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Snapshots: Strome, Devils, Liiga

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The Washington Capitals’ solid early-season momentum was placed at risk last night as first-line center Dylan Strome suffered a lower-body injury. After the game, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery called the injury “concerning,” and The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson noted that while Strome will be evaluated today, the fact that the Capitals have an off day means that we likely won’t receive an update on Strome’s status until Monday at the earliest.

Carbery is likely far from the only person concerned at the prospect of losing Strome for a period of time due to injury. While franchise face Alex Ovechkin set all-time records last season, it was Strome who quietly led the club in scoring with a career-best 82 points in 82 games. The 2015 third-overall pick ranks second in scoring on Washington this season, behind only rugged forward Tom Wilson. Should Strome miss time, the Capitals may elect to shift Connor McMichael back to the center position, where he has spent time previously. He dressed as the club’s second-line left winger yesterday on a line centered by Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Other notes from around the hockey world:

  • New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe issued updates today on two injured players: Juho Lammikko and Cody Glass. As relayed by team reporter Amanda Stein, Lammikko will travel with the Devils on their current western road trip, while Glass will not travel. We previously covered how Lammikko had returned to practice and was nearing a return to the ice, as well as news that Glass would be out “multiple weeks.” Lammikko signed a one-year, one-way $800K deal with New Jersey to return to North America after spending three seasons with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League. He hasn’t yet made his Devils debut, but Lammikko could very well slide into Glass’ vacated bottom-six center role once he’s healthy. While Lammikko doesn’t have the pedigree as a scorer that Glass has, he does bring over 150 games of NHL experience to the table as well as a 51% faceoff win rate in his most recent NHL campaign.
  • Some interesting news broke in Finland this morning, as journalist Timo Kunnari of Iltalehti reported that the country’s pro hockey circuit could undergo some significant changes in the short and medium-term future. According to Kunnari, some of the country’s biggest pro clubs, including Tappara, HIFK, and TPS (based out of the major metropolitan cities of Tampere, Helsinki, and Turku, respectively) are reportedly in advanced talks to form their own professional league and break away from the established Liiga at some point in the short-to-medium term future. While this news has not been officially announced by any team, and appears to be more of a credible rumor at this stage than confirmed fact, such a move would be a significant development with potentially far-reaching implications for the business of hockey in one of the world’s most passionate hockey nations.

Felix Sandstrom Signs With Liiga’s Oulun Karpat

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Free agent goaltender Felix Sandström has signed on with Finnish powerhouse Kärpät, according to a team release. It’s a short-term deal with quite a few exceptions – the contract is only valid until Nov. 2 and includes an NHL out-clause, the team said.

Sandström, now 28, was a third-round pick by the Flyers in 2015 and was once a relatively promising prospect in their system. He ended up playing a career-high 20 games for them in the 2022-23 campaign, splitting backup duties with Samuel Ersson, but struggled with a .880 SV% and a 3.72 GAA. He spent most of the following season with AHL Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers and was unplayable in his brief call-up, recording a .823 SV% and -7.7 GSAA in a five-game window in March.

Along with an uninspiring .884 SV% in the minors that year, the Flyers had no qualms about letting him become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. He landed a two-way commitment from the Sabres on the open market to serve as the No. 4 on their depth chart behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, James Reimer, and Devon Levi. He passed through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of the season and never saw a recall. He did see improved AHL numbers in Rochester, though, logging a .899 SV% and 2.86 GAA with a 12-5-2 record in 19 games.

That still didn’t lead to much interest in his services this summer, not even on a PTO for training camp. There may have been AHL-only offers out there but he held out for the hope of a more financially lucrative agreement to return to Europe. So far, not much of anything has panned out and he’ll now take a short-term deal in Finland with the hopes of impressing there and landing a two-way contract with an NHL team in need of goaltending depth.

Sandström last played in Europe in his native Sweden during the 2020-21 season. He had a .921 SV% in five games while on loan to Västerviks IK of Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. He has never played in Finland before.

