Kings Sign Goalie Darcy Kuemper
Speculated upon for some time, and confirmed by the L.A. Times’ Helene Elliot, the Los Angeles Kings have signed Darcy Kuemper to be a backup goalkeeper next season. The contract is for only one season and comes in at the league minimum $650,000 AAV. Kuemper has struggled mightily after being the most promising goaltending prospect in Minnesota for years. The 6’5 tender is still only 27, and will look to rebound in a new location. In 102 games NHL games, he’s posted 42 wins alongside a .910 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average.
Kuemper had a down season for the Wild as Devan Dubnyk was forced to start 63 contests. Considering Jonathan Quick‘s injury troubles, Kuemper will likely have a larger workload this season as L.A. coach John Stevens tries to reduce the strain on the athletic starter. Kuemper will need to do better than his .902 last season, and he certainly seems capable of doing so. After trading Ben Bishop to Dallas, it was a possibility that the Kings would look for another goaltender on the cheap. Jeff Zatkoff is still on the squad, but general manager Rob Blake was apparently looking for more security in between the pipes.
Kuemper still has a bit of upside to his game, as his is athletic and mobile. He was the top keeper of the CHL in 2011, so the talent is there. His confidence seemed to take a major hit this last season in Minnesota, and he never seemed to fully recover back to form. Kuemper is surely not the biggest name acquired today, but he could be a high-reward pickup with only minimal risk on Los Angeles’ part.
Minnesota Wild Sign Kyle Quincey
The Minnesota Wild have signed Kyle Quincey to a one-year contract worth $1.25MM. The Wild lost Christian Folin earlier today when he signed with the Los Angeles Kings for $850K and Marco Scandella after a trade to Buffalo, so they’ll bring in Quincey to fill some of those minutes.
Quincey of course is a left-handed shot, meaning he’s more likely to slide in behind Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin on the left side, taking Scandella’s place. It’s unclear who the Wild’s final defenseman will be this year, between the newly signed Ryan Murphy and Alex Grant, or youngsters Gustav Olofsson or Mike Reilly. They have plenty of options, and Quincey will just add to that depth after a season split between New Jersey and Columbus.
The 31-year old Quincey can be extremely frustrating at times, but can also go through long stretches of solid play where you may even consider moving him up in the lineup. That won’t have to happen in Minnesota, meaning he can settle into a less pressured role and try to help the Wild get back to the playoffs.
Los Angeles Signs Christian Folin To One-Year Deal
According to James Mirtle of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Kings have signed former Minnesota Wild defenseman Christian Folin to a one-year, $850K deal. Folin wasn’t issued a qualifying offer by the Wild, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The 26-year-old defender played a career-high 51 games for the Wild this season, scoring two goals and six assists in that span. He also played 28 games for the Iowa Wild and added four goals and nine assists. The undrafted free agent played two years at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and had just wrapped up his third season providing blueline depth for Minnesota.
Folin will be expected to fill in the bottom of the defensive rotation next year. The team remains short on defenders after losing several players from last year’s squad, including Brayden McNabb to the Golden Knights in the expansion draft.
Minnesota Wild Add Murphy, Ferraro, O’Reilly, Grant
The Minnesota Wild have gone depth shopping on the first day of free agency, adding four players on two-way deals. Alex Grant and Ryan Murphy, recently bought out by the Calgary Flames have signed one-year, two-way deals worth $700K, while Landon Ferraro and Cal O’Reilly have signed two-year, two-way deals worth $700K each season.
Grant, a 28-year-old defenseman, is coming off a one-year deal with the Boston Bruins, but never played for the NHL club. He did, however, have a solid season for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, scoring 17 goals and 32 assists and aiding the team on their deep playoff run to the third round. He has played a total of seven NHL games, five for the Arizona Coyotes in 2015-16 and two games for the Anaheim Ducks in 2013-14, coincidentally scoring two goals in those two games.
Murphy, a 24-year-old defenseman, was the No. 12 pick in the 2011 NHL draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, who subsequently traded him to Calgary two days ago and then bought out. He has been switching between Carolina and the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers for the past five seasons, having played in 27 games for the Hurricanes this year, finishing with just two assists on the season.
Ferraro, a 25-year-old center, is coming off a torn ACL injury which he sustained in the middle of the season after signing with the St. Louis Blues organization a year ago. He never played for St. Louis, however, playing only 22 games for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL. He had seven goals and eight assists. A former second-rounder in 2009, Ferraro has dealt with injury issues for the last few years, but put up 27 goals in 2014-15 in the AHL and had good numbers previous to that.
