Minor Transactions: 08/02/23
The few notable NHL signings that remain are set to wrap up in the next few days with the conclusion of arbitration hearings. It may bring the North American major pro news cycle to a halt briefly, but junior, minor pro and European teams are still making waves daily as their seasons loom. Today’s notable minor transactions can be found here:
- The OHL’s Oshawa Generals are bringing over Minnesota Wild center prospect Rasmus Kumpulainen for the 2023-24 campaign after selecting him 13th overall in this year’s CHL Import Draft, according to a release from his team in the Finnish Liiga, Pelicans. Minnesota selected Kumpulainen with the 53rd overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft after he notched 11 goals, 23 assists and 34 points in 41 games with Pelicans’ junior team in the U20 SM-sarja. Kumpulainen had a strong finish to the 2022-23 campaign at the IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship, recording five points in five games for Finland. A prototypical two-way center, Kumpulainen will continue to build on his offense and fill out his 6-foot-3 frame during his time in Oshawa. Pelicans also mentioned they’d reached an agreement to retain Kumpulainen’s Liiga rights through 2026.
- Former Arizona Coyotes and Boston Bruins defense prospect Mitchell Miller is continuing his hockey career, but as expected, it’s not in North America. His 2016 assault conviction of a Black classmate with developmental disabilities has now cost him two NHL roles – including Boston parting ways with him just two days after signing him in free agency back in November. Late last month, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks reported the contract between Miller and the Bruins had officially been terminated via settlement. He’s now signed a one-year deal with HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš in the Slovak Extraliga, per NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston.
- Long-time Buffalo Sabres organizational farmhand Sean Malone is heading overseas, signing a two-year deal with NL club SCL Tigers. Malone had spent five of his six pro seasons in the Sabres organization after graduating from Harvard but got into just one NHL game with Buffalo during that time. He’d been an important top-six fixture for the AHL’s Rochester Americans, though, helping along Buffalo’s young prospects as they developed through their system. The 28-year-old center now heads to Switzerland, where he joins an offense led by Florida Panthers prospect Aleksi Saarela and former New Jersey Devil Harri Pesonen.
- Forward Daniel Walcott is returning to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on a one-year deal, according to NHL.com’s Patrick Williams. A 2014 draft pick of the New York Rangers, they dealt Walcott to the Tampa Bay Lightning just a year later after signing his entry-level contract. He’s spent eight seasons with the Crunch since then, amassing 111 points across 378 games. Walcott does have one NHL appearance to his name, coming with the Lightning in 2020-21. The physical winger, who’s also played defense at times during his career, mustered a personal record of 13 goals, 32 points, and 103 penalty minutes in 67 games for Syracuse last season.
- The OHL’s Niagara IceDogs acquired Montreal Canadiens defense prospect Daniil Sobolev from the Windsor Spitfires in exchange for three late-round 2024 OHL Draft picks today, according to a team release. Montreal drafted the physical shutdown defender with the 142nd overall pick in 2021 after he didn’t play at all in his draft year – the 2020-21 OHL season was canceled entirely due to COVID-19. Since, he’s registered three goals, 23 assists, 26 points, 92 penalty minutes, and a +37 rating in 110 games across two seasons with the Spitfires. To finish off his junior career, Sobolev joins an IceDogs team that’s finished at the bottom of the league in each of the last three seasons, winning just 12 of 68 games last season.
- Kumpulainen isn’t the only NHL-affiliated European prospect heading to the CHL today. Carolina Hurricanes goalie prospect Jakub Vondras has committed to the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves for next season after they selected him 22nd overall in this year’s CHL Import Draft, per the league. Vondras, a sixth-round pick of Carolina in 2022, posted a sparkling .929 save percentage and 2.19 goals-against average in 29 games with HC Plzen’s U20 club in the Czech junior Extraliga last season.
- The AHL’s Chicago Wolves have re-signed defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald to a one-year AHL contract. This move confirms that Fitzgerald, 26, will play a fourth consecutive season with Chicago. The undrafted left-shot blueliner scored 10 points in 30 games for the Wolves last season and played 17 playoff games during the team’s Calder Cup Championship run in 2022. He has 250 games of AHL experience under his belt, meaning he is just ten games away from no longer qualifying under the first tier of “development players” according to the AHL’s rules. As a result, 2023-24 is an extremely important season for Fitzgerald as he’ll need to provide consistent value for the Wolves in order to prove he’s worthy of a non-developmental player slot moving forward. AHL clubs are limited in that they can only dress five skaters who do not qualify as development players under either of the two pro games played thresholds.
- Former Coyotes prospect Lucas Lessio has signed a one-year contract with the ICEHL’s Bolzano Foxes, making Italy the eleventh different country he’ll have played professional hockey in. Lessio, 30, has played around the world, from Croatia to China to Latvia to Germany, and spent last season playing for Klagenfurt in Austria. He didn’t score as well for Klagenfurt (14 goals, 28 points in 47 games) as he did the year before in the DEL for the Krefeld Penguins (25 goals, 41 points in 56 games) but wasn’t useless either, and will likely play an important role for the ICEHL finalists in Bolzano.
- The Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears have signed defenseman Colin Swoyer to a one-year AHL contract. The 25-year-old spent most of last season playing AHL hockey for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, scoring 11 points in 36 games. Swoyer was a pending RFA for the Penguins but did not receive a qualifying offer from the organization. He did also play six games in the ECHL for the Wheeling Nailers, although those games all came in early December and after being called up for a December 17th contest against the Bears Swoyer didn’t return to the ECHL. 2022-23 was Swoyer’s first full season playing professional hockey, as he concluded his four-year NCAA career at Michigan Tech last spring and only got a five-game trial run with the Penguins before the season ended. Now he’ll head to Hershey looking to continue to establish himself in the AHL.
