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Anaheim Ducks Sign Scott Harrington To PTO

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Scott Harrington to a professional tryout, according to a team post on X.

Harrington, 30, will attempt to extend his stay with the Ducks after he landed there via the waiver wire in February. He started the 2022-23 season as a member of the San Jose Sharks, signing there as a free agent in late September, but was included in the blockbuster deal that sent Timo Meier to the New Jersey Devils on February 26. New Jersey waived him the following day, and the Ducks opted to claim the veteran defender.

In 45 games split between the Sharks and Ducks, Harrington recorded four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 45 games with a respectable -6 rating, given the poor quality of the teams he played on. Working his way into a more consistent bottom-pairing role, Harrington played his most games in a single season since he suited up for 73 with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2018-19. Now nine seasons deep into his NHL career, the journeyman defender has posted 49 points in 255 games split between the Blue Jackets, Ducks, Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

If he can convert on his PTO, Harrington could very well stick in the NHL full-time next season for the first time in a couple of years. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has been clear about his intention not to rush the team’s boatload of defensive prospects, and Harrington, along with 22-year-old Jackson LaCombe, could conceivably comprise the Ducks’ left side on defense on opening night behind Cam Fowler. The Ducks signed Robert Hägg last month to fill a depth role on defense, but Harrington posted better results last season and would likely slot in above Hägg on the team’s depth chart if he lands a contract.

Snapshots: Nylander, International Tournaments, Stanley

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Much has been made of Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander’s pending free agency, with reports indicating the two sides are far apart in contract talks. One person who isn’t worried is Nylander himself, who told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman today there’s “lots of time” to work out a deal and that he remains committed to staying in Toronto.

Of course, he may feel that way, but the team has other factors to consider. They’re balancing a tricky long-term salary cap situation with an extension needed for Auston Matthews, limiting their ability to maintain negotiations with Nylander without certainty on Matthews’ cap hit next season. New GM Brad Treliving won’t utilize Nylander as a one-year rental if they don’t get close to an extension, either – the wounds of losing Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary last season are still fresh, and Treliving will undoubtedly move Nylander before the trade deadline if there’s no extension in place.

Nylander is entering the final season of a six-year, $45MM deal he signed hours before the December 1 RFA deadline in 2018. Nylander’s reported ask for an extension is $10MM per season.

More from across the NHL sphere today:

  • Speaking at the European Player Media Tour, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly once again reiterated the NHL’s desire to work with the NHLPA on an international best-on-best tournament for February 2025, whether it’s branded as a World Cup of Hockey or not. Notably, however, Daly indicated a specific plan to return to a regular schedule of international appearances, including a return to the Winter Olympics, new messaging that hasn’t been heard from an NHL official in quite a while: “So if we do a ’25 international tournament, we do the ’26 Olympics, the ’28 World Cup of Hockey, the ’30 Olympics, the ’32 World Cup of Hockey, and so on.” Since NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh assumed his post earlier this year, he’s been clear about the players’ desire to return to a consistent schedule of international tournaments.
  • Despite reportedly requesting a trade earlier this year, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley told the Jets’ Jamie Thomas he’s “happy with how [negotiations] went” on his new one-year contract with Winnipeg and looks forward to training camp next month. Stanley alluded to his series of injuries last season, which limited him to 19 games, making it hard to get along with new head coach Rick Bowness, whom Stanley said he’ll speak to in the near future after signing his extension. It’ll be tough for Stanley to break into the lineup every game, however, especially after the Jets signed breakout defender Dylan Samberg to a longer, richer contract earlier in the summer.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Darren Raddysh To Extension

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have inked defenseman Darren Raddysh to a two-year, one-way contract extension, as announced today by the team. The contract, which carries an AAV of $975K, will take effect starting in 2024-25. PuckPedia later added that Raddysh will earn a $1.114MM salary in 2024-25 and an $836K salary in 2025-26.

Raddysh, 27, broke into the Lightning lineup in the back nine of last season after a career year in the minors. Named to the AHL’s First All-Star Team for 2022-23, Raddysh led all Syracuse Crunch defensemen with 38 assists and 51 points in 50 games. It earned him a call-up to the Lightning in early March, and he recorded a goal and two assists for three points in 17 games before appearing in all six postseason games for the Lightning in their first-round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. With Erik Cernak sidelined for most of the series with an upper-body injury after he took an elbow to the head from then-Toronto forward Michael Bunting in Game 1, Raddysh stepped into a top-four role alongside Mikhail Sergachev. Although he posted solid possession metrics in the regular season, the Sergachev-Raddysh unit conceded the most quality opportunities of Tampa’s three main pairings in the playoffs, per MoneyPuck.