O’Reilly, the older brother of Buffalo Sabres’ center Ryan O’Reilly, played sparingly for the Sabres for the past two years. The 30-year-old center played 11 games this year for one assist, while three goals and four assists in 20 games in 2015-16.
2017 NHL Free Agency Tracker
Stay with PHR for all of the free agency signings this off-season. As of noon ET on July 1st, unrestricted free agency is open, but not before many extensions earlier in June. This page serves to organize everything in one spot, and are linked to the PHR story that corresponds with the signing. All July signings will be separated by date while June signings are organized alphabetically by team. It will be updated as soon as stories post.
Please note that signings on this list start on June 12.
July 1st:
- Anaheim re-signs Cam Fowler (8 years/$52MM)
- Anaheim signs Ryan Miller (2 years/$4MM)
- Arizona signs Adam Clendening (1 year/$650K)
- Boston signs Paul Postma (1 year/$725K)
- Buffalo signs Benoit Pouliot (1 year/$1.15MM)
- Buffalo signs Chad Johnson (1 year/$2.5MM)
- Carolina signs Justin Williams (2 years/$9MM)
- Chicago signs Patrick Sharp (1 year/$1MM)
- Chicago signs J-F Berube (2 years/$3MM)
- Chicago signs Jordan Oesterle (2 years/$1.3MM)
- Colorado signs Jonathan Bernier (1 year/$2.75MM)
- Dallas signs Martin Hanzal (3 years/$14.25MM)
- Dallas signs Tyler Pitlick (3 years/$3MM)
- Detroit signs Trevor Daley (3 years/$9.534MM)
- Florida signs Radim Vrbata (1 year/$2.5MM)
- Los Angeles signs Mike Cammalleri (1 year)
- Los Angeles signs Cal Petersen ( 2 year ELC)
- Los Angeles signs Christian Folin (1 year/$850K)
- Minnesota signs Ryan Murphy (1 year/$700k)
- Minnesota signs Landon Ferraro (2 years/$1.4MM)
- Minnesota signs Kyle Quincey (1 year/$1.25MM)
- Minnesota signs Cal O’Reilly (2 years/$1.4MM)
- Montreal signs Kyle Alzner (5 years/$22.5MM)
- Montreal signs Byron Froese
- Montreal signs Peter Holland
- Nashville signs Nick Bonino (4 years)
- Nashville signs Scott Hartnell (1 year/$1MM)
- Nashville signs Anders Lindback (1 year/$650K)
- Nashville signs Matt O’Connor (1 year/$650K)
- New Jersey signs Brian Boyle (2 years/$5.1MM)
- NY Rangers sign Ondrej Pavelec (1 year/$1.3MM)
- NY Rangers sign Kevin Shattenkirk (4 year/$26.6MM)
- Ottawa signs Nate Thompson (2 years/$3.3MM)
- Philadelphia re-signs Mike Vecchione (2 years/$1.88MM)
- Pittsburgh signs Antti Niemi (1 year/$700K)
- Pittsburgh signs Matt Hunwick (3 years/$6.75MM
- San Jose re-signs Martin Jones (6 years/$34.5MM)
- San Jose re-signs Marc-Edouard Vlasic (8 years/$56MM)
- San Jose re-signs Joe Thornton
- St. Louis signs Beau Bennett (1 year/$650K)
- St. Louis signs Chris Thorburn (2 years/$1.88MM)
- St. Louis re-signs Oskar Sundqvist (1 year/$650K)
- Tampa Bay signs Dan Girardi (2 years/$6MM)
- Toronto signs Ron Hainsey (2 years/$3.25MM)
- Toronto signs Curtis McElhinney (1 year/$850K)
- Toronto signs Dominic Moore (1 year/$1MM)
- Toronto signs Garret Sparks
- Winnipeg signs Dmitri Kulikov (3 years/$13MM)
- Winnipeg signs Steve Mason (2 years/$8.2MM)
- Vancouver signs Sam Gagner (3 years/$9.45MM)
- Vancouver signs Michael Del Zotto (2 years/$6MM)
- Vancouver signs Anders Nilsson (2 years/$5MM)
Free Agent Notes: Cullen, Burmistrov, Doan, Witkowski, Mazanec
While the Wild aren’t expected to be too active in free agency, they have expressed an interest in signing center Matt Cullen, reports Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune. The 40 year old is from the area and has played there before, suiting up for Minnesota from 2010-11 through 2012-13.