Kärpät has been the main producer of Finnish NHL players in recent years and has won seven Liiga titles since 2004, but none since 2018. They also finished below .500 last year and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since last being promoted to Finland’s top flight in 2000. They’re now dealing with an injury to starting netminder Niklas Rubin, who was off to a great start with a .934 SV% in four games. In the interim, Sandström will serve in tandem with Kraken prospect Visa Vedenpää, whom they selected in the sixth round in 2023.

Brad Hunt Signs In Finland

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Friday: Hunt has indeed signed with Vaasan Sport with the team announcing that he has signed a one-year contract.

Monday: Longtime pro defenseman Brad Hunt is expected to take his career overseas for the first time next season. He is set to sign with Vaasan Sport of Finland’s Liiga, per Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey. Hunt recently concluded his 14th season in the North American pros. His only rich experience with playing in Europe came during the spring of 2023, when he joined Team Canada for the World Championships, which were played in Latvia that year.

Hunt, 37, has already built up a career worth being proud of. He was originally overlooked in the NHL Draft – the consequence of being a 5-foot-9 defenseman – but earned a pro contract after four strong years at Bemidji State University. Hunt made his AHL debut in 2012 and quickly looked the part of a strong play-driver.

He played his way into three NHL appearances with the Edmonton Oilers in 2013-14, coupled with a breakout performance in the AHL that saw him post 50 points in 66 games. Hunt continued that pace – great AHL scoring mixed in with a handful of NHL starts – through the 2016-17 season.

Hunt seemed doomed to the role of fringe-NHL defenseman until 2017-18, when the Vegas Golden Knights operated with him on the NHL roster for the whole season. Hunt stepped into 45 games and scored 18 points that year, enough to earn him a solid NHL role for the next four seasons, even through moves to the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks.

He didn’t return to the AHL until the 2022-23 season, when he donned the captaincy for the Colorado Eagles and scored 21 points in 24 games. Hunt served an additional year as the Eagles’ captain before moving to the Hershey Bears last season. He scored just 19 points in 41 games with Hershey last year, though he managed a lofty 49 points in 70 games in the 2023-24 season.

Hunt now sits with 86 points in 288 games, and 10 seasons, in the NHL and 298 points in 422 games, and nine seasons, in the AHL. He will now take that deep resume to one of Finland’s emerging clubs. Vaasan finished last season ranked 11th out of the Liiga’s 16 teams. They struggled to consistently drive up the scoring, which is something that the puck-moving Hunt should be able to directly address.

Cameron Wright Signs In Finland

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Cameron Wright’s stay in the Oilers organization will be a short one. After turning an AHL contract into an NHL one at the beginning of last season, he’s on his way overseas and has signed a one-year deal with HPK in Finland’s Liiga, the club announced.

Wright, 27, had a long path to landing an NHL deal. Undrafted, he spent five years in college and won a national championship with Denver in 2022 after spending the prior four years at Bowling Green. The 6’1″ winger actually tied for the team lead on that Pioneers squad in goals with 23 in 41 games, and while he had some NHL interest, he ended up landing an AHL contract with the Avalanche’s affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

Wright barely played for the Eagles, however. He spent most of the season down in the ECHL with the Utah Grizzlies, where he exploded for 63 points in 64 games (with 136 PIMs to boot) in his first pro season. He landed a much more consistent AHL role the following season, now in the Oilers organization with Bakersfield, and parlayed that into an NHL contract the following year.

The Ontario native was a solid depth scoring piece for the Condors in 2024-25, posting a 13-11–24 scoring line in 60 games while providing physicality to their depth contingent. Evidently, that wasn’t enough for Edmonton to keep him around. They declined to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season and he became an unrestricted free agent.

