Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Joona Luoto
After just seeing his last NHL contract terminated in 2021, Joona Luoto is back. The young forward has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The contract carries a $750K salary in the NHL and a $300K salary in the AHL, according to Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.
Luoto, 24, played 16 games for the Winnipeg Jets in 2019-20 but was limited to minor league work the following season and then ended up terminating his entry-level deal in September after it was clear he wouldn’t be making the squad. That led him back to Finland, where he played for his hometown Tappara Tampere and showed exactly why he was an interesting undrafted signing in the first place.
In 14 playoff games, Luoto scored eight goals and 17 points, winning the Jarri Kurri award as the best postseason player. His club won the league championship (his second Liiga title), and now he’s joining a new NHL organization with obvious ties to Finland. Not only does general manager Jarmo Kekalainen hail from there but Tampere is also the hometown of Blue Jackets star Patrik Laine. In fact, the two played for years together at the minor and junior levels.
Whether he makes an impact at the NHL level next season remains to be seen, but Luoto will at least get another chance on this side of the pond. If he scores even a single point, he will have eclipsed his time in Winnipeg; he was held scoreless in all 16 appearances so far.
Dean Kukan Signs In Switzerland
June 1: As expected, Kukan has officially signed with the ZSC Lions. What may not have been expected was the length of the contract. Kukan has inked a five-year deal with the Swiss club, essentially ending his NHL career entirely. The undrafted defenseman will finish with 153 regular season games.
May 20: Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and he isn’t expected back. While playing for Switzerland at the World Championship, Kukan told SRF that he will return home next season to play in the National League, though wouldn’t confirm which team.
Kukan, 28, was a regular in the Blue Jackets lineup the last few seasons, playing in 41 games this year. Signed to a two-year, $3.3MM deal in 2020, he would have entered the market as an interesting depth option that has more than 150 games of NHL experience. Still, even the Blue Jackets never iced him much, with Kukan averaging just over 16 minutes a night this season, and he provides almost no offensive upside with 30 career points.
It will be interesting to see how long his new contract is, and if it will essentially end his career in North America. Given he will turn 29 in July and obviously wants to return home, this season may have been the last we’ll see him in the NHL.
Undrafted, he came up through the ZSC Lions program before heading to Sweden back in 2011, meaning this will be quite the homecoming for the 2016 Calder Cup champion.
Philadelphia Flyers Will Not Sign Connor McClennon, Marcus Westfalt
With the deadline to sign him later today, the Philadelphia Flyers are going to watch at least one draft pick become an unrestricted free agent. Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Flyers will not sign Connor McClennon to an entry-level contract.
McClennon, 19, was selected 178th overall in 2020 and has taken his game to a new level this season for the Winnipeg ICE. Playing with a forward group that is loaded with offensive talent, the undersized forward took full advantage, scoring 43 goals to lead the club in just 62 games. His playoff performance was much of the same, with 21 points in 15 games before the ICE eventually lost to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Still, it’s hard to know if his performance was a true step forward or just the result of playing with names like Matthew Savoie and Conor Geekie, two of the top handful of prospects for the 2022 draft. Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic tweets that the organization is not satisfied with McClennon’s skating, given his small stature.
Of note, McClennon could still sign a contract with the Flyers in the future but he will not be limited to them once the deadline passes. If another team wants to offer him an entry-level contract, he’ll be eligible to sign it as soon as this evening. He’s one of many players drafted in 2018 or 2020 that will become free agents today, including first-round pick Filip Johansson.
Later in the day, the team confirmed that they will also not sign Marcus Westfalt, the other player whose rights will expire today. The 22-year-old winger has been stuck in the Swedish second tier for several years and was always a longshot to sign after being selected in the seventh round of the 2018 draft.
Montreal Canadiens Officially Name Martin St. Louis Head Coach
The Montreal Canadiens have made it official, announcing Martin St. Louis as the 32nd head coach in franchise history. The interim tag has been lifted, and St. Louis has signed a three-year contract, keeping him behind the bench through the 2024-25 season. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes released the following statement:
We are happy to officially appoint Martin as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Martin is a proven leader, a great communicator with a deep understanding of and passion for the game of hockey. His arrival brought a renewed energy to our group, and we look forward to him returning behind the bench to continue guiding our team for the foreseeable future.
St. Louis, 46, immediately impacted the Canadiens after taking over from Dominique Ducharme last season. The Hall of Fame player jumped behind the bench for the first time and guided the club to a 14-19-4 record down the stretch. While those numbers aren’t impressive in a vacuum, when compared to the 8-30-7 that Ducharme had recorded, St. Louis was obviously a vast improvement.
Perhaps most notable was the transformation of young sniper Cole Caufield. A player that has heard comparisons to St. Louis for years because of their shared stature, Caufield had just one goal in the entire season before the coaching change. Suddenly he found life under his new bench boss and managed 22 goals in 37 games under St. Louis, incredibly leading Montreal in goals despite his brutal start. If Caufield’s emergence was important, it certainly was a nice sign for St. Louis’ future with the club.
