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Minor Transactions: 12/19/20

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With news of a tentative agreement to begin the 2020-21 season, in less than a month nonetheless, the gears have begun to turn once again for NHL clubs. With many players on loan overseas needing to be recalled and others who are ready to get an early start to their season with an assignment to the ECHL, transactions are picking up and should continue grow in number over the coming weeks. Stay tuned for the many minor moves on the way:

  • One player who is not getting ready to start his season in any regard is Nathan Paetsch. After 17 pro seasons, the skilled defenseman has decided to hang up his skates at 37. The AHL’s Rochester Americans, with whom Paetsch played parts of seven seasons, including the past three, announced the veteran’s decision. Paetsch initially signed with the Buffalo Sabres back in 2003 after being drafted out of the WHL and spent his first seven pro seasons with the organization. Outside of one season in Germany, Paetsch has spent the past decade in the AHL playing mostly with Rochester and the Grand Rapids Griffins. He totaled 167 NHL games between Buffalo and the Columbus Blue Jackets and another 651 AHL games (and over 250 points) in a long, successful career.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Tyler Benson from his loan to Switzerland’s GCK Lions, the club announced. Benson was an impactful play-maker in his short time overseas, recording a team-leading 19 points in 15 games.  While the Oilers have added some depth this off-season, they still hope the well-regarded prospect can carve out an NHL role for himself after making his debut with seven games in Edmonton last season.
  • Nick Wolff has been recalled by the Boston Bruins from his loan to Hungary’s DVTK of the Slovakian Extraliga, the team announced. It was Wolff’s first pro experience after signing with the Bruins out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Wolff recorded five points in 18 games and racked up a fair amount of penalty minutes as well. The physical defenseman is not expected to compete for an NHL roster spot, but should take part in training camp. Wolff could potentially spend some time with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen, a team that already has a number of Bruins prospects, most recent addition being free agent goaltender addition Callum Booth.
  • The Anaheim Ducks have assigned first-year pro prospect Jack Badini to the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers. The Harvard product was a third-round pick in 2017 and had been a productive player for the Crimson. However, the cancellation of the Ivy League winter season left Badini without a team and fast-forwarded his plans. It remains to be seen whether the two-way forward is truly ready for the pros just yet, so the Ducks will give him an early look at the “AA” level.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Roland McKeown

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed restricted free agent defenseman Roland McKeown to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry a salary of $700K at the NHL level, but it doesn’t seem that will ever be paid out. McKeown has immediately been loaned to Skelleftea AIK of the SHL. Hurricanes GM Don Waddell released a statement on the move:

Roland had a solid season in the AHL last season and it is important that he get back on the ice to continue his development. Playing in the Swedish league is a great opportunity for him to do just that.

This is an extremely interesting move, given that so many other AHL-bound prospects are still sitting around wondering where they will be playing this season. If the minor league isn’t able to put together a plan, we could see a hurried exodus of talent to Europe in order to fill the few foreign spots available. McKeown looks like he’ll have a head start and should be able to get in a good chunk of development overseas.

The 24-year-old defenseman has played ten games at the NHL level in the past, but spent both 2018-19 and 2019-20 entirely in the AHL. Selected 50th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2014, he arrived in Carolina via a trade for Andrej Sekera less than a year later. While he hasn’t been able to crack the Hurricanes blueline, that may be more to do with the strength of the NHL group than his own play, which though inconsistent at times has still been strong for the Charlotte Checkers. In 61 games last season he recorded 24 points.

Snapshots: Canucks, Tolvanen, Trenin, Zavgorodniy

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The Vancouver Canucks appear to be over the cap as the season approaches, but with Micheal Ferland likely to move to long-term injured reserve at some point in the near future, they actually may have some flexibility. Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic examine exactly how much space the Canucks could potentially create with several roster moves and weigh in on the recent report that Vancouver is interested in Travis Hamonic.

The pair of insiders have also heard of the Vancouver interest in Hamonic, though they believe there has been “no recent momentum” between the two sides. They also note that there was interest in Erik Haula, though have not spoken to his camp recently either. Of course, things can change at the drop of a hat in today’s market so the Canucks are a team to keep an eye on in the weeks leading up to training camp next month.

