Brendan Leipsic Signs In KHL
CSKA Moscow of the KHL has decided to take a chance on a recent free agent, signing Brendan Leipsic to a one-year contract for the 2020-21 season. The 26-year old Leipsic saw his contract with the Washington Capitals terminated in May after private messages from Instagram came to light. At the time, the NHL released this statement:
The National Hockey League strongly condemns the misogynistic and reprehensible remarks made by players Brendan Leipsic and (Florida Panthers prospect) Jack Rodewald in a private group chat that has surfaced on social media. There is no place in our League for such statements, attitudes and behavior, no matter the forum. We will address this inexcusable conduct with the clubs and players involved.
Immediately, it became clear that Leipsic would no longer be welcome on the Capitals, who placed him on unconditional waivers and then terminated his contract. He’ll now get an opportunity to continue his career, though it will be overseas.
Leipsic scored 11 points in 61 games for the Capitals this season and has 59 in his 187-game career. The third-round pick has suited up for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, and Capitals, never staying in one place for very long.
Kirill Maksimov Assigned To KHL
The Edmonton Oilers continue to find places for their minor league prospects to play for the next several months, this time assigning Kirill Maksimov to CSKA Moscow in the KHL.
Maksimov, 21, played in 53 games for the Bakersfield Condors this season, registering 13 points in limited minutes. Interestingly enough, though Maksimov was born in Russia he has played in North America since he was a young teenager, first in the GTHL and then the OHL. The fifth-round pick has plenty of offensive skill but found himself relatively low on the depth chart as a rookie.
That may be a trend, given how talented the CSKA squad normally is. A KHL powerhouse almost every season, they may be losing top names like Kirill Kaprizov and Mikhail Grigorenko, but still have loads of skill that Maksimov will have to compete with for playing time.
Like many other prospects, Maksimov will likely get a chance to return for NHL training camp in November, but getting him back on the ice and into game action is obviously the most important goal here.
Maple Leafs Loan Mikko Lehkonen To Jokerit Of The KHL
It turns out that Mikko Lehtonen’s time in the KHL isn’t over yet after all. The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have loaned the blueliner back to Jokerit to start next season. He’s expected to report to the team next week.
Toronto signed the 26-year-old back in May after he and Jokerit agreed to a mutual termination of his existing KHL deal and the Maple Leafs beat out several other NHL suitors for his services. He’s coming off quite a year, one that saw him pick up 17 goals and 32 assists in 60 regular season games (plus four points in six playoff contests before COVID-19 shut down their postseason). He was limited to a one-year, entry-level contract due to his age and he’ll actually hit the open market again in the 2021 offseason.
Lehtonen will be the second Toronto player loaned out to the KHL to start next season as it was reported earlier this week that Egor Korshkov would be loaned to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to get some playing time in before training camps start up.
It’s that performance that has many expecting that he’ll be a part of Toronto’s back end when the puck drops on the 2020-21 season which is pegged to be in early December as things stand. Loaning Lehtonen out in the meantime will allow him to get some playing time and should help give him a leg up in training camp.
Minor Transactions: 07/30/20
The NHL is back, kicking things off with some exhibition action between rivals. As the hockey world focuses on exhibition games, minor league and European teams continue to build their depth for an upcoming season. As minor signings roll in, we’ll keep track of them right here.
- Former St. Louis Blues defenseman Petteri Lindbohm has signed on with a new NLA team for the 2020-21 season, inking a deal with EHC Biel. The 26-year old played 40 games for the Blues between 2014-2017 but recorded just three NHL points.
- 2008 second-round pick Danny Kristo will play for Kunlun Red Star of the KHL this season after spending last year in Switzerland. Picked 56th overall in his draft year by the Montreal Canadiens, Kristo never did make it to the NHL.
- Chicago Blackhawks prospect Roope Laavainen has signed a contract with IPK in the Finnish second league, meaning he won’t be coming to North America this season. The 21-year old fourth-round pick played 40 games in the top league in Finland last season, recording four points.
Snapshots: Bubble Life, Belzile, Omsk
Life in the NHL is different these days, with regular afternoon games, no fans in the stands and a lockdown outside the rink. If the Stanley Cup playoffs weren’t unpredictable enough, things are sure to amaze this year when teams come together in the early rounds.
Though the league has done everything possible to make the players as comfortable as possible there are bound to be some oddities. Marcus Foligno of the Minnesota Wild will be giving fans an inside look at “bubble life” in Edmonton with a diary for The Athletic, and in his first edition, perhaps unsurprisingly, he mentions that most of the players took advantage of a Tim Hortons pop-up truck on day one. The continuing diary is sure to be interesting, though fans will have to hope the Wild make it through the qualifying round.
- After taking a punishing hit from Jake Muzzin last night, Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Belzile did not participate today at practice. Belzile played under two minutes thanks to the hit, which forced him out of the game after he slammed his head into the boards. As with any injury these playoffs, the exact diagnosis is not expected to be released publicly.
- After reporting earlier today that SKA St. Petersburg had shut down training camp temporarily, Rick Dhaliwal of TSN gives us some more news on the KHL COVID-19 situation. According to Dhaliwal, up to 20 players on Avangard Omsk have been “infected” and most of the team is being quarantined. Reid Boucher, who signed with the club for 2020-21, had not yet arrived.
Morning Notes: Chayka, Coaches Poll, SKA
The wild John Chayka situation in Arizona continues, with more details emerging daily. This time it’s from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, who confirms the previous speculation that it was the New Jersey Devils ownership group that offered Chayka a position. Josh Harris and David Blitzer also own the Philadelphia 76ers, Crystal Palace FC, and are potential contenders to purchase the New York Mets.