- The AHL’s San Diego Gulls have signed two players to one-year AHL contracts: veteran forward Eddie Matsushima and rookie Anthony Costantini. Matsushima, 29, scored 28 goals and 47 points for the Tulsa Oilers last season, earning ECHL All-Star honors. He played NCAA Division-III hockey at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and worked his way into professional hockey starting with the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the SPHL. He produced well enough there to earn a few cameos in the ECHL before breaking in full-time with Tulsa. Now, he’ll get a chance to continue his climb up the pro hockey ladder and skate in some AHL games. As for Costantini, he’s a 20-year-old right-shot blueliner who scored 36 points in 67 games for the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL and could now be making his pro debut with the Gulls.
- The AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds have added some depth, signing 26-year-old Jacob Hayhurst to a one-year AHL contract. Hayhurst split last season between the ECHL’s Worcester Railers (22 points in 35 games) and AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, where he played in a depth role and scored six points in 24 games. He’ll likely end up on the AHL/ECHL bubble for the Firebirds as well next season, serving as valuable depth as well as some veteran competition for prospects entering their first AHL campaigns such as Ryan Winterton and Tucker Robertson.
- Rihards Bukarts, the leading scorer of the Latvian team that won the hockey-mad country their first-ever medal at an IIHF Men’s World Championship earlier this summer, will not be returning to his club of last season, Klagenfurt of the ICEHL. Bukarts, 27, scored 13 goals and 25 points in 28 games in Austria and as mentioned finished his season on a very high note, leading the Latvians with 11 points in 10 games. Bukarts has experience as a scorer in ICEHL, DEL, KHL, and Czechia, and last played in North America in 2016-17, when he scored 33 points in 37 games for the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs.
- Longtime University of Wisconsin forward Dominik Mersch and former Barrie Colts captain Luke Bignell have each signed ECHL contracts with the Jacksonville Icemen. Mersch, 24, concluded a five-year, 164-game career with the Badgers in March and got a two-game cameo in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves, his first taste of pro hockey. He’ll make his full-time debut as a professional player with the Icemen, as will Bignell. The 22-year-old left-shot defenseman played nearly 200 games in the OHL for the Colts and has spent the last two seasons playing on the Canadian university circuit for the University of Guelph.
- Undrafted OHL blueliner Lleyton Moore, the former captain of the Oshawa Generals, will begin his pro career with the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder. He signed a one-year contract with the team and will look to translate his impressive numbers from major junior (he scored 54 points in 67 games in 2021-22) to the pro game in Kansas.
- Bruising ECHL defenseman Josh Thrower, a veteran of nearly 250 games in North America’s third-tier league, has signed a one-year ECHL contract with the Norfolk Admirals. The 27-year-old played in 39 games with the Atlanta Gladiators last season and has spent three of the past four seasons with the club. Now he’s off to play for the Admirals where he will contend to lead the team in penalty minutes having already racked up 389 in the ECHL.
- Former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Stephen Desrocher has signed with the Fife Flyers of the EIHL. The six-foot-four defenseman and former Kingston Frontenacs captain heads to Scotland having played just 31 total games of pro hockey. He played four seasons and spent five years at the University of Western Ontario before signing in the ECHL with the Florida Everblades. He made his pro debut there and lifted the Kelly Cup with the team. He played 10 games in the AlpsHL last season with Merano HC and now heads to the United Kingdom to continue his young pro career.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 07/31/23
NHL action is heating up today with a trio of depth signings this morning, followed by a potentially consequential agreement between the Minnesota Wild and promising netminder Filip Gustavsson. Transactions continue to flow in from around the minors and Europe as 2023-24 draws closer, too, so let’s take a look at today’s most notable non-NHL moves from around the hockey world:
- Former New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights forward Oscar Lindberg has signed a one-year contract with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK, per a team release today. The move marks a return to his native Sweden for the first time since 2012-13, when he notched 44 points in 52 Elitserien (now SHL) games for Skellefteå before heading to North America the following year with the Rangers organization. Since last suiting up in the NHL for Ottawa in 2019, Lindberg has bounced around Europe, playing for EV Zug and SC Bern in the NL and Dynamo Moscow in the KHL. He’s been quite productive, too, often posting point totals close to a point-per-game pace and continuing solid defensive play. He now joins a Skellefteå team ripe with NHL prospects, including Detroit Red Wings 2023 first-round pick Axel Sandin Pellikka on defense.
- After two years of service as an alternate captain for Czech Extraliga club HC Sparta Praha, defenseman Adam Polasek is staying in the Extraliga on a one-year deal with HC Ocelari Trinec, per the team. Polasek is a former Vancouver Canucks prospect, selected 145th overall in the 2010 NHL Draft. After spending the 2010-11 campaign in juniors with the QMJHL’s Prince Edward Island Rocket, Polasek signed his entry-level contract with the Canucks. He wouldn’t play out his deal, though, failing to find his footing in the minors and eventually having his contract terminated during its final season so that he could return home to Czechia. He’s spent most of his time in the Sparta Praha organization since then, save for a few short stints in Russia and Finland. The 32-year-old, 6-foot-3 defender now looks to bolster Trinec’s blueline, one that includes former NHLers Jakub Jerabek and Martin Marincin.