  • With those camps coming quickly, players from all over the world continue to head back to North America. Today, Eeli Tolvanen and Jokerit have terminated their agreement, allowing the young forward to return to the Nashville Predators for the upcoming season. Tolvanen, 21, is in the final year of his entry-level contract but has still yet to establish himself at the NHL level. Even his KHL numbers were disappointing so far, with just five goals and 13 points in 25 games. The last time Tolvanen was in the KHL, during the 2017-18 season, he scored 19 goals and 36 points in 49 games.
  • Also returning from the KHL are Yakov Trenin and Dmitry Zavgorodniy, who have been recalled from loan with SKA St. Petersburg. Trenin signed a new two-year deal with the Predators in September and will be competing for an NHL roster spot at training camp, while Zavgorodniy is going to start his North American professional career after playing the last few seasons in the QMJHL. The Calgary Flames prospect is on his entry-level deal but has already impressed much more than a seventh-round pick usually does.
  • SKA also announced a trade of Winnipeg Jets goaltending prospect Mikhail Berdin back to HC Sochi. Berdin is also expected to return to North America in time for the 2020-21 season, though the SKA release does not actually include that news.

Snapshots: Dubois, Granlund, Ducks, Lee

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With progress finally being made toward starting the 2020-21 season, the pressure is mounting back up on those teams who still have players to sign and payrolls to manage. One of those teams is the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets have plenty of salary cap space with nearly $9.25MM of remaining room for a 22-man roster, but they have yet to sign perhaps their most important forward, restricted free agent center Pierre-Luc Dubois. Coming off his three-year entry-level contract, in which he recorded 18+ goals and 48+ points each season, culminating in a point-per-game showing in the 2020 postseason, Dubois has established himself as a centerpiece for Columbus and the team hopes he will serve in that role for many years still to come. Whether Dubois signs that lucrative long-term extension this off-season or instead opts for a shorter bridge deal remains to be seen. Either way, the team needs to get the talented young pivot under contract soon before the new season begins. Fortunately, NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz reports that the Blue Jackets are not concerned about coming to terms on a new deal with Dubois. GM Jarmo Kekalainen stated that he is “confident” that Dubois will have a new contract not only before the puck drops on the new season, but even before the first day of training camp. This would likely mean that a deal is expected before the end of the month, with training camps projected to open shortly after the calendar flips to January. Kekalainen compared the situation to that of star defenseman Zach Werenski last season; Werenski went much of the off-season with seemingly little progress on a contract extension, but signed a new deal just days before training camp. Gretz notes that the Blue Jackets have shown that they are not afraid to play hardball with their restricted free agents, but will have to be careful with Dubois. The young center is a pivotal piece of the team moving forward. Columbus has the cap space to lock Dubois up long-term at a higher cap hit now, but if the two sides do agree to a shorter term deal the hope is that there is a mutual goal to sign that long-term deal down the road.

  • Gretz also reports that one of the top remaining unsigned free agents, forward Mikael Granlund, is expected to make a decision on his next team sooner rather than later. In fact, a contract could be signed in the coming days. Gretz writes that Granlund would like to get his family settled before the season, possibly even before the Christmas holiday, which could lead to an impending resolution to his free agency. Depending on the asking price, Granlund should have no shortage of suitors. The Blue Jackets have actually been cited by many as a top option for Granlund. If they do sign a more affordable, short-term deal with Dubois as many expect, Columbus could use their remaining cap space to add Granlund. The team had hoped to add at least one if not two top-six forwards this off-season which they have failed to do so far, only swapping out Josh Anderson for Max Domi. 
  • The Anaheim Ducks are another team with moves to make before the season begins. The Ducks are currently over the salary cap upper limit according to CapFriendly and that is with a roster that currently excludes a backup goalie. Anthony Stolarz is the favorite for the job behind starter John Gibson, but the team is likely to make an addition given their lack of depth behind that duo and their need for a goaltender with term on his contract beyond this season to expose in the upcoming 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. If the Ducks do not add another goaltender, the pressure will fall on Roman Durny, who Anaheim assigned to the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers today, and Olle Eriksson Ek, who started in Tulsa’s season opener this weekend. Eriksson Ek and Durny shared the net in the ECHL last season, but would be slated to do so this year in the AHL if no further moves are made and would battle to be the next man up to the NHL behind Gibson and Stolarz. Durny, 22, Eriksson Ek, 21, and Lukas Dostal, 20, are all talented prospects but their lack of experience does not inspire much confidence in Anaheim’s net depth if an addition is not made. The Ducks should be scouring the free agent and trade markets for help, even as they work to cut salary from the NHL roster.
  • Even as the NHL and NHLPA close in on an agreement to begin the new season, there hasn’t been much concrete information in the media on the actual start dates of training camp and the safety procedures leading into those camps. Perhaps the teams of those players on loan are hearing more than everyone else though. HC Slovan Bratislava of the Slovakian Extraliga has announced that Pittsburgh Penguins defensive prospect Cam Lee has been returned from his loan. In doing so, the club stated that Lee will begin his quarantine later this week and that training camp physicals will take place before the end of the month. At the very least, that makes it sound as though camps will be up and running in early January as hoped, if not sooner.

