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Jesse Puljujärvi Signs With NL’s Genève-Servette HC

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For the second time since being drafted fourth overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, Jesse Puljujärvi is taking his professional career overseas. According to a team announcement from the NL’s Genève-Servette HC, Puljujärvi has signed a new two-year contract with the organization.

Puljujärvi’s career trajectory is well known at this point. After scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 50 games for the Finnish Liiga’s Kärpät in the 2015-16 campaign, the Edmonton Oilers drafted Puljujärvi, believing he’d be a premier power forward for years to come.

Despite a solid showing with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, he never gained much traction at the NHL level. Throughout his first three years playing for the Oilers, Puljujärvi scored 17 goals and 37 points in 139 games, averaging 12:28 of ice time with a -10 rating and 7.4% shooting percentage.

Knowing he needed a reset, Edmonton allowed Puljujärvi to return to his native Finland, again with Kärpät, to regain his confidence. After a few quality years with the only Liiga team he’s ever known, the Oilers quickly brought Puljujärvi back into the fold during the 2020-21 NHL season.

Although it still wasn’t up to his draft billing, there was reason for optimism in Puljujärvi’s game upon his return. In the two seasons following his return from Edmonton, Puljujärvi scored 29 goals and 61 points in 120 contests, averaging 15:44 of ice time with a +28 rating and 10.5% shooting percentage.

Unfortunately, Puljujärvi sank into his old ways during the 2022-23 campaign, and he was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes in a low-level trade. Since then, he’s had another two pit stops with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers.

Without knowing if he’ll make another return attempt, Puljujärvi will have last played professionally in North America for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. In the 2024-25 season, he scored five goals and 13 points in 22 games for the Checkers. Additionally, he contributed three goals and 11 points in 18 postseason contests, helping Charlotte reach the 2025 Calder Cup Final.

UFA Notes: Allen, Schmidt, Ceci, Perry, Asplund

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The Devils are likely to go “down to the wire” on extension talks with goaltender Jake Allen before the market opens at 11 a.m. CT today, independent insider Frank Seravalli reports.

Allen was a spectacular backup option to Jacob Markström in his first full season in Jersey. There’s no surprise that they’ve expressed strong interest in retaining him, but they’ll likely have to commit significant financial resources to do so. He’s the clear top goalie available amid a weak market and could very well have multiple offers out there for three or more years with an AAV north of $5MM.

Would the Devils be willing to make him their highest-paid goaltender for a season? Markström has some salary retained by the Flames, so he only costs $4.125MM against the cap as he enters the final season of his contract. A multi-year commitment to the 34-year-old Allen might still be a good idea to help guard against a potential Markström departure next summer, especially with no true blue-chip prospects in the system.

Despite a 13-16-1 record, Allen put up better numbers than Markström last year in 20 fewer starts with a .906 SV% and 5.0 GSAA while tying him with four shutouts. He may decide to at least wait to test the market to see if a goalie-needy team like the Sharks, who also need to add nearly $20MM in cap hits next season to reach the floor, gives him an offer he can’t refuse.

Other notes of interest before the market opens:

  • While the Panthers have managed to get extensions done for Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, and now depth forward Tomas Nosek in the last few days, the same won’t happen for defenseman Nate Schmidt. He’ll head elsewhere on the open market today after recouping some market value on a one-year deal with Florida following a buyout by the Jets, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Schmidt, 34 in July, had 19 points in 80 regular-season games but broke out for a 3-9–12 scoring line and a plus-nine rating in all 23 playoff games for the Cats.
  • Another UFA Florida will lose is depth forward Rasmus Asplund. Swiss National League club HC Davos announced they’ve signed him to a two-year contract. Asplund, 27, saw just six games of NHL action with Florida this year and instead spent most of the season with AHL Charlotte, where he had 20 goals and 43 points in 63 games.
  • With the Kings expecting to lose Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency today, they’ve shown interest in inking Cody Ceci on the open market to help recoup some defensive depth, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. A righty compared to Gavrikov’s left-shot, Ceci might be more of a direct replacement for the recently-traded Jordan Spence rather than Gavrikov. The 31-year-old had 24 points and a plus-six rating in 85 games last season between the Sharks and Stars while averaging 21:13 per game, his fourth straight season above the 20-minute mark.
  • The Flyers will make a play for veteran winger Corey Perry today, Friedman says. The 40-year-old may have priced himself out of a new deal with the Oilers following a renaissance postseason performance for Edmonton, ranking second on the team with 10 goals in 22 games.