- Liiga club Kärpät was active this morning, signing a pair of North American forwards, Connor Bunnaman and Trevor Mingoia, to one-year contracts. Bunnaman, 25, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2016 and has since amassed over 50 NHL games and over 200 AHL games in the Flyers and Florida Panthers organizations. He spent last season solely with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, posting his second-most productive season ever in the minors with 16 goals and seven assists for 23 points in 61 games. Mingoia, who’s spent the last five years in Europe after a short-lived North American minor pro career, previously had two productive seasons in the Liiga with KooKoo, recording 64 points in 73 games between 2019 and 2021. Undrafted, the 5-foot-11 winger spent the last two seasons with the DEL’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 07/28/23
Today’s been quite a busy day for player movement around the world of pro hockey, as numerous teams in the many pro leagues are looking to secure quality players for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable moves made in those minor and foreign leagues.
- Minor-league goalie Dylan Ferguson got his first real shot in the NHL last season, starting two games for the Ottawa Senators in March and posting a .940 save percentage. But despite that significant career achievement, Ferguson only played in a total of 15 games in 2022-23, and now he’s headed overseas likely with the hope of seeing more consistent time in the crease. He’s signed a contract with Dynamo Minsk in the KHL, where he will likely battle Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alexei Kolosov for starts next season.
- Former AHL netminder Jussi Olkinoura has collected quite a few team accomplishments in his playing career such as a Champions Hockey League title, an Olympic gold medal, and two World Championship golds. 2022-23 wasn’t his best year, though, as his club team, Brynäs IF, were relegated from the SHL to Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. Olkinoura, 32, won’t remain with Brynäs as they seek promotion, as he’s signed a contract with the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga. Olkinoura has played with the Pelicans before, posting a .910 save percentage in 39 games as their number-one starter in 2018-19. Despite making it all the way to Liiga’s finals the Pelicans were in need of a new starting goalie as their previous one, Patrik Bartošák, signed a two-year deal in Czechia. Now Olkinoura will join 23-year-old Jasper Patrikainen (.905 save percentage in 30 games in 2022-23) to form the Pelicans’ goalie tandem.
- 2008 second-round pick and former Hobey Baker Award finalist Danny Kristo has signed with the EIHL’s Coventry Blaze. The contract completes a transfer from the Sheffield Steelers, an EIHL rival of the Blaze for whom Kristo played the 2022-23 campaign. Although the 33-year-old Minnesota native translated his scoring as a college hockey star at the University of North Dakota to the AHL level (he hit 20 goals in the AHL in three consecutive seasons from 2013-14 to 2015-16) he couldn’t quite do enough to break into the NHL, and he left to play overseas in late 2017. Kristo has since played in Latvia, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Germany, Czechia, and Slovakia, and has now settled in as a quality scorer in the United Kingdom’s top pro league. Kristo scored 12 goals and 30 points for the Steelers last season and will now head to Coventry hoping to help them make a more convincing run in the league’s playoffs.
- Longtime minor league veteran Colton Saucerman‘s return to North America proved to be short-lived, as the 31-year-old right-shot defenseman has signed a contract in England with Sheffield. After featuring in the ECHL since late 2016 and earning 41 total AHL games, Saucerman left for Europe in 2020 to sign with Austria’s HC Innsbruck of the ICEHL. He played well in Austria and earned a deal with HC Kosice in Slovakia, where he would also put together a strong campaign. That got him an ECHL contract with the Allen Americans for 2022-23, and he led their blueliners in scoring with 38 points in 63 games. Now, Saucerman is headed to England for the first time in his career to likely play a significant role on the Steelers’ defense.
- Former San Jose Sharks netminder Alexei Melnichuk has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, the club he was traded to a little over a week ago. Melnichuk, 25, is an undrafted netminder who signed with the Sharks in 2020 and ended up playing nearly 50 games in the AHL for the San Jose Barracuda. He could only manage a .867 save percentage across that sample size in the AHL, meaning he eventually was sent down to the ECHL before heading back to Russia for 2022-23. Melnichuk played bounced between three KHL clubs last season and with this signing he’ll get the chance to fight for some stability, as he’ll battle with former New York Rangers netminder Adam Huska and incumbent starter Ivan Kulbakov (.926 save percentage in 42 KHL games in 2022-23) for time in the crease for Torpedo.
- Former Quinnipac University blueliner and Sharks 2015 fifth-round pick Kārlis Čukste has signed a one-year contract to play in HockeyAllsvenskan with Brynäs IF. Čukste is fresh off of representing his home country of Latvia at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships, helping them on a historic run that earned the hockey-mad country their best-ever performance. The six-foot-three 26-year-old stay-at-home defenseman is entering the fourth season of his professional career, and spent last year earning regular minutes for HC Oceláři Třinec in the Czech Extraliga. Čukste also brings experience from Liiga, the KHL, AHL, and ECHL to the table and will hope to help Brynäs fend off other top HockeyAllsvenskan clubs such as Djurgårdens IF to earn instant promotion back to the SHL.
- Danish international Niklas Andersen, who has represented his home country at two IIHF Men’s World Championships, has left the Fischtown Pinguins to sign with a rival DEL club, the Augsburg Panthers. The 25-year-old forward was a high scorer in two consecutive seasons in the Danish league for Esbjerg before earning his first shot in the DEL with Fischtown. Andersen’s debut season in Germany was exceptional, as he scored 14 goals and 27 points in just 34 games. He’s not matched that total in the past two seasons, though, scoring 11 goals and 22 points in 52 games in 2021-22 and 11 goals and 20 points in 41 games last season. With this signing, he joins an Augsburg team in need of competent veteran talent, as they only narrowly avoided relegation in 2022-23.
- Recently-promoted Slovak Extraliga side HC 19 Humenne have signed former Colorado Avalanche prospect and four-time KHL All-Star Denis Parshin to a deal for the 2022-23 season. Parshin, 37, brings 658 games of KHL experience to the table as well as experience representing Russia in international play. He’s played 82 total games in the Slovak league across three different seasons, all for HC Kosice, including 2022-23 when he scored 28 points in 34 games.
