NHL game, but it wasn’t significant enough to keep him out of game action through the remainder of the regular season. While he was initially named to the United States’ roster for the 2025 World Championship on the heels of his first taste of NHL hockey, he ended up pulling out to fully rehab the injury as he aims to crack New York’s opening night roster for the first time in the fall.
“Just kind of lingered all year, wore a brace all year,” Berard said. “It was good to kind of get that situated. It feels good, it feels strong. So just trying to get it all better, but we feel a lot better now.”
Berard, who turns 23 in September, scored six goals and 10 points in 35 appearances for the Rangers last season while averaging 10:43 per game. The 2020 fifth-round pick will likely build on that deployment this season, as the Blueshirts’ roster turnover over the last few months means there are a couple of top-nine spots for the taking, one of which he’ll hope to grab. The diminutive but high-energy lefty also scored 23 points in 30 games for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack last season.
More from around the league:
- Avalanche goaltending prospect Ilya Nabokov has officially put pen to paper on a one-year deal to keep him in Russia for 2025-26 with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the league announced. Nabokov signed his entry-level contract with Colorado in May, but it was quickly reported that the Avs planned to loan him back to Metallurg for the upcoming season. While he was initially draft-eligible in 2021, he was finally selected in the second round in 2024 on the heels of a dominant postseason for Metallurg that earned him a Gagarin Cup championship, playoff MVP honors, and the KHL’s Rookie of the Year award. He’ll likely compete for the No. 2 job behind Mackenzie Blackwood when he comes to North America in 2026-27.
- Golden Knights defense prospect Arttu Kärki is on the move in his native Finland, with HIFK announcing they’ve signed him to a two-year contract. Vegas selected Kärki in the third round of the 2023 draft but hasn’t yet signed him; they have until June 1, 2027, to do so before they lose his rights. The 20-year-old lefty got his first taste of professional hockey last season and split the campaign between Tappara and Ässät in Finland’s top league, recording 14 points and a -11 rating in 43 games. The shot-minded rearguard will look for more offensive success as he remains in Liiga with HIFK.
KHL Notes: Konyushkov, Kisakov, Timashov
Canadiens defense prospect Bogdan Konyushkov has signed a one-year extension with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to keep him in Russia through the 2026-27 season, the league announced. Konyushkov, 22, was a fourth-round pick in 2023 and came to Montreal for development camp a few weeks ago, per Marco D’Amico of RG.
The news gives the intriguing right-shot some extended runway in his development, but it doesn’t necessarily affect Montreal’s ability to sign him at some point since they hold his rights indefinitely. Montreal selected the smooth-skating rearguard two years after he was initially eligible to be drafted after he broke out in a full-time KHL role with Torpedo, and he’s since recorded an 11-59–70 scoring line with a -13 rating in 196 games at Russia’s top level.
Last season did mark something of a step back for Konyushkov, who recorded a career-low 17 points and a minus-five rating. He was assigned to the VHL’s Torpedo-Gorky NN of Russia’s second-tier pro league for their postseason, leading the playoffs in scoring by a defenseman with 13 points in 17 games as he helped them to a championship. Despite his age, his well-rounded game made him Torpedo’s leader in average ice time last year. He’ll now be eligible to come to the Canadiens on June 1, 2027, unless they negotiate an early release with Torpedo.
More from the KHL:
- Former Sabres prospect Alexander Kisakov has landed a tryout contract with Dynamo Moscow, per a team announcement. Kisakov, 22, was a second-round pick by Buffalo in 2021 but was non-tendered when his entry-level contract expired in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. While the undersized winger displayed a high-ceiling and high-energy offensive game in the Russian junior ranks, he scored just 25 points in 93 games for the AHL’s Rochester Americans over the past three years as he battled injuries.
- Winger Dmytro Timashov has signed a two-year contract with Admiral Vladivostok, Ronnie Rönnkvist of HockeySverige reports. The Ukrainian-born Swedish national recorded nine points in 45 NHL games for the Maple Leafs, Islanders, and Red Wings across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. He’s been overseas since terminating his contract with New York early in the 2021-22 season. He split last season between the KHL’s HK Sochi and Geneve-Servette HC of Switzerland’s National League, limited to 13 points in 44 games across the two clubs.
Daniel Sprong Signs With CSKA Moscow
July 23: Sprong has signed with CSKA, per a team press release on Wednesday. It’s only a one-year deal.
July 13: Despite putting up two straight seasons of more than 40 points, Daniel Sprong’s free agent market last summer could be described as tepid as best. Now, coming off a year that saw him spend time with three different organizations and an extended stint in the minors, it’s fair to suggest that his market is even weaker this time around.
With that in mind, it appears that another option could be on the table for the 28-year-old. Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis reports that Sprong is receiving interest from a pair of KHL teams, CSKA Moscow and Avangard Omsk.
Last season, Sprong started the season in Vancouver after inking a one-year, $975K contract with the Canucks nearly three weeks into free agency last summer. However, after playing sparingly with them over the first month of the season, Vancouver flipped the winger to Seattle for future considerations. Considering that his best NHL campaign came back in 2022-23 with the Kraken, the move made sense for Seattle.
Unfortunately for them, he wasn’t able to rediscover that level of success in his second stint with the franchise. Sprong played in just ten games with them before being placed on waivers in January. He cleared, spending the next two seasons with AHL Coachella Valley before being flipped to New Jersey at the trade deadline with the Devils looking for some low-cost depth heading into the playoffs.
Sprong played in 11 regular season games with them, bringing his 2024-25 total to 30 but he only managed two goals and five assists in those appearances, including just two helpers with the Devils. That resulted in Sprong being scratched in four of five postseason contests, a quiet end to a tough year.
Still, Sprong has had some NHL success, tallying 87 goals and 79 assists in 374 games over parts of nine seasons spread across seven different organizations. He’s someone who at this point profiles as a likely PTO candidate before training camps open up in September with a reasonable chance of landing at least a two-way deal. But if Sprong’s preference is to get something more guaranteed before then, it looks like he’ll have a chance to get a guaranteed deal in Russia in the coming weeks.
Brett Leason Receiving KHL Interest
A later entrant to this year’s UFA market, Brett Leason hasn’t been able to secure a contract in the first three weeks of free agency. But while the NHL interest might not be materializing, it appears he may have some options in Russia, as Sport-Express’s Artur Khairullin reports (Telegram link) that the winger is of interest to some KHL clubs. It’s unclear if the interest is mutual or if Leason’s intention is to remain in North America next season.
The 25-year-old spent the last three seasons with Anaheim after they claimed him off waivers from Washington in 2022. In 2023-24, Leason had a career year, notching 11 goals and 11 assists in 68 games. The Ducks non-tendered him to avoid giving him arbitration rights but quickly re-signed him to a one-year, $1.05MM contract.
However, last season didn’t go anywhere near as well for Leason. He was quieter offensively, putting up just five goals with a dozen assists in 62 games while still averaging around 13 minutes a night of action. Meanwhile, he was a healthy scratch for the other 20. Unsurprisingly, with Leason still being arbitration-eligible, he was non-tendered once again last month.
This time, there wasn’t a quick contract to be landed. But Leason, a six-foot-five winger, has been primarily deployed in a defensive role over the last couple of years and has logged regular minutes on the penalty kill which could make him worthy of consideration for some teams heading into training camp. Speculatively, Leason is the type of player that teams will likely look to bring in on a PTO. But if he wants something guaranteed before then, it looks like he may have some KHL options on the table.