International Notes: Petan, Heatherington, Wilson, Keeper

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Longtime NHL and AHL depth piece Nic Petan is coming off his first season overseas in 2024-25. While the 30-year-old won’t be staying with Russia’s Ak Bars Kazan, with whom he produced 44 points in 47 games, he isn’t making an NHL return, either. He’s staying on the other side of the Atlantic after Swiss club HC Ambrì-Piotta announced Monday they’ve signed him to a two-year contract.

Many would ask how a player with 120 points in 71 WHL games in their draft year wasn’t a first-round pick. It appeared that NHL teams were onto something. While the 2013 second-rounder has gone on to become an elite minor-league scorer, his lack of size (5’9″, 174 lbs) ended up proving prohibitive in making him a full-time NHLer. While Petan has recorded 35 points in 170 NHL games with four clubs in parts of nine seasons, he has only topped 20 games in a season twice and big-league opportunities were becoming increasingly few and far between for him over the past few years.

After appearing in just six games with the Wild in the 2023-24 season and not receiving a call-up after the Rangers acquired him before the trade deadline, Petan opted for more stability overseas following a nine-year pro career that saw him log NHL and AHL time each season. The move to Switzerland is somewhat closer to “home” – while Petan was born in British Columbia, he also holds Italian citizenship and will now play in an Italian-speaking region of the country.

Petan, 30, joins ex-NHLers Christopher DiDomenico, Tim Heed, Gilles Senn, and Chris Tierney on Ambrì-Piotta’s roster for 2025-26. The club finished 10th in the National League this past season, continuing a run of top-league appearances that began with their promotion from the NLB (now called the Swiss League) in 1985.

There’s more international news to pass along:

  • Former NHL defenseman Dillon Heatherington has signed a two-year contract with EHC Munich of Germany’s DEL, the club announced. It marks the 30-year-old lefty’s second time playing overseas after spending the 2020-21 season in Kazakhstan with Barys Nur-Sultan (now Barys Astana) of the Kontinental Hockey League. The former second-round pick of the Blue Jackets played this past season on an AHL contract in San Diego, serving as an alternate captain for the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate while recording seven points and a minus-three rating in 59 games. He last appeared in the NHL with the Senators, playing three games in the 2022-23 season.
  • Forward Scott Wilson, a member of the Penguins’ 2017 Stanley Cup championship team, has signed a two-year deal with the KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk, the league relayed. The 33-year-old has played exclusively in Russia since his last North American contract, an AHL deal in the Panthers organization, expired in 2022. He’s put up a 53-46–99 scoring line in 164 KHL games with Vityaz Moscow Region, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and Salavat Yulaev Ufa over the past three years.
  • 29-year-old defenseman Brady Keeper has agreed to a one-year deal with the Glasgow Clan of the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League. The 6’2″ righty did not play in 2024-25 after recording four points in 22 games the prior season with AHL Laval while on a two-way deal with the Canadiens. The Manitoba native played two regular-season games and one playoff game for the Panthers between 2019 and 2021.

Brandon Gignac Signs In Swiss League

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Rather than test free agency next month, pending UFA Brandon Gignac has decided to head overseas.  EHC Kloten in Switzerland announced that they’ve inked the center to a two-year contract.

The 27-year-old was originally drafted by New Jersey in the third round back in 2016.  However, playing time was hard to come by at the top level as he made just one NHL appearance with them before being non-tendered in 2021.

That brought him to Montreal’s farm team on a minor-league deal, one that he was able to convert to a two-year, two-way NHL pact in 2023-24.  When that happened, Gignac got into seven games with the Canadiens, scoring once while logging a little under 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Meanwhile, he had a career year in the AHL with Laval that season, notching 55 points in 61 games.

Coming off that season, there was some thought that Gignac could push for a back-of-the-roster spot with Montreal this year or at least be in line for a recall when injuries arise.  However, after clearing waivers in training camp, Gignac suffered a long-term injury that caused him to miss 53 games, putting an end to any hopes of a promotion.  He returned for the playoffs and had just three points in 12 games.

