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Flyers Sign Massimo Rizzo To Entry-Level Deal

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10:46 a.m.: Rizzo’s deal carries a $925K cap hit, per PuckPedia. That’s broken down into an $832.5K base salary and a $92.5K signing bonus each season. When assigned to the minors, he’ll earn a $70K salary.

10:19 a.m.: The Flyers announced this morning that they’ve signed center prospect Massimo Rizzo to a two-year entry-level contract beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed, nor did the team confirm if he’ll join AHL Lehigh Valley on a tryout to end the campaign.

Rizzo, 22, was selected by the Hurricanes in the seventh round of the 2019 draft but had his signing rights picked up by Philadelphia in an August 2023 trade. This was part of a complicated saga that saw the Flyers buy out the final season of defenseman Tony DeAngelo’s two-year, $10MM contract so that he could sign with Carolina.

The Hurricanes drafted Rizzo out of Penticton in the British Columbia Hockey League, and he didn’t make his collegiate debut for the University of Denver until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He broke out in a big way with the Pioneers, averaging well north of a point per game across his three seasons there and capturing two national championships. Rizzo capped off his university career with 10 goals, 34 assists and 44 points in 30 contests this season and a +24 rating. That earned him NCHC Second All-Star Team honors, a nomination to the NCAA Second All-American Team for the West Region, and Denver’s Hobey Baker Award nominee for the top player in college hockey.

The high-skill playmaker will make a decent case to challenge for a roster spot as soon as next season, although it shouldn’t be viewed as a major disappointment if he begins 2024-25 in the minors. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler named him the fifth-best prospect in the Flyers system in February, trailing only 2023 top-10 pick Matvei Michkov and rookie winger Bobby Brink among forwards. His ELC will expire in 2026, making him an RFA at that time.

Red Wings Sign Shai Buium To Entry-Level Deal

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10:37 a.m.: Buium’s deal carries a cap hit of $925K, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn a base salary of $832.5K, a $92.5K signing bonus, and a minors salary of $80K each season.

9:48 a.m.: The Red Wings announced that defense prospect Shai Buium has signed his three-year, entry-level contract. The deal begins next season, although he’ll finish 2023-24 on an amateur tryout with AHL Grand Rapids. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Detroit selected Buium in the early second round (36th overall) of the 2021 draft. The 21-year-old turns pro after three seasons at the University of Denver, recording an assist in last weekend’s national championship game as the Pioneers won their record 10th NCAA title. He also won a championship with DU in his freshman campaign.

He doesn’t have the ceiling of his younger brother, 2024 projected top-10 pick Zeev Buium, but he’s still a legitimate prospect. He totaled 14 goals and 75 points in 120 games with Denver over the past three years with a +61 rating, including a standout 36-point, +33 rating campaign this year. The latter tied with Zeev for the fourth-best in the country, while his point total was good enough for eighth place. He was named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team in 2022 and took home conference Second All-Star Team honors this season.

A strong-skating puck-mover, Buium likely isn’t ready for NHL action yet. He’ll need at least one full season of development in Grand Rapids but should challenge for NHL call-up duty at the very least by the end of his ELC. The 6’3″, 220-lb left-shot blue-liner has a pro-ready frame, though, and there’s a good chance he could step into top-four minutes in the minors next season. He was ranked 11th in an incredibly deep Red Wings prospect pool by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler earlier this year, who projects him to top out as a steady third-pairing piece at the NHL level.

Buium’s ELC will expire in the 2027 offseason, at which point he’ll be an RFA. The Red Wings will control his rights for three further years until he becomes automatically eligible for unrestricted free agency as a 27-year-old in 2030.

Wild Extend Marc-André Fleury

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The Wild have signed netminder Marc-André Fleury to a one-year extension worth $2.5MM, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports. The contract contains a full no-move clause, per PuckPedia.

Fleury returns for his 21st NHL season, which he confirmed will be his last, as he attempts to widen the gap between him and Patrick Roy for second place on the NHL’s all-time wins list. The future Hall-of-Famer was the first overall pick by the Penguins in 2003. He immediately made the jump to the NHL – incredibly rare for a goalie – and was Pittsburgh’s undisputed starter by the time the league emerged from the 2004-05 lockout.

His time in Pittsburgh was incredibly fruitful, starting en route to their 2009 Stanley Cup win and working in tandem with Matt Murray for their 2016 and 2017 championships before heading to the Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft. There, he led Vegas to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and captured his first and only Vezina Trophy in 2021. He was dealt to the Blackhawks for salary cap management purposes the following summer and later flipped to the Wild at the 2022 trade deadline, where he’s remained since.

