Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Minor Transactions: 01/28/23

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

With the month of January nearly concluded, we are getting ever closer to the NHL trade deadline. Numerous teams will have to make franchise-altering choices that could chart their competitive courses for years to come. Rumblings about players such as Timo Meier, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Cam Talbot, to name a few, are making headlines. As NHL fans enjoy all the best that the upcoming trade season has to offer, teams in minor and foreign leagues are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll keep track of all those moves here.

  • The Edmonton Oilers have signed University of Alberta netminder Matt Berlin to an ATO agreement. Berlin’s services are needed due to the fact that goaltender Stuart Skinner is out with an illness. The 25-year-old will back up Jack Campbell for tonight’s game, and then in all likelihood return to the Golden Bears, where he has an .892 save percentage in five games this season.
  • Former Carolina Hurricanes prospect Callum Booth has been released from his standard player contract by the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. The 25-year-old netminder was signed by the Firebirds in September but has largely spent time in the ECHL as Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma has preferred a tandem of Christopher Gibson and Joey Daccord. As 28-year-old Shane Starrett has seized the crease in ECHL Kansas City, where Booth was playing, Booth now receives a release and will look for better opportunities elsewhere. Booth has struggled so far with the Mavericks, posting an .871 save percentage in nine games played. He’s fared better in his limited AHL action this year, though, winning both games to go along with a .950 save percentage.
  • Jamie Fraser, a former member of the New York Islanders organization, has come out of retirement to return to his former club, the ICEHL’s Villacher SV. Fraser had served as Villacher’s captain for three seasons and was an ICEHL All-Star last season. His addition should help the Austrian side as they make a push for the playoffs.
  • Patrik Bartosak, a former star WHL goaltender, has made his arrangements for next season. The current Lahti Pelicans netminder has signed a contract for next season with HK Mountfield, a club in his native Czechia’s Extraliga. A former Los Angeles Kings prospect, Bartosak is a highly accomplished goalie. He’s led the Extraliga in save percentage twice (and has a career .931 mark through six seasons there) and was named the 2012-13 CHL Goalie of the Year.
  • After being released by the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star yesterday, forward Ethan Werek has found a new team, HK Mountfield. Werek actually has experience in the Czech Extraliga, having played for four-time league champions HC Ocelari Trinec during the 2018-19 season, his first outside of North America. He’ll now head back to that league to help Mountfield as they attempt to reach the postseason.
  • Yesterday, Vasterviks IK, a club in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, signed ECHL star Josh Winquist. Today, additional context may have been added to that transaction. According to a team announcement, veteran forward Alexander Hilmerson has ended his season and left Vasterviks due to a knee injury. Hilmerson scored 18 points in 39 games last season, but hadn’t managed to get onto the ice this year. The club getting some clarity on Hilmerson’s status could have paved the way for Winquist’s signing. Nonetheless, this is an unfortunate setback for the veteran Swede.
  • Montreal native Jonathan Desbiens has left the top professional league of France, Ligue Magnus, to sign with a club in the United Kingdom’s top league, the EIHL. Per a team announcement, the Manchester Storm have inked a deal with Desbiens. Desbiens is a former BCHL second-team all-star who was a quality four-year scoring forward at Bentley University. He made his professional debut last season, splitting time between two ECHL clubs before moving to France. He had a successful debut for Mulhouse in France, scoring 23 points in 22 games, but had struggled to adjust to his new team, Amiens. With just seven points in 23 games this season, he’s now made the choice to leave the French league to seek a new opportunity in Manchester. If he can replicate the success he found last season, this could be a great addition to the Storm.
  • ECHL forward Brandon Yeamans was released by his club, the Florida Everblades, today. The 24-year-old was traded by the Cincinnati Cyclones earlier this month and has apparently failed to latch on with the Everblades. Yeamans made his professional debut last year after two years playing at the Canadian University level and another several playing junior hockey in Ontario. He played well enough to earn an extension for this season in September but now will seek new opportunities to continue playing professionally. Yeamans has registered 10 points and 93 penalty minutes in his 47-game ECHL career.

West Notes: Donskoi, DeMelo, Bjugstad

at CDT | by 1 Comment

After having a largely healthy 2021-22 campaign, Seattle Kraken forward Joonas Donskoi has been on long-term injured reserve (LITR) for the entire season thus far. Based on reporting released today, not only does it seem likely that Donskoi’s stay on the LTIR list will continue, it also appears that the future of his playing career is cloudy.

