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Minor Transactions: 08/19/21

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Another day, another set of minor league, junior and European teams filling out their rosters for the upcoming season. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable moves right here:

  • As expected, Sasha Pastujov has committed to the Guelph Storm for the upcoming season. Instead of going to the University of Notre Dame as originally planned, Pastujov signed his entry-level contract with the Anaheim Ducks and will play in the OHL this season. The third-round pick has huge offensive upside and very well could be one of the top scoring threats in the OHL, depending on linemates and team strength.
  • Garrett Wilson has signed an AHL deal with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for 2021-22, meaning he’ll be spending another season entirely in the minor leagues. The 30-year-old forward has 94 games of NHL experience including 54 during the 2018-19 season, but has played the last two exclusively in the AHL. Last year with the Phantoms, he had just one goal and nine assists in 27 games.
  • Kale Howarth has signed an AHL deal with the Rockford IceHogs, after becoming an unrestricted free agent a few days ago. By not reaching an entry-level deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who drafted Howarth 148th overall in 2017, he hit the open market and was free to sign anywhere. The 24-year-old played three seasons at the University of Connecticut, scoring five goals and seven points in 18 games this year.
  • The Springfield Thunderbirds have signed Shawn Cameron and Nic Pierog to one-year AHL deals, bringing aboard the pair of ECHL talents. Cameron had ten points in 23 games for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits last season, also seeing some time with the Utica Comets, while Pierog finished among the league leaders with 45 points in 61 games for the Indy Fuel.
  • After being left unqualified by the Florida Panthers, Jake Massie has signed an ECHL contract with the South Carolina Stingrays. The 24-year-old was signed out of college but was never even able to establish himself at the AHL level, spending last season entirely with Greenville.
  • The Iowa Wild have signed Doyle Somerby to a one-year AHL deal, after he split last season between the Stingrays and the Tucson Roadrunners. In 24 games with Tucson, the big defenseman recorded one goal and seven points.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Ducks’ Sasha Pastujov To De-Commit From Notre Dame, Sign In OHL

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A top American prospect is expected to make a major shift in his development plan. Forward Sasha Pastujov, who stunningly fell to the Anaheim Ducks in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft when some had him pegged as a first-rounder, is about to be the subject of another surprise. ESPN’s John Buccigross reports that Pastujov is giving up on his college commitment to the University of Notre Dame. Instead, Pastujov will sign an entry-level contract with the Ducks and then sign in the OHL with his rights-holder, the Guelph Storm.

Pastujov initially committed to the Fighting Irish back in 2018, which has always drawn some scrutiny with Notre Dame serving as a rival to the University of Michigan, where older brothers Nick and Michael Pastujov played their college hockey. Sasha was expected to enroll at Notre Dame this fall and looked like the crown jewel of the incoming freshman class. A product of the U.S. National Team Development program, Pastujov recorded 30 goals and 65 points in 42 games this season, leading the team by a wide margin. It was the second straight season that Pastujov has scored at better than a point-per-game pace for the USNTDP, which led many to believe that his offensive skill and instinct would lead to an early selection in the draft. It also set him up well to make an immediate difference in the NCAA.

Well, now that impact will occur in the OHL, as Guelph has suddenly been gifted a top prospect as they get set to return to action. There has been no word as to what caused Pastujov’s sudden charge of heart, though there was no indication of such a move until after his selection, suggesting that perhaps Anaheim had some input. On the other hand, Pastujov is also the third member of the most recent USNTDP U-18 team to break his commitment to a college program in favor of major junior. Tampa Bay Lightning third-round pick Roman Schmidt abandoned Boston University in favor of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, while San Jose Sharks sixth-rounder Liam Gilmartin opted for the OHL’s London Knights over Providence College. It’s a strange trend for this year’s American crop, counter to the massive growth of the college game in recent years. For whatever reason, Pastujov has made the decision that he thinks is best for his development and now he and Ducks just hope it works out.

 

Minor Transactions: 08/10/21

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The NHL is rounding out rosters by finishing restricted free agent negotiations, but that isn’t the only thing going on in the hockey world. With European leagues ramping up, the AHL preparing for a full schedule and junior players getting ready to show what they can do, there are plenty of minor transactions across the landscape. As always, we’ll keep track of notable ones right here.