There may have been some AHL offers on the table, but he’ll opt for a likely richer contract overseas instead. This far down the road in his development, it’s not overly likely that he makes his way back toward contention for an NHL roster spot. He joins an HPK club whose lone NHL-experience player is Kristian Vesalainen, a first-round pick by the Jets in 2017.

International Notes: Henman, Little, Good Bogg

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After spending the last four years in the minors with the Kraken organization, center Luke Henman is headed to Finland on a one-year deal with Ilves, the Liiga club announced today.

Henman, 25, was actually the first signing in Seattle franchise history in 2021. He was a fourth-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2018 but never signed, instead becoming an unrestricted free agent.

He’d remained in the Seattle organization ever since, recording 26 goals and 33 assists for 59 points in 229 AHL games for their affiliates in Charlotte and Coachella Valley. They re-signed him last summer after his entry-level contract expired, but since Henman was old enough and had accrued enough experience for Group VI unrestricted free agency this year, he was ineligible for a qualifying offer and wasn’t retained.

The Nova Scotia native will now head to Ilves, one of two Liiga clubs based in the city of Tampere. While the club is light on NHL-experienced talent, they’ve finished second in Liiga in three straight years as they aim to capture their first title since 1985.

There’s more from overseas:

  • American winger Broc Little has announced his retirement, according to the SHL’s Linköping HC. Little, 37, was an ECAC champion and All-Star with Yale but was never drafted and never signed an NHL contract. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Europe aside from a 21-game AHL stint with Springfield and Iowa back in 2013-14. He played 10 of his 14 pro seasons for Linköping, where he’s served as an alternate captain since 2018 and led the SHL in goals twice. His 367 points in 454 games for Linköping are fifth in franchise history.
  • Islanders defense prospect Dennis Good Bogg has found a place to play next season, signing with Väsby IK of HockeyEttan, Sweden’s third division. Good Bogg, 21, was a seventh-round pick in 2023, and New York holds his signing rights for two more years. Unless something changes drastically, he likely won’t ever sign an NHL contract. The 6’2″, 201-lb lefty has yet to reach Sweden’s top flight and has struggled at lower levels. He split last season between second-tier club Östersunds and third-tier club Mariestad, combining for just three points and a -10 rating in 35 games.

International Notes: Pavel, Gettinger, Virtanen

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Free agent forward Ondrej Pavel has signed a one-year deal with Finnish club Tappara with an option for 2026-27, the team announced today.

Pavel, 24, will play in Europe for the first time since the Czech center departed his home country in 2016 to play the bulk of his development in North America. While undrafted, he was a free agent signing by the Avalanche out of Minnesota State in 2023 after winning regular-season titles in each of his three seasons in Mankato.

Primarily a bottom-six checking piece, his offensive production in the pros has reflected that. He scored only 12 points in 77 games for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles before the Avs traded him to the Predators as part of the Juuso Pärssinen deal in December. He finished the season with an improved 8-10–18 scoring line with 49 PIMs and a +8 rating in 43 games for the Milwaukee Admirals, but he was still non-tendered by Nashville last month and became an unrestricted free agent as a result.

The Prague native got into a pair of NHL games with Colorado in the 2023-24 season, recording one hit and three shots on goal in just over 12 minutes of total ice time. He now takes his talents to Tappara, joining a club that looks to get back on track following a .500 finish last year after winning three straight Liiga championships. He joins former NHLers Jyrki Jokipakka and Olli Juolevi, among others.

There are some more notable international signings today:

  • While winger Timothy Gettinger was reportedly looking for a KHL contract a few weeks ago, he’s ended up in Germany with the DEL’s Schwenninger Wild Wings on a one-year deal. The longtime minor-league winger in the Rangers’ and Red Wings’ systems solidifies his move overseas after recording 81 goals and 174 points in 346 AHL games over the past seven seasons. The 27-year-old was a fifth-round pick by New York in 2016 and has one point in 16 NHL games, all with the Blueshirts. He joins ex-NHLers Zachary Senyshyn and Jordan Szwarz on the Wild Wings’ forward corps.
  • Former Canucks forward Jake Virtanen has landed a one-year deal with Slovak club HK Dukla Michalovce, the team said on Facebook. Virtanen, 28, has not played in North America since being bought out in 2021 amid sexual assault allegations that he was later found not guilty of by a jury. The 2014 No. 6 overall pick has underwhelmed in Europe, most recently recording 19 points in 46 games last season for the DEL’s Iserlohn Roosters. He’ll now look to improve his scoring in a less competitive league in Slovakia.

