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Sergei Berezin Passes Away At Age 52

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Earlier today, the NHL Alumni Association announced the passing of former player Sergei Berezin at age 52. Berezin, born in Voskresensk in 1971, spent seven seasons in the National Hockey League from 1996-2003.

Berezin started his professional career in his home town of Voskresensk in the early 1990s while playing for Khimik Voskresensk of the Soviet Hockey Championship league. Joining the league as a professional talent shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Berezin was able to play with Vyacheslav Kozlov who was born in the same town as Berezin a year later. Although several former Soviet players defected to the NHL before the collapse of the state; many players still faced harsh difficulties in pursuing a professional career in North America.

Berezin’s time would come, as he was drafted in the 10th round (256th overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1994 NHL Draft after becoming a point-per-game player in Voskresensk in the now-defunct International Hockey League. After a brief stint in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1994-1996, Berezin finally made his professional debut for the Maple Leafs for the 1996-97 NHL season.

Typically playing in the middle six of Toront’s forward core; Berezin quickly became a key secondary scorer. In his rookie campaign, Berezin scored 25 goals and 41 points in 73 games earning him seventh place in Calder Trophy voting. In the following four years, all with the Maple Leafs, Berezin would score 101 goals and 179 points in total over 284 regular season games. He contributed well for Toronto in the playoffs with 12 goals and 27 points over 40 postseason contests.

Following his tenure with the Maple Leafs, Berezin bounced around through four organizations over the next two seasons. He experienced some revival during his time with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2001-02 season with 18 goals and 31 points in 66 games — but was largely ineffective during his time with the Phoenix Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals.

Berezin retired from the NHL after the 2002-03 NHL season and spent one more in the Russian Superleague with CSKA Moscow. The Russian forward played in 502 games throughout his NHL tenure and scored 160 goals and 286 points. PHR sends its condolences to Berezin’s family and friends.

Canadiens Looking To Trade For Scoring Forward

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  • Another day has passed, which means another team has been directly linked to Martin Necas. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported yesterday that the Montreal Canadiens are looking to add a scoring forward before next Friday’s NHL Draft, and have been looking into Necas and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks. There are several options available to General Manager Kent Hughes heading into the offseason, outside of just Necas and Zegras. Throughout his tenure as General Manager of the Canadiens organization, Hughes has dived much more into the trade market to improve his club rather than bring in free-agent talent.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Jean-Francois Houle Resigns As AHL Laval's Head Coach, Hired By Clarkson University

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  • Just weeks after signing him to a three-year contract, Jean-Francois Houle is no longer the head coach with Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Laval. The Canadiens announced on Friday that they’ve agreed to mutually part ways with Houle, allowing him to be hired by Clarkson University for their head coaching position.  It’s a return home of sorts for Houle as he played there and also began his coaching career with them as an assistant before moving on to the QMJHL and then the professional ranks.  With free agency on the horizon, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Montreal try to fill this vacancy before the end of the month.

Lias Andersson Signs With NL’s Biel-Bienne

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June 19: Andersson will indeed be heading to Switzerland, inking a two-year deal with Biel-Bienne that was made official Wednesday. Notably, a two-year deal means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent if he attempts to return to the NHL in 2026, so the Habs issuing him a qualifying offer means nothing unless he opts out of his contract with Biel-Bienne after one season.

June 1: Forward Lias Andersson was once a highly touted prospect after being the seventh overall pick back in 2017.  However, his stock has fallen considerably since then to the point where he didn’t see any NHL action this season.  Now, it appears that he’s opting for a new opportunity as Blick’s Gregory Beaud relays that Andersson is linked to Biel-Bienne in Switzerland for next season.

Beaud adds that some have suggested a deal with the 25-year-old is already in place although GM Martin Steinegger indicated that’s not the case but revealed that he is interested in bringing Andersson to his club for next season.

After spending all but one game in the minors in 2022-23, the Kings elected not to tender Andersson a qualifying offer, resulting in him becoming an unrestricted free agent.  He quickly landed with the Canadiens, inking a one-year, two-way deal with the hope that he’d push for a roster spot with Montreal in training camp.

That didn’t happen.  Instead, he cleared waivers in training camp and was sent down to AHL Laval where he stayed for the entire season.  Andersson had a productive showing for the Rocket, collecting 21 goals and 24 assists in 53 games while missing considerable time due to a lower-body injury.  Despite being one of Laval’s top forwards, Montreal elected not to bring him up at any point of the season.

If a deal with Biel-Bienne ultimately gets done, the Canadiens will still have the option to tender Andersson a qualifying offer which would keep him under club control.  Meanwhile, if Andersson has determined that a regular spot in the NHL isn’t coming his way based on how things have gone in the NHL, perhaps a strong showing overseas could ultimately boost his stock down the road.

Free Agent Focus: Montreal Canadiens

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Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Canadiens.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Jesse Ylonen – Hoping to build on a solid depth scoring season in 2022-23, Ylonen failed to boost his production in any meaningful way. In fact, he took a step or two back during the 2023-24 campaign while seeing his ice time dip towards the back half of the season. Ylonen saw his point-per-game average drop from 0.43 P/G to 0.14 P/G in only one year. Luckily, this should allow Montreal to keep him close to his previous league-minimum salary of $775K in hopes that he will rebound for the 2024-25 NHL season.

D Arber Xhekaj – Not much of a point producer from the back end, Xhekaj has become a valuable presence on the Canadiens’ blue line. Over the last two years, Xhekaj has scored a total of eight goals and 23 points over 95 games while also delivering 284 hits. However, because of his physicality, Xhekaj has lost quite a few games to injury in his first two years with Montreal, and the team will be hoping he can maintain better health moving forward. He should be able to get a modest raise on his most recent salary of $828K at the NHL level this summer, as Evolving Hockey projects a 2-year, $3MM contract for Xhekaj.