Donskoi told Finnish outlet Raahen Seutu that he had suffered the seventh concussion of his playing career, and is dealing with persistent symptoms including vision problems, vertigo, and headaches. Lingering concussion symptoms can be incredibly dangerous for any athlete, let alone one as experienced as Donskoi. Similar issues have prematurely ended the career of many NHLers in the past, and one wonders if Donskoi is unfortunately headed down a similar path. While the Kraken are definitely hoping that Donksoi, who has typically been a slam-dunk bet to score at least 30 points in any season, can return to the ice, it seems getting his personal health right is the absolute top priority.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Per the Winnipeg Sun’s Scott Billeck, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo will be out for the Jets’ next two games with a lower-body injury. DeMelo is an important blueliner for coach Rick Bowness. Not only does the respected defensive defenseman lead the Jets in short-handed ice time per game, but his steady defensive style has provided number-one blueliner Josh Morrissey with the freedom to play a more aggressive offensive game, something that has resulted in career-best production for Morrissey. While his absence for these next two games will not cripple a talented Jets team, it will be something for the team to monitor as they continue their playoff push.
  • Veteran Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Bjugstad has had a bit of a career resurgence in the desert, as his 21 points in 49 games this season are the most he’s scored in several years. His strong performance comes at a cheap price, as he’s playing on just a $900k cap hit for the rest of the season. The combination of Bjugstad’s improved play, cheap price tag, and veteran experience has apparently attracted more competitive clubs seeking to reinforce their forward group. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on tonight’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, the Edmonton Oilers are one of the teams with interest in Bjugstad. The Oilers have recently been running seven defensemen in their lineup, so the addition of Bjugstad could slot him in nicely as their fourth-line center providing coach Jay Woodcroft with a more traditional lineup.

Colorado Avalanche Re-Assign Ben Meyers

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Colorado Avalanche have assigned former University of Minnesota standout Ben Meyers to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, according to a tweet Saturday evening.

The move allows Meyers to get some games in with the Eagles over the NHL All-Star break after filling in as an injury substitute for the Avalanche for most of the season. In the minors, he has a goal and four assists in 10 games.

It hasn’t been the smoothest of transitions for Meyers, who was a Hobey Baker finalist last season and represented the United States at the Olympics and World Championships. He has just one point, a goal, in 27 games with the Avalanche, and he’s seen very few minutes under head coach Jared Bednar.

The 24-year-old could very well gain some confidence with more playing time in the minors, which would be highly beneficial for Colorado’s bottom six. They recently moved to fortify it, re-acquiring Matt Nieto in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.

Colorado plays next on February 7, a road matchup in Pittsburgh.

Zack MacEwen Undergoes Surgery

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers won’t have Zack MacEwen in the lineup for a while, announcing that he underwent surgery today to repair a broken jaw, according to Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. His recovery timeline has been set at five weeks.

MacEwen likely suffered the injury during his fight against Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno on Thursday, one of the three-straight fights that the two teams were involved in. He didn’t see a shift after that, and now will be out through the trade deadline.

Claimed off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks in 2021, MacEwen has established himself as one of the identity players that the organization is relying on to try and turn things around. He has played 121 games since the start of last season, racking up 164 penalty minutes in the process. While he doesn’t offer much offensive production – just nine points so far this season – head coach John Tortorella has significantly increased his ice time from a year ago.

MacEwen now averages more than 12 minutes a night and has even seen some powerplay time as the net front option on the second unit. On a contender, that likely doesn’t happen given his lack of scoring. But Tortorella is trying to install a culture that rewards hard work, something MacEwen has never lacked.

Undrafted he fought his way up the Canucks depth chart and debuted in 2018-19 in just his second professional season. Now with 176 games under his belt and a regular spot in the Flyers lineup when healthy, he heads into RFA negotiations this summer with a chance at a multi-year extension. The 26-year-old is one year away from unrestricted free agency, and currently carries a $925K cap hit.

East Notes: Talbot, Brodie, Murray, Wilson

at CDT | by 1 Comment

It’s not shaping up to be a particularly strong trade market for veteran goaltenders but Postmedia’s Ken Warren posits that Senators netminder Cam Talbot could be in play, suggesting the possibility of the veteran re-signing seems less likely now than just a few weeks ago.  The 35-year-old – who has already been ruled out of the next two games – has a 2.90 GAA and a .905 SV% in 28 games with Ottawa this season, numbers that are close to league average.  While it would likely take some retention on his $3.667MM AAV, the pending unrestricted free agent could certainly serve as an upgrade on the second-string option for several contenders and essentially keep Talbot in the role that he was acquired to fill for the Sens this season.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • The Maple Leafs could get a key defenseman back in the lineup tomorrow against Washington as TSN’s Mark Masters relays (Twitter link) that T.J. Brodie is planning to suit up pending medical clearance. The veteran skated on the top pairing at practice today and would be a welcome addition to Toronto’s back end.  Brodie is averaging over 21 minutes a night (third-most among their defenders) and has eight points in 28 games so far.  Brodie is currently on IR and the Leafs have a full roster so they’d have to send someone down to activate the blueliner.
  • Still with the Maple Leafs, Sports Illustrated’s David Alter notes that goaltender Matt Murray is dealing with an ankle issue. He was supposed to get the start last night against Ottawa but exited warmups early, resulting in Ilya Samsonov getting the nod once again.  It’s unknown at this point if Murray will be available to dress on Sunday against Washington.  He has a 2.73 GAA and a .911 SV% in 19 games so far this season, numbers that are nearly identical to his career averages.
  • Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link) that they have ruled out winger Tom Wilson for their final two games before the All-Star break. The 28-year-old left Tuesday’s game against Colorado after blocking a shot off his right leg.  The team plans to re-evaluate him after the break.  Wilson has played in just eight games this season after missing time with an ACL injury and has two goals and an assist so far.

Latest On Dylan Larkin

at CDT | by 9 Comments

Last weekend, it was reported that the Red Wings had presented a new offer to center Dylan Larkin as they look to lock up their captain to a long-term extension.  Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports (subscription link) that the offer was for the maximum of eight years and carried an AAV of $8MM.  Considering there hasn’t been an announcement of an extension at this point, it’s safe to say that the offer was declined.

The proposal represented a fair-sized jump on the $6.1MM Larkin is currently getting on his deal that’s set to expire in June.  However, St. James points to the eight-year, $73.2MM extension ($9.15MM AAV) that Mathew Barzal signed with the Islanders as a logical comparable from Larkin’s camp.  If that’s the case, the two sides are likely trying to bridge somewhere in the range of a $1.15MM gap per season.  While a deal isn’t done yet, the 26-year-old doesn’t believe there’s any sort of strain in negotiations:

It doesn’t seem like there are any hard feelings, it is just the way it is going.  With Steve, I don’t really expect anything else. It’s been very professional and we’ve had a lot of conversations about the team and certain things that come up during a season with guys or whatever it may be. It’s been pretty status quo.

Larkin put up his second career 30-goal campaign last season and is averaging just shy of a point per game this season with 43 in 47 contests.  If he stays at that pace, it’ll be the third time he averages at least 0.9 points per game.  Those are certainly strong numbers but how much more of a ceiling does he still have offensively?  While Larkin is deployed as a number one center, there’s typically an expectation that the player in that role can help carry an offense and get past the point-per-game threshold.

That’s likely a big factor in negotiations.  A $9M-plus AAV would put Larkin in the top-25 in cap hit among NHL forwards but is he a top-25 forward?  Could he still become one as some of Detroit’s young talent continues to develop and improve, bolstering the scoring power for the Red Wings over time?  These are the questions that GM Steve Yzerman is certainly pondering at the moment.

It’s certainly not an ideal spot for Detroit to be in.  Larkin has made it clear that his desire is to stay with his hometown team.  Many expected an extension to be in place by now.  But while upping the offer for Larkin may not be ideal from a spending perspective, the alternative isn’t any better as trying to find a new top pivot on the open market comes with its own risks and would likely cost more than they’re offering here.

The Red Wings are a team that’s now in the process of trying to build back into being a playoff contender.  That’s a lot tougher task to do without a top center which means Larkin walking in free agency would be a tough blow.  Accordingly, even though there’s a sizable gap to be bridged financially, Detroit fans should still have some optimism that they’ll be able to find common ground on a new deal.  It’s just going to cost more than Yzerman and the Red Wings would like.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Golden Knights Assign Three To The AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Ahead of tonight’s contest against the Islanders, the Golden Knights made a trio of roster moves, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned forwards Pavel Dorofeyev and Byron Froese along with defenseman Kaedan Korczak to AHL Henderson.

Dorofeyev has had three separate stints with Vegas this season but has seen limited NHL action despite that, getting into just three games where he was held off the scoresheet while logging just under 12 minutes per contest.  He suffered an undisclosed injury three weeks ago but this assignment means that Dorofeyev has been cleared to return since injured players can’t be sent down.  The 22-year-old was a top producer in the minors last season but has been a bit quieter in 2022-23, picking up six goals and six assists in 21 games with the Silver Knights.

As for Froese, he had been on his third recall of the month prior to this assignment and had been centring the fourth line during that stint.  So far this season, he has a goal and an assist in seven games while winning 61.5% of his faceoffs.  The 31-year-old is in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal and has been productive in Henderson with 27 points in 36 contests.

Korczak, meanwhile, has been up with Vegas on five different occasions this season, all within the last two months.  Along the way, he has gotten into ten games on the back end for the Golden Knights, picking up a couple of helpers along with 25 hits while logging 17:34 per night.   The 21-year-old also has eight points in 30 games in Henderson.   He’s likely to continue to be one of the top recall options the next time a defender goes down or the team wants some extra depth.

Blue Jackets Claim Lane Pederson Off Waivers From Canucks

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Blue Jackets have added some forward depth as NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that they’ve claimed center Lane Pederson off waivers from the Canucks.  To make room for him on the active roster, Columbus has placed winger Gustav Nyquist on injured reserve.

Pederson successfully made it through waivers back in October while he was still with Carolina.  With them, he played in four games with AHL Chicago before being included as a salary offset in the trade that also saw Vancouver pick up defenseman Ethan Bear.  The 25-year-old remained in the minors with Abbotsford for nearly two months, averaging just shy of a goal per game which earned him a recall in late November.

Since being brought up, Pederson had been a regular for the Canucks, getting into 11 games (including last night’s contest against Columbus while on waivers), picking up a goal and two assists while averaging just under 13 minutes a night.  For his career, Pederson has two goals and six helpers in 55 games between Arizona, San Jose, and Vancouver.  He’s on a one-way contract for the league minimum salary of $750K and is arbitration-eligible if he can get into 25 more games this season.  Otherwise, he becomes a Group Six unrestricted free agent.

The move is a low-risk flyer for the Blue Jackets who needed a replacement for Nyquist who is out indefinitely while there’s a strong chance they’ll be trading a few players between now and the March 3rd deadline so extra bodies were going to be needed at some point.  Pederson has a chance to play a regular role in Columbus in the hopes of finding some NHL stability that has so far eluded him across four different organizations.

Metropolitan Notes: Hurricanes, Cuylle, Devils

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

With Max Pacioretty and his $7MM AAV eventually heading back to LTIR, the Hurricanes appear to be a team that will have ample cap space to make a move or two to upgrade for the stretch run.  However, in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link), Cory Lavalette suggests that while on the surface, a rental to replace Pacioretty (a rental himself) might make sense, Carolina’s trade history suggests that they’re likelier to target someone signed beyond this season.  Per CapFriendly, the Hurricanes only have $53.5MM in commitments for 2023-24 so it’s plausible that they could eye a longer-term piece which gives them considerably more options compared to teams that will need to be shopping for one-and-done players.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Rangers have returned winger Will Cuylle to AHL Hartford, reports Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise since New York is now in their bye week.  Cuylle got into two games in his first NHL stint but barely played six minutes per game.  The 20-year-old has 13 goals and 20 assists in 39 games with the Wolf Pack and will get some more time down there before potentially being brought back up after the break.
  • Devils assistant GM Dan MacKinnon confirmed to NJ Advance Media’s Ryan Novozinsky that the plan is for defenseman Luke Hughes to turn pro once his season at Michigan comes to an end. The 19-year-old was the fourth-overall pick in 2021 and has 26 points in 25 games so far for the Wolverines.  He’d be an intriguing option for New Jersey down the stretch and in the postseason as he’d definitely be another offensive weapon on their back end.  MacKinnon also confirmed that 2020 first-rounder Shakir Mukhamadullin will join AHL Utica once his season with Salavat Yulaev of the KHL comes to an end.  The 21-year-old has five goals and 15 helpers in 55 games so far.

Blue Jackets Recall Jake Christiansen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Blue Jackets have brought up some extra depth in advance of their game tonight against Seattle, announcing the recall of defenseman Jake Christiansen from Cleveland of the AHL.  His promotion is likely related to Nick Blankenburg’s upper-body injury that caused him to miss last night’s game against Vancouver.

It’s the second recall of the season for the 23-year-old who got into 17 games with Columbus during that first stint before being sent back to the Monsters late last month.  Christiansen had a pair of assists during that stretch while averaging a hit and block per game in just under 14 minutes of playing time per night.  He has been more productive in the minors, picking up a dozen points in 23 contests and is only a year removed from a 45-point sophomore year with Cleveland.

Columbus now has seven healthy defensemen on the roster so there’s no guarantee that Christiansen will be in the lineup tonight against the Kraken.  The blueliner is in the final year of his entry-level contract and will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top