Michael Sgarbossa Signs With Swiss League’s HC Lugano
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
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
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.
Sami Niku Signs Two-Year Deal In Switzerland
An NHL comeback for free agent defenseman Sami Niku isn’t in the cards, at least for now. He’s signed a two-year deal to remain in Switzerland with National League club Lausanne HC, the club announced.
The 6’1″ lefty was a seventh-round pick of the Jets in 2015, but his hype quickly exceeded his draft pedigree. He came over to North America in 2017 following a pair of strong post-draft seasons with Liiga’s JYP in his native Finland. Niku crashed onto the scene in the minors with the Manitoba Moose, earning AHL Defenseman of the Year and First All-Star honors with a 16-goal, 54-point showing in 76 appearances. He also scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game that year.
Niku’s development stalled out almost immediately, though. He remained on the Jets’ roster for the vast majority of the next three years as a No. 7/8 option but never secured a full-time role amid occasional AHL stints. Niku and the Jets mutually terminated his contract shortly before the 2021-22 season. He caught on with the Canadiens a few days later, but after being buried in AHL Laval for most of the year, wasn’t extended a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent.
The 28-year-old has played in Europe ever since. He first rejoined JYP and, after a strong initial showing in 2022-23, erupted to lead Liiga defensemen with 37 assists and 49 points in 53 games with JYP and Ilves in 2023-24.
Niku jumped to Switzerland last year with EHC Kloten. He had a successful run with a 5-25–30 scoring line and plus-five rating in 52 games, but his stay with the club won’t extend past this season. His offensive performance overseas may warrant another look in NHL minutes, but time is running out for him to make a meaningful return since he’ll be 30 when his deal with Lausanne expires.
Lausanne, coming off back-to-back losses in the National League final, also has former NHLers Dominik Kahun, Janne Kuokkanen, and Antti Suomela on their roster for next season.
Tomas Tatar On EV Zug’s Radar
In his prime, veteran winger Tomas Tatar was a quality secondary scorer, notching seven seasons of at least 20 goals. However, his production and role have dropped in recent years and it appears that has caught the eye of at least one international team.
Speaking with the Zuger Zeitung last weekend, EV Zug’s manager Reto Klay acknowledged that Tatar is on a shortlist of players the team intends to target this offseason, one that also includes former NHL winger Dominik Kubalik. Zug has seven import players to sign for next season so they’ll be casting a wide net to do so; Klay acknowledged that his shortlist currently consists of somewhere between 20 and 30 players.
After his contract with Montreal ended in 2021, Tatar inked a two-year, $9MM contract with New Jersey. However, his market wasn’t the strongest in 2023 despite a 20-goal, 48-point campaign, resulting in him settling for a one-year, $1.8MM pact. Then this past summer, he opted to sign quickly, taking $1.5MM to return to the Devils.
Last season, Tatar had just nine goals and 15 assists in 70 games between Colorado and Seattle. This year, he has just seven tallies and ten helpers in 71 contests while his playing time is down to just 11 minutes a night, a career low. Given the sharp drop in production, there’s a strong possibility that Tatar could have a weak market this summer, potentially landing in PTO territory. With that in mind, it’s understandable that Zug (and perhaps other international teams) have him on their radar for next season.
It remains to be seen if Tatar would be open to playing overseas at this point of his career. Now 34 and with over 900 NHL regular season games under his belt, would he prefer a low-cost NHL contract or even a tryout opportunity to try to extend his career at the top level? Or, would he be open to heading overseas where he’d take a pay cut but get to play in the top-six role that he’s best suited for? He still has a few more months to make that determination.
Dominik Kahun Signs Three-Year Deal In Switzerland
Swiss National League club Lausanne HC has signed veteran winger Dominik Kahun to a three-year deal, per a team announcement. While he spent the beginning of the season with rival SC Bern, he’s been released from his deal there and will join Lausanne immediately.
The news all but rules out an NHL return for Kahun, who’s played exclusively in Switzerland since his three-year run in the NHL from 2018 to 2021. In 186 games with the Blackhawks, Penguins, Sabres, and Oilers, Kahun produced a solid 34-49–83 scoring line in bottom-six minutes. After going non-tendered by Edmonton in the 2021 offseason, Kahun opted for a starring role overseas instead of a depth one in the NHL and inked a three-year deal with Bern.
That contract started off on a high note. Kahun immediately led Bern in scoring with 16-28–44 in 42 games during his first season in the NL, and the move overseas allowed him to pot a goal and two assists at the 2022 Winter Olympics for his native Germany. The performance led Bern to sign Kahun to another three-year extension with two years remaining on his current deal, set to keep him with the club through the 2026-27 season. Injuries limited him to four goals in 23 regular-season games in 2022-23, but he still managed 21 points and scored six times in nine postseason games. A healthy Kahun took things to new heights last season, leading the league with 35 assists in 47 games.