D Justin Barron – Acquired in the trade that sent Artturi Lehkonen to the Colorado Avalanche during the 2022-23 NHL season, Barron could potentially be crowded out of the Canadiens defensive core this summer. Shuffled back-and-forth between Montreal and their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, Barron failed to build on his production this season despite seeing his ice time increase by an average of two minutes. It’s unlikely that the Canadiens will choose not to tender Barron a contract this offseason, but he may start the season in Laval with the team already having a crowded blue line.

Other RFAs: F Lias Andersson, F Filip Cederqvist, D Mattias Norlinder

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Tanner Pearson – After suffering through injuries during the 2022-23 campaign with the Vancouver Canucks, Montreal acquired Pearson last offseason for some much-needed depth scoring. However, Pearson would have one of his worst seasons to date in northeastern Canada, scoring five goals and 13 points through 54 games this year. A few weeks ago, it was announced the Canadiens have no intentions of re-signing Pearson, confirming he will hit the open market this summer.

Other UFAs: F Colin White, D Chris Wideman, F Arnaud Durandeau, F Philippe Maillet, F Mitchell Stephens, D Brady Keeper

Projected Cap Space

Heading into the summer months, the Canadiens organization will have around $9.4MM of cap space to work with, with the ability to go 10% over the upper limit. Once the 2024-25 season starts, the team will place goaltender Carey Price on long-term injured reserve which will open up another $10.5MM to work with during the year.

Unless Montreal can somehow facilitate a trade of Price’s contract this summer, they will have a little wiggle room to add an impact piece in free agency. Defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Juraj Slafkovsky took major steps forward this past season and the organization’s prospect pool should add complimentary pieces shortly. Because of this, Montreal’s sole focus should be moving out bloated but moveable contracts in Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia to increase the organization’s cap flexibility despite Price’s massive salary.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Oliver Kapanen To ELC

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The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Oliver Kapanen to a three-year, entry-level contract that will run through the 2026-27 season. Kapanen was the Canadiens’ second-round selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft (64th overall) and is the cousin of current NHLer Kasperi Kapanen, and the nephew of former NHLer Sami Kapanen.

Kapanen spent last season with KalPa Kuopio in the Liiga where he registered 14 goals and 20 assists in 51 games. The 20-year-old had a very successful playoff run to finish off his season, tying for the points lead with seven goals and seven assists in 13 games. The Timrå, Sweden native was also a member of Finland’s 2024 IIHF World Championship team, leading the team with six goals in eight games.

Kapanen could be given a look at Canadiens training camp this fall and might even be good enough for a role in the team’s bottom six, most likely on the fourth line. However, given how little Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis has played his fourth line, it might not be best for Kapanen’s development.

He is signed with Timrå of the SHL for the 2024-25 season and with the team’s lack of forward depth, it might be the best option for Kapanen going forward as he will get consistent ice time to fuel his development. Kapanen projects to be a top-9 center for the Canadiens in the future, but likely won’t develop into the top-line center that the team has coveted for years.

Canadiens Expected To Hire Albie O'Connell

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  • Arizona State University associate coach Albie O’Connell is expected to leave the program to pursue an NHL opportunity, relays PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). College Hockey News’ Mike McMahon adds (Twitter link) that O’Connell is expected to be hired by the Canadiens.  If that holds true, it will be his second stint with the organization after serving as a college scout for Montreal back in 2022-23 before returning behind an NCAA bench this past season.

Alexander Gordin Traded In KHL

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  • Canadiens prospect Alexander Gordin has been traded in Russia. Avtomobilist of the KHL announced that they acquired the winger as part of a three-way trade and signed him to a one-year deal.  Montreal drafted the 22-year-old back in the sixth round in 2020 but Gordin has spent limited time in the KHL since then.  This year, he played for Ryazan-VDV in the second-tier VHL, tallying 18 goals and 22 assists in 53 games.  The Canadiens hold Gordin’s rights indefinitely since no transfer agreement is in place with Russia.

Laval Signs Israel Mianscum To Two-Year Deal

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  • The Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval announced they’ve signed forward Israel Mianscum to a two-year contract. The 21-year-old spent his five-year junior career with QMJHL Sherbrooke and was quite productive in his overage year, tallying 35 goals and 52 assists in 61 games, both career bests.  Overall, he had 215 points in 264 major junior contests.

Canadiens Sign Connor Hughes To One-Year Deal

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Carving an unexpected path to the National Hockey League, goaltender Connor Hughes has signed a one-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens according to a team announcement. Already carrying sufficient depth for next season at the NHL level, Hughes should start next season with Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Failing to make it out of the Junior A level in Canada by the team he became 18 years old, Hughes continued his professional career in the National League over in Switzerland. In his initial three years, Hughes did not play any games in the NL, as he primarily played in the relegated Swiss League for HCB Ticino Rockets. Eventually, Hughes would make his NL debut during the 2020-21 season, suiting up in seven games for HC Fribourg-Gottéron.

Bouncing around different organizations throughout his tenure, Hughes finally landed with Lausanne HC for the 2023-24 season. In his best professional season, Hughes produced a 10-6-1 record in 19 games while also carrying a .940 save percentage and 1.73 goals against average. Hughes kept that momentum for the 2024 National League playoffs, leading his team to Game 7 of the Championship series on the backs of a .933 SV% and 1.91 GAA in 18 postseason contests.

Due to his superb season overseas, the Canadiens were more than willing to take a flyer on the now 27-year-old undrafted free agent. Hughes should enter as the backup to goaltender Jakub Dobes next season, and could even take a share of the starts if the quality of his play continues to improve.

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