Just because he’d never coached at the NHL level before, doesn’t mean that St. Louis has no connections to talent at that level. Not only does he have a long history with Hughes and fellow executive Jeff Gorton, but other young players have also explained how familiar they are with the legendary player from his days coaching minor hockey. Even Shane Wright, the potential first-overall pick for Montreal at this year’s draft, told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com yesterday that he had played against a team coached by St. Louis in the past.
As a player, St. Louis was rather unique. Undrafted, the 5’8″ forward from the University of Vermont started things off with the Calgary Flames but famously found himself on waivers early on. When he ended up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, things clicked and he would go on to become one of the most consistent offensive players in the league for the next decade. In total, he played in 1,134 regular season games and racked up 1,033 points, won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, and many individual awards. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019, a few years after retirement.
It may be a risk to hire a coach with such little experience behind the bench, but this is no ordinary coach. The Canadiens will hope that his unique hockey story continues with success in this next chapter.
Darcy Kuemper Leaves Game For Colorado Avalanche
After dealing with an equipment issue to start the second period of game one of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, Darcy Kuemper left the game mid-way through the second period, appearing to be injured (link). Kuemper was replaced by Pavel Francouz in net after the former had gone to the dressing room. According to TNT’s broadcast of the game, Kuemper’s return to this game is considered doubtful, Kuemper having an upper-body injury.
Francouz entering the game marks the fourth goaltender used in this game between the two teams, Edmonton pulling Mike Smith after Colorado scored its sixth goal, replacing him with Mikko Koskinen. This isn’t Francouz’s first action or Kuemper’s first departure of the postseason, as Kuemper was forced to leave game three of Colorado’s first round series against the Nashville Predators after Ryan Johansen‘s stick blade appeared to go through his mask and hit him in his eye. Francouz would replace Kuemper then, starting in the series-clinching game four as well, with Kuemper returning for the start of the second round against the St. Louis Blues.
Colorado acquired Kuemper this past offseason to replace the outgoing Philipp Grubauer, who signed with the Seattle Kraken. The new Avalanche goaltender had a solid first season in Colorado, posting a .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average in 57 regular season games. Despite solid numbers in the playoffs coming into tonight, including a .907 save-percentage and 2.44 goals-against average in nine games, Kuemper has appeared to be shaky at times, including three goals surrendered to the Oilers in the first half of tonight’s game before leaving with injury.
Thus far, the seriousness of Kuemper’s injury is not yet apparent, and there is the potential that the equipment trouble he was dealing with to start the period necessitated him leaving the game altogether. Colorado’s starting netminder had visited the bench several times between whistles in the second period before exiting. Still not an ideal situation, an equipment malfunction would certainly be the preferred outcome for Colorado, who still has two series to win in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Isak Rosen
The Buffalo Sabres have made another signing from their 2021 draft class. After fellow 2021 draft picks Olivier Nadeau and Aleksandr Kisakov signed in the past few weeks, the team has announced that they have inked another prospect to an entry-level deal: Isak Rosen.
Rosen, 19, was the Sabres’ second first-round pick last year and was selected 14th overall. The Sabres acquired the selection as part of the Rasmus Ristolainen trade. Rosen is a highly-skilled winger who has spent the past few seasons playing for Leksands IF in Sweden. He bounced between a few levels of Swedish hockey this season, getting into games for Leksands at the SHL level, Leksands at the U-20 level, and for Mora IK of second-tier Allsvenskan on a loan. Rosen also made Team Sweden for the short-lived 2022 World Junior Championships.
Rosen is a skilled winger whose combination of speed, shooting talent, and strong puck skills makes him one of the Sabres’ top prospects. With him signed to an entry-level deal, the Sabres will likely give him a chance to make the team out of training camp and now have even more options for how to best develop him next season. With promising young players such as Jack Quinn and John Peterka already there, this signing of Rosen adds another talented top prospect to the Sabres’ system.
Snapshots: St. Louis, James, Tarasenko
Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes met with the media today, as the team prepares for the draft combine and meetings with many of the top available prospects. When asked about head coach Martin St. Louis, Hughes explained to reporters including Eric Engels of Sportsnet that a contract should be settled in the coming days.
St. Louis seemed to have a very positive impact on the team after coming in partway through the season, and though the club posted just a 14-19-4 record under him, there are high hopes for his future should he want to coach long-term. The 46-year-old was a Hall of Fame player but had very little coaching experience before he took over in Montreal.
- Speaking of a Hall of Famer taking over, Angela James will move from the bench to the front office for the Toronto Six, as she was named general manager of the PHF franchise today. James, of course, is one of the most influential figures in women’s hockey history, and recently became a part-owner of the Six along with a group including Anthony Stewart and Ted Nolan. James was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and won four World Championship gold medals.