As Wyshynski and other reporters have explained, the situation is expected to be dealt with by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at some point before Chayka takes a new position.
- Craig Custance and Michael Russo of The Athletic published their coaches poll today, with some interesting results. The NHL coaches that were asked feel as though the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that most benefited from the break, while others pointed out Nathan MacKinnon‘s ability to carry his team to the Stanley Cup. The entire poll provides good insight into how those intimately involved feel about the return to play tournament.
- The Vancouver Canucks have their sights set on the ultimate prize this summer, but their prospect pipeline continues to be an interesting subject of conversation. Vasily Podkolzin, selected tenth overall last year, isn’t even signed by the team yet but could be a difference-maker in the future. Unfortunately, Rick Dhaliwal of TSN reports that Podkolzin’s team, SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, has temporarily shut down training camp due to COVID-19 concerns. Podkolzin has not tested positive.
Toronto’s Egor Korshkov To Be Loaned To KHL
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Egor Korshkov may be on the team’s postseason roster, but he is unlikely to see much action. The young forward is under contract for 2020-21 as well, but the same goes for his likelihood of suiting up for the Leafs. As a result, Korshkov may be in need of an early start to his season and possibly a prolonged place to play at a high level. According to multiple sources, that is expected to be the KHL.
Russian news source Sport24 first reported that Korshkov was planning to sign a contract with HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the same organization that he played for during the seven years prior to his jump to the NHL. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman corrects this report, noting that Korshkov will be loaned rather than having his contract terminated in favor of a KHL deal. This will leave open the option for Korshkov to play for Toronto at some point next season.
Korshkov, 24, played in just one game with the Maple Leafs this year and saw only about ten minutes of ice time. However, he made the most of this debut by recording a goal. The big right wing is a natural scorer who excels around the net. He recorded 16 goals and 25 points in 44 games with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this season and very well might have seen more NHL action if not for the league’s pause. There is upside to Korshkov’s game and this loan does not imply that he does not have a future in Toronto. However, with the Maple Leafs deep up front and the questions surrounding the 2020-21 AHL season, a return to the KHL could be the best bet for Korshkov.
Minor Transactions: 07/28/20
The NHL is back, kicking things off with some exhibition action between rivals. As the hockey world focuses on Pittsburgh-Philadelphia, minor league and European teams continue to build their depth for an upcoming season. As minor signings roll in, we’ll keep track of them right here.
- Swiss journalist Gregory Beaud tweets that Lausanne HC of the NLA will announce two more foreign signings once the NHL season is complete, following their deals with Cory Conacher and Brian Gibbons today. While not confirmed yet, he believes that Mark Barberio of the Colorado Avalanche will be one of those to head to Switzerland next season.
- NHL draft pick Martins Dzierkals will be returning to Dinamo Riga next season, signing a deal with the KHL team after spending last season in Finland. Dzierkals, 23, was picked 68th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015 but never signed and subsequently saw his draft rights traded to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this year.
- The Manitoba Moose have signed Nathan Todd to a one-year AHL contract, bringing back a player who spent 16 games in their uniform this season. Todd is an elite offensive presence at the ECHL level, but has just one point in 27 career AHL games.
Ryan Spooner Re-Signs In KHL
The first season overseas for Ryan Spooner was quite a productive one. The 28-year old forward recorded 37 points in 43 games for Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, leading the team in scoring despite playing far fewer games than many of his teammates. That led to some questioning whether the former NHL center would return to North America, even though he would have to wait until November for 2020-21 training camp. For now, it seems as though Spooner will be staying overseas.
HC Dinamo announced today that Spooner has signed a new one-year contract, meaning he’ll get another crack at leading them to the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
A veteran of more than 300 NHL games, Spooner was actually quite an effective player at one point for the Boston Bruins. The talented offensive forward recorded 49 points for the team in 2015-16, many coming on the powerplay as David Pastrnak was still just getting his feet wet in the NHL. While his tenure in Boston wasn’t entirely positive, he showed he could at least hold his own if given the opportunity.
Eventually, those opportunities started slipping away and Spooner was shipped to New York and then Edmonton, before eventually being traded to the Vancouver Canucks and bought out. It was certainly an unceremonious end to his NHL career, one that you could imagine he would want to change with another crack in North America at some point. That may be, but he’ll be in the KHL for at least one more season.
Ivan Lodnia Loaned To KHL
The Minnesota Wild have decided to loan prospect Ivan Lodnia to the KHL for the 2020-21 season, according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. Michael Russo of The Athletic confirms that Lodnia will play the entire season in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk, instead of returning to North America when the 2020-21 NHL training camps open.
Selected 85th overall in 2017, Lodnia has spent the years since playing in the OHL where he was the leading scorer for the Niagara IceDogs in 2019-20. The two-way winger scored 62 points in 41 games and will now have to try and take his game to the professional ranks. During a six-game try-out with the Iowa Wild in 2018 he failed to record a single point and now he’ll have to wait an entire season to get another chance in the AHL.
Lodnia, 20, signed his entry-level deal with Minnesota back in 2017 and saw it kick in for the 2019-20 season. He’ll burn the second year playing in the KHL, though technically the team could recall him at some point if they felt it necessary. If not, that means he’ll have just one year of North American pro hockey under his belt when he goes into negotiations as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022, not exactly a position of leverage for the young forward.