Unfortunately, he’s fallen off the map in 2024-25. He last played for Bern in late January, ending his tenure there with 2-7–9 with a minus-seven rating in 24 games. The 5’11” winger, who won three straight DEL titles before coming over to the NHL and was a member of Germany’s silver-medal winning effort at the 2018 Olympics, now hopes to revitalize his career on a league-leading Lausanne club that’s the only NL side so far to clinch a postseason berth. They also recently added ex-NHLer Brendan Perlini and are captained by 590-game NHL veteran Michael Raffl.
Minor Transactions: 2/14/2025
The first set of games in the coveted 4-Nations Face-Off have come and gone, speaking plenty of positives for North America while the European side both need to find another kick. But the pause in the NHL season hasn’t slowed down the news cycle in professional leagues around the world, with plenty of former NHL talent on the move or cementing their stay overseas. As always, we’ll track the minor moves from Valentine’s Day here…
- Former Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo has signed a standard player contract with the ECHL’s Bloomington Bison. Kaskisuo played in two games for the Norfolk Admirals earlier this season. He lost both matchups and allowed seven goals on 55 shots. He was a bit more successful with the AHL’s Laval Rocket last season, posting a modest .909 save percentage and a 7-4-0 record in 13 games. Kaskisuo has journeyed around the hockey world over the last few seasons. He climbed through the minor leagues from 2015 to 2020, and made one start each with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nashville Predators in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. He followed those spot starts up with a trip to Sweden, spending two years and 60 games with the SHL’s Leksands IF. Kaskisuo performed well with a move to pro starts, totaling a 26-31-0 record and .904 save percentage. He slowed down in his latter Finnish starts, prompting a return to North America that he’ll look to now spark in Bloomington.
- Top Switzerland club the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers have extended three former NHL talents to two-year contract extensions. The group is led by former Minnesota Wild lineup piece Victor Rask, who ranks third on the Lakers in scoring with 30 points in 47 games this season. It’s his best Swiss year yet, after he totaled 34 points in 59 Swiss games over the last two seasons. Rask previously recorded 223 points in 506 career NHL games. Rask is joined in re-upping by defenseman Nicklas Jensen and winger Tanner Fritz, who have followed similar paths to Switzerland. Jensen was a first-round selection in the 2011 NHL Draft, but managed just 31 NHL games and six points before he decided to the KHL. He added 220 games in Russia, and joined the Lakers in 2022. Fritz had a bit more success in North America. He mounted a nine-year career in the AHL that rewarded him with 221 points across 347 games. Those appearances were interspliced with 42 career NHL games – but Fritz couldn’t find the scoring push to hold up a top-flight role. He started the 2024-25 season in Canada’s North Peace Hockey League, but joined the Lakers partway through the year. That’s proven a good bet, with Fritz netting 12 points in 14 games so far. This extension will now give him a chance to carry those numbers over the course of a full season.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
NL’s SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Sign Julius Honka
Former top Stars prospect Julius Honka is staying in Switzerland, with the National League’s SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers announcing they’ve secured a two-year commitment from the defender beginning next season.
Honka hasn’t played in North America since 2021, and after spending two seasons with Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League, he arrived in Switzerland in 2023. The Lakers will mark Honka’s fourth NL team in three seasons after splitting the 2023-24 campaign between SC Bern and Genève-Servette HC and signing for 2024-25 with HC Davos. They didn’t say whether Honka’s deal has an NHL out-clause, but regardless, it’s a sign that he won’t be pursuing NHL opportunities next summer after a resurgence in his game.
Honka, who Dallas drafted 14th overall a decade ago, has 20 points and a +3 rating in 33 games with Davos, putting him fifth among NL defenders. It’s not unexpected production, either. Since being cut loose by the Stars in 2021, Honka has been a top two-way threat in the European circuit. He led the SHL in goals from a defenseman with 10 in 46 games with Luleå in 2021-22, and he led the Champions Hockey League with a +14 rating with the Swedish club the following year.
The Finnish native’s brief NHL career only spanned three seasons, accumulating 87 appearances with the Stars from 2016-17 to 2018-19. He averaged a minimal 13:57 per game and recorded two goals and 11 assists for 13 points with a -7 rating. While he was frequently criticized for a lack of physicality and defensive awareness individually, the Stars always controlled possession better at even strength with Honka on the ice than without him. He also recorded 113 points in 218 AHL games during his time in the Stars organization with a -24 rating.