- Physical center James Phelan racked up over 100 penalty minutes in 62 ECHL games for the Trois-Rivières Lions last season, and now he’s headed to Scotland to continue his pro career. He’s signed with the Dundee Stars in the EIHL, bringing nearly 100 games of ECHL experience as well as 47 career AHL games. Phelan hasn’t been much of a scorer at the pro level, but the 26-year-old plays with an edge and has some history of scoring from his days playing major junior hockey in the QMJHL.
- Liiga’s KalPa Kuopio have re-signed two regulars from 2022-23 to their 2023-24 roster: Matyáš Kantner and Anton Karlsson. Karlsson, 30, is a former AHLer with the Cleveland Monsters who logged 49 games for KalPa last season. He’s a former everyday SHLer who ranked eighth among KalPa blueliners averaging 13:41 TOI per game last season. Kantner, 25, is a big winger who transferred mid-season from the Czech Extraliga and scored nine points in 17 regular-season games and three points in KalPa’s playoff series loss to the Pelicans.
- A three-player trade was completed in the ECHL today, with the Tulsa Oilers acquiring Max Kaufman and Tristan Thompson from the Savannah Ghost Pirates in exchange for Alex Gilmour. Gilmour, 27, is a six-foot-five power forward who scored 16 goals and 40 points for Tulsa as an ECHL rookie in 2021-22 but struggled as a sophomore and only scored 18 points in 56 games. The hope for Savannah will be that a change of scenery will unlock the potential Gilmour flashed as a rookie, while in exchange for him Tulsa is adding Kaufman, 27, a former Boston University Terrier who scored 20 points in 57 games last season, and Thompson, 26, an undersized offensive defenseman who led Ghost Pirates defensemen in scoring as a sophomore player with 42 points in 72 games.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 07/26/23
Today’s been quite a busy day for player movement around the world of pro hockey, as numerous teams in the many pro leagues are looking to secure quality players for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable moves made in those minor and foreign leagues.
- Michael Frolík, the 2006 10th overall pick and a veteran of over 850 NHL games has signed with Rytíři Kladno, his hometown team in the Czech Extraliga. This is the second longtime NHL player who has secured his place in Kladno for next season this week, as captain Tomáš Plekanec re-signed with the club on July 24th. Frolík, now 35, last played in North America on a PTO with the St. Louis Blues, though he ultimately failed to make the team in St. Louis and chose to sign with Lausanne in the Swiss National League. This past season Frolík made the move to his home country in Czechia, and ended up scoring 24 points in 48 games for Bílí Tygři Liberec. Now, he’ll join Plekanec as an expected top player for his hometown team in Kladno.
- 182-game NHL veteran Michael Chaput, a longtime NHL-AHL tweener, has had his contract terminated with his KHL club, Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana. Chaput wasn’t available for most of 2022-23, meaning he only played in 10 games in the KHL, scoring three goals. It was his first campaign overseas after a long pro career in the NHL and AHL, and as recently as 2021-22 Chaput was a productive AHLer. He scored 33 points in 57 games for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins that year and could potentially return to the AHL now that he’s a free agent.
- Yesterday, the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears signed a top-scoring ECHL rookie to a one-year AHL contract. The team signed 25-year-old former Yale University and UConn center Kevin O’Neil, rewarding him with an AHL contract after he scored 50 points in 53 games for their ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays. The five-foot-eleven center was never all that productive playing college hockey (he scored 60 points in 130 career games) but ever since making his pro debut he’s been on a roll. He got a ten-game cameo late last season with the Stingrays and scored 10 points, and now has scored at a near point-per-game rate his rookie year while also earning two AHL call-ups. The real test for this fall will be seeing if he can push for a more regular spot in the AHL with Hershey, and now with this contract he’ll have the chance to do just that.
- The AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, signed former UConn and Notre Dame captain Adam Karashik to a one-year AHL contract extension, securing his place with the team for 2023-24. 2022-23 was Karashik’s first full season as a professional hockey player, and although he began in the ECHL by the time he was called up to Lehigh Valley in early January he didn’t look back. Karashik was a regular in the Phantoms’ lineup for both February and March, and ended his season with 23 games played in the AHL. This extension gives Karashik the chance to continue establishing himself as a regular at the AHL level.
- The Rochester Americans, AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres, have signed ECHL defenseman Brandon Fortunato to a one-year AHL contract. Fortunato, 27, spent last season with the ECHL’s Jacksonville IceMen, scoring 23 points in 48 games. Fortunato in total has played in over 130 ECHL games and has played in 23 AHL games, though the most recent were in 2021-22.
- 28-year-old winger Jimmy Soper successfully worked his way from the fourth-tier SPHL to the ECHL in 2021-22, going from 22 points in 47 games with the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem to an impressive 43 points in 69 games with the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers. Although Soper’s time in Tulsa ended last season via a trade to the Rapid City Rush, Soper played well enough to secure his spot in the ECHL for next season. He’s signed a one-year contract extension with the Rush after scoring 19 points in 28 games there, and now based on how productive he’s been in the ECHL over the past two seasons it seems he may have put the SPHL firmly in the past of his career.