An undrafted free agent, Raddysh also spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers organizations before landing in Tampa in 2021 as a free agent. The right-shot defender from Caledon, Ontario, has demonstrated solid two-way instincts in the minors, which appeared to translate to the big leagues in his slightly extended NHL look last season.

The contract’s one-way nature emphasizes Tampa’s belief that Raddysh can be a full-time NHL contributor moving forward, although ideally, they won’t rely on him for heavy minutes unless his game takes another large step. He’ll compete with Haydn Fleury, Zach Bogosian and 2023 free agency addition Calvin de Haan for ice time – a group head coach Jon Cooper will likely rotate throughout the season.

Raddysh will be an unrestricted free agent when his new contract expires in 2026. This season, he’s still on the two-year, two-way contract extension he signed in 2022, which carries a cap hit of $762.5K, an AHL salary of $250K, and a minimum guaranteed salary of $350K, although again, it’s likely he sticks on the NHL roster this season (he would require waivers to be returned to Syracuse).

Arizona Coyotes Extend André Tourigny

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August 23: Arizona has confirmed Tourigny’s extension, which lasts for three years.

August 22: Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports is reporting that the Arizona Coyotes have officially signed head coach André Tourigny to a contract extension. It was reported earlier this month that the two sides were involved in negotiations and that a deal was close, but sources now tell Morgan it is completed.

At the time of the negotiations, Morgan reported that the holdup was Tourigny’s desire to get extensions in place for his coaching staff as well as himself – something that has reportedly been accomplished as the Coyotes have also locked up John Madden, Mario Duhamel and goalie coach Corey Schwab to extensions.

A native of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Tourigny is about to embark on his third season at the helm of the Coyotes. And while his 53-90-21 record with Arizona is ugly on the surface, he has been guiding a roster that largely consists of prospects and castoffs. But record aside, Tourigny has done a good job keeping the group competitive on most nights and fostering a culture that must be positive given that several players who have been traded away previously have elected to return when they hit free agency.

No terms of the new contract have been released, but it should make the upcoming season more comfortable for Tourigny and his staff as they start a season where there will be expectations on the club to win some games. Arizona has been one of the busier teams in the off-season, swinging a trade for Sean Durzi and signing Jason Zucker, Alexander Kerfoot, Matt Dumba, and Nick Bjugstad.

Tourigny hasn’t had pressure to win thus far in his reign as the head coach of the Coyotes, but with a new contract in hand, and some serious depth added to the lineup, the pressure will begin to mount for Tourigny and Arizona to win some games.

Elias Pettersson Won’t Discuss Extension With Canucks During Season

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It’s no secret that Vancouver Canucks superstar center Elias Pettersson is heading into 2023-24 without a contract extension, hurdling toward restricted free agency next summer. The 24-year-old Swede spoke to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman yesterday from Stockholm, saying he’s more concerned about his on-ice performance next season than spending energy working out an extension.

I’m not in a rush to sign. I mean, I’ve got one more year left over there and I don’t want to rush into anything because I still don’t know myself if it’s going to be a short-term [deal] or long-term [deal], but it’s probably going to be my biggest contract so far so I don’t want to stress anything. 

Pettersson’s agent, Pat Brisson, further confirmed to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that he would not negotiate an extension with the Canucks until the end of the 2023-24 season:

The main focus will be for him to perform. It’s more that than anything else. Both sides can evaluate. Let’s sit down at the end of the year and explore where we’re at.

Coming off a 102-point season, Pettersson’s stock has never been higher. He’s seen his development take a rather linear rise since missing a solid chunk of 2020-21 with an upper-body injury, and a long-term deal seems like a much safer bet at this point in time than the last time Pettersson’s contract was up. He’s entering the final season of a three-year, $22.05MM bridge deal signed by former GM Jim Benning in 2021. Vancouver would assumedly like to get Pettersson locked in for the long haul as the salary cap rises, but it’s unclear whether he feels the same way.

After back-to-back 30-goal seasons and armed with a qualifying offer of $8.82MM, he’ll be looking for north of that number in negotiations, whether short-term or long-term. One outcome Vancouver will look to avoid at all costs is a two-year extension, which would use up his remaining RFA years and walk him directly to unrestricted free agency in 2026.

Canucks GM Patrik Allvin has been at his post for just over a year and a half, during which time he’s only signed one long-term contract: a seven-year, $56MM extension for J.T. Miller which kicks in this season. The richest deal he’s signed a restricted free agent to was winger Brock Boeser’s bridge deal, which came in at three years and $19.95MM. This is an entirely different and new situation for Allvin to navigate with Pettersson.

