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Utah Signs Julian Lutz To Entry-Level Contract

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June 17: As they did hours earlier with Noel Nordh, the Utah Hockey Club made Lutz’s signing official Monday.

May 26: Utah made a move today as they signed forward Julian Lutz to a three-year entry-level contract (as per CapFriendly). The native of Weingarten, Germany, was the Arizona Coyotes’ second-round pick in the 2022 NHL entry draft (43rd overall) and struggled with injuries in the following season, playing in just 24 games in the DEL with EHC Red Bull München and posting just a single goal and seven assists.

Last year, the 20-year-old made the jump to the United States Hockey League and was dominant in his first season with the Green Bay Gamblers, registering 24 goals and 44 assists in just 50 games and two goals and two assists in six playoff games.

Internationally, Lutz has represented Germany on multiple occasions, including the 2024 World Junior Championships in two separate years, tallying a goal and three assists in ten games. He also represented Germany’s U18 team in the 2021-22 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, posting two goals in four games.

Lutz’s three-year deal will carry a cap hit of $923K and will see him receive $95K in signing bonuses in each of the three years of the deal. His average annual value on the deal is $950K, while the NHL salaries break down as $775K in year one and $855K in years two and three. Lutz will earn $82,500 while playing in the AHL.

Blue Jackets Fire Pascal Vincent

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The Blue Jackets have fired head coach Pascal Vincent, according to a team announcement.

“As I spent time with Pascal over the past few weeks, I found him to be an outstanding person and smart hockey coach who worked very hard last year under trying circumstances, but I believe a change behind the bench is in our team’s best interest,” reads a statement from general manager Don Waddell. “On behalf of the organization, I want to thank Pascal for his work ethic, professionalism and contributions during his three seasons with the Blue Jackets.”

Vincent’s firing comes after one season at the helm for Columbus, his first as an NHL head coach. During his short tenure, the team went 27-43-12 (.402), although he was never put in a position to succeed. The team had initially tabbed Mike Babcock as their next head coach entering the season after firing Brad Larsen last summer, but Babcock resigned at the beginning of training camp after he was the subject of a joint NHL/NHLPA investigation spurred by allegations that Babcock asked to view phones and/or photographs of several Blue Jackets players.

The Blue Jackets weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season, but they were supposed to take a step forward from 2022-23’s 59-point showing. While they technically improved on that total by seven points, they still finished within the bottom five of the league. A new-look defense featuring offseason acquisitions Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson failed to demonstrate much improvement, allowing 298 goals. Only the Sharks allowed more with 326.

Vincent, 52, joined the Blue Jackets as an associate coach on Larsen’s staff ahead of the 2021-22 season. The move came after spending a decade in the Jets organization, first as an NHL assistant before becoming the head coach of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

The search for a new coach begins immediately, the team said. For now, assistants Jared Boll, Josef Boumedienne, Steve McCarthy, Mark Recchi and goaltending coach Niklas Bäckström remain in their posts, but the team said “further decisions regarding the club’s coaching staff” haven’t yet been made.

At times this season, Vincent drew public criticism for his handling of the development of some of the Blue Jackets’ many young prospects. Chief among most complaints was the lack of playing time for 2022 sixth-overall pick David Jiříček, who suited up in 43 games for Columbus this season but averaged a paltry 14:36 per game with no special team usage. The young blue-liner did well in his limited minutes, posting 10 points, recording 38 shots on goal and posting positive relative possession metrics. Others did have good seasons, namely Kirill Marchenko and his team-leading 23 goals, but overall, their young core didn’t mesh as hoped. A calf laceration that ended 2023 third-overall pick Adam Fantilli’s season in January didn’t help matters.

Under Vincent, the Blue Jackets’ team play improved slightly from last season. They controlled 48.3% of shot attempts, 45.8% of expected goals and 46.9% of scoring chances at 5-on-5. These numbers were better than 2022-23’s by at least a full percentage point, but they were still far away from anything resembling a playoff team.

