Nikita Zaitsev Signs With KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg
July 4: Khayrullin’s report has come to fruition. It’s a four-year deal for Zaitsev with SKA, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports.
May 20: It has been a fairly steep fall from grace for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. A few years ago, he was logging over 20 minutes a night but he has since been included as salary cap ballast in a trade twice and had a very limited role this season with the Blackhawks. Instead of seeing what might await him in free agency, it appears he has decided to head home as Sport-Express’ Arthur Khayrullin reports that Zaitsev is expected to sign a multi-year deal (a minimum of three years) with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The 32-year-old came to North America back in 2016 and made an immediate impact with Toronto, recording 36 points, 136 blocks, and 176 hits in 72 games while averaging more than 22 minutes per game, an impressive first year. That earned him a seven-year, $31.5MM extension one year later and the Maple Leafs thought they had a core piece locked up for the long haul.
Unfortunately for them, it didn’t work out that way. Zaitsev didn’t reach the 20-point mark let alone getting back to 36 over those seven seasons. While he still logged some big minutes after being traded to Ottawa, his role eventually dwindled and eventually, the team parted with a pair of draft picks (a 2023 second-rounder and a 2026 fourth-rounder) to get Chicago to take the remaining year and a bit off their hands.
This season, Zaitsev found himself a healthy scratch on quite a few occasions while also missing time due to illness, an upper-body injury, and a knee issue that kept him out for 19 games. As a result, he made a career-low 38 appearances, notching just seven points, 70 hits, and 69 blocks in a little under 16 minutes per contest, all career-lows as well.
With Chicago having several young defensemen on the cusp of pushing for full-time NHL duty, they weren’t going to bring Zaitsev back. While it’s possible he could have had some interest in a depth role on an NHL roster, it looks like he’ll opt for the security of a multi-year agreement back home. Assuming a contract gets finalized, Zaitsev will depart the NHL with 118 points in 482 career appearances, a pretty good career overall for an undrafted player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Buchnevich, Cajkovic, Leafs, Durandeau
Just a few months after shopping him around the Trade Deadline, the St. Louis Blues have agreed to terms on a long-term extension with top winger Pavel Buchnevich a year early. But general manager Doug Armstrong acknowledged that the team had to cave to Buchnevich’s term, telling Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post, “We talked [with Buchnevich’s side] again on the first, did the deal on the second. I’ll be honest with you, I budged.” Armstrong added that giving ground on term is the cost of doing business in today’s market.
For their effort in the negotiations, the Blues have now locked up Buchnevich at a manageable $8MM cap hit, set to begin in 2025-26 after his current deal expires. The 29-year-old winger recorded 27 goals and 63 points in 80 games this season, the lowest scoring of his tenure with the Blues. He had a career year in his first year with the club in 2021-22, recording 30 goals and 76 points in just 73 games. Buchnevich scored at a similar pace last year, though an ankle injury would limit him to just 63 games and 67 points.
Buchnevich has emerged as a premier winger in St. Louis, and a great addition to the high-tempo duo of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. He’ll look to really get comfortable in that role next year, after agreeing to what will be the longest contract of his career.
Other notes from around the league:
- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Maxim Cajkovic has signed with HC Verva Litvinov of Slovakia’s Tipsport Extraliga. The Penguins acquired Cajkovic from the Minnesota Wild in January, sending Will Butcher the other way. The deal proved moot for both teams, as Butcher currently awaits a new deal on the free-agent market. Cajkovic, 23, is returning to Europe after spending all year in the minor leagues, tallying five points in 10 AHL games and four points in 13 ECHL games. He’ll be playing in his third European pro league on this deal, after spending time in Sweden’s SHL and Austria’s ICE Hockey League during his U21 career.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced a new ECHL affiliation, signing an agreement with the Cincinnati Cyclones set to begin next season. The duration of the deal hasn’t been revealed. Toronto turns to the Cyclones after their previous affiliate, the Newfoundland Growlers, ceased operations before the end of the 2023-24 season. The Cyclones are a familiar face in the ECHL, appearing in 23 of the league’s last 30 seasons. They’ve won two Kelly Cup Championships in that span – in 2008 and 2010. Cincinnati will look to return to those heights now in partnership with the Leafs: the fifth NHL club they’ve been affiliated with.