The veteran was prone to a few stinker seasons once in a while, but he hasn’t truly performed at a high level since his Golden Knights days. That age-36 season in 2020-21 was truly remarkable. During the COVID-shortened season, he posted a career-high .928 SV% and 1.98 GAA with six shutouts in just 36 starts. He wasn’t bad by any stretch in the following two seasons with Chicago and Minnesota, posting a 52-39-9 record with a .908 SV% in 102 appearances in 2021-22 and 2022-23, but it was clear he was no longer cut out for a full-time starting role. Thus, he’s served in tandem with the younger Filip Gustavsson for the life of the two-year, $7MM extension he signed with Minnesota in 2022.

Fleury’s numbers were decidedly worse this season. Making only 35 starts, his fewest since 2016-17, the 39-year-old has a 17-14-5 record, 2.98 GAA, and .895 SV% entering the Wild’s final game of the season tomorrow, which he’s slated to start. He’s allowed 10.8 goals above expected this season, the worst among Wild netminders and sixth-worst in the league, per MoneyPuck. His save percentage is his worst ever, including his first couple of seasons behind a developing/rebuilding Pens team.

His extension indicates one of two possibilities for the Wild crease – either last year’s breakout star Filip Gustavsson is on the trade block after crashing down to Earth in 2023-24, or the organization doesn’t believe top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt is quite ready for full-time NHL duties. Gustavsson, who has two years remaining on his deal at a $3.75MM cap hit, posted only marginally better numbers than Fleury this year, with a .899 SV% in 43 starts and two relief appearances. Wallstedt, 21, put up a .908 SV% in 43 contests behind a subpar AHL Iowa squad and ended his season on a high note, stopping 51 of 53 shots in wins this month against the Sharks and Blackhawks after conceding seven goals against the Stars in his NHL debut in January.

Awarding a declining Fleury $2.5MM after the netminder already made it clear Minnesota or retirement were his only two options next season is an arguably questionable decision by GM Bill Guerin. The club still has one season remaining of the most extreme effects of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, which leave them with a $14.7MM dead cap charge. The Wild are now down to $5.2MM in projected cap space next season, per CapFriendly, although their roster is mostly filled out with only three open spots.

Still, a lower cap charge for Fleury would have given Guerin more flexibility to add on the free agent market this summer in an effort to get Minnesota back to the playoffs in 2025 after missing out this year. It’s much higher than last year’s comparable, all-time American wins leader Jonathan Quick coming off an inconsistent 2022-23 campaign, who earned just $825K with an additional $100K performance bonus on the open market from the Rangers.

Nonetheless, Fleury returns for his third full season with Minnesota. The Quebec native has accumulated an estimated $84.4MM in career earnings before today’s extension, per CapFriendly.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Bruins Reassign Jayson Megna

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The Bruins announced that forward Jayson Megna has been returned to AHL Providence. There is no corresponding transaction.

Boston recalled Megna for the first time this season ahead of yesterday’s loss to the Senators, assigning the younger John Beecher in return and sending veteran defenseman Derek Forbort to Providence on a conditioning loan. He logged 11:45 against Ottawa but was held off the scoresheet, with two shot attempts being all he had to show for his brief season-ending NHL stint.

The 34-year-old heads back to Providence to close the season with three games left on their regular-season schedule. He’ll get some postseason action, too, as the P-Bruins have all but locked up second place in the Atlantic Division. The minor-league mainstay has been one of their best offensive talents, ranking third on the squad with 18 goals and 33 assists for 51 points in 67 games while serving as an alternate captain.

2023-24 was the journeyman’s first season in the Bruins organization after signing a one-year, two-way pact ($775K/$400K/$450K) hours after free agency opened last July. In doing so, he settled for a greatly diminished role after suiting up 55 times for the Avalanche and Ducks last season, posting two goals and eight points with a -21 rating. While a high-end offensive talent in the minors, Megna has consistently struggled to control possession in his multitude of NHL call-ups, recording a career 45.1 CF% across his 204 games.

Without an extension, he’ll hit the UFA market again in July. He’ll be a contender to land another one-year, two-way deal, although he’ll likely take a cut in his minor league and guaranteed salaries thanks to his lack of call-ups this season.

Canadiens Exercise Club Option, Extend Martin St. Louis

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The Canadiens have exercised the club option on head coach Martin St. Louis’ contract, extending their bench boss through the 2026-27 season. St. Louis’ deal was slated to expire in the summer of 2025 without the two-year option.

At 48 years old, St. Louis is one of the youngest coaches in the league. Since taking over the rebuilding Canadiens from Dominique Ducharme midway through the 2021-22 season, St. Louis has managed a 75-100-26 record. That includes guiding the Habs to a 14-19-4 finish in 2021-22 after they went 8-30-7 under Ducharme and overseeing a marginal increase from 68 points last season to 76 points this year after ending their season with back-to-back overtime/shootout losses to the Red Wings.