- It seems so long ago now that Vladimir Tarasenko requested a trade away from the St. Louis Blues. The veteran winger made a triumphant return to the ice this season, scoring 34 goals and setting a new career-high with 82 points in just 75 games. With six more tallies in the postseason, there’s little doubt that the 30-year-old can still contribute at a high level. With one year left on his contract, the question was posed to Blues general manager Doug Armstrong today about whether Tarasenko would still be on the team next season. His answer: “I’m not concerned about Vladi for next year at all.” Armstrong suggested that he won’t worry about the 2023 offseason–when Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly are both scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency–just yet, as he’s focused on next season’s roster.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Tyrel Bauer
We previously covered the list of prospects whose NHL rights are set to expire on June 1st, and now that list has been cut by one. The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms with defenseman Tyrel Bauer to a three-year entry-level contract. While the release indicates that it will carry an average annual value of $925K at the NHL level, CapFriendly has the full breakdown, including a cap hit of $850K.
Bauer, 20, was the Jets’ sixth-rounder from the 2020 draft and has played the past four seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. Bauer has served as the team’s captain for the past two seasons and has led the Thunderbirds to be one of the top teams in the WHL this year.
Standing six-foot-three, 208 pounds, Bauer’s game is defined by his size, strength, and leadership. While he’s rarely a factor offensively, with only 48 points in 181 career WHL games, he offers an intriguing package of tools as a stay-at-home defenseman. The Jets have had other big defensive prospects such as Dylan Samberg and Logan Stanley pass through their system in recent years, and the team is signing Bauer likely with the hope that he can turn pro and eventually make the NHL as those two defenders have.
With the June 1st deadline looming, expect more signings like this one as teams look to retain their exclusive rights to the prospects whose rights are set to expire.
Minnesota Wild Not Expected To Sign Filip Johansson
Though it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise with the deadline set for tomorrow, Michael Russo of The Athletic has confirmed that the Minnesota Wild are not going to sign Filip Johnasson. The 2018 first-round pick will become an unrestricted free agent and the Wild will receive a compensatory pick in this year’s draft, which will be 56th overall.
Johansson, 22, has spent the last three seasons playing in the SHL, where his offensive numbers have never really improved. In 47 games this season the young defenseman had just three goals and 11 points. Not only that but he hasn’t been included in any major international events for Sweden since the U18 World Juniors in 2018 and signed a two-year extension with Leksands in December, which keeps him under contract through the 2023-24 season.
All that adds up to a player that didn’t hold a ton of upside for the Wild, and given the fact that they can now get a solid compensatory pick, leaving him unsigned makes at least some sense.
Still, when looking back at the 2018 draft it is easy to think about what could have been. Just as the Wild’s pick was approaching, the New York Rangers traded up four spots and selected St. Paul native and NHL regular K’Andre Miller with the 22nd selection. While it’s certainly no guarantee that the team would have gone with the 6’4″ Miller, who was committed to the University of Wisconsin, he or one of the many other defensemen that followed (Rasmus Sandin, Mattias Samuelsson, and Alexander Romanov are among the group taken soon after) could have been a difference-maker for the Wild already.
Now, though a second-round pick does hold value, the team will likely have to wait several other years for that player to mature and develop–if he makes it at all. This unfortunate result is just another oddity in the whirlwind 14-month tenure of former Minnesota general manager Paul Fenton.
Carolina Hurricanes Send Pyotr Kochetkov, Jack LaFontaine To AHL
For most of the Carolina Hurricanes, the season is over and they now face months of disappointment before getting another chance to chase a championship. Not so for at least two members of the team, as Pyotr Kochetkov and Jack LaFontaine have both been sent to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
Kochetkov, 22, likely didn’t think he’d be appearing in more playoff games than regular season contests in his first NHL campaign, but that’s exactly what happened. The young netminder was forced into the crease on four occasions these playoffs, including games six and seven against the New York Rangers. While he struggled in those appearances, it’s hard to blame someone who had just three games of NHL experience and 15 games of AHL experience to this point.
A second-round selection in 2019, there’s still huge upside in the Russian goaltender, and he showed it with the Wolves this year. In the AHL, Kochetkov went 13-1-1 with a .921 save percentage.
LaFontaine, meanwhile, was pulled right out of college hockey this season when the Hurricanes were struggling to find healthy goaltenders. The 24-year-old started the year with the University of Minnesota (even serving as captain), before signing his entry-level contract in early January. He appeared in two NHL games, 13 AHL games, and even two ECHL games, posting better numbers as the competition decreased. The third-round pick didn’t appear in the playoffs but was needed as the emergency goaltender with Frederik Andersen‘s status unclear.
Now, the two goaltenders will re-join a Wolves team that is set to take on the Stockton Heat in the Western Conference Finals. The series kicks off on Friday, and it will be interesting to see if either one sees any action. To this point, the Wolves have gone with Alex Lyon in the playoffs, who has a .926 save percentage in seven games–winning six of them to cruise through two rounds.
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