Another thing that may complicate contract comparables is Pettersson’s age. Most recent big-money, long-term deals for RFA centers either occurred immediately after their entry-level contract expired (Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, etc.) or, more recently, at the end of their RFA eligibility with names like Mathew Barzal and Brayden Point. Pettersson falls between those two landmarks, potentially yielding a more favorable framework for a shorter-term deal.

Since breaking into the NHL with his Calder Trophy-winning season in 2018-19, Pettersson has accumulated 136 goals, 187 assists and 323 points in 325 games. He’s posted strong Corsi figures at even strength in each of his five NHL seasons and checked in at seventh in Selke Trophy voting last season after posting a +16 rating on a team that finished the season with a -22 goal differential. Everything points to Pettersson as an all-around top-flight center for years to come.

A rocky start to next season and extension talks remaining quiet could immediately plunge Pettersson’s future in British Columbia into doubt. Doing so now would be speculative – there’s been no information to suggest the two sides are far apart in negotiations or are otherwise developing animosity. Yet the fact that Pettersson is willing to let the season play out without expressively desiring a long-term commitment does put some pressure on the organization to perform this season. The Canucks have made the playoffs just twice in the past decade.

Salary cap considerations could also be a mitigating factor in a Pettersson extension, depending on what (if any) moves are made before talks begin. CapFriendly projects the team with $32.4MM in space for 2024-25, but that is considering a roster of just 11 players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Washington Capitals Loan Ludwig Persson To Mestis’ IPK

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The Washington Capitals have loaned forward prospect Ludwig Persson to Finnish team IPK in the Mestis, the country’s second-tier professional league, for the 2023-24 season, per an announcement from the team.

Washington selected the 19-year-old Swede with the 85th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and signed him to an entry-level contract days later. This is the second straight season the Capitals have loaned Persson out to a European club to continue his development.

Persson spent last season on loan with BIK Karlskoga in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league. His point totals didn’t jump off the page there, as he recorded four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 45 games, but Karlskoga finished in the middle of the pack in the 14-team league, and it’s rather difficult for a teenager to carve out much of a role for themselves in European pro hockey unless they have an elite trajectory. By moving him to a different environment, Washington hopes there will be more ice time for Persson with IPK and, hopefully, a more fruitful development season.

By loaning him out, Washington also defers the start of Persson’s entry-level contract for a second and final season. His three-year, $2.85MM deal will kick in with the 2024-25 season and run through 2026-27. He’ll be a restricted free agent at the end of the contract.

In their 2022 Draft Guide, Elite Prospects called out Persson’s hockey sense as the most noticeable aspect of his game, saying he “consistently displays an understanding of positioning and spacing on the ice and of how to open up gaps in the opposing coverage with his skating, especially off of the rush.” If he can carve out an NHL role, Persson projects as a bottom-six playmaking winger.

To create room on the roster, IPK mutually terminated the contract of 20-year-old undrafted defenseman Aapo Siivonen, who had signed on with them earlier this summer after completing his tenure in the Finnish junior circuit.

Leo Komarov Signs With Liiga’s HIFK

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Helsinki-based club HIFK in Finland’s top league have signed former New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov to a two-year contract, according to a team release. In doing so, Komarov returns to play professionally in the country he’s represented internationally for the first time since 2009.

Born in Estonia, the 36-year-old Komarov has maintained Finnish citizenship and nationality since his family moved there in his youth. He hasn’t played in the NHL since he mutually terminated his contract with the Islanders in November 2021.

A 2006 sixth-round pick of the Maple Leafs, Komarov has gone on to have quite a successful career despite playing less than 500 NHL games. The versatile forward is well-decorated internationally, winning gold medals with Finland at the World Championship and the Winter Olympics and capturing the KHL’s Gagarin Cup.

It was extremely unlikely Komarov would ever return to the NHL after departing for Europe this late into his career, but this essentially confirms he’s played his last game in North America. If that’s the case, he finishes his NHL career with 63 goals, 107 assists and 170 points in 491 games across nine seasons with the Islanders and Leafs.

Komarov spent last season in the Swedish Hockey League with Luleå HF. There, he recorded nine goals, nine assists and 18 points in 49 games as his squad lost to Växjö Lakers HC in the league’s quarterfinals.

Kenny Agostino Signs With SHL’s Skellefteå AIK

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August 23: Johan Svensson and Jennifer Engstrom of Expressen report that Skellefteå is set to terminate their agreement with Agostino just days after signing him. The club had come under criticism in Swedish circles for pursuing a player who’d spent the last two seasons playing in Russia.

August 21: Free agent left-winger Kenny Agostino has signed a one-year deal with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League, according to a team release.

Agostino, a veteran of 86 NHL games across six seasons, hasn’t played in North America since 2021 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. The 31-year-old has spent the last two seasons in Russia with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, where he’s recorded 24 goals, 27 assists and 51 points in 75 games. Most of that offensive production came in 2021-22, however, when he produced at a point-per-game clip. 2022-23 was a tough year for Agostino as he dealt with injuries and inconsistency, scoring just four goals in 29 games.

There likely would have been a spot for Agostino in many NHL organizations had he wanted to return this summer despite last season’s poor performance. He’s been a solid pinch hitter at the NHL level with strong minor-league production, posting 317 points in 348 career AHL games. Despite the limited major-league action, Agostino’s production has been fine for a bottom-six call-up – 30 points across those 86 games with the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues, and Maple Leafs.

Opting to stay in Europe this summer could very well be an indication Agostino intends to spend the rest of his career there. It’s been quite the journey so far for the 2010 fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, earning true journeyman status since finishing his collegiate career at Yale in 2014. It wasn’t too long ago Agostino was viewed as one of the more reliable scoring talents outside of the NHL, as he was named to the United States roster for the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.

Agostino joins a Skellefteå roster that includes Detroit Red Wings 2023 first-round pick defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka, as well as a trio of former Swedish NHL forwards – Oscar Lindberg, Pär Lindholm and Oscar Moller.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Nate Schnarr To PTO

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have inked a professional tryout deal with forward Nate Schnarr, as confirmed by CapFriendly yesterday evening. Schnarr, 24, finds himself looking to earn a spot in the Blue Jackets organization after struggling to adjust to the pro game over the past few seasons.

Despite spending all four seasons of his pro career on an NHL contract, Schnarr is still looking to make his NHL debut. A third-round selection of the Arizona Coyotes in 2017, Schnarr exploded onto the scene as a prospect in the 2018-19 campaign after leading the OHL champion Guelph Storm in points with 102 in 65 games.

He hadn’t posted eye-popping point totals in juniors before that, though, which signaled he may have trouble carrying over that offensive explosion to the pros the following season. He played just 22 games in the minors with the Coyotes in 2019-20 before he was shipped to the New Jersey Devils as part of the five-asset return for Taylor Hall.

Schnarr’s been traded again in each of the past two seasons, ending up with the Montreal Canadiens before finishing out 2022-23 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings organization. Last season was the worst of his pro career to date, recording just four goals and five assists for nine points in 45 AHL games split between the Laval Rocket and Ontario Reign. He recorded just two points in 18 games with Ontario after the trade to the Kings, leading the team to opt not to issue him a qualifying offer this summer and let him become a UFA.

He’s extremely unlikely to earn an NHL role with Columbus off a PTO, but Columbus has brought in potential targets for their minor-league affiliate on tryouts over the past few seasons. At minimum, Schnarr will look to convince the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters to sign him to a contract, although ideally, he’d receive a two-way deal from the Blue Jackets with the option of being called up to make his NHL debut. Columbus has the space to do it; they have 44 out of the maximum 50 active contracts with only one unsigned RFA remaining, defenseman Tim Berni.

Schnarr must impress to stand out amongst a crowded core of existing Blue Jackets prospects and veterans destined for AHL assignment. Per CapFriendly’s projections, the Blue Jackets have 13 forwards under contract slated for assignment to the minors, while the Monsters have four additional forwards signed to AHL deals. 2022 draft choice Jordan Dumais is listed under CapFriendly’s “minors” category for Columbus at the time of writing but is not yet eligible for AHL assignment given his age – he must be returned to juniors if not on the NHL squad, per the NHL/CHL transfer agreement.

Peter Holland Signs PTO With Colorado Avalanche

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Peter Baugh of The Athletic is reporting that former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Peter Holland is attempting to make a comeback with the Colorado Avalanche. Baugh reports that Holland will be trying to return to the NHL after not playing hockey anywhere last season.

Holland last played professionally in the Swedish Hockey League for Djurgardens IF. He struggled offensively, posting just six assists as he cut his season short and played in just 15 games.

Holland hasn’t dressed in an NHL game since 2017-18 when he was a member of the New York Rangers. He struggled mightily that season as he posted just a goal and three assists in 23 games while playing in a bottom-six role. He then spent time in the AHL and Sweden before eventually landing in the KHL where he played for two seasons as a member of Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

Holland will be a long shot to make a very talented Avalanche team. He will be fighting an uphill battle after sitting out for a season and spending a half-decade outside of the NHL. But he is a talented player, while he never reached the level scouts thought he would when he was selected 15th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2009 NHL entry draft, he did put up several solid seasons as a member of the Maple Leafs.

Holland will join the likes of Nathan Beaulieu (Hurricanes), Alex Chiasson (Bruins), and Brandon Sutter (Oilers) who are all hoping to convert PTOs into NHL contracts for next season.

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