The Blue Jackets now arrive very late to the coaching search party. All of the vacancies created over the last few months have already been filled, wrapping up with the Sharks promoting Ryan Warsofsky late last week. Accordingly, barring any extremely unforeseen circumstances, Vincent won’t be behind an NHL to begin next season as a head coach. There are still a number of assistant and associate coach vacancies that he should draw interest for, however.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Vincent had been relieved of his duties.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Utah Signs Noel Nordh To Entry-Level Contract

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June 17: The Utah Hockey Club is officially in business, making Nordh’s signing official as the first in franchise history (via Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN).

May 5: The loom of a summertime move hasn’t stopped the day-to-day affairs of the former Arizona Coyotes front office. Now representing Utah, they’ve signed 2023 third-round pick Noel Nordh to a three-year, entry-level contract, per CapFriendly (Twitter link). The contract carries a $865K cap hit and both signing and performance bonuses. Nordh becomes the 11th player from 2023’s third-round to sign his first NHL contract.

Nordh is coming off his first full season of pro hockey, earning a role in Sweden’s second-tier league, the HockeyAllsvenskan, after starting the season in the country’s U20 league. He was limited to just six goals and 15 points in his 50 appearances with Brynas IF, averaging 9:41 in ice time. While he certainly posted an anti-climactic stat line, Nordh improved significantly in his ability to make plays and work with teammates at high speeds this season.

He’s still a bit of an awkward skater who doesn’t inspire many flashy plays – both complaints levied against him in his draft year – but Nordh fit nicely into Brynas’ systems and showed a clear ability to use his size and long reach to shut down defenders. He seems to have all of the tools needed to develop into a reliable bottom-six forward. Utah now seems ready to test that, signing Nordh to a deal that strongly suggests he’ll be moving to North America next season.

The Coyotes iced 19 different forwards over the 2023-24 season, showing no fear in rewarding minor-league standouts with their NHL debut. That could bode well for Nordh, who will now enter a race with players like Aku Raty, Jan Jenik, and Milos Kelemen for some of the last spots on Utah’s lineup.

Atlantic Notes: Marner, Bertuzzi, Panthers, Dickinson

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The tides may be turning in this summer’s edition of the Mitch Marner saga. Speaking on TSN 1050’s “First Up” on Monday, Darren Dreger reports that general manager Brad Treliving may prefer to put his resources into extending the star winger rather than trading him this summer as he enters the final year of his contract.

Dreger did note that the Leafs haven’t started extension discussions with Marner’s camp yet. His quote today falls in line with previous reporting that Toronto wouldn’t approach Marner about waiving his no-move clause until an acceptable offer was presented to them. Additionally, Chris Johnston of SDPN, TSN and The Athletic said over the weekend that the team wasn’t fully committed to the idea of trading Marner.

It won’t stop trade speculation from ramping up, though, nor will it likely quiet any actual trade talks going on behind the scenes. Teams will still pursue the winger – The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta listed the Blackhawks, Golden Knights, Predators and Stars as interested parties today. If there’s an exceptionally strong offer presented to Treliving, there’s no indication that he’d turn away.

Regardless, it doesn’t appear there’s a huge sense of urgency to resolve the situation in the next few weeks. However, waiting until after the opening of free agency, when teams spent the majority of their offseason cap space, to swing a trade would heavily complicate discussions.

Sticking with Toronto, Pagnotta said today that Treliving remains in negotiations with pending free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to try and keep him from hitting the UFA market in a couple of weeks. An extension doesn’t appear imminent, though. The 29-year-old had 21 goals and 43 points in 80 games this season after signing a one-year, $5.5MM deal in free agency with the Leafs last summer.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Panthers have entered into a “multi-year” affiliation agreement with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates, per a team announcement. They said late last week that they wouldn’t be renewing their ECHL affiliation with the Florida Everblades, who have won three consecutive Kelly Cup titles. With the move, the Panthers land an ECHL affiliation much closer to their primary minor-league club, the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Considering moves between AHL and ECHL affiliates occur almost daily, it’s a better setup for the club’s fringe minor-leaguers. The Ghost Pirates entered the league in advance of the 2022-23 campaign and have spent the last two seasons as the second-tier affiliate of the Golden Knights. They’ve yet to make the ECHL’s Kelly Cup Playoffs.
  • Top 2024 NHL Draft defense prospect Sam Dickinson said his pre-draft interview with the Senators was one he was “looking forward” to in an interview with TSN’s Mark Masters. Dickinson told Masters the interview went “really well” and that his preparation for it was a “little more intense” given the chance of the Ontario-born blue liner staying close to home. The 18-year-old racked up 18 goals, 70 points and a +56 rating in 68 games with the OHL’s London Knights this season, leading their defensemen in scoring. He’s the seventh-ranked North American skater in the class by NHL Central Scouting and could very well be available when Ottawa steps up to the podium with the seventh overall pick.

