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Minor Transactions: 01/18/21

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The NHL season is underway and at the top level teams are keeping busy merely by swapping players between the active roster and taxi squad. However, with AHL training camps starting up, there has also been a flurry of activity from the lower levels. There also continue to be players making the move overseas, by both signing and loan. Keep up with all of the action right here:

  • In addition to confirming the previously reported signings of Ryan Fitzgerald, Tanner MacMaster, and Zane McIntyre, the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms have added another netminder, announcing the signing of Eamon McAdam. McAdam, 26, is a Pennsylvania native and a Penn State product, so he should feel right at home with the Philadelphia Flyers’ affiliate. McAdam had been playing with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen to begin the season.
  • The Rochester Americans announced that they have inked defenseman Dylan Blujus to a one-year AHL contract. The former Tampa Bay Lightning prospect is a solid stay-at-home defender who has a +24 rating in 274 AHL games over six pro seasons.
  • The San Jose Barracuda have recalled a number of players from the ECHL’s Allen Americans for the start of training camp, including Sharks prospect Jacob McGrew. McGrew got an early start to his first pro season down in the ECHL after missing all but six games of his final WHL campaign due to injury. The Sharks already trusted McGrew’s ability enough to give him an entry-level contract and after a strong scoring start in Allen, they could let him fight for a top-six role with the Barracuda.
  • After five seasons in the AHL, former Edmonton Oilers prospect Joey LaLeggia is headed overseas. The 28-year-old has signed with he SHL’s Rogle BK for the remainder of the season, the team announced. LaLeggia, who was a standout on defense in the NCAA with the University of Denver, had shifted to forward in the pros. It remains to be seen how the versatile veteran will be used in Sweden.
  • Another name making the move to Europe is 2021 NHL Draft prospect Brett Harrison. The potential first-round pick this summer has yet to play this season and the OHL’s Oshawa Generals have thus agreed to loan him to KOOVEE of the Finnish minor league Metsis, his new club announced. The two-way center will look to improve his draft stock by playing against pros, possibly for the rest of the year.

Islanders Loan Josh Ho-Sang To The SHL

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Saturday: The Islanders officially announced (Twitter link) that Ho-Sang has been loaned to Orebro.

Friday: After not being invited to training camp and clearing waivers, Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang has a place to play this season but it’s not New York’s AHL affiliate in Bridgeport.  Instead, the team has loaned him to Orebro of the SHL, reports Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link).  The agreement will be in place for the duration of the season overseas although Ho-Sang will be eligible to return to North America after the SHL playoffs are finished.

It has been a rocky road for the 24-year-old to say the least.  While he was a quality offensive player back in junior, it has failed to materialize into success at the professional level.  He has just 53 career NHL games under his belt where he has seven goals and 17 assists and after clearing waivers last year, he held out of reporting to the minors in the hopes of forcing a trade.  That didn’t occur and he eventually reported to the Sound Tigers before being flipped to San Antonio before the AHL trade deadline in a move that was believed to end his tenure with the Islanders.

Clearly that didn’t happen as the team tendered Ho-Sang a qualifying offer and avoided arbitration in late-October with a one-year, two-way deal worth $700K in the NHL and $225K in the minors.  With both sides agreeing already that it’s better for him to not be around the team, it’s hard to imagine there will be another contract for him with the Isles beyond this one.

Minor Transactions: 01/15/21

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The NHL moves will come fast and furious now that the season has begun, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop keeping an eye on overseas transactions. This page will be updated throughout the day with all the notable minor moves around the world of hockey.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have moved Boo Nieves to the AHL as minor league camps open after he was signed and cleared waivers earlier this week. The 26-year-old forward will serve as valuable depth for a team looking to take another run at the Stanley Cup.
  • Theodor Niederbach, a second-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings, has been extended by Frolunda and then loaned to MODO for the rest of the season. The Swedish junior league that Niederbach had been playing in has shut down the rest of their season, meaning this was one of the only ways he could continue to get playing time.
  • Marko Dano has been recalled from loan by the Winnipeg Jets and assigned to the Manitoba Moose for AHL training camp. The depth forward was playing for Trencin Dukla in Slovakia, where he had three points in two games.

Minor Transactions: 01/14/21

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The season has started and minor moves are sure to come down the pipeline in the coming days, especially when AHL training camps get underway tomorrow. Even now professional tryouts are being ended and rosters are being finalized. We’ll keep track of all the notable names right here.

  • The San Jose Barracuda have signed three players to professional tryouts for AHL camp, bringing in Robbie Russo, Chaz Reddekopp, and Samuel Harvey. Russo, 27, is the only one with any NHL experience and actually very surprisingly still a free agent given his AHL history. The right-handed defenseman is a dangerous offensive weapon that routinely scores 30+ points in the AHL, though that number did drop to just 19 in a shortened 2019-20 season.
  • TSN reported yesterday that several NHL PTOs had been ended, including three with the Calgary Flames. Brett Ritchie, Michael Stone and Garret Sparks were all in Flames camp, but it only seems as though Sparks has a real landing spot. The veteran goaltender is back with the Orlando Solar Bears for the time being, where he already played one game in December.
  • Three Philadelphia Flyers prospects are on their way back from overseas, as David Kase, Maksim Sushko, and Linus Hogberg have all been recalled from loan and assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Kase, 23, played in six games for the Flyers last season, scoring his first NHL goal in the process. He’s been dominating in the Czech league for the early part of this season, recording 25 points in 27 games. Sushko, 21, had five points in 30 games for Dynamo Minsk of the KHL so far, while Linus Hogberg had 12 points in 27 games for Vita Hasten of the Swedish second tier.

Minor Transactions: 01/11/21

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On a day that featured a record number of waiver placements, a long list of training camp cuts, and several NHL signings, anything else may seem especially “minor”. However, other transactions are still being made both at the NHL level and elsewhere. As the AHL eyes its return early next month, those roster have begun to get some extra attention, while action (and inaction) at the junior level continues to result in moves regarding NHL prospects. Here are the notable moves made today:

  • The Florida Panthers have finally recalled first-year pro prospect Alec Rauhauser from his overseas loan. The Bowling Green product signed with Florida back in March, but made his pro debut this season in Hungary of all places with DVTK Jegesmedvek of the Slovakian Extraliga. The Panthers opted not to invite Rauhauser to NHL training camp and to instead leave him in Europe. However, after 22 games with DVTK, Rauhauser is headed home. The club announced that the big defenseman has been assigned to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, the affiliate that the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will share this season.
  • Rauhauser’s DVTK teammate Haralds Egle is also on the move to the AHL, per the same announcement. The former Clarkson standout scorer had signed with the Manitoba Moose in April and was also on loan in Hungary. The parent club of the Moose, the Winnipeg Jets, will certainly be keeping a close eye on Egle in his first pro season, as the skilled winger was one of the top-scoring players in the NCAA over the past two seasons.
  • Chad Yetman will get a shot with the Chicago Blackhawks organization this season just months after being drafted. A sixth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, the overage forward has signed an AHL contract with the Rockford Ice Hogs for the coming campaign, the team announced. A prolific scorer with the OHL’s Erie Otters in 2019-20, Yetman is coming off a 43-goal, 74-point season to wrap up his junior career and hoping that ability translates to the pro game.
  • Another 2020 draft pick, Minnesota Wild fifth-rounder Pavel Novak, is also on the move. Only this is somewhat of a promotion within a loan, rather than something simple like a signing. Novak’s junior club, the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, have announced that he has been loaned to Motor Ceske Budejovice of the Czech Extraliga. The Czech native had already been playing with HC Stadion Litomerice on loan from Kelowna, but has been promoted from the second-tier team to the top club, technically necessitating a second loan. With the WHL looking to return for a shortened season later next month, Novak may still be on the move yet again this season.

Red Wings Loan Filip Larsson To Denmark

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Red Wings goaltending prospect Filip Larsson won’t be coming back to North America after all.  After being loaned to Almtuna in Sweden to start the season, he was expected to come back and battle for playing time in the AHL with Grand Rapids.  That isn’t the plan anymore, as the Metal Ligaen in Denmark announced that Detroit has loaned the netminder to Frederikshavn for the remainder of the season.

The 22-year-old played in six games in the Allsvenskan this season, posting a 3.54 GAA along with a .883 SV%, numbers that weren’t going to give him any momentum heading into AHL training camp.  And after splitting last season between Grand Rapids and ECHL Toledo, it certainly looks as if he would have been the odd one out, especially with six other goalies under contract.

Viewed as a potential higher-end prospect after a dominant freshman season with Denver of the NCAA in 2018-19, things haven’t gone as well for Larsson since then.  But at his age, playing time is critical and he will have to head over to Denmark to get a chance for more game action.  He’s expected to report to his new team early next week.

Egor Afanasyev Loaned Back To KHL

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After finishing in fourth place at the World Junior Championship, Egor Afanasyev is on his way back to the KHL. The Nashville Predators have loaned the young forward back to CSKA Moscow, where he had been playing earlier this season.

Afanasyev, 19, was the 45th overall selection in the 2019 draft after dominating the competition in the USHL. He played for the Windsor Spitfires in 2019-20 and once again showed his impressive blend of power and skill, scoring 31 goals and 67 points in 62 games. The 6’3″ winger is a force when he comes flying down the wall and should be a good fit in the North American professional game when he eventually comes over.

For now, he’ll continue his development in Russia where he had three points in four KHL games and a pair of goals in two MHL games before joining the national junior team. Since Afanasyev won’t turn 20 until later this month, his entry-level contract (signed in 2019), should slide again and kick in for the 2021-22 season. That is of course he makes a late-season debut on the Predators and plays in seven games, but that seems an unlikely scenario at this point.