Morning Notes: Return To Play, Wahlstrom, Miller

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The NHL and NHLPA continue to work towards finalizing an agreement on the upcoming season, though it doesn’t appear as though any announcement will come today. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet tweets that there is “hope” that something will be done in the “coming days.” We’re getting a lot closer to that January 13th start date that has been reported and players from all around the world are starting to make their way back to North America.

  • Oliver Wahlstrom is one of those players, recalled from his loan in Sweden by the New York Islanders. The 20-year-old Wahlstrom had eight points in ten games for AIK of the second tier but returns to North America with his eyes set on an NHL roster spot. Selected 11th overall in 2018, Wahlstrom made his NHL debut last year with nine appearances but failed to record a single point. With the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL he had 22 points in 45 games.
  • The St. Louis Blues have found a replacement for former AGM Bill Armstrong, who left this offseason to take over the Arizona Coyotes. Ryan Miller (no, not that Ryan Miller) has been promoted to assistant general manager from his position as director of hockey operations. Miller had already been intimately involved with almost every move the Blues have made over the last several years but now, as the press release puts it, “he’s getting the title to go with it.”

Erik Brannstrom Recalled From Loan

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The Ottawa Senators are bringing back defensive prospect Erik Brannstrom as they prepare for the upcoming season. Brannstrom’s loan with the SCL Tigers in Switzerland has now ended, with the team wishing him well back in North America.

It is a huge season for Brannstrom, the 15th overall pick in the 2017 draft. Now 21, the young defenseman made his NHL debut at the end of the 2018-19 season, played in 31 games last year for the Senators, and now will be competing for a full-time spot. A wizard with the puck, he is expected to develop into an offense-driving force for the Senators, though that didn’t come through last season when he had just four assists during his 31-game stint. He did of course produce at nearly a point-per-game clip in the AHL, but some of that production will have to translate before he can really be considered a star at the next level.

Still, he is one of the many young bright spots on a Senators roster that should be improved. The team brought in Evgenii Dadonov and Alex Galchenyuk to give them a little more punch up front, Matt Murray to stabilize the goaltending position, and players like Erik Gudbranson, Josh Brown, and Austin Watson to make the team tougher to play against. Those additions, along with the natural development of young players like Brannstrom and Brady Tkachuk, should make Senators’ games much more competitive.

While they still might not be able to compete with some of the top teams in the All-Canadian division, this is no longer a “tank” year for the Senators. Real, tangible improvements from players like Brannstrom is the goal, and losing every night won’t accomplish that.

Zach Fucale Loaned To ECHL

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When the Washington Capitals signed Zach Fucale to a one-year, two-way contract this summer it made for quite the crowded crease in Hershey, the team’s AHL affiliate. With Henrik Lundqvist taking the other spot in the NHL, Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek were penciled into the third and fourth-string spots. Fucale seemed likely to be headed back to the ECHL and today that’s exactly what happened. The Capitals have loaned Fucale to the South Carolina Stingrays.

Fucale, who is still only 25 despite his draft seeming like decades ago, was selected 36th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. An elite prospect who dominated at the junior level, winning the Memorial Cup and a gold medal with Canada at the WJC, he was never quite able to replicate that success at the next level.

Still, Fucale is a decorated goaltender on the international stage, winning two Spengler Cups with Canada over the years. For a fifth-string option in Washington, he’s hard to top.

South Carolina starts their season tomorrow with a match against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to kick off the ECHL schedule.