- St. Cloud State defenseman Ondřej Trejbal is turning pro, having finished his four-year career in college hockey. The 24-year-old Czech blueliner will bring some size (six-foot-three) and nearly 130 games of NCAA experience to his first pro destination: Liiga’s SaiPa. The club announced a one-year contract for Trejbal containing a trial period until September 2023 as well as a club option to extend the contract through next season as well. It’ll be a major step up in competition level for Trejbal to go from playing college hockey against his peers to Liiga hockey against seasoned professionals, though it’ll also be a major opportunity for him to start his pro career in an exceptional league. The team also announced that Finnish defenseman Atso Lehtinen, who finished 2022-23 with SaiPa but spent most of the season in second-tier Mestis, would not see his tryout period result in a full-time contract.
- 22-year-old former Erie Otters star Maxim Golod finished his third season as a full-time pro player on a low note, scoring just one point in his final five games. He couldn’t quite build up momentum with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel the same way he did with the Tulsa Oilers, where he scored 43 points in 42 games, and now he’s made the decision to sign in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan rather than return to the ECHL. He’s signed with the Nybro Vikings and the hope will be for him to be a top offensive player just as he was at times in the OHL and ECHL.
- 29-year-old former ECHL First-Team All-Star Patrick Watling is transferring from Slovakia to the United Kingdom. The center has signed a one-year deal with the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers, and according to the team release will pursue an MBA degree at a local university while also playing for the Steelers. Watling hasn’t yet played in the EIHL, and 2022-23 was his first as an overseas pro player, but given the fact that he was relatively productive in Slovakia (30 points in 34 games across two teams) and scored a whopping 77 points in 55 games for the Wheeling Nailers in his most recent AHL season, he’ll be a likely candidate to compete for the scoring lead for the Steelers.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 07/21/23
Although it’s generally a slow period for player movement in the NHL as teams hone in on arbitration cases, that isn’t the case for clubs in minor and overseas professional leagues. Just as the Maple Leafs begin an arbitration hearing with netminder Ilya Samsonov (no pre-arbitration agreement could be reached, according to The Hockey News’ David Alter) teams in quite a few leagues across the world, including the German DEL in particular, have been active making moves. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable ones here.
- 2014 fifth-overall pick Michael Dal Colle is nearing a contract with the DEL’s Iserlohn Roosters, according to a report from Eishockey News in Germany. Dal Colle, 27, is a former top prospect who began his European pro career last season with TPS Turku in the Finnish Liiga. Dal Colle wasn’t horrible, but he only managed four goals and a total of 19 points in 36 games for Turku, and has now ended his association with the club at one year. The former AHL All-Star now heads to the Roosters, who finished the 2022-23 campaign 13th in the DEL standings.
- Another forward with some NHL games on his resume rumored to be nearing a contract in the DEL is Joseph Cramarossa, a former Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild player. Cramarossa split last season between the Wild organization and Adler Mannheim in the DEL. He played with the Wild in both Iowa and Minnesota until he was placed on unconditional waivers so he could join Mannheim. After scoring eight points in 15 regular-season games and just one point in seven postseason games, Cramarossa has made the choice to continue in the DEL and join the Frankfurt Lions, a mid-table team from last season.
- 2011 12th overall pick Ryan Murphy has signed a contract with EHC Red Bull Salzburg of the Central European ICEHL, according to a team announcement. This signing confirms Murphy will spend a second year playing in Europe since he last played in North America. Murphy, a 30-year-old defenseman, spent last season with Ufa Salavat Yulayev in the KHL, scoring 17 points in 43 games and earning the right to play in the KHL All-Star Game. Murphy was the 2020-21 AHL Defenseman of the Year and brings a stellar resume (including 175 games of NHL experience) to Austria and the defending ICEHL champions.
- 25-year-old former NCAA winger Kohen Olischefski began this season with the hope of establishing himself in the AHL and earning a full-time spot with the Rochester Americans. While he finished the year playing postseason games for the Amerks, Olischefski spent most of the season in the ECHL with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Olischefski could only manage two goals in 16 AHL games and scored 26 points in 43 ECHL games. Now, the versatile forward has signed a contract with Dusseldorf EG in the DEL, choosing to continue his pro career overseas after his rookie campaign in North America.
- EHC Red Bull Munich, the defending DEL Champions, have signed former Detroit Red Wing Adam Almquist. The move replaces former AHL and DEL Defenseman of the Year Zach Redmond, who agreed to a mutual contract termination after a season spent playing a significant role on Munich’s blueline. The 32-year-old Almquist last played in North America in 2013-14, scoring 53 points in 73 games for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and earning two games with the Red Wings. He scored his first (and only, to this date) NHL goal that season, before moving on to have a strong pro career in Europe with stops in Sweden, Switzerland, Belarus, and Russia.
- Alexandre Grenier, a former quality prospect in the Vancouver Canucks system, has signed with the Cologne Sharks in the DEL. The 31-year-old 2011 90th overall pick is a two-time AHL All-Star who last played in North America in 2018-19 with his hometown Laval Rocket. He’s had a successful run overseas since then, including a season with Langnau in Switzerland that saw him post 48 points in 47 games. Grenier is no stranger to the DEL, either, and has 84 points in 99 career games in Germany’s top league.
- Elias Rosén, cousin of Buffalo Sabres first-rounder Isak Rosén, has signed with the Vaxjo Lakers in the SHL, the defending Swedish champions. Rosen wrapped up a four-year collegiate career with Bemidji State University last season and made his pro debut on an ATO with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. The five-foot-ten left-shot defenseman was an accomplished player in college, earning First-Team All-Star honors in his conference for three consecutive years, including his 2020-21 campaign that saw him named conference Defensive Player of the Year. He acquitted himself well in a limited sample size of games with Kansas City, scoring nine points in 14 games, and has now earned a shot to establish himself with a top team in one of the best leagues outside the NHL.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 06/30/23
We’re in the heart of the NHL offseason now, with free agency set to open tomorrow. As NHL clubs ready for the free agent frenzy tomorrow, numerous clubs in minor and foreign leagues are signing players and completing transactions. We’ll keep track of those here.