Jets Add Davis Payne, Dean Chynoweth To Coaching Staff

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The Jets have added Dean Chynoweth and Davis Payne to their coaching staff in assistant roles, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Monday. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Sunday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that Chynoweth was linked to the Winnipeg bench. The team made the hirings official shortly after Dreger’s report.

Chynoweth and Payne will serve under Scott Arniel, who begins his second stint as an NHL head coach in the fall. Arniel, who had been the Jets’ associate coach for the past two seasons, was promoted last month after Rick Bowness announced his retirement.

Payne, 53, finds a new NHL home after being fired by the Senators in mid-December along with head coach D.J. Smith. He’d been with Ottawa as an assistant since 2019 after stops with the Kings and Sabres, the former of which made him a Stanley Cup champion on Darryl Sutter’s staff in 2014.

Payne was also briefly the Blues’ head coach in the early 2010s, compiling a 67-55-15 record in parts of three seasons. He’s worked in the NHL every season since being named St. Louis’ head coach in 2010.

The 55-year-old Chynoweth joins after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach for the Maple Leafs. He oversaw Toronto’s defense corps in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and coached the penalty kill in all three seasons.

During that time, the Leafs’ PK ranked 11th in the league with an 80.3% success rate. The Jets’, meanwhile, has checked in at 78.2%, 20th in the league. Toronto announced that Chynoweth wouldn’t return next season after they named former Islanders head coach Lane Lambert as an associate coach under Craig Berube earlier this month.

Before his time with the Leafs, Chynoweth spent three seasons as an assistant with the Hurricanes under Rod Brind’Amour from 2018 to 2021. The son of CHL founder and Hockey Hall of Famer Ed Chynoweth, he also spent three years as an assistant with the Islanders from 2009 to 2012. Since retiring as a player in 1998, he’s held various coaching jobs in the AHL, IHL and WHL.

Brian Elliott Expected To Retire, Joins Blues Front Office

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Veteran netminder Brian Elliott appears to be calling it a career after 16 seasons. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters today that the team has hired Elliott in a goalie development and scouting role, all but confirming that his playing days are over (via Matthew DeFranks of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Elliott last played in the NHL with the Lightning in 2022-23. He was not re-signed by the club and became an unrestricted free agent, not suiting up at all during the 2023-24 campaign.

After being selected by the Senators in the ninth round of the fabled 2003 draft, Elliott embarked on a star-studded stint at the University of Wisconsin. He backstopped the Badgers to the 2006 national championship while being a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in the NCAA. He turned pro with Ottawa after his college career came to an end, later making his NHL debut in 2007-08.

That was the last we saw of “limited” NHL action for Elliott, who broke onto the Sens’ roster full-time in 2008-09 as part of a rotation with Alex Auld and Martin Gerber. He didn’t earn any Calder Trophy love that year, but he did put up solid numbers with a 16-8-3 record, .902 SV% and 2.77 GAA in 31 showings for Ottawa.

Elliott took over as the Sens’ starter in 2009-10 and continued to hold the role into the 2010-11 campaign, but his level of play dipped. While it didn’t matter much behind the Senators’ underpowered offense of the early 2010s, his .894 SV% that year was far below average for the time. Shortly before the 2011 trade deadline, Ottawa sent him packing to the Avalanche in a one-for-one swap for Craig Anderson, one that would pay off handsomely for the Sens.

Unfortunately for Colorado, Elliott’s stay in Denver was brief. He won just two of his 12 games down the stretch while posting a .891 SV%, leading the club to let him walk as a free agent that offseason.

Armstrong, then in his early days at the helm of the Blues, quickly turned him into one of the best value signings in club history. After signing a one-year, two-way deal, Elliott cracked the Blues’ roster as the backup to Jaroslav Halák. He didn’t stay the backup for long, though. He forced his way into true tandem action with Halák that year thanks to his league-best .940 SV% and 1.56 GAA in 38 appearances, helping the duo take home the Jennings Trophy. Individually, Elliott also finished fifth in Vezina voting, one of two times he’d earn consideration for the award.