This year’s Rapperswil-Jona roster is home to former NHLers Pontus Åberg, Tanner Fritz, Philip Holm, Nicklas Jensen, Jacob Larsson, and Victor Rask.
Minor Transactions: 12/10/24
As usual, there have been a handful of minor moves around the hockey world today. Here’s a rundown of the ones that haven’t been previously mentioned.
- The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they’ve once again recalled Nikolas Matinpalo from AHL Belleville. The 26-year-old has been shuffled back and forth in recent days but has yet to see any game action with Ottawa in 2024-25 but got into four games with the big club last season. Matinpalo has played in 17 games with Belleville this season, collecting two goals and four assists, nearly halfway to his point production from 2023-24.
- Hurricanes prospect Anttoni Honka will be staying overseas next season. HC Ajoie of the Swiss NL announced that they’ve signed him to a two-year contract that begins in 2025-26. The 24-year-old is playing for Ajoie this season while on loan from Carolina, the second straight year he has played overseas despite being on an NHL agreement; he suited up for JYP in Finland last season. This is the final year of Honka’s entry-level deal and considering he has already decided to stay in Switzerland, there’s a good chance he’ll be non-tendered this summer. Honka was selected late in the third round in 2019.
- Still with Carolina, the Hurricanes have re-assigned defenseman Ty Smith to AHL Chicago, per a team release. Smith has been shuffled back and forth throughout the season while spending time in a seventh defender role at times with Carolina but has yet to get into an NHL game this season. The 24-year-old has three goals and four helpers in seven games with the Wolves so far.
- Former NHL winger Brendan Perlini has found a place to play this season. Spartak of the KHL announced that they’ve inked the 28-year-old for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. Perlini has 262 career NHL games under his belt over parts of five seasons with four different teams, collecting 50 goals and 31 assists over that span. He spent the last two years exclusively at the AHL level, however, and picked up nine goals and 11 assists in 37 games with AHL Charlotte last season.
- A day after being sent down, Max Sasson has been recalled by the Canucks, the team announced (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has two assists in seven games in his first taste of NHL action this season. Sasson also has nine points in 16 games with AHL Abbotsford. His demotion allowed Vancouver to bank a tiny bit more cap space as they look to avoid dipping into using LTIR.
Pierre-Édouard Bellemare Signs In Switzerland
Veteran center Pierre-Édouard Bellemare isn’t yet ready to call it quits. After being somewhat surprisingly released from a professional tryout agreement with the Avalanche during training camp, HC Ajoie of the Swiss National League announced they’d signed him for the remainder of the season.
It’s the first trip overseas in over 10 years for the 39-year-old Frenchman. Bellemare spent most of his professional career in France’s Ligue Magnus and Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan and Elitserien (now SHL) before landing his first NHL contract with the Flyers at age 29 after a standout showing for France at the 2014 World Championship. He immediately stuck in the NHL full-time, posting 12 points in 81 games for the Flyers in 2014-15 in a fourth-line role.
Since then, Bellemare has been a dependable and versatile fourth-line piece for the Golden Knights, Avalanche, Lightning, and Kraken. He reached the Stanley Cup Final twice – once with Vegas in their inaugural season and again with Tampa Bay in 2022, but was on the losing end both times. A free agent in the summer of 2023, he inked a cheap one-year deal with Seattle that saw him fall out of a regular lineup spot for the first time since arriving in North America. He was limited to seven points in 40 games with the Kraken, averaging a career-low 9:50 per game and failing to replicate the hard-nosed style that helped him succeed in 700 games at the sport’s highest level.
But even still, Bellemare’s possession results were good. The Kraken controlled 54.9% of shot attempts and 57.4% of expected goals, with Bellemare on the ice at even strength despite deploying him mainly in defensive situations. That could have benefitted a team looking to acquire a reliable extra forward, namely Colorado, who was already familiar with his skill set. He recorded 33 points in 122 games in an Avs uniform from 2019 to 2021. But they passed him up, a decision they’re likely regretting after another rash of injuries to their forward core on top of the trio of Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin that they were already missing to start the season.
He’ll now head close to home with an Ajoie team that’s 2-13-1-1 through its first 17 games of the NL regular season with a -36 goal differential. Bellemare is now 700 of the 753 career NHL games on Ajoie’s roster – the other 53 belong to defenseman T.J. Brennan. It’s almost surely the end of the road for him in the NHL, but he’ll still have his chance to make his mark internationally. If Russia is still barred from participating, France will be in the 2026 Winter Olympics.