- Four-time NHL 15-goal scorer Brett Connolly has signed with SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, leaving his former club HC Lugano after one season. The 31-year-old 2010 sixth-overall pick scored 12 goals and 38 points in 45 games for Lugano, and now joins former NHLer Victor Rask on a club set to play in the Champions Hockey League next season.
- Zaccharya Wisdom, a prospect who was drafted by the Seattle Kraken 212th overall yesterday, has committed to Colorado College to play NCAA hockey. He’ll join NHL draft picks such as Noah Laba of the New York Rangers, and will hope to carry over the success of his final USHL season (28 goals, 48 points) to his collegiate career.
- Washington Capitals 2021 fifth-round pick Haakon Hanelt has signed a contract with the German DEL’s Cologne Sharks. The Capitals have the exclusive rights to sign Hanelt until June 1st, 2025, and will now track his development in a men’s pro league. Hanelt spent the last two seasons with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL, and this past year scored 18 points in 34 games.
- Veteran Liiga defenseman Mikko Niemela has signed with the Lahti Pelicans, a club he played six games with in 2014-15. Niemela is a three-time Liiga champion who has played over 500 games in Finland’s top league, meaning he’ll bring a wealth of experience to the blueline of Liiga’s runner-ups. Niemela split last season between Karpat in Liiga and Brynas in the SHL, and although he played well he could not save Brynas from relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan, and now he heads back to Liiga.
- ECHL All-Star forward Mathew Santos has signed a deal to play in Slovakia next season, per a social media post from his new team HK Dukla Michalovce. Santos is a 28-year-old Canadian winger who has been an electric scorer in two seasons with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. He’s scored 103 points in 91 games for Maine, earning AHL call-ups for three teams, including 17 games with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. He only scored one point in that 17-game span, though, and now with his chances at climbing the North American pro hockey ladder potentially drying up, he’ll head to an overseas club for the first time.
- Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect David Gilbert will not be returning to EIHL Champions Belfast Giants for next season, according to the team. The 32-year-old forward signed with Belfast a year ago after a high-scoring year with Rouen in France’s Ligue Magnus. Gilbert is a former high-scoring ECHLer who has 54 games of AHL action on his resume, and career highlights that include a championship in Belfast as well as a three-year stint in Czechia that included winning his club promotion to the country’s top league.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 6/22/23
We’re now less than a week away from the draft. Trades and extensions are set to dominate the news wire over the coming weeks, but we’re still taking a moment to check in on some notable moves outside of the NHL. Today’s notable minor transactions will be displayed here:
- Former Anaheim Ducks winger Giovanni Fiore is on the move overseas, joining KHL club Admiral Vladivostok on a one-year deal for 2023-24. Since leaving the North American circuit in 2020, the Canadian had three productive seasons in Germany with the DEL’s Eisbaren Berlin, totaling 46 goals and 86 points in 133 games. An undrafted free agent signing out of the QMJHL by the Ducks, Fiore played his sole NHL game back in 2017-18, his first season of pro hockey.
- Ex-Los Angeles Kings prospect Cole Hults will play in his second European league in as many years, signing a one-year deal with Slovak club HKM Zvolen. A 2017 fifth-round pick, the bruising two-way defender had a very successful stint at Penn State before turning pro, where, unfortunately, his offense never translated. He spent just one season in the Kings organization, recording five points in 19 games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign before he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2021. The team opted not to qualify him when his contract expired a year later, and he continued his pro career overseas with Italian club HC Bolzano, where he dominated defensively in the ICEHL.
- 2018 Stanley Cup Champion Shane Gersich won the Calder Cup in dramatic fashion last night, and now could be headed to play in Europe for the first time in his career. The 26-year-old longtime Washington Capitals farmhand reportedly has an agreement with Vasteras IK, a team in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, per SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson. Gersich has 113 points in 277 career AHL games across five seasons but had fallen out of the regular lineup in Hershey, only playing in six total playoff contests.
- After fifteen seasons with the Vaxjo Lakers, where he helped the club earn their promotion from the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan, four SHL titles, and reach the Champions Hockey League final, team captain Erik Josefsson, 36, has announced his retirement. A staple for a consistently competitive SHL side for the past fifteen years, Josefsson played over 750 games for Vaxjo and scored nearly 150 points at the top level of Swedish hockey. He captained them to a league championship this spring and now retires as the club’s all-time leader in games played.
- Former Buffalo Sabre Nick Baptiste has signed a one-year contract with reigning Liiga and Champions Hockey League champions Tappara Tampere. Baptiste heads to Nokia Arena from Cologne in the DEL, where he scored 14 goals and 34 points in 46 games. This won’t be Baptiste’s first time playing in Tampere, as he scored 21 goals and 35 points for Tappara’s neighbors, Ilves Tampere, in 2021-22. Baptiste last played in North America in 2020-21 with the AHL’s Texas Stars, scoring 12 goals and 23 points in 34 games in Cedar Park.
- 2014 Dallas Stars second-round pick Brett Pollock had an extremely successful run with Slovakia’s HC Kosice after his mid-season transfer from the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star, and now he’s extended his contract with Kosice. Pollock left China to sign in Slovakia in December of last season and made an instant impact. He scored 11 goals and 19 points in 24 regular-season contests and led Kosice to a Slovakian championship leading their league’s playoffs in goals with seven in 17 games. Pollock is a former ECHL All-Star who has found success as a journeyman scorer in recent years, with stops in Germany, Sweden, and China. He last played in North America in 2019-20 in the ECHL with the Allen Americans and will now get some more stability and continuity in his career thanks to this extension with Kosice.