Speaking with reporters today, GM Kent Hughes indicated more extensions could be coming after meeting with St. Louis’ staff tomorrow. Assistant coaches Alexandre Burrows and Trevor Letowski, as well as goaltending coach Éric Raymond, are not signed for 2024-25, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Hughes said he doesn’t feel the need to add a more experienced name to St. Louis’ bench and will likely keep 2023-24’s crew intact moving forward, via TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.

The Laval, Quebec, native didn’t get a chance to suit up for his hometown team during his illustrious 1,134-game NHL career, but he’s been able to make his professional coaching debut in front of one of the largest markets in the league to largely positive results. Before being named Ducharme’s interim replacement in February 2022 and being given the permanent head coach title the following offseason, St. Louis’ only NHL staff experience came as a special teams consultant with the Blue Jackets for the back half of the 2018-19 season.

He hasn’t yet been given the chance to manage a playoff-contending roster, but with a top-10 prospect pool set to continue graduating over the remainder of his extension, he should get the chance before his option expires in three years. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this season was guiding 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky to a breakout sophomore campaign, ending his season with 20 goals and 50 points while playing in all 82 games. He also presided over a legitimate improvement in the team’s defense and possession play. Their overall 5-on-5 CF% jumped from 45.4 in 2022-23 to 46.3 this year, and their expected goals against per game at 5-on-5 improved from 2.37 to 2.13 while also generating more offense.

As such, Canadiens management believes St. Louis is the man to guide the franchise to their first playoff appearance in the post-Carey Price era. He’ll need an assist along the way from Hughes in constructing a capable roster, but early on in his coaching tenure, it’s clear he’s jelled with the team’s young core.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Oilers Recall Philip Broberg

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The Oilers recalled blue-liner Philip Broberg yesterday night, according to a team release. Broberg, the organization’s top defense prospect, had been on assignment to AHL Bakersfield since early December.

The young Swede could now suit up in Edmonton’s final two games of the regular season with nothing left to play for. The Canucks’ 4-1 win over the Flames last night clinched the Pacific Division for Vancouver, locking the Oilers into second place. Broberg only got into 10 games early this year and was a frequent healthy scratch before being sent to the Condors, going without a point and posting poor relative possession numbers while averaging 10:36 per game.

Things went considerably better for the 22-year-old in the minors, where he flashed what made him the eighth overall selection in 2019. He’s been Bakersfield’s top defenseman at both ends of the rink, leading their blue-liners in scoring with five goals and 30 assists for 35 points in 48 games. His +9 rating is third on the squad, but would be tied for the team lead had he played in all 69 games.

This year still isn’t what Broberg envisioned after spending most of last season in the NHL, scoring a goal and seven assists in 46 games while posting an exemplary 57.5 CF% and 58.4 xGF% at even strength. He wasn’t given a shot at anything resembling top-four minutes however, averaging 12:36 per game. There’s no path to such minutes anytime soon, either. The left-shot defender is stuck behind Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse, both of whom are signed through at least 2026, on Edmonton’s depth chart. 30-year-old Brett Kulak, who anchors their third pairing alongside the right-shot Vincent Desharnais, is also signed through 2026, muddying his path to NHL minutes in general.

Thus, Broberg has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors as part of a package to land more NHL-ready talent. His minor-league showing this season indicates he’s ready for another extended NHL look – whether that will come in Edmonton or another organization remains to be seen. He’s wrapping up the final season of his entry-level contract and will be an RFA this summer, although he won’t be eligible for salary arbitration until the 2025 offseason.

Injury Notes: Mantha, Stephenson, Barron, Pezzetta

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In the team’s game tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Vegas Golden Knights’ forwards Anthony Mantha and Chandler Stephenson are both considered day-to-day due to injuries. Keeping that in mind, it is unlikely that either Mantha or Stephenson will draw into the lineup tonight as the Golden Knights prepare to defend their Stanley Cup title.

Mantha, who Vegas acquired from the Washington Capitals during this past trade deadline season, has played in 18 games for the organization up to this point. In those 18 contests, Mantha has been serviceable even though his goal-scoring rate has decreased, putting up three goals and 10 points altogether.

Joining Mantha on the list of Golden Knights expected to reach unrestricted free agency this summer, Stephenson has once again been a massive return on investment in Vegas. Making a salary of only $2.75MM this season, Stephenson has put up 16 goals and 51 points in 65 games overall, sitting fifth on the team in scoring.

Other injury notes:

  • As the Winnipeg Jets look to clinch second place in the Central Division for the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, they will have to do so without forward Morgan Barron as the team announced he would miss the rest of the game tonight with a lower-body injury. During the game, Barron was only able to register 2:23 of ice time and registered zero points but did reach a 100% faceoff rate in the game.
  • In a similar fashion to Barron, the Montreal Canadiens will be without forward Michael Pezzetta for the remainder of their game and the season with an upper-body injury (X Link). As a depth forward for the team, Pezzetta was only able to register 25 seconds of ice time over one shift, and left the game after the end of the first period.