Elliott spent the next four years in St. Louis, making 164 starts and 17 relief appearances. He compiled a sparkling 104-46-16 record behind one of the league’s better teams in the mid-2010s, boasting a .925 SV%, 2.01 GAA and 25 shutouts in a Blues uniform. The team made the playoffs each season he was there, including a run to the Western Conference Final in 2016, in which Elliott had a .921 SV% and 2.44 GAA in 18 postseason games.

The Blues had the younger Jake Allen waiting in the wings, though, and deemed Elliott expendable after a solid run. They dealt him to the Flames for a pair of draft picks – one of which became Jordan Kyrou – putting a bow on his time in St. Louis.

Elliott’s lone season in Calgary was the beginning of his decline. He wasn’t bad, but his .910 SV% was only around league-average for the time and was far south of his level of play with the Blues. The Flames let him walk to free agency the following summer, where he signed a three-year deal with the Flyers that yielded similarly mediocre results. In fact, in his seven years of service with Calgary, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay after the Blues traded him away, Elliott only had one above-average season. That came in limited action as a backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy with the Bolts in 2021-22, putting up a .912 SV% and 2.43 GAA in 19 appearances.

After struggling with a .891 SV% in his second and final season in Tampa, though, it wasn’t a surprise to many to see the now 39-year-old Elliott out of the league this season. Now 39, he likely wraps up his career with a 279-167-54 record, 45 shutouts, a 2.57 GAA, and .909 SV% in 543 regular-season games. He also had a 17-26 record and .904 SV% in 48 playoff games.

PHR congratulates Elliott on a lengthy stint at hockey’s top level and wishes him the best as he takes his next steps in the sport.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Lightning Re-Sign Gabriel Fortier To Two-Way Deal

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The Lightning have re-signed forward Gabriel Fortier to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced today. PuckPedia reports the deal carries a cap hit of $775K and boasts an AHL salary of $100K with a $150K guarantee.

Fortier, 24, will reprise his role as a solid depth piece for the club in AHL Syracuse next season. While he has parlayed a second-round choice by the Lightning in 2018 into a solid professional career within the organization, he hasn’t seen much NHL time. He’s got 11 games to his name, 10 of which came in the 2021-22 season. His last NHL appearance was over a year and a half ago, coming on October 15, 2022.

He does have a goal and -2 rating in those games, along with 14 shots. The 5’10” Quebec native was a solid producer in junior hockey with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL, but his offensive production in the AHL has been stagnant at best over the past four seasons. Fortier set a career-high in goals (14), points (30), and games played (72) with Syracuse in 2021-22 and hasn’t managed to elevate his production above that of a middle-six AHL forward. Last season, he scored 13 goals and 26 points in 62 games for the Crunch, adding a goal and four assists in eight playoff games.

Fortier, who was set to become a restricted free agent, will remain under consideration for brief NHL recalls next season but appears unlikely to challenge for a spot out of camp. He was placed on waivers to begin last season and cleared, spending the entire season on the Syracuse roster.

He spent this season on a two-way deal carrying a $775K cap hit with a $100K minors salary and $125K guarantee. The extension marks a raise of at least $50K, considering he didn’t spend any time on the NHL roster in 2023-24.

Of the Lightning’s 2018 class, only Fortier and Cole Koepke have played NHL games for the club. Netminder Magnus Chrona was a fifth-round pick, but his only NHL experience has come with the Sharks. He’s the second member of the 2018 second round to sign a deal today, joining Flyers defenseman Adam Ginning.

Fortier becomes the 34th player under contract for the Lightning next season. In the likely event he plays fewer than 69 regular-season games, he’ll reach UFA status early next summer via Group VI designation.

Flyers Sign Adam Ginning To Two-Year Extension

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The Flyers have re-signed defenseman Adam Ginning to a two-year contract extension with a cap hit of $787.5K, according to a team announcement Monday. It’s a two-way deal in 2024-25 ($775K NHL/$200K AHL) before converting to a one-way deal paying him $800K for 2025-26, per PuckPedia.