Prospect Notes: Lodnia, Khovanov, Kravtsov, Andersson

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A pair of Minnesota Wild forward prospects currently on loan in Russia will go different ways for the rest of the season. Ivan Lodnia, the team’s third-round pick in 2017, will leave the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk to return to North America in time for the Iowa Wild’s AHL camp later this month, reports The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Lodnia is in his first pro season after five years in the OHL and has seven points through 27 KHL games thus far. The skilled American forward is expected to spend the rest of his season in the AHL, but could push for an NHL look late in the year if he impresses with Iowa. Meanwhile, 2018 third-round pick Alexander Khovanov will stay in Russia for the rest of the year. Currently on loan to the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan, who in turn have loaned him to the minor league VHL, Khovanov has 15 points in 16 VHL games after getting blanked though seven KHL games. Also a first-year pro, Khovanov scored 99 points in the QMJHL last year but is not as far along in his development as Lodnia and can take the rest of the year to work on his game in his native Russia.

  • As expected, New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton has confirmed to the media that prospect forward Vitali Kravtsov will remain in Russia through the end of the KHL season. Kravtsov is currently on loan to his longtime KHL club Traktor Chelyabinsk and he is currently finding success with 12 goals and 17 points in 34 games. Gorton stated that the team felt Kravtsov’s development was better served by letting him play out the KHL season given this success. However, the team will explore bringing Kravtsov back once the KHL season is complete. The 21-year-old Kravtsov, the No. 9 overall pick in 2018, played in 39 games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack last season but has yet to make his NHL debut.
  • A teammate of Kravtsov’s in Hartford early last year, Lias Andersson also finished the season in Europe. Andersson tells The Los Angeles Times’ Jack Harris that he had planned to spend the entire 2020-21 season back in Sweden with the SHL’s HV71. However, an off-season trade from the New York Rangers to the Los Angeles Kings changed his mind. Andersson now plans to spend the whole season in North America, regardless of his role within his new organization. For what it’s worth, Andersson notched 11 points in 19 games while on loan to HV71 so far this season and personally feels that his game has improved, so perhaps he can finally carve out a regular NHL role with the young Kings squad.

Nashville Predators Recall Three From European Loans

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The Nashville Predators have recalled Eeli Tolvanen, Yakov Trenin, and Connor Ingram from their overseas loans, with training camp set to start in a few days.

Tolvanen, 21, had been playing with Jokerit in the KHL once again, this time scoring 13 points in 25 games. That’s a much slower pace than he set in 2017-18 when he was the talk of the hockey world, tallying 25 goals and 43 points in 60 total games with the Finnish club. Given how, for lack of a better term, average his two seasons in North America have gone since, the depressed offensive totals this year are a little bit concerning. Still, the Predators have a lot of faith in the 2017 first-round pick and he should receive another shot at making the NHL squad.

Trenin, 23, is one of the players he might have to beat out, though he doesn’t play the same type of game. The 2015 second-round pick worked his way through several years in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Admirals before making his NHL debut in 2019-20, suiting up 21 times for Nashville. He’s been playing with SKA St. Petersburg this season, where he has seven points in 21 games. Unlike Tolvanen however, Trenin is not waiver-exempt any longer and would need to clear to even head to the taxi squad, perhaps giving him a leg up for the roster competition.

Ingram, 23, is one of the league’s more intriguing goaltending prospects. Despite dominating at almost every level so far, he mysteriously flamed out of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and was sent to the Predators for a 2021 seventh-round pick (in 2019 mind you). He was one of the best goaltenders in the AHL once again last season, posting a 21-5-5 record and a .933 save percentage, leading to a three-year contract extension in March. Ingram has been playing in the Swedish second tier, but will likely be the starter for Milwaukee again as he is still waiver-exempt.

Roland McKeown Clears Waivers

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December 31: McKeown has cleared waivers and can continue to play overseas.

December 30: The march to the regular season continues, this time with the Carolina Hurricanes placing a depth defenseman on waivers. Roland McKeown finds himself there today, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, just a few days after signing his new one-year, two-way deal. McKeown has been loaned out to the SHL for the season and needed to clear waivers to remain overseas.

In a normal year, McKeown might be in danger of being claimed by a rebuilding team around the league. The 24-year-old defenseman has put up several successful seasons in the AHL after being a second-round pick in 2014, even spending ten games with the Hurricanes in 2017-18. In this unique campaign though, it seems unlikely that anyone would use a claim that would force him back from Sweden.

The fact that Carolina decided to send McKeown overseas in the first place is a bit ominous, at least when considering the AHL’s future. In the loan release, GM Don Waddell explained that it was “important that [McKeown] get back on the ice” even though he was a strong performer in the minor leagues. That suggests that there is still some doubt the AHL will get off the ground, at least not right away.

If that’s the case, he certainly won’t be the last player somewhere between prospect and depth that ends up on waivers. If a player requires waivers to play in the AHL, they’ll also need it to head overseas, as both are ways off the NHL roster. Those waiver placements would normally happen at the end of training camp in a regular season, but at least in McKeown’s case, the Hurricanes have decided to pull the trigger early in order to get him on the ice in the SHL.

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