- Former University of Denver star defenseman Joey Laleggia signed a two-year contract with Switzerland’s HC Lugano, joining a whole host of former NHLers such as Mikko Koskinen, Markus Granlund, and more. While Laleggia never made the NHL himself, he was a productive offensive blueliner at the AHL level and a highly-decorated player in his days in the NCAA. He was a Hobey Baker Award finalist and was his conference’s player of the year. He has played the entirety of his overseas pro career in the SHL, and led all HV71 blueliners with 33 points in 40 games last season.
- While Anaheim Ducks prospect Sasha Pastujov prepares to make his professional debut in North America, his two brothers Nick Pastujov and Michael Pastujov have made the choice to continue their pro careers overseas. The pair have signed contracts with the ICEHL’s Pioneers Vorarlberg, joining the league’s worst-performing club from last season. Pioneers struggled mightily to score goals last season, with their season-long total of 92 goals, well below the league-average mark of 140. The hope is that the Pastujov brothers can help in that regard, as Nick captained the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks and scored 35 points in 42 games last season while Michael contributed a solid 26 points in 37 games for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 06/16/23
The NHL offseason is beginning to ramp up now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded, and today saw the Vancouver Canucks make a major move by buying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The New York Rangers also took care of business today with a defenseman of their own, Zac Jones, inking him to a two-year extension. As teams across the hockey world chip away at their offseason work, we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.
- Former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan signed a two-year contract with Liiga runner-ups Lahti Pelicans. Jordan is fresh off of representing Czechia at the IIHF Men’s World Championships where he helped his country advance past the group stage, before being eliminated by the United States. He split this past season between the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk and Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in the Swiss National League. He scored a combined 15 points in 41 games and with the Pelicans will hope to help them go on another long playoff run.
- 2019-20 ECHL Defenseman of the Year Alex Breton has signed a one-year contract extension with HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. The 25-year-old former Gatineau Olympiques captain was an instant-impact player in the ECHL after aging out of Canadian junior hockey, but he couldn’t quite gain a foothold in the AHL in PTO opportunities with two teams. In 2020 Breton made the choice to head overseas to play in Slovakia, and in 2021 he was traded to HC Slovan Bratislava, a club in the Slovak capital. That trade was a significant opportunity for him and he ended the year a Slovak champion, paving his way back to North America with the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL. After scoring 25 points in 30 games Breton left for Slovakia once again, signing with HC Kosice in February. He won a second Slovak championship of his career this spring, and will now extend his stay in Kosice another season.
- Cody Kunyk, a star forward in the Finnish Liiga for five of the last six seasons has decided on a new destination to continue his pro career: Germany. Kunyk signed a contract with the Frankfurt Lions, and after scoring 10 goals and 33 points in 60 games for Karpat this past season he’ll likely be a go-to offensive option for Frankfurt. Kunyk has one NHL game on his resume, a 2013-14 contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last played in North America in 2017-18 with the now-defunct Alaska Aces of the ECHL and the Utica Comets of the AHL.
- Former San Jose Sharks prospect Jake Kupsky is headed overseas for the next stop in his professional career, signing a contract with HKM Zvolen in Slovakia. Kupsky, a 27-year-old netminder who was a 2015 seventh-round pick of San Jose played in 38 games for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL last season and made the ECHL’s All-Star game. But lost his role as the team’s main starter this past campaign as Idaho went on a historic run of regular-season success. He did earn the first AHL call-up of his career, though, and will look to carry on that momentum over in Slovakia.
- Two-time Liiga champion Jere Karjalainen is ending his return to Finland’s top league after one year, as he’s inked a contract with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. Karjalainen was a staple in the top-six for Liiga’s Tappara Tampere from 2014-2020, helping them win back-to-back titles. He was a leading scorer for them in 2019-20 with 49 points in 57 games, and parlayed that success into a two-year run in the KHL. He spent this past season with Lukko in Liiga and now will head to Germany for the first time in his pro career.
- 32-year-old defenseman Ralfs Freibergs helped lead Latvia to a historic Bronze Medal win at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month, and now he’s signed with a new team a few weeks later. Freibergs signed a deal with HK Mountfield in the Czech league, where he has nearly 250 games of experience. Freibergs scored a crucial opening goal to help Lavtia defeat Switzerland at World’s and will hope to have similarly clutch moments in Czechia with his new club.
- The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have acquired 25-year-old defenseman Chris Perna from the Tulsa Oilers. The team cited a December 2022 trade that sent forward Dante Sherriff to Tulsa in exchange for future considerations as the return for the deal, with Perna serving as the “future considerations” Orlando received for Sherriff. Perna made his pro debut this past season with the Oilers, skating in 54 games and scoring eight points. He was a regular face on a Tulsa team that had a difficult 2022-23 and is joining a Solar Bears team that, like Tulsa, is hoping to have a bounce-back season.
Minor Transactions: 06/15/23
With the Stanley Cup Final now concluded there remains just one major hockey competition left to be completed before the offseason can truly begin. The AHL’s Calder Cup Finals continue tonight as the Seattle Kraken’s affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds take on the Hershey Bears, affiliates of the Washington Capitals. After Joey Daccord‘s back-to-back shutout performances brought Coachella Valley to a 2-0 lead, Hershey managed to weather a late comeback and take a massive overtime victory on home ice, tightening the series considerably.
As these two teams battle for AHL supremacy clubs across the hockey world are working on assembling a roster they hope can bring them a championship by this time next year. We’ll keep track of notable transactions here.