Ginning, 24, saw a bit of extended NHL action near the end of the season. After his NHL debut was his lone appearance for the Flyers in 2022-23, he suited up nine times for the big-league club this season. His late-season call-ups saw him record his first NHL point, a goal in a 6-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on April 6.

Averaging 14:09 per game, the Swedish shutdown prospect put up good possession metrics in his sheltered minutes, controlling 55.7% of shot attempts and 59.4% of expected goals when on the ice at even strength, per Hockey Reference. Both were above the team average. That, plus his +24 rating with AHL Lehigh Valley one year ago, indicates the 2018 second-round pick still has NHL upside.

It was an important end to the season for both parties, with Ginning earning himself a fair chunk of guaranteed cash in this deal, even if he does end up playing most of it in the minors. The Flyers also avoid the threat of losing the pending restricted free agent to a Swedish Hockey League contract, something Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports he was considering before his recall.

The left-shot blue liner will remain waiver-exempt throughout next season unless he plays more than 60 games. No matter what, though, he loses his waiver exemption in the second year of the deal. He’ll likely be a restricted free agent again at the end of this contract, but if he fails to get into 80 NHL games by the time it expires, he’ll qualify for unrestricted free agency via Group VI status.

Ginning was the third pick of a 2018 class that’s paid some dividends for the Flyers, including first-rounder Joel Farabee selecting goaltender Samuel Ersson in the fifth round. Their first selection, Jay O’Brien at 13th overall, was never signed and yielded them a compensatory second-round selection in the draft later this month. Their only other selection that year to play NHL games so far is defenseman Jack St. Ivany, who they didn’t sign coming out of college and lost in free agency to the cross-state rival Penguins.

He’ll enter training camp this fall as a candidate to crack the opening night roster. The Flyers now have 40 players signed to standard contracts next season, with Bobby Brink and Yegor Zamula still left as notable RFAs.

Buyout Candidate: Conor Sheary

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While the Lightning are the most successful franchise of the last 10 years, back-to-back first-round losses have them at risk of slipping into mediocrity. That’s exacerbated by a salary cap crunch this summer that, if not handled with care, could result in the loss of captain Steven Stamkos to free agency.

General manager Julien BriseBois has no intention of letting his team slip out of contention anytime soon. He’s already made one move to fill out his roster this summer, re-acquiring Stanley Cup champion defenseman Ryan McDonagh from the Predators shortly after both teams were eliminated from the playoffs.

Aside from Stamkos and future Hall-of-Famer Victor Hedman, the Bolts have much of their core signed long-term. Erik Černák, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point and Mikhail Sergachev are all signed through at least 2030 with cap hits north of $5MM. Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy have matching $9.5MM cap hits through 2027 and 2028, respectively. While it could likely change as the salary cap rises, none of them are significant bargains for what they’ve contributed the past couple of seasons, aside from Kucherov and Point.

The salary cap jumping to $88MM next season does offer BriseBois some much-needed flexibility, but they do still have just $5.335MM in projected space with at least three roster spots to fill if they want to have any sort of in-season wiggle room. Even with a significant discount, that’s likely not enough to sign anyone other than Stamkos, posing an obvious issue.

Tampa doesn’t have a recent history of buyouts, but it could be a decent last-ditch way to shed ill-advised cap hit allocation. In a piece for The Athletic on Monday, Harman Dayal and Thomas Drance name Lightning winger Conor Sheary a player to watch as the first window to buy out players, which opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Final ends, approaches.

[RELATED: 2024 Key Offseason Dates]

Often a strong secondary scoring threat throughout a 500-plus game career with the Capitals, Penguins and Sabres, Sheary became a UFA last summer. BriseBois pounced, hoping to add a cost-effective top-nine scoring option while inking him to a three-year, $6MM deal ($2MM AAV) with trade protection. The 32-year-old flamed out in Tampa, though, limited to just four goals and 15 points in 57 games on the year after scoring double-digit goals for the last seven years. He was a frequent healthy scratch near the end of the regular season and didn’t play at all in their first-round loss to the Panthers.

Sheary’s role was limited under head coach Jon Cooper. His 11:06 average time on ice was the lowest since his rookie season. There’s likely some bounceback potential there, as indicated by his career-low 8.0% shooting rate, but the risk of him declining further isn’t one the cap-strapped Lightning can afford to take.

Trading him and removing the final two years of his contract would be ideal, but a 16-team trade list complicates things. A buyout would at least reduce his cap hit from $2MM to $583K next season, opening up an additional $1.417MM in space, per CapFriendly. That’s easily enough to add a cost-effective depth option on the UFA market and opens up additional flexibility for a Stamkos extension.

The rest of the buyout isn’t awful, either. It would carry a $1.083MM hit in 2025-26, still saving the Bolts over $900K in the final season of his deal, before a sub-league minimum penalty of $583K in 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Overseas Signings: Poirier, Rubins, Haapala, Rodewald

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After being picked 22nd overall by the Flames in the 2013 draft, things never worked out for Emile Poirier in the NHL. He managed only one assist in eight games during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons and didn’t receive a qualifying offer when his entry-level contract expired in 2018.

Poirier spent the next two seasons on a minor-league contract with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose before heading overseas at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s racked up many airline rewards miles in the few years since, switching European leagues every season. Now 29, he’s on the move again, inking a one-year deal with Nybro Vikings IF of the Swedish second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan.

The Montreal-born forward has been decently productive in Europe but has been at his peak in the Slovak Extraliga. There, he’s averaged nearly a point per game across two different teams during stints in the 2020-21 and 2023-24 seasons. Poirier spent last season with HC Slovan Bratislava, and although injuries limited him to 28 games, he still rattled off 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points.

He has played briefly in Sweden before, suiting up in 11 games for Djurgårdens IF, then in the Swedish Hockey League, to end the 2021-22 campaign. Poirier had three goals and two assists to end the season but went without a point in three relegation games as the Stockholm-based club was relegated to the HockeyAllsvenskan, where they remain entering 2024-25.

In Nybro, Poirier joins a club in just their second season at the second tier since 2009. They’ve spent much of their existence in the third tier of the Swedish hockey pyramid, now known as HockeyEttan. The Vikings impressed in their first season back in the HockeyAllsvenskan, going 20-22-7-3 and finishing 27 points out of the relegation zone.

Other notable European signings over the past few days with NHL pedigree:

  • Former Maple Leafs defenseman Kristiāns Rubīns has signed a one-year contract with HC Plzeň of the Czech Extraliga. The 26-year-old Latvian went undrafted after coming to North America to finish his junior career with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League but stuck it out and inked a minor-league deal with the Toronto Marlies in hopes of one day making the jump to the NHL. It paid off, yielding an entry-level contract in 2020 before making his NHL debut in 2021-22, posting a -2 rating and 4 PIMs while averaging 11:45 per game across a three-game stint. However, it wasn’t enough for the Leafs to issue him a qualifying offer, and he became a free agent the following summer. After spending 2022-23 on a two-way deal with the Senators and Flames, he headed to Europe last summer to play for the SHL’s MoDo Hockey. There, the 6’5″ defender posted 10 points in 44 games in a top-four role. He now takes his services to Czechia for the first time in his career, joining a blue line that includes projected 2024 first-round pick Adam Jiříček.
  • One-time Panthers winger Henrik Haapala will play in Sweden for the first time in his lengthy professional career next season, inking a one-year pact with the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks. The undersized but dynamic playmaking winger has an illustrious career in his native Finland that includes one Liiga bronze medal, three silver medals, and two championships. His title-winning 2016-17 season with Tappara saw him lead the league in scoring with 45 assists and 60 points in 51 games, earning him his first NHL shot with Florida the following season. However, Haapala spent most of the year in the minors and only managed five NHL appearances, recording a lone assist. Now 30, he had 18 points in 28 Swiss National League games last season, split between Genève-Servette and Lausanne HC.
  • Former Senators depth forward Jack Rodewald is remaining in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League next season on a one-year deal with Admiral Vladivostok. The 30-year-old Winnipeg native played 10 NHL games with the Sens from 2017 to 2019 but failed to record a point and averaged just 7:09 per game. Since heading to Europe in 2020, he’s suited up for Czechia’s HC Oceláři Třinec, Finland’s TPS, and the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star and Traktor Chelyabinsk. He split last season between Kunlun and Traktor, recording eight goals and 21 points in 59 contests.

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