Markus Nutivaara Signs With Liiga’s Kärpät

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Former NHL defenseman Markus Nutivaara is launching a comeback bid after retiring two years ago due to hip issues. Kärpät, which plays in the Finnish rearguard’s hometown of Oulu, announced they’ve signed him to a one-year deal.

While the 31-year-old Nutivaara has only been retired for two years, it’s been longer than that since he actually played. His last appearance at any level came with the Panthers on Oct. 29, 2021, his lone appearance of the 2021-22 campaign. He logged an assist but played just 7:01 as he attempted a comeback from his first of multiple hip surgeries.

Nutivaara was an unrestricted free agent the following summer and attempted to get his career back on track by signing a one-year deal with the Sharks, but his continued hip problems prevented him from making an appearance for them. The 6’1″ lefty has remained unsigned ever since.

A seventh-round pick out of Kärpät by the Blue Jackets in 2015 – three years after he was initially eligible for selection – Nutivaara made the jump to North America one year later. He remained an NHL fixture aside from a three-game stint in the minors in 2017-18, becoming a good two-way piece in a depth role for Columbus. Although he consistently saw bottom-pairing deployment, averaging 15:48 per game, he still managed a 17-43–60 scoring line with a +25 rating in 244 appearances for the Jackets in his four years there.

Columbus traded Nutivaara to Florida following the 2019-20 season. He played 30 out of 56 regular-season games for the Cats in the COVID-shortened 2021 season, recording 10 points and a plus-one rating.

His comeback bid comes after Nutivaara had another hip procedure in November 2024 to have an artificial joint installed, Kärpät said. Even if he can’t get back into game shape, Nutivaara said his recovery has gone well enough to allow him to return to a relatively normal, pain-free life.

Nutivaara won a Liiga championship with Kärpät in his rookie year back in 2014-15, contributing six points in 16 playoff games for a roster led by former NHL winger Joonas Donskoi that also included a 17-year-old Sebastian Aho.

Snapshots: Pacioretty, Rossi, True

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Heading into August, one of the better veteran scoring options left on the market is winger Max Pacioretty. Michael Augello of The Hockey News theorized on five (although it’s actually seven) potential destinations for Pacioretty in what could be the last season of his professional career.

Pacioretty (36) is coming off another injury-plagued season, this time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his lowest-producing offensive season since his sophomore campaign with the Montreal Canadiens during the 2009-10 season, Pacioretty scored five goals and 13 points in 37 games, averaging 13:30 of ice time per game. Fortunately, Pacioretty had a stronger showing in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring three goals and eight points in 11 games, including the series-clincher in the Maple Leafs’ opening-round series against the Ottawa Senators.

Augello’s hypothetical destinations include Pacioretty’s former teams: the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, a team from the New York metropolitan area, the Detroit Red Wings, or the Edmonton Oilers. Whether for geographical location, nostalgic purposes, or for putting him in the best position to win the first Stanley Cup of his career, all five destinations make sense for Pacioretty in the twilight years of his career. 

Other snapshots:

  • In a minor update to the impasse between center Marco Rossi and the Minnesota Wild, Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic indicated in a new article that the two sides haven’t spoken since June. The gap is well known, with Rossi seeking a long-term deal similar to that of his teammate Matt Boldy, while the Wild remain firm in their desire for a bridge contract. The pair of journalists argues that Rossi is unlikely to sign a new deal, let alone speak to Minnesota’s management, until the start of training camp in September.  
  • According to a team announcement, former NHL and AHL veteran Alexander True has signed a one-year deal with the Finnish Liiga’s JYP. Now two years removed from playing in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, True’s first professional season overseas was fairly disappointing. Playing for the SHL’s MoDo Hockey, True scored seven goals and 17 points in 52 games with a -15 rating last season.