Kings Notes: Turcotte, Thomas, Laferriere, Swamp Rabbits

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As the Los Angeles Kings prepare for the team’s final game of the regular season on Thursday night, they will have a young prospect returning to the lineup. The organization announced they have activated forward Alex Turcotte from long-term injured reserve, and have loaned forward Akil Thomas to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Turcotte, who was the fifth overall pick of the Kings back in the 2019 NHL Draft, will return to the active roster for the first time in about a month due to an upper-body injury. At the NHL level, Turcotte has suited up in 20 games for Los Angeles, scoring one goal and four points in total. In Ontario, he has been far more productive, scoring seven goals and 25 points in 33 games, leading to four separate call-ups this season.

Thomas, on the other hand, has spent far less time at the NHL level as compared to Turcotte. Recalled on an emergency basis on March 31st, Thomas has matched Turcotte’s production on the year, scoring one goal and four points in seven games. Similarly to Turcotte, the former 51st overall pick has been far more productive with the Reign, scoring 22 goals and 43 points over 61 games this season.

Other Kings notes:

  • According to CapFriendly, since Kings’ forward Alex Laferriere played in his 80th game of the season last night against the Minnesota Wild, he has lost his waiver exemption status for next season. Whether it be after training camp or any time during next season, Los Angeles will have to place Laferriere on the waiver wire if they wish to send him down to the AHL. Nevertheless, it is rather unlikely the Kings would choose to send Laferriere anytime soon, as he has scored 11 goals and 23 points throughout this season, making for a productive rookie campaign.
  • Moving to the ECHL, the Kings organization has signed their current ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, to a two-year extension. Located in South Carolina, the Swamp Rabbits have been the ECHL affiliate of Los Angeles since the start of the 2022-23 NHL season and will continue in that role until the end of 2025-26.

Minnesota Wild Reassign Adam Beckman, Jesper Wallstedt

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Before their last game of this season this Saturday, the Minnesota Wild have chosen to send a few of the younger players on the roster, announcing the reassignment of both forward Adam Beckman and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. The news comes in congruence with earlier reporting that forward Frederick Gaudreau would be returning to the lineup after missing some time on personal leave.

After receiving a callup with the team on March 7th, Beckman has been a full-time member of the Wild for a little over a month. Playing in 11 games over that stretch, Beckman was not utilized very heavily in Minnesota, only tallying two assists while only averaging 9:24 of ice time per game. At the AHL level, Beckman was similarly productive to his past two years in Iowa, scoring 16 goals and 29 points over 48 games this season.

Being one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, Wallstedt received his third call-up of the year to Minnesota on April 6th. Unfortunately, he was only able to participate in one game, stopping 29 of 31 shots against the San Jose Sharks in the team’s victory on April 13th.

Neither player will have much to look forward to as they return to the AHL Wild, as Iowa sits with a 25-37-4-3 record in the AHL, sitting dead last in the Central Division. With both teams in the organization set to miss the postseason, Beckman and Wallstedt will have to wait until the 2024-25 season to play in any more meaningful games.

Multiple Sharks Players Shut Down For The Season

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In an article from Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, multiple members of the San Jose Sharks did not travel with the team for their current road trip to Western Canada, officially ending their season with the organization. Pashelka notes that Kevin Labanc, Mike Hoffman, Filip Zadina, Alexander Barabanov, Jacob MacDonald, Jan Rutta, and Mackenzie Blackwood will not suit up for the team’s final game against the Calgary Flames, and may have played their last games in San Jose.

Of the seven players listed, four will go to unrestricted free agency, one will go to restricted free agency, and two are signed into next year. Realistically, Labanc, Hoffman, and Barabanov will all head towards greener pastures, while the team may opt to keep MacDonald as a depth piece for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Even though Zadina will become a potential non-tender candidate this offseason, he may not find any interest outside of the Bay Area. Producing moderately well with 13 goals and 23 points in 72 games for the Sharks this season, Zadina’s defensive metrics from this year may be too ghastly for other teams to overlook, indicating that if he does play outside of San Jose, it will likely be in the AHL.

After acquiring Devin Cooley and Vitek Vanecek at this year’s trade deadline, Blackwood could be an interesting trade candidate this summer. In 41 starts for the Sharks this season, Blackwood has produced a 10-25-4 record, with 24 of those measuring as Quality Starts according to Hockey Reference. Certainly not playing himself into a starting role with his efforts this year, Blackwood could become a serviceable backup option for a contending team next year.

Nevertheless, it is not necessarily a negative that most of these players will be moving out of San Jose this offseason. With the Sharks hitting rock bottom over the past two years, it is now time to thin out a very saturated roster as much as possible to create space and playing time for San Jose’s up-and-coming prospects.

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