- Montreal Canadiens winger Arnaud Durandeau has signed with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL, per Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. Durandeau went on a quick tour around the minor leagues this season, playing for three different AHL clubs this season after a mid-year loan was followed with Montreal acquiring Durandeau from the New York Islanders in exchange for Tyce Thompson. Durandeau scored 24 points across 48 AHL games this season, bringing his career totals to 132 points in 215 games. He also appeared in four NHL games during the 2022-23 season, though he failed to score.
Hurricanes Sign Jack Roslovic
July 4: It’s a one-year, $2.8MM deal for Roslovic, the Canes confirmed Thursday morning.
July 3: The Carolina Hurricanes are making strides in repairing their forward core as several players recently left the team on the free-agent market. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the organization will be signing forward Jack Roslovic although no financial terms of the deal have been confirmed.
The Columbus, OH native was originally brought to the NHL after being selected with the 25th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Winnipeg Jets organization. Roslovic spent one year at the Miami University (Ohio) before turning professional for the 2016-17 season. Roslovic broke into the organization with 13 goals and 48 points in 65 games as a rookie for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
After another impressive start to the season in the AHL, Roslovic became a full-time member of the Jets partway through the 2017-18 season. Over 180 games in Winnipeg, Roslovic scored 26 goals and 67 points while playing in a middle-six role before the team moved his signing rights to his hometown Columbus Blue Jackets in the deal that brought Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg.
Moving into a second-line role with the Blue Jackets, Roslovic experienced the most productivity in his career up to this point. In three and a half seasons for the Blue Jackets, Roslovic scored 51 goals and 146 points in 206 regular season games. The team failed to make the playoffs throughout his entire tenure in Columbus and decided to part ways with him this past year by shipping him to the New York Rangers in exchange for a conditional fourth-round selection in 2026.
Returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs after four years, Roslovic provided solid play for the Rangers as the team ended their season in the Eastern Conference Finals. While averaging 13:51 of ice time over 16 games, Roslovic scored two goals and eight points during New York’s postseason run. Due to the major loss of talent in Carolina over the last several days, Roslovic should find a spot in the team’s middle-six on the reported contract.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Mason Shaw, Haydn Fleury
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Mason Shaw to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K at the NHL level and $350K in the AHL. In a follow-up report, Dreger also reports the Jets have added defenseman Haydn Fleury on a similar one-year, two-way contract worth $775K in the NHL and $400K in the AHL.
Shaw joins the second organization of his career after spending the last seven years with the Minnesota Wild organization. During the 2022-23 NHL season, Shaw put together a quality season as a bottom-six forward as he scored seven goals and 17 points in 59 games. Although he contributed nicely as a tertiary scoring option, Shaw had his season cut short by an ACL tear and would not play again until this past March.
The depth forward couldn’t muster up a repeat of his 2022-23 campaign as he only scored one goal and three points in 20 games for the Wild this past season. While playing for the Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa, Shaw operated more in a middle-six role as he scored 43 goals and 121 points in 197 games over seven years in AHL Iowa.
Fleury is much more of a journeyman compared to Shaw as he’s joining the fifth organization of his career. The former seventh overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft also has much more experience at the NHL level as he’s competed in 268 games split between the Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Fleury should start as the seventh defenseman in Winnipeg as he offers the team a lot of flexibility in case of injury given that he can play on both sides of the blue line.
Central Notes: Marchessault, Levshunov, Jiricek
After forward Jonathan Marchessault signed a five-year, $27.5MM contract with the Nashville Predators at the start of free agency, one of the main questions surrounding his departure from the Vegas Golden Knights is how hard the team tried to retain him. Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game reports that Vegas offered Marchessault a similar salary but the years offered were well off his expectations.
Questions will surely arise about why the Golden Knights were unwilling to offer one of the original ‘misfits’ a five-year term; especially if they were willing to compete with other teams on salary. Marchessault had spent the last seven years of his career in Vegas where he’s recorded 192 goals and 417 points in 514 games while scoring another 36 goals and 75 points in 95 playoff games en route to a Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup Championship in 2023.
In the end, Marchessault decided to join former captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Steven Stamkos in Nashville for the next several seasons. In an article from Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow of WFTV9, Stamkos and Marchessault called each other regarding Nashville as the two were hoping to land in the same destination.