Morning Notes: Berard, Nabokov, Kärki

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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.

International Notes: Vecchione, Andersson, Ratkovic-Berndtsson, Jurmo, Dickinson

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Veteran farmhand Mike Vecchione has signed on with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey reports. The Hershey Bears, where Vecchione had spent the last four seasons on both two-way deals with the Capitals and AHL-only contracts, said Monday that he would be heading overseas.

Vecchione, 32, last played in the NHL in a one-game call-up for Washington in the 2021-22 season. It was just his third career appearance, and he saw just over five minutes of ice time in a shootout win over the Hurricanes late in the year.

After also spending the following season on a two-way deal with the Capitals but not seeing any NHL recalls, Washington opted not to re-sign him. He remained in the organization on AHL contracts with the Bears, though, and finished fifth on the club in scoring last season with a 19-20–39 line in 68 games.

The former Union College standout was never drafted, but after erupting for an NCAA-leading 63 points in 38 games in his senior season at Union, he was the top college free agent in 2017 and made his NHL debut with the Flyers to end the season. Unfortunately, that never turned into anything resembling a full-time NHL role. The 5’10” forward has remained almost exclusively in the AHL ever since, recording 300 points in 473 career games over the last eight years with stops in Lehigh Valley, San Antonio, Colorado, and Hershey.

Vecchione is the second player who spent last season with the Bears to sign with Traktor in the past few days. Pierrick Dube, who was under an NHL contract with Washington for the last two years but was non-tendered last month, signed with them a few days back.

Here’s more from international waters:

  • Former lottery pick Lias Andersson has signed a two-year extension with Switzerland’s EHC Biel-Bienne through the 2027-28 season, the team announced. The 2017 No. 7 overall pick by the Rangers headed to the National League club last summer after being non-tendered by the Canadiens and flourished, recording a 15-18–33 scoring line in 40 contests to lead the team in points per game (0.825). He’ll turn 27 in October, and the chances of him ever building on his 110-game NHL career remain slim, but he’s surely happy with the fit after a couple of years of strong AHL production, with few additional NHL chances to show for it.
  • The Sabres have until June 1, 2026, to sign 2022 seventh-round pick Joel Ratkovic-Berndtsson before losing his rights, something they don’t appear likely to do based on his development trajectory so far. The 21-year-old just signed a one-year deal with Karlskrona HK, putting him in Sweden’s third-tier pro league – HockeyEttan – for 2025-26. The 6’0″ winger also spent most of last season in that league with Vasterviks IK, where he impressed with 29 points in 28 games, but failing to climb into a regular role in even the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan at this stage of his development is essentially a disqualifier for any NHL potential. He only recorded one assist in nine second-tier games last season while on loan to Tingsryds AIF.
  • As expected, former Flames prospect Joni Jurmo has returned home after mutually terminating his entry-level contract earlier this month. The defenseman has signed a one-year deal with Liiga’s Kiekko-Espoo, per a club announcement. He last played in Finland’s top level in 2023-24, limited to five points and a plus-three rating across 46 games for Ilves and KooKoo.
  • After being non-tendered by the Blues last month, center Tanner Dickinson is headed to the Slovak Extraliga to play with HC Presov, the team announced on its Facebook page. St. Louis let the 23-year-old become an unrestricted free agent after he scored 15 points in 57 games for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds last season. A 2020 fourth-round pick who had good scoring numbers in juniors, COVID and injuries completely derailed his development. The Ohio native only played 38 games combined in his first three post-draft seasons, only three of which were professional.

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