  • Kirill Kudryavtsev, a potential first-round pick in 2022, has signed with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the upcoming season. The 17-year-old defenseman was the sixth overall pick in the recent CHL import draft, and has decided to come over to continue his development in North America. The Greyhounds now list him at 6’0″ 185-lbs. Kudryavtsev recently won the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament with Russia, posting two points in five games.
  • Giorgio Estephan, a 2015 draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres, has decided to take his talents overseas. The 24-year-old forward has signed with HC Litvinov of the Czech league on a one-year deal with an option for 2022-23. A 2019 Kelly Cup champion with the Newfoundland Growlers, Estephan played 19 games for the Stockton Heat this year.
  • Riley Woods played 26 games for the Colorado Eagles this season, but is off to Sweden after signing with MODO. The 23-year-old forward went undrafted out of the WHL, but has dominated at the ECHL level and held his own in the AHL. His deal overseas is just for one year.
  • The Belleville Senators have added Zac Leslie, Colby Williams and Tyrell Goulbourne on AHL contracts for next season. Goulbourne, 27, is the only one with any NHL experience, having played 11 games for the Philadelphia Flyers. The former Kelowna Rockets star failed to register a single point in those games and has just five in his last 71 games at the AHL level.
  • Ryan Kuffner, who signed an entry-level deal out of Princeton in 2019 and played 10 games with the Detroit Red Wings, has now agreed to a one-year deal with the Iowa Wild. The 25-year-old spent last season playing in Germany, where he registered 14 points in 31 games. Kuffner is actually signing a two-way minor league deal, meaning he’ll make different salaries depending on if he’s playing in the AHL or ECHL next season.
  • Vincent Arseneau has signed with the Abbotsford Canucks for next season, staying with the Vancouver Canucks AHL affiliate. The 29-year-old forward has played the last four seasons with the Utica Comets, scoring four goals in 13 games this year.
  • The Syracuse Crunch have signed defenseman Ryan Jones to a one-year, AHL deal.  The 25-year-old played in 29 games last season with AHL Rochester, his first professional action after completing his college career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

This page will be updated with other minor transactions

Pavel Gogolev Signs Entry-Level Contract

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Pavel Gogolev to a three-year, entry-level contract. Gogolev spent part of this season with the Toronto Marlies after going undrafted out of the OHL, but has now earned an NHL contract.

In 2019-20, Gogolev was one of only six players in the OHL to record at least 40 goals and 85 points, finishing with 45 and 96 in his final year with the Guelph Storm. Despite that, the Russian forward still wasn’t drafted, and started this season playing in the Swedish second tier. After 12 games there, he signed an AHL contract with the Marlies and showed just how good his offensive skills can be. In 13 minor league games he scored six goals and 12 points.

Now, under an entry-level contract, Gogolev doesn’t need to worry about the next step in his development or where he’ll play in 2021-22. If the Maple Leafs want to take advantage of the top-end puck skills that the young forward possesses, there needs to be a lot of work put into the defensive side of the game. That’s worth the gamble at the moment, but an ELC doesn’t mean that Gogolev will be given a chance at the NHL level. In fact, he likely won’t unless his game away from the puck improves dramatically.

After a busy day yesterday adding depth to the organization, the Maple Leafs are now at 43 of their allotted 50 NHL contracts. They felt secure enough to use one of those spots on the 21-year-old Gogolev, now he’ll need to show them it wasn’t a mistake.

AHL Exemption Coming For Some CHL Prospects

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In the 2020-21 season, with the OHL not playing at all and the other two CHL leagues playing shortened schedules, many prospects that would not normally be eligible for the AHL played in the minor leagues. According to the CHL-NHL agreement, many of those players would be forced back to junior for 2021-22, if they had not yet reached the age of 20. For a player like Cole Perfetti, it meant he would either have to make the Winnipeg Jets or return to the Saginaw Spirit, despite scoring 26 points in 32 games for the Manitoba Moose, clearly proving he can compete at the AHL level.

Special circumstances need special rules though, and Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the finishing touches are being put on an agreement that will allow junior eligible players who played 20 or more AHL games this season to return to the AHL in 2021-22. Perfetti, to stay with the same example, would not be required to go back to the OHL even though he is still just 19 years old.

The move would be a huge boost for the AHL, as the minor league could now have more young star power competing next season, but it is also a huge loss for the junior leagues, the OHL in particular. Players like Seth Jarvis or Connor Zary from the WHL didn’t have time to reach that 20-game threshold before their junior season started up again, even though they did play well in the short minor league stint.

One interesting case is Jamie Drysdale of the Anaheim Ducks. The 19-year-old defenseman played just 14 games at the AHL level, but that’s not because he went back to junior. Drysdale instead joined the NHL club for 24 games. Though he is likely to stay with the Ducks for next season, it is interesting to note that under the proposed rule, he would appear not to be eligible for AHL action if he struggles at all to start the year. Dreger does tweet that the eventual agreement will be a little more complicated, so perhaps there will be exceptions for players like Drysdale.