Juuso Valimaki, Barrett Hayton Recalled From Loan

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With training camp now right around the corner, players loaned all over the world will begin to make their return to North America. For the Arizona Coyotes, that means Barrett Hayton is on his way back, his loan ended with Ilves in Finland after eight games. Hayton registered four assists in his overseas stint and will return to the Coyotes with the hopes of becoming a full-time NHL player this season.

In 20 games last year, Hayton scored one goal and four points. He was allowed to leave and participate in the World Juniors, where he captained Team Canada to a gold medal but suffered a shoulder injury in the process. When the Coyotes returned for the postseason bubble, Hayton suited up three times but failed to record a point. Selected fifth overall in 2018, the 6’1″ forward has plenty of offensive upside and a work ethic to take him far, if given the opportunity. He’ll try to take over as one of the leaders in Arizona this season.

Ilves has also announced that the loan of Juuso Valimaki has ended and the Calgary Flames defenseman will also be traveling back to North America. Valimaki played in 19 games and registered 19 points, a great sign after missing the entire 2019-20 season with injury. The 16th overall pick in 2017, Valimaki had looked ready to take on a full-time role in the NHL when he suffered a major knee injury, tearing his ACL in offseason training. He didn’t play a single game last season but after an outstanding performance in Finland, he looks ready to bounce back as if he missed no development time at all.

Toronto Maple Leafs Loan Kalle Kossila To DEL

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After playing just 12 games for the Toronto Marlies last season, it appears as though Kalle Kossila may not return. The veteran minor-league forward has been loaned to EHC Red Bull Munchen in the DEL today, without any indication of whether or not he’ll be back for training camp in North America.

The 27-year-old Kossila is on the second season of a two-year deal he signed with the Maple Leafs in 2019 and is due to earn a one-way salary of $700K. Signed along with several other veteran forwards to provide some depth for the organization, he suffered what was believed to be a concussion in last year’s training camp and missed a huge chunk of the season. It was eventually diagnosed as a migraine problem and he scored six points in just 12 appearances for the Marlies.

Now, apparently healthy enough to be loaned out to the DEL, Kossila will try to get his career back on track. The timing of the loan is interesting given the recent news that the NHL could be back training as soon as January, but perhaps this is just to get a bit of a head start. An undrafted signing out of St. Cloud State, the undersized forward has always been an excellent playmaker at the minor league level, recording 147 points in 182 AHL games. His NHL games haven’t gone quite as smoothly, with only three career points in 19 appearances.

Snapshots: Pacioretty, Hoffman, Kase, Sweden

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News broke yesterday that the Vegas Golden Knights have had trade discussions regarding Max Pacioretty and the hockey world, desperate for any news right now, exploded with potential scenarios. Fans of nearly every team in the league pictured the 30-goal scorer in their uniform, but Jesse Granger of The Athletic believes that the Golden Knights shouldn’t rush into anything. Though he lists Pacioretty alongside Jonathan Marchessault and Marc-Andre Fleury as three names Vegas has considered moving, he reasons that it would be a step in the wrong direction to trade the former Montreal Canadiens forward due to a lack of scoring throughout the roster.

Tucked away in the piece is another note, however, and that is the Golden Knights have had no communication with Mike Hoffman’s camp. The free agent sniper was listed as a potential target by Frank Seravalli of TSN when he broke the Pacioretty news yesterday, but it appears as though that may not be the case. The Golden Knights could obviously make contact if they do move a contract like Pacioretty’s $7MM cap hit, but time is running out for Hoffman to sign with a team before training camp starts in a few weeks.

  • The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned David Kase to the Czech National Team for the upcoming Channel One Cup, which starts next week. Kase had been on loan with HC Karlovy Vary but will get a chance to compete for his country at the international tournament. At some point, the 23-year-old should be expected to return to North America to quarantine and then take part in NHL training camp, but given the tournament isn’t over until December 20, it won’t be for a little while.
  • More bad news for the Swedish World Junior team as the goaltending coach has also tested positive for COVID-19, the fourth staff member in the last few days. At this point, anyone that has tested positive is not supposed to be allowed to travel to the bubble in Edmonton for the tournament, while others are not supposed to be added to the traveling party. That leaves Sweden without several key coaches, including head coach Tomas Monten and assistant Anton Lundberg. At this point, given that several players were also excluded due to positive tests, it’s not clear if Sweden will even be able to take part.

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