Other Central notes:
- There has been some speculation about the future of the Chicago Blackhawks’ first-round pick, Artyom Levshunov, on whether he will stay another year at Michigan State University or start the year in Chicago. If Levshunov decides to turn pro, the Blackhawks are leaning towards having Levshunov start with their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago will certainly not want to rush Levshunov’s development as he is coming off a 35-point season in 38 games for the Spartans and the Blackhawks do not appear ready to contend for the playoffs quite yet.
- Another Central Division team will take it slow with their first-round selection of the 2024 NHL Draft. Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Dispatch reports the St. Louis Blues are leaning towards sending Adam Jiricek, the 16th overall pick, to the Ontario Hockey League instead of staying in Czechia. Jiricek only played 19 games for HC Plzeň this past season due to injury and would join the Brantford Bulldogs if he moved to North America.
San Jose Sharks Announce Full Coaching Staff
The San Jose Sharks have announced their full coaching staff for the 2024-25 NHL season as well as a few new hires. Assistant coach Brian Wiseman, goaltending coach Thomas Speer, video coach Nick Gialdini, and assistant video coach Cody Ward will all return to the organization as the team has hired Doug Houda and Jeff Ulmer as assistant coaches.
Houda joins the Sharks organization after spending the last two years in the same role with the New York Islanders. It is interesting to see Houda earn a job as quickly as he has considering his lackluster performance with the Islanders’ penalty kill over the last two seasons. Before being hired in New York to serve as the team’s penalty kill coach, the team sat fourth in the NHL in the 2021-22 season with an 84.19% penalty kill. Since Houda’s hire, the team fell to ninth place in the 2022-23 season with an 82.19% success rate and even further to the league’s worst last year with a 71.49% success rate.
Ulmer earns his first role on an NHL bench after spending the last three years with the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, the Abbotsford Canucks. Focused primarily on the team’s powerplay and forward group, the AHL Canucks finished sixth in scoring in the AHL while sitting second in their division with a 23.0% clip on the powerplay.
In the front office, the Sharks also announced the hire of former power forward Ryane Clowe as the team’s new assistant general manager. Clowe assumes his new role after being a special advisor to general manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers last year. The former player has vast experience with the Sharks organization already as he suited up in 432 games for San Jose between 2005-2013 and scored 101 goals and 217 points in the process.
Sharks Sign Andrew Poturalski
According to an announcement from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, the San Jose Sharks have signed forward Andrew Poturalski to a two-year, two-way contract. With several prospects hoping to make the jump to the AHL level this season, the Sharks organization has added one of the premier minor league scorers over the last several years.
Poturalski originally came to professional hockey with the Carolina Hurricanes as an undrafted free agent from the University of New Hampshire. Most of Poturalski’s career has been spent in the AHL as he’s collected only six games at the NHL level since the start of the 2016-17 NHL season. Now 30 years old, Poturalski’s trophy case already carries the 2021 and 2022 John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s top scorer, the 2019 Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, and Calder Cup rings from the 2019 and 2022 AHL playoffs.
Outside of his most recent Calder Cup victory in 2022, Poturalski has also helped the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, appear in back-to-back Calder Cup finals. There is quite a lot of work to be done with the Barracuda as the team has not qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs since the 2020-21 AHL season.
It will be difficult for AHL San Jose to find a more capable player, however, as Poturalski seems to win wherever he goes. Over the last three years, Poturalski has scored 54 goals and 194 points in 169 regular season games while scoring another 13 goals and 45 points in 47 postseason contests.
Predators Sign Kieffer Bellows
The Nashville Predators have signed forward Kieffer Bellows to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K at the NHL per a team announcement. Bellows will join his fourth organization in as many years as a player heading into his seventh professional season.
Bellows’ prospect pedigree has fallen remarkably considering his selection in the NHL Draft. The New York Islanders drafted Bellows with the 19th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft and he would only score 11 goals and 25 points over 68 games with the organization. Although extending a lengthy leash to Bellows considering his underwhelming performance with the organization, he was eventually claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers in October of the 2022-23 season.
The young forward didn’t perform any better upon his change of scenery as he only mustered three goals in 27 games for the Flyers. Since suiting up for Philadelphia in the waning days of the 2022-23 regular season, Bellows has not returned to the ice