Logan Mailloux Renounces Himself From 2021 NHL Draft

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Any team that was struggling with the decision of whether or not to select Logan Mailloux in the upcoming draft has now been taken off the hook. The top prospect has renounced himself from the 2021 NHL Draft, asking teams not to select him.

Mailloux, 18, according to reports in The Athletic and Daily Faceoff, was charged in Sweden with taking and distributing an offensive photo without consent during a consensual sexual encounter last year. According to Katie Strang and Corey Pronman of The Athletic, at least nine teams had already completely dropped Mailloux off their draft list because of the incident. Now, the prospect is asking for the entire league to pass on him. In a Twitter post today, Mailloux wrote:

Being drafted into the NHL is an honour and a privilege that no one takes lightly. The NHL Draft should be one of the most exciting landmark moments in a player’s career, and given the circumstances I don’t feel I have demonstrated strong enough maturity or character to earn that privilege in the 2021 Draft. If I were to ever have the honour of being selected I would want a fanbase to be proud to welcome me to their organization. I know it will take time for society to build back the trust I have lost, and that is why I think it is best that I renounce myself from the 2021 NHL Draft and ask that no one select me this upcoming weekend. I feel that this would allow me the opportunity to demonstrate an adequate level of maturity and character next season with the London Knights in the OHL and provide all the NHL teams the opportunity to reassess my character towards the 2022 NHL Draft.

Should he go undrafted, Mailloux could return to the London Knights and continue his hockey career. When asked for comment by Strang, the Knights released a statement indicating that they would continue to work with the young defenseman to “help him better understand his actions, the ramifications of his actions and [ensure] that this does not happen again.” If undrafted, he would be eligible for the 2022 draft. Mailloux was ranked 23rd among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.

Toronto Hires Spencer Carbery As Assistant Coach

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have plucked one of the top coaches from the AHL ranks to take over their vacancy at assistant coach. The team has announced that Hershey Bears head coach Spencer Carbery has been hired to join Sheldon Keefe’s staff. Carbery replaces Dave Hakstol, who left to become the inaugural head coach of the Seattle Kraken.

Even as a minor league coach, Carbery should be a recognizable name for many. The 39-year-old is the reigning AHL Coach of the Year, named the recipient of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award after leading Hershey to a 24-7-2-0 record. Carbery only just completed his third season as an AHL head coach, but in that time the Bears went 104-50-9-8 for a .658 points percentage that was among the AHL’s best in that span. Carbery previously won the ECHL Coach of the Year Award as well, taking home the honor in his third of five seasons spent as the head coach and Director of Hockey Operations for the South Carolina Stingrays. He is no stranger to Ontario either, spending one season as the head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit.

Carbery is a well-regarded head coach and should be a natural fit with a Toronto staff that is young and innovative, much like the culture of the team. There could be an adjustment period, seeing as Carbery has no NHL experience to this point, but having fellow young coaches around who went through the same transition not long ago will help the process. Meanwhile, Carbery’s loss will be felt in a major way in Hershey and the Washington Capitals must now work quickly to find a new bench boss for their AHL affiliate.

Andre Tourigny Named Arizona Coyotes Head Coach

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After days of speculation suggesting that Andre Tourigny was the front-runner to take over as Arizona’s new head coach, the team made it official on Thursday, hiring Tournigny while signing him to a three-year contract.  GM Bill Armstrong released the following statement:

“We are very pleased to name André as the new head coach of the Arizona Coyotes. André is a tremendous person and one of the best young coaches in the game today. He is a winner, a great teacher and a strong communicator who has a proven track record of developing young talent. We are confident that he is the right person to lead our team on the ice and we are thrilled to have him in our organization.”

While this is Tourigny’s first NHL head coaching job, it’s not his first time working in the league. Tourigny’s been an active coach since 1998, serving as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-2015 and with the Ottawa Senators in 2015-16.

Since then, Tourigny has been the head coach and vice president of hockey operations for the OHL’s Ottawa 67s, in which he’s seen great success. He’s coached recent highly touted prospects such as Marco Rossi and Jack Quinn en route to being one of the best teams in the league. He also served as the head coach for Canada’s U20 team at the World Juniors this year, winning a silver medal to add to his trophy case.

The Coyotes hope that a shift behind the bench can help propel the team to success sooner rather than later. Inconsistency on and off the ice has plagued the franchise for over a decade now, and they’ve made the playoffs only once since 2012. It may be a very different-looking team next year too, as forward Conor Garland finds himself in trade rumors. Tourigny will work to rehabilitate a roster that’s had a concerning lack of offense, and he’ll try to get more out of important players like Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel. A system more beneficial to Arizona’s offensively inclined players could unlock the next level for this team, something they’re hoping the Tourigny hire will do. He becomes the team’s seventh head coach since relocating from Winnipeg in 1996.

Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider was the first to report that Tourigny’s hiring had been finalized.

2021 CHL Import Draft Results

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The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have a good chance at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved in 2017. Chytil was selected seventh overall by the North Bay Battalion but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.

There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Sudbury Wolves found out in 2018-19. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the third-overall selection and ended up winning the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. Because things in the hockey world were so unclear last season, only 66 players ended up being picked in the 2020 draft. Even selections as high as tenth overall were forfeited. This time around things will be a little different as the CHL prepares for a return to a normal schedule in 2021-22.

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Snapshots: Coyotes’ Coach Search, Nylander, Ak Bars

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With head coaches flying off the market and one of the top available names being the guy they just let go, the Arizona Coyotes’ hunt for a head coach is in an interesting spot. From the get-go, the word was that the ’Yotes and GM Bill Armstrong could be looking for a fresh voice, perhaps even a first-time NHL coach, so they may be unfazed by the recent run on big names. Yet, insider Craig Morgan reports that one of their top candidates is in fact a seasoned veteran. Morgan writes that Dallas Stars assistant Todd Nelson is scheduled to have his third interview for the vacancy, by all accounts the most of any candidate. Nelson has been in the NHL (or AHL) since 2006, including a brief stint as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He has found great success in the minors, winning two Calder Cups, and never really got a fair shake as the bench boss in Edmonton, so in a way he would be somewhat of a first-time NHL head coach. He has picked up experience in Dallas over the past three years under Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness and could be ready for another shot at the top job.

Morgan considers Nelson’s greatest competition to be Andre Tourigny, the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and most recently an assistant for Canada’s gold medal World Championship entry. Tourigny briefly coached in the NHL as an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators over three years, but has mostly coached at the major junior level and has been the bench boss of Canada’s World Junior team the past two years. Tourigny has found immense success working with young players; he has been named OHL Coach of the Year (twice), QMJHL Coach of the Year, and the overall CHL Coach of the Year, not to mention medals at four World Juniors. Can he translate that ability to the pros and lead a Coyotes team that needs to take a step forward rather than continuing to tread water? That is the question that Armstrong must answer. According to Morgan, he has already decided that St. Louis Blues assistant Mike Van Ryn and AHL Providence head coach Jay Leach are not the men for the job.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks just gained some Expansion Draft flexibility. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Alexander Nylander has been declared exempt from the impending selection process. In order to be eligible for the draft, a player must have three pro service years. Nylander, who has been playing professionally in North America for five seasons, may seem like an impossibility to avoid that label, but somehow he does. Despite playing in 116 AHL games between 2016-17 and 2017-18, he played in only seven combined NHL games and his rookie contract underwent the entry-level slide each season, meaning service time did not accrue. He then played countable NHL season in each of the past two years. However, this season – in what was meant to be his third year of service – Nylander missed the entire campaign due to injury. This means that, again, his service time will not clock. After five years in and out of the NHL, Nylander will be considered a second-year pro and untouchable for the Seattle Kraken. As Powers notes, Nylander was expected to be protected by the Blackhawks next month. Now off the board, it will allow the team to protected another forward that they may not have expected. He suggests deadline addition Adam Gaudette or reliable fourth-liner David Kampf could be the pick, while young, high-upside assets Brandon Hagel and Henrik Borgstrom should now be locks.
  • The KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan has succeeded in keeping a pair of drafted prospects away from their NHL teams for a while longer. The team announced that they have re-signed Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov and Anaheim’s Artyom Galimov to multi-year extensions. At their age, this is not an NHL career death sentence for either player, but it is likely disheartening to their teams who would like to get them on North American ice as soon as possible. 20-year-old Voronkov, a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, has signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars after setting career highs across the board in the KHL this season. The impressive youngster has already played two full seasons in the KHL and has been dominant for Russia on the World Junior stage as well. Voronkov’s name carries weight as a prospect and the Jackets undoubtedly hope that he will follow WJC teammate Yegor Chinakhov to Columbus as soon as his new contract expires. There is a bit more cause for pause when it comes to Galimov. The 21-year-old was an overage pick by the Ducks just last year and despite his age has signed a three-year extension with Ak Bars. Galimov is a grassroots product of Kazan and has loyalty to the club, as they do to him after two successful seasons to begin his KHL career. Galimov has actually outpaced Voronkov to this point, showing that he too is a serious NHL prospect. However, Galimov will be 25 years old before he could ever step onto Anaheim ice and will have that much more attachment to Ak Bars. His ability should keep him interested in the NHL and the Ducks in him, but it is not a guarantee.

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