Knowing that an NHL opportunity likely wasn’t going to be on the table this summer, Gignac’s options likely would have been limited to two-way offers next month.  Instead of taking another one of those, he’ll now try his hand in a new league altogether.

Jets’ Rasmus Kupari Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s HC Lugano

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Jets pending RFA center Rasmus Kupari has agreed to terms on a two-year deal with HC Lugano of Switzerland’s National League, the club announced today. While Kupari obviously does not intend to return to the NHL next season, Winnipeg can still retain his signing rights through the 2026-27 season with a qualifying offer before the June 30 deadline.

Kupari, acquired from the Kings in 2023’s Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, was a regular on the Jets’ fourth line this year until the trade deadline. The acquisition of Brandon Tanev from the Kraken pushed him down the depth chart, plus concussion symptoms limited his availability for a good chunk of the remaining regular season. He was cleared to return for Game 2 of Winnipeg’s first-round series against the Blues but remained out of the lineup for the entirety of the postseason.

All told, the 25-year-old played 87 games for the Jets over the last two regular seasons combined. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the first year of his tenure, although he did miss nearly two months with a shoulder issue as well, leading to just 28 appearances that year.

A first-round pick by Los Angeles in 2018, Kupari has rarely been elevated out of a fourth-line role during his five NHL seasons and hasn’t sniffed his offensive ceiling as a result. He had a career-high 15 points in 66 games with the Kings in his final year there before the trade. After signing a two-year, $2MM contract with the Jets following his acquisition, Kupari mustered a 5-4–9 scoring line with a minus-six rating over the life of the deal while averaging just 9:54 of ice time per game.

What Kupari lacks in offensive production, he’s somewhat compensated for in other areas of his game. He’s averaged 97 hits per 82 games over his career, wins over 50% of his faceoffs, and had good possession metrics in heavy defensive deployment in 2024-25 (49.0 CF%, 50.0 xGF%, 76.1 dZS%) at even strength.

That’s not Kupari’s calling card, though. He’s flirted with the point per game mark in the AHL before and had 33 points in 43 games for Kärpät in Finland’s top league back in 2018-19 before coming over to North America. It’s sensible that he’d look for more opportunity than he’ll realistically land in Winnipeg or anywhere else in the NHL next season by heading back to Europe.

A two-year deal with Lugano will walk Kupari to unrestricted free agent status in the 2027 offseason unless the Jets reach a deal to bring him back to the NHL before July 1 of that year. He was owed a $1.1MM QO this summer, though, making him a legitimate non-tender candidate given his limited deployment.

Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

Tomas Tatar Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s EV Zug

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After 14 years, Tomas Tatar’s NHL career has likely drawn to a close. The pending unrestricted free agent winger has signed a two-year contract with EV Zug of the Swiss National League, the club announced.

Once a consistent 20-goal scorer and one of the game’s better defensive forwards, the Slovakia native’s game declined sharply two years ago. After posting 20 goals, 48 points, and a career-high +41 rating in 82 games for New Jersey in 2022-23, he mustered just 24 points in 70 games split between the Avalanche and Kraken the following year before returning to New Jersey on a one-year, $1.8MM contract last summer.

The return to the Garden State didn’t work out nearly as well as either side would have hoped for. He was limited to a 7-10–17 scoring line in 74 appearances, a career-low 0.23 points per game pace over a full season, and averaged just 11:06 per game. He was a healthy scratch at times throughout the campaign before going pointless with a plus-one rating in the Devils’ first-round elimination at the hands of the Hurricanes.

Tatar’s jump to Europe doesn’t come out of nowhere. There were rumors of him potentially heading overseas in the summer of 2023 when he had trouble finding a fit in free agency. He eventually signed a contract with Colorado just before training camp. This year, Zug made their interest in Tatar clear even before the regular season ended and said he was atop their list of offseason targets.

Zug, which has been more of a middle-of-the-pack club in the NL since winning back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, gets their man. While the 34-year-old has exclusively played on the wing since making his NHL debut for the Red Wings back in 2010, he’ll shift to center as he takes his career to Europe, Zug GM Reto Klay said in the team’s announcement of his signing.

Detroit picked up Tatar with the penultimate pick of the second round in the 2009 draft. Among the class, he ranks 13th in games played (927), 11th in goals (227), 14th in assists (269), 15th in points (496), and 12th with a career +43 rating. He’ll easily jump 40 or so spots in any redraft.

As such, teams looking for experienced wing depth on the open market this summer will need to scratch Tatar’s name off their list. Zug’s press release made no mention of an NHL out-clause next summer if the first year of his deal goes quite well, so all indications are he’ll remain in Switzerland through the 2026-27 campaign.

Erik Brännström Signs Three-Year Deal With Lausanne HC

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5/26: One month after rumors swirled, defender Brannstrom has officially signed a three-year contract in Switzerland, per a press release from the team. The official move was first reported by TSN.

4/21: Sabres pending restricted free agent defenseman Erik Brännström has agreed to terms on a three-year contract with Swiss National League club Lausanne HC, Johan Svensson of Expressen reports. Svensson said earlier this month he was expecting Brännström to head to Switzerland; now it looks like the deal is done.

The move isn’t surprising after a tumultuous 2024-25 campaign for the 25-year-old Brännström. The 2017 first-rounder wasn’t tendered by the Senators last year and signed a one-year, $900K contract with the Avalanche early in free agency, but he didn’t even make it through training camp in Colorado. The Avs, in need of salary cap flexibility to begin the season, traded him to the Canucks for the contract of LTIR-bound defender Tucker Poolman and a fourth-round pick.

While Vancouver was in need of some puck-moving defensive depth, they opted to immediately waive Brännström. He cleared and began the season in AHL Abbotsford, but the Canucks still gave him a multitude of NHL opportunities and jockeyed him between leagues for the majority of the campaign. He played limited minutes (14:56 per game), and his results were underwhelming in sheltered usage. A 3-5–8 scoring line in 28 appearances was fine for the rearguard, but his even-strength possession metrics (48.8 CF%, 48.3 xGF%) were disappointing considering his consistent offensive-zone deployment.

The Canucks waived Brännström again in January. After he cleared, that was the last we saw of him in the NHL in 2024-25. He was traded two more times ahead of the deadline – first to the Rangers in the J.T. Miller trade, and again to the Sabres for depth winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel on deadline day – but only suited up for those teams’ AHL affiliates.

Brännström was quite productive in the minors, totaling 8-15–23 with a +14 rating across 27 appearances for Abbotsford, Hartford, and Rochester in the regular season. He’s still got some track left in the Sabres organization as he suits up for Rochester in the Calder Cup Playoffs, but it’s clear that will be the end of his stay.

One of Vegas’ three first-round picks in their inaugural 2017 draft class and later a key portion of the trade that sent Mark Stone from the Senators to the Golden Knights, Brännström has never been able to capture anything above a bottom-pairing role. Across 294 games with Ottawa and Vancouver over the last seven years, he’s averaged just 16:41 per game and has a 10-67–77 scoring line with a -17 rating. His possession metrics were historically average with a career 51.2 CF% in heavy offensive deployment, but not enough to suggest a meaningful two-way impact given his sheltered usage.

Buffalo could retain Brännström’s signing rights until 2027 by issuing him a qualifying offer, but he’ll be old enough for unrestricted free agency in the NHL when his contract with Lausanne expires in 2028. If he opts to attempt an NHL return when his Swiss deal is up, he’ll do so with the ability to sign anywhere.

Michael Sgarbossa Signs With Swiss League’s HC Lugano

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Forward Michael Sgarbossa has signed a two-year deal with HC Lugano of the Swiss National League, per a club announcement. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after completing his two-year, two-way deal with the Capitals.

Sgarbossa, 33 in July, has carved out a lengthy pro career as an AHL mainstay and frequent call-up option despite going undrafted. He got his first NHL look with the Avalanche back in the 2012-13 season and played for four organizations in his first six pro seasons, including the Ducks, Panthers, and Jets – all in fringe NHL roles (or none at all, as was the case during his lone season in Winnipeg). He played 48 NHL contests over that span and recorded two goals and 10 points, including a career-high 38 appearances split between Anaheim and Florida in the 2016-17 campaign.

While Sgarbossa never found stability as a full-time NHL roster piece, he did at least find organizational stability for the latter half of his career. After spending the 2017-18 season with the Jets’ AHL affiliate, he signed with Washington in free agency the following summer and has remained in the Capitals’ system since.

He played almost exclusively for Hershey over the first couple of two-way deals he signed, but amid a near point-per-game season in the AHL, he did get more of an extended NHL look in the 2023-24 season. The veteran center slotted in 25 times for Washington down the stretch as the Caps fought for and won a wild-card spot, scoring a career-high four goals while averaging nearly 11 minutes per game.

Sgarbossa only got three NHL reps here in 2024-25, though, and injuries limited him to 35 games on the farm with Hershey. He was still extremely productive when healthy, though – the playmaking pivot notched a 7-24–31 scoring line.

He’s been a remarkably consistent first-line producer for Hershey since his arrival in the Caps’ system in 2018, scoring 268 points in 297 games for the franchise (0.90 per game). A two-time AHL All-Star and a Calder Cup champion with Hershey in 2023 (he didn’t play in the playoffs when the Bears won in 2024), he pauses his North American minor-league career after recording a 165-302–467 scoring line in 609 AHL games over the last 13 years. Since Sgarbossa made his pro debut in 2012, only eight players have recorded more AHL points than he has.

He’ll now join a Lugano team that was on the brink of relegation to the second-tier Swiss League but won their play-out series to extend their 42-year stay in the top level. They’ve been active in inking productive veteran AHLers this offseason, also signing defenseman Connor Carrick a few weeks back.

Dominik Kubalik Signs Two-Year Deal In Switzerland

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There’s no NHL comeback yet for winger Dominik Kubalik. He’s signed a two-year deal to stay in Switzerland with National League club EV Zug, the team announced – although it contains an NHL out clause if he receives an offer.

Kubalik last played in the NHL with the Senators in 2023-24. It was a nightmarish season for the Czech forward, who managed only 11 goals and 15 points in 74 games (with a -30 rating) after rattling off four straight seasons above 30 points to begin his NHL career.

Understandably, there wasn’t much interest in his services on the open market after such a stark dropoff. He returned to Switzerland last summer on a one-year deal with HC Ambri-Piotta, the club where he had two seasons above a point per game before signing with the Blackhawks in 2019. Kubalik, now 29, regained his status as a top-tier scoring threat overseas with a 27-22–49 scoring line in 52 games to lead the team. That was also good enough to lead the NL in goals.

He may still land an NHL offer this summer after his resurgence, but if not, he’s got a backup plan with Zug. His intra-league move links him up with former NHLers Gabriel Carlsson, Raphael Diaz, and Fredrik Olofsson.

Connor Carrick Signs Two-Year Deal In Switzerland

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Veteran depth defenseman Connor Carrick is heading overseas for the first time in his professional career. The 31-year-old signed a two-year contract with Swiss National League club HC Lugano earlier this week, the team announced.

Carrick spent 2024-25 on a two-way deal with the Oilers, although he didn’t see NHL ice for the second season in a row. His last big-league appearance came in April 2023 when he was with the Bruins. The 5’11”, 192-lb righty remains a high-end minor-league option, although he’s bounced around a bunch in the last few years. That offers some insight into why the Illinois native has opted for a later-career switch to the high-level European pros for some more financial and personal stability.

This year saw Carrick slot into the lineup 63 times for AHL Bakersfield, finishing second on the team in scoring among defensemen with 18-23–41 in 63 games. His 101 PIMs led the team, and his 18 goals were his highest in a single season at any level since his U14 days.

The Oilers were Carrick’s seventh NHL franchise in his 12-year professional career. A fifth-round pick by the Capitals in 2012, he’s also spent time with the Maple Leafs, Stars, Devils, Kraken, and Bruins organizations. Most of his NHL action came in Toronto, playing 130 of his 242 career games there from 2016 to 2018. The 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns were his only ones without a minor-league assignment, including a career-high 4-8–12 scoring line in 47 games for Toronto in the latter year in bottom-pairing minutes.

An unrestricted free agent this summer, Carrick joins a Lugano roster that’s already locked in former NHLers Carl Dahlström, Mirco Müller, Jiří Sekáč, and Calvin Thurkauf for the 2025-26 season.

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