- Three-time Liiga champion Mikko Niemela has had his contract with Karpat terminated by mutual agreement. Niemela had been with Karpat since he was a youth player, with his first games on record coming in 2005-06 at the U16 level. Save for a few loan spells to other clubs he’s been a consistent presence on their blueline and in total has played over 500 games at Finland’s highest level of hockey across 13 seasons. He finished this past season with Brynas IF in the SHL where he was unable to help them avoid relegation to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. Now, at 32 years old, Niemela will look for a new opportunity to continue his long European pro career.
- Connor McCarthy, an ECAC First-Team All-Star at Clarkson University is heading overseas for the first time in his professional career. The massive six-foot-seven blueliner tried his hand at North American pro hockey in the New York Islanders’ minor league system, serving as a regular for their ECHL affiliate, the Worcester Railers, for the past two seasons. While he managed to get into 10 AHL games in 2021-22 he only got into two this past campaign and has now decided to sign with HC Banska Bystrica of Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga.
- The SHL’s IK Oskarshamn have announced a two-year contract extension with blueliner Niclas Burstrom, a veteran of 543 games in Sweden’s top tier of hockey. The five-foot-eight defenseman won the SHL’s Salming Trophy, awarded to Swedish defenseman of the year, in 2015-16 and just recently finished his first campaign in Oskarshamn. He scored one goal and 12 points in 46 games and will now hope to help his club return to the SHL playoffs after a seventh-place 2022-23 finish.
- Liiga club SaiPa and forward Tino Metsavainio have mutually agreed to terminate the player’s contract, per a team announcement. Metsavainio enjoyed a breakout season in Liiga’s top league quickly after signing with SaiPa, scoring a career-high 20 points in 49 games. His production declined steeply this year, though, and he finished with eight points in 55 games – less than half of his prior total. With that disappointing campaign now in his rear-view mirror Metsavainio is now a free agent and able to sign elsewhere for a fresh start.
- Just one year after he led the DEL in scoring by players under 23 years old, German forward Tim Wohlgemuth has had his contract terminated with Adler Mannheim by mutual agreement. Wohlgemuth’s offensive production declined from 35 points in 2021-22 to 24 this past season, and it seems a change of scenery is in order as a result. Wohlgemuth’s playoff performance was particularly disappointing as he only managed one point in 10 games, a solid decline from his prior performances when he was a consistent contributor. Now he’ll likely land with another DEL team and look to revive the momentum he had been building in past years.
- Anrei Hakulinen, captain of Liiga’s Lukko for the past two seasons, has signed with the DEL’s Augsburger Panther. It’s a major signing for the German side as Hakulinen ranked second in scoring for Lukko this past year and helped them reach third place on Liiga’s regular-season table. Now he’ll join a DEL side that ranked second-to-last in 2022-23 and will likely serve as a major boost to their odds of avoiding relegation once again.
- The club that got relegated instead of Augsburg, the Bietigheim Steelers, have lost another player to a surviving DEL team: 21-year-old Robert Kneisler. Kneisler joins Grizzlys Wolfsburg, semifinalists these past playoffs. He only managed seven points in 53 games for the Steelers in 2022-23 but should help round out the depth of Wolfsburg’s roster as they hope to take the next step in the playoffs in 2023-24.
- While MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik were promoted to the SHL this spring with a dramatic seven-game victory over Djurgarden, 28-year-old defenseman Josef Ingman won’t be following them into Sweden’s top pro hockey league. Ingman has signed with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Ostersunds IK, a club that ranked among the worst teams in Sweden’s second tier. He’ll likely play a major role on their blueline and hope to repeat the strong form he displayed in 2022-23, a year he finished with a two-assist performance in Game Seven against Djurgarden.
- The reigning Slovak champions, HC Kosice, have gotten a bit stronger, poaching forward Filip Krivosik from HK Nitra. Krivosik has played quite well since returning to Slovakia after a half-decade in Finland, scoring 50 points across two seasons and 18 points in 27 combined playoff games. The big six-foot-three forward, 24, will be afforded a significant opportunity in Kosice and has been signed to help the club win a tenth Extraliga title.
- Austin Farley, once among the top first-year scorers in college hockey, has signed a one-year contract extension with Slovakia’s HC Nove Zamsky. The former University of Minnesota-Duluth winger enjoyed a breakout campaign in Czechia, scoring 15 goals and 45 points in 48 games. Farley last played in North America in 2020-21, as he got into 19 games with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks but only managed three points. He’s had more success on European ice and now is extending his stay in Europe for another season with this contract extension.
Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Wallteri Merelä
The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Waltteri Merelä to a one-year, two-way contract, the team said Monday. It’s the team’s first undrafted free agent signing of the offseason.
Merelä, 24, spent 2022-23 with Liiga club Tappara, recording 15 goals and 33 points in 41 games while capturing his second consecutive Liiga championship. The right-winger was under contract with Tappara for 2023-24 but will now head stateside.
Merelä is quite the late bloomer, not even getting a look in Finland’s U20 league during his draft year, 2015-16. He’s pushed his development into overdrive since, however, and has showcased himself as one of the top U25 forwards in the Liiga.
He briefly appeared for Finland at this year’s Men’s World Championship, scoring a goal in one appearance, a 7-1 win against Hungary.
Merelä does have a decent chance to crack Tampa’s opening night roster, with some holes bound to be created in their forward corps by free-agent departures. Alex Killorn, Corey Perry, and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare are all pending unrestricted free agents and could either retire or price themselves out of a return.
He has proper size at 6-foot-2 and 196 pounds, and he does have a fair amount of physicality to his game. At first glance, he appears well-suited for a bottom-six role in head coach Jon Cooper’s system.