However, Cullen has yet to make a decision on his playing future, although Russo notes that he is intrigued by the idea of going back to Minnesota. That said, the thought is that he has been leaning towards retiring as a Stanley Cup champion.
If he does decide to play another season, Cullen should still be able to provide a team with quality bottom six production. He picked up 13 goals and 18 assists in 72 games with the Penguins this past season while surpassing the 50% mark at the faceoff dot for the seventh straight season.
Other news and notes from the free agent market which officially gets going on Saturday:
- The Canucks are showing interest in center Alexander Burmistrov, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The 25 year old is on the open market after Arizona failed to tender him a qualifying offer earlier this week. Burmistrov started this past season with Winnipeg but struggled mightily, recording just two assists in 23 games before the Jets placed him on waivers. The Coyotes picked him up and he fared quite a bit better, scoring five goals while adding nine assists in 23 games while seeing his ice time jump to over 15 minutes per night. He could represent a buy low candidate that’s capable of playing a third line offensive role in the right situation.
- Four teams have expressed an interest in signing unrestricted free agent winger Shane Doan, notes Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports (Twitter link). His agent, Terry Bross, said that a decision won’t come quickly. The 40 year old has spent the entirety of his 21 year NHL career with the Coyotes (and original Winnipeg Jets) organization but the team announced earlier this month that they would not be offering him a new contract. Doan is coming off his lowest full-season output since 1998-99 after collecting just six goals along with 21 helpers in 74 games.
- The Red Wings are interested in blueliner Luke Witkowski, reports MLive’s Ansar Khan. The 27 year old split the season between Tampa Bay and their AHL affiliate in Syracuse. In 39 NHL games, he had four assists and 39 penalty minutes while logging 9:52 per night. He added five assists and 59 PIMS in 19 minor league contests. Detroit is believed to be looking for some grit on their back end and head coach Jeff Blashill is familiar with the Michigan native who coached Witkowski back at Western Michigan in 2010-11.
- Although he received a qualifying offer on Monday, goaltender Marek Mazanec will not return to the Predators next season, GM David Poile told reporters, including Adam Vingan of the Tennessean (Twitter link). The netminder spent most of the season at the minor league level despite beginning the season as the backup to Pekka Rinne. In 47 games with AHL Milwaukee, he had a 27-17-1 record with a 2.67 GAA and a .912 SV%. However, he struggled in his four games with the Preds, posting a 4.72 GAA with a .839 SV%.
Buffalo Still Interested In Marco Scandella
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune has a couple of notes to pass along today, the first being that Thomas Vanek has had a few teams reach out including the Florida Panthers. Vanek has strong ties to the Minnesota community, but Russo doesn’t mention the Wild as a possibility for the 33-year old forward. The other note is concerning Marco Scandella and a continuing interest from the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo has been trying to improve their defense for a while, and Minnesota is still expected to move at least one defender before the start of the season.
Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Pat Cannone To Two-Way Deal
- The Minnesota Wild have re-signed Patrick Cannone to a one-year two-way deal. The minor league forward made his NHL debut this year getting into three games with the Wild, but was held scoreless and is still looking for his first NHL point. A dynamic AHL player, Cannone was set to be an unrestricted free agent but will come back for $650K in the NHL and $225K in the AHL next season.
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Jordan Schroeder
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed their newest acquisition, inking Jordan Schroeder to a two-year deal. The contract will be two-way in 2017-18 while transitioning to a one-way deal in 2018-19. Schroeder was acquired this weekned in exchange for Dante Salituro after it was clear he would not receive a qualifying offer from the Minnesota Wild. The deal will pay Schroeder the minimum of $650K at the NHL level in both seasons.
Schroeder, 26, had 13 points 37 games for the Wild last season but was likely going to cost the Wild too much in an arbitration settlement. Because it was clear the two sides weren’t going to find common ground, he was dealt to Columbus where he can start fresh. It’s not clear if he’ll get an opportunity in the NHL with Columbus right away, but he has the offensive chops to contribute even if he does come in undersized.
At the very least, he provides a nice depth option for Columbus who will be looking for center help this offseason. While they’re expected to let Sam Gagner head to free agency, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet recently linked them to Joe Thornton as a potential short-term option. Either way, Schroeder will be able to help fill out the depth chart down the middle or join a Cleveland squad looking to get back to the Calder Cup final.
Summarizing Today’s Signings
Today brought a flurry of teams re-signing players before July 1st. In total, 12 players have signed NHL contracts—and one signing in the KHL—and this is just day one. Below are all of today’s signings in one place for your convenience: