Summer Synopsis: Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers promoted Daniel Briere to the general manager chair on March 10, finally finding who they wanted commanding their rebuild. The 2023 summer marked Briere’s first chance to take strides toward improving the Flyers’ long-term outlook and he seized the opportunity, reeling in a tremendous draft class and using calm free-agent signings to shore up the NHL roster. There’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Flyers but Briere’s busy summer opened the door to opportunities for a lot of the organization’s younger players, which should result in an interesting 2023-24 campaign, if nothing else.
Draft
1-7: F Matvei Michkov, Sochi (KHL)
1-22: D Oliver Bonk, London (OHL)
2-51: G Carson Bjarnason, Brandon (WHL)
3-87: G Yegor Zavragin, Mamonty (MHL)
3-95: F Denver Barkey, London (OHL)
4-103: F Cole Knuble, Fargo (USHL)
4-120: F Alex Ciernik, Västerviks (Swedish Div. 2)
5-135: D Carter Sotheran, Portland (WHL)
6-172: F Ryan MacPherson, Leamington (GOJHL)
7-199: D Matteo Mann, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
Daniel Briere wasted no time before making a splash in the new GM role, getting seemingly everything he wanted out of the 2023 NHL Draft. This includes reeling in the polarizing Matvei Michkov, who many argued has a ceiling that might not be far behind Connor Bedard. Questions about how easily he’ll translate to NHL play and off-ice controversy make Michkov hard to project. But they also show how much of a swing for the fences this is from Briere. There’s undoubtedly risk involved with Michkov, who is on contract with the KHL until 2026, but there’s also no doubt that he could be the face of the next generation’s Philadelphia Flyers. The upside is tremendous and Briere is clearly not scared of taking on some risk. It’s a confident move that could pay incredible dividends for the Flyers.
Philadelphia was much calmer with their remaining draft class, maybe in an effort to hedge their bets after swinging for the downs. Teammates Bonk and Barkey bring the same high-offense potential, underlaid by reliable fundamentals. Cole Knuble and Alex Ciernik are both small-frame forwards whose games are defined by gritty forechecking and explosive plays with the puck. And the team get a duo of strong goaltending prospects in Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin. Both goalies had claims for “best in the draft class” at some point during last season, so it’s exciting to see Philly land both options.
Briere did well at funneling interesting talent into every position with his first NHL Draft.
Trade Acquisitions
G Calvin Petersen (Los Angeles)
D Sean Walker (Los Angeles)
D Helge Grans (Los Angeles)
F Massimo Rizzo (Carolina)
The Flyers only made one trade involving bringing in players this summer, as a part of a three-team trade involving the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings. When all was said and done, the Flyers had relinquished Ivan Provorov, Kevin Connauton, and Hayden Hodgson and received Sean Walker, Helge Grans, Cal Petersen, the 2023 First Round pick used to select Oliver Bonk, and two 202
4 Second Round picks, one carrying a condition.
That’s quite some movement for a rookie general manager and emphasizes the rebuild mindset. Grans is a former high-second round pick, going 35-overall in 2021. He’s spent the last two seasons with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, recording 33 points in 115 career games. While his draft day value has dissipated a little, he’s still an exciting shot at more upside. Grans could be apart of the battle to make the NHL roster our of training camp, although his lack of top-tier experience will likely keep any NHL stint short.
Walker and Petersen likely represent cap dumps from the Kings, who were in a bind for money before moving the duo’s combined $7.65MM. Most of that money is held up in Petersen’s $5MM cap hit, on a contract set to expire in the 2025 summer. He’ll compete for the team’s backup role with Felix Sandstrom, who played 20 NHL games last year. Walker, on the other hand, should have a much clearer path to an everyday role. The 28 year old can play both sides on defense and Provorov’s departure opens space in the team’s top four. With little competition elsewhere, that role will almost certainly become Walker’s.
Philadelphia also acquired prospect Massimo Rizzo in a player swap with Carolina. Rizzo is entering his junior year with the University of Denver, where he’s scored 82 points in 77 career games.
UFA Signings
D Marc Staal (one year, $1.1MM)
F Ryan Poehling (one year, $1.4MM)
F Garnet Hathaway (two years, $4.8MM)
D Victor Mete (one year, $775K)*
F Rhett Gardner (two years, $1.6MM)*
Continuing with the rebuilding theme, Philadelphia used their UFA signings to add aging veterans and any available players that may still have untapped potential. Staal, now 36, helps fill out the Flyers shallow defense depth chart and Hathaway provides assurance to the bottom-six, getting signed through his age-33 season.
Poehling and Mete will be the additions to watch closely. Both players have shown flashes of solid play throughout their NHL career but haven’t been able to string things together enough to stick on a roster. They each get cheap deals in Philadelphia, where roster vacancies should open the door to opportunity.
None of the UFA signings scream out high-impact but they help round out a Flyers roster that’s already looking towards the 2024 NHL Draft.
RFA Re-Signings
D Ronald Attard (two years, $1.7MM)*
D Cameron York (two years, $3.2MM)
F Noah Cates (two years, $5.2MM)
F Olle Lycksell (two years, $1.6MM)*
G Samuel Ersson (two years, $2.9MM)
F Morgan Frost (two years, $4.2MM)
The Flyers locked in three important roster players in York, Cates, and Frost. York started the season in the AHL but earned his way to the NHL roster in December. He scored 20 points in the 54 games he appeared in, doubling his point total from his rookie season. York was drafted 14-overall in 2019, one pick ahead of then-teammate Cole Caufield
.
But despite the high selection, York has struggled to find his NHL footing. He gets a cheap, two-year contract that should give him a chance to build on the momentum he gathered in the second-half of last season. The Flyers blue-line will certainly give York every opportunity to thrive, with Travis Sanheim likely the only player ahead of him on the LD depth charts.
Cates and Frost, on the other hand, spent the entire year with the NHL club. Frost netted a career-high 46 points in 81 games while averaging over-16 minutes of ice time per-game. It was an incredibly strong showing from the young prospect, who played all over the lineup. Fellow 24-year-old Noah Cates also had a strong year, scoring 38 points in 82 games while looking phenomenal defensively. His strong rookie season earned him the ninth-overall spot in Calder Trophy and 15th in Selke Trophy voting. Locking up this duo was arguably the most important part of Philadelphia’s off-season, as they represent a strong backbone from which Briere can add onto.
But most eye-raising of the RFA signings has to be Samuel Ersson’s one-way contract. Ersson played in 12 NHL games last season – the first of his career – and otherwise operated as the AHL Leigh Valley Phantoms’ starting goalie. A one-way contract could simply be a curtesy but with the 23-year-old Ersson’s lack of North American playing experience, it’s more likely evidence that he’ll have a shot at competing for an NHL role. This creates a really interesting situation in the Flyers goalie room, which is now comprised of Carter Hart, Cal Petersen, Ersson, and Sandstrom. Which pair will emerge as the NHL duo is, seemingly, entirely up in the air.
Departures
F Kieffer Bellows (one year, $775K)*
F Evan Barratt (Nurnberg, DEL)
D Wyatte Wylie (Ottawa Reign, minor league deal)
F Kevin Hayes (trade with St. Louis)
F Brendan Lemieux (Carolina, one year, $800K)
F Jackson Cates (unsigned UFA)
F James van Riemsdyk (Boston, one year, $1MM)
D Justin Braun (unsigned UFA)
F Max Willman (unsigned UFA)
G Troy Grosenick (Nashville, one year, $775K)*
The Flyers spent the offseason departing primarily with an array of older veterans that held minimal roles. Kevin Hayes is perhaps the most significant subtraction after recording 54 points in 81 games last season. The season marked Hayes’ highest point-totals since 2018-19 and a career-high in games played. But with the emergence of Cates and Frost as genuine options down the middle and the Flyers’ rebuilding status, Hayes’ role presents as more of a barrier to opportunity than anything else. He leaves the club alongside James van Riemsdyk and Justin Braun, two long-term Flyers that operated in limited roles last season.
Brendan Lemieux also marks an interesting departure. The Flyers acquired Lemieux and a fifth round pick at the trade deadline, in exchange for Zack MacEwen. He’d go on to score six points in 18 games with Philadelphia but will fight for a roster spot for 2023-24 somewhere else. Like many of the team’s departures, Lemieux doesn’t leave a big hole to fill.
Salary Cap Outlook
After re-signing Morgan Frost, Philadelphia is left with a projected $867K in cap space; just enough of a buffer to comfortably enter the season. The team will also likely be placing Ryan Ellis on long-term injured reserve when the season opens up, bringing their projected cap hit up to $7.12MM. That figure assumes that both Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson will return to the team, something that certainly seems possible, but neither player’s reunion can be guaranteed yet. Regardless, Philadelphia will be entering the 2023-24 with plenty of money to go around.
Key Questions
What Will Noah Cates Look Like? Noah Cates placed top-15 in Selke voting as a rookie. That’s an incredibly impressive feat, especially for a player exposed to the high-danger chances let up by Philadelphia last year. Recording a full season and 38 points on top of that warrants a lot of excitement. If either his defensive impact or his scoring can continue to climb as Cates becomes more adjusted to the NHL will be one of the most important questions to monitor throughout the 2023-24 season. If all goes well, he could become a vital piece of Philadelphia’s lineup for years to come, operating as the glue holding the bottom-six together. But the Flyers didn’t get better this off-season and the increased challenge could be a lot for the young Cates to take on.
Can Cam York Find His Way? Cam York was once Philadelphia’s prized prospect. And he hasn’t looked particularly bad throughout his early professional career. But he hasn’t looked particularly great either, struggling to earn an NHL role until the second-half of the 2022-23 season. Still, it looked like York was finally feeling comfortable. Travis Sanheim will still operate in the top LD role but York should have plenty of opportunity operating behind Sanheim. The two are the unrivaled bright spots on Philadelphia’s back-end. With the spotlight finally back on him, and little competition for minutes from his peers, a good season from York could revitalize the excitement that once surrounded him.
Who Will the Goalies Be? On the surface, it’s hard to argue that Carter Hart and Cal Petersen won’t be the team’s NHL duo. But if Philadelphia will actually role out the nearly-$9MM cap hit of the two goalies is yet to be seen. Philadelphia has used six different goalies over the last three seasons and awarded Sam Ersson with a one-way contract this summer. Does this mean fans are in store for an exciting training camp or does Philadelphia plan on carrying three netminders this season? they plan on carrying three netminders for the entire season? If that is the case, Ersson, who has only played one full season of North American hockey, could carry interesting potential throughout the season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Prospect Injury Notes: Dyck, Mazur, Lombardi
NHL.com’s Mark Divver shared that Boston Bruins goaltending prospect Reid Dyck has suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out for at least four weeks. As a result, Dyck’s participation at the Bruins development camp will be limited to off-ice. The same is true for fellow goalie invite Derek Mullahy. This leaves Philip Svedeback and Hlib Artsatbanov as the on-ice duo for camp.
The Bruins drafted Dyck as an overage prospect in the sixth round of the 2022 NHL Draft. Boston has only taken three other goalies in the draft since 2013: Daniel Vladar, Jeremy Swayman, and Svedback. Dyck has spent the last three seasons with the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL, where he’s posted a career .884 save percentage through 71 games. The 19-year-old goaltender will return for a final year of WHL service in the upcoming season, before fighting for a spot in the Bruins organization next summer.
Other injury updates:
- The Detroit Red Wings announced a pair of updates, sharing first that Carter Mazur isn’t currently healthy. The 21-year-old was injured in the team’s first game in the rookie tournament and was attended to by the team’s medical staff. The injury has been acknowledged as a lower-body injury but there are no further updates as to what the injury is or a timetable for Mazur’s return. Detroit also shared that prospect Amadeus Lombardi‘s absence was due to personal reasons and the player has returned to rookie camp. The Wings took Mazur in the third round of the 2021 Draft and Lombardi in the fourth round of 2022.
Minor Transactions: 09/15/23
Hockey season is underway across the world, with numerous NHL teams competing in prospect tournaments and the various top European leagues beginning their regular season games. Today has already featured quite a bit of action, highlighted by a late comeback win in the Finnish Liiga by Tappara Tampere against HIFK Helsinki, led by former Buffalo Sabre Nick Baptiste.
We’re still a ways away from the start of full regular-season hockey in North America, and as a result teams in this continent’s minor leagues are still adding players in preparation for this upcoming campaign. We’ll keep track of those moves here:
- Big six-foot-six netminder Déreck Baribeau has made it back to the ECHL. The 24-year-old has signed with the Norfolk Admirals, securing himself a chance to return to North America’s third-tier professional hockey league after a year spent in Quebec playing LNAH hockey. Baribeau is the former starting goalie for the Quebec Ramparts of the QMJHL who began his pro career in 2019-20. He’s actually played in more AHL games than ECHL contests, and he has a career .903 save percentage in 29 career AHL games. Now, he’ll get the chance to compete for a role in the crease in Norfolk.
- Physical defenseman Jake Schultz has signed in the ECHL for next season, joining the Worcester Railers. The six-foot-three blueliner played in five games for Worcester last season, scoring two goals. He spent most of the year with the Binghamton Black Bears in the fourth-tier FPHL, scoring 12 goals and 33 points alongside 136 penalty minutes. Schultz was named the FPHL’s defenseman of the year last season and led the FPHL in scoring by a defenseman in 2020-21. If he can translate some of that FPHL success to the ECHL level, he could greatly expand on the 48 ECHL games already on his resume. He’ll get a chance to do so at the start of the season with Worcester.
This page may be updated throughout the day.
Snapshots: Clarke, Brown, Blues
With some major departures this offseason of key veteran players, the New Jersey Devils should have some openings in their forward corps for emerging young players to grab in preseason and training camp. According to New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols, one of those young players looking to grab an NHL job is Graeme Clarke, who “expects himself” to make the NHL roster this fall. Although Clarke hasn’t made his NHL debut just yet, it’s easy to see why the 22-year-old forward believes he’ll be on the Devils’ roster by opening night.
Clarke led the Utica Comets in scoring last season in the AHL, potting 25 goals and 58 points in 68 games. It was a legitimate breakout year for a player who registered just 24 points the year before, and cemented his status as a talented prospect who profiles as a potential middle-six scorer in the NHL. It’s highly likely that Clarke would have gotten an NHL call-up last season were he playing for a less talent-rich franchise, but with training camp and the preseason coming it’s likely that Clarke won’t have to wait much longer to get his chance.
Some other notes from across the NHL:
- PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor reports that the Philadelphia Flyers are giving prospect Matt Brown, an invite player to their rookie tournament that begins tonight, a look on the team’s powerplay and a heightened role. O’Connor notes that the Flyers may be “considering offering him an ELC and want a closer look at his offensive ability.” Brown led Boston University in scoring last season with 16 goals and 47 points, and the 24-year-old could end up joining a Flyers prospect pool that already ranks among the league’s best.
- The St. Louis Blues are without a captain thanks to their trade of Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs at last year’s deadline, and even though the club hopes to rebound and return to the playoffs they may not do so with a player wearing the “C.” The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford reports in his recent mailbag that the Blues don’t have “imminent plans” to name a captain. (subscription link) Brayden Schenn is a player generally considered a candidate to be the team’s next captain, although Rutherford does note that the organization could opt to give the important leadership role to a younger core player, such as team number-one center Robert Thomas.
PHR Chatter: Expanding On Expansion
As we near the beginning of the 2023-24 season, PHR is excited to announce the return of a feature to encourage discourse between reader and writer. On Friday mornings, we’ll post a topic of discussion that we think will draw out varied and interesting perspectives from both our commenters and the other staff writers.
For too long, there have only been a couple of outlets for our readers to interact with the PHR staff. Live chats and mailbags offer a chance at some discussion but also run the risk of being too crowded or even outdated by the time the answer arrives. With PHR Chatter, we’re hoping to get weekly talks going on a topic that normally would have to be brought into the spotlight by a reader before even being discussed.
To kick this series off for the first time in almost a year and a half, let’s focus on one of the most engaging topics we had on the site this week: the possibility of Atlanta as an NHL market for a third time. The pros and cons of such a move could be a post in and of itself, but let’s open up the topic of discussion to adding a 33rd (or even 34th team) in general. Is the talent pool too diluted as it stands? Would a rumored $2B price tag from TSN’s Darren Dreger help kickstart the league into a new era and mean good things for players and teams alike? Would adding further teams necessitate another divisional realignment and potentially reopen the conversation around modifying the playoff format? What markets would you like to see get a team? Feel free to chime in about anything expansion-related in the comment section below and check in regularly, as we aim to keep this a rather open-ended platform.
Josh Leivo Signs With KHL’s Salavat Yulaev Ufa
Salavat Yulaev Ufa of Russia’s KHL announced today they’ve signed winger Josh Leivo for the 2023-24 season. Reports out of Sweden emerged earlier this month that Leivo was close to signing with SHL club MoDo Hockey, but those discussions obviously fell through.
This will be Leivo’s first season overseas after appearing in NHL games in each of the last ten seasons. Now 30, the Ontario native has seen a fair bit of playing time in both the NHL and AHL since the Toronto Maple Leafs selected him in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft. He would turn pro full-time with the Maple Leafs and AHL Marlies in 2013-14 and was a highly productive AHL player for three seasons before becoming more of a mainstay on the NHL roster – although, famously, that didn’t translate into much playing time. Under then-head coach Mike Babcock, Leivo would play in just 56 games for Toronto over the course of three seasons from 2016 to 2019 despite rarely seeing any AHL assignments, spending most of his time sitting as a healthy scratch.
After finding himself in the minors for nearly all of 2021-22, Leivo once again returned to the NHL ranks on a more consistent basis last season with the St. Louis Blues. He made 51 appearances in a bottom-six role compared to just two games for AHL Springfield. Leivo gave the Blues some solid production in the process, recording four goals and 12 assists for 16 points – his highest total since he notched 19 points in 36 games with the Vancouver Canucks in 2019-20.
The Blues didn’t offer Leivo a contract at season’s end, however, and he hit the unrestricted free-agent market on July 1. They looked to replace his role internally, giving more playing time to younger talents such as Nikita Alexandrov and Alexey Toropchenko while also bringing back some familiar faces via free agency in Mackenzie MacEachern and Oskar Sundqvist.
He now makes the jump to Ufa, where he could line up alongside one-time teammate Nikolai Kulemin, whose last season in Toronto was 2013-14 – the same year Leivo made his NHL debut. Ufa is off to a 3-2-0 start to their season thanks to four goals and six points from San Jose Sharks prospect Sasha Chmelevski. They also are playing with heavy hearts this season after retiring Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Rodion Amirov‘s number 27 at the beginning of the season – he passed away from a brain tumor this summer at the age of 21.
Poll: Which Team Is The Most Improved This Offseason?
This offseason, there were some teams that made quite a few large-scale moves. The New Jersey Devils inked contract extensions with forwards Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt, as their Metropolitan division rival, the New York Islanders, handed out an eight-year contract to arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, Ilya Sorokin.
Although those contract extensions are important deals in their own right, this poll is specifically about which team is most ‘improved’ after this offseason, not necessarily which team had the ‘best’ offseason.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, who already had two former MVP winners in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, as well as a defenseman who has received plenty of Norris votes throughout his career in Kris Letang, went for the big fish and acquired Erik Karlsson in a three-team trade. There are certainly some defensive issues that come into question in this deal, but it’s hard to see how acquiring not only the reigning Norris Trophy winner but a defenseman who scored over 100 points only a season ago, as anything other an improvement.
Even after winning their first playoff series in quite some time, the Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 playoff run was still considered a failure in many ways. In an attempt to get even deeper into the playoffs next spring, the Maple Leafs brought in John Klingberg, Ryan Reaves, Max Domi, and Tyler Bertuzzi just to name a few. At the very least, both Bertuzzi and Domi had solid playoff performances last season, and add extra grit to Toronto’s lineup.
Not considered even a fringe playoff team for this season, there is an argument to be made that the Chicago Blackhawks are actually the most improved team this summer. No other team in the NHL was able to select Connor Bedard, and if everything goes as expected, will make even Connor McDavid look human. After an early summer trade with the Boston Bruins, the team will also be able to position Taylor Hall on Bedard’s wing, as well as adding Nick Foligno and Corey Perry as extra forward depth.
There are even more teams than these three alone that could have been considered as the most improved. That is why we ask, who do you think is the most improved team after this offseason?
Which Team Is The Most Improved This Offseason?
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Other (Comment Below) 35% (383)
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Chicago Blackhawks 29% (309)
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Pittsburgh Penguins 22% (242)
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Toronto Maple Leafs 14% (147)
Total votes: 1,081
Peter Abbandonato Expected To Join Penguins On PTO
The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to add forward Peter Abbandonato to their training camp roster under a PTO contract according to Tony Androckitis. In early July, Abbandonato reached a one-year AHL agreement with the Chicago Wolves organization for the 2023-24 AHL season.
Although a seemingly unrecognizable player to most, Abbandonato was one of the biggest names in major junior hockey not all that long ago. During the 2018-19 QMJHL season, Abbandonato was a part of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies organization, leading not only his team but the entire league in points. The Huskies would end up defeating the Eastern Conference champion Halifax Mooseheads in the President Cup Finals in six games. Rouyn-Noranda would continue their playoff momentum, winning the 2019 Memorial Cup, with Abbandonato leading the way scoring six goals and 21 assists in 15 games.
Unfortunately, Abbandonato’s junior league success did not transfer into the semi-professional leagues of North American hockey, as while being split between the AHL and ECHL for much of his career up to this point, had been unable to score more than 25 points over a full season in either league.
Last season, playing in his first full year with the Laval Rocket, Abbandonato had one of his best seasons since his famed 2018-19 QMJHL year. Playing in 66 games for the Rocket, Abbandonato would score 11 goals and 35 assists, finishing second on the team in total scoring. Although he has already committed to the Wolves for the upcoming season, if Abbandonato impresses in camp with the Penguins, and builds on his best year in the AHL to this date, he may be in line for some surprise NHL minutes in his future.
Ottawa Senators Sign Josh Bailey To PTO
The Ottawa Senators have signed veteran forward Josh Bailey to a PTO, the team announced today.
This signing marks the first time in Bailey’s professional career that he’ll be part of an NHL organization other than the New York Islanders. The 33-year-old was drafted by New York with the ninth-overall pick at the 2008 NHL draft and has played over 1,000 games for the franchise. In his time with the Islanders, he helped end the team’s 23-year wait without a single playoff series win. 
He became a dependable top-six forward in New York, and in his best years (just after his career-high 71-point 2017-18 season) he helped turn the Islanders into a regular season and playoff juggernaut in the aftermath of franchise face John Tavares‘ free agency departure.
Bailey’s playoff performances helped the Islanders come within a razor-thin margin away from the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back years. He scored a combined 33 points in 41 games across those two runs, by far the best playoff performances of his career.
Just one year ago, Bailey was still widely viewed as a strong middle-six forward. He scored 14 goals and 44 points in 2021-22, but this past season his play declined. He scored just eight goals and 25 points and was at times kept in the press box as a healthy scratch by first-year head coach Lane Lambert.
Seeing as Bailey has signed a PTO rather than a full-time NHL contract, it appears NHL teams may collectively view Bailey’s decline as not a momentary lapse of form, but rather a sign of things to come for his career. The Senators are hoping Bailey will prove them otherwise, and he’ll have the chance to do just that in Ottawa during the training camp and preseason process.
On paper, Bailey stands a decent chance of earning an NHL deal in Ottawa just by virtue of the fact that he has significantly more experience than most players slated to play in the team’s bottom six.
He’ll be competing for a role on the wing against players such as Zack MacEwen, Jiri Smejkal, Parker Kelly, Egor Sokolov, Ridly Greig, Roby Jarventie, and Matthew Highmore. Bailey has more NHL experience than that group of players has combined, so if head coach D.J. Smith wants a veteran player in his bottom six, Bailey could be his best option.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Zach Aston-Reese To PTO
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed a seventh, and according to team reporter Walt Ruff, final player to a PTO for this preseason and training camp: Zach Aston-Reese.
Aston-Reese, 29, arrives in Carolina after one season spent playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A former college hockey star, Aston-Reese has settled into a role as a fourth-line defensive and penalty-killing specialist in the NHL. While his gaudy offensive numbers from Northeastern University never translated to the pro game, Aston-Reese remains a well-regarded player thanks to his defensive contributions.
Last season, Aston-Reese scored 10 goals and 14 points in 77 games while playing 10:55 per night, including just under a minute per night on the penalty kill. Given Aston-Reese’s positive defensive contributions, it’s been somewhat surprising that he’s lingered on the open market for consecutive offseasons. It could be that NHL teams may prefer free agent fourth-liners with more of a physical dimension to their game than Aston-Reese is known for.
In any case, he’ll head to Carolina to compete with their other PTO additions along with incumbent players for a fourth-line role and NHL deal.
The club’s PTO haul includes five other forwards: Kieffer Bellows, Cory Conacher, Brendan Perlini, Nick Shore, and Jayden Halbgewachs, meaning Aston-Reese will have quite a few players to compete with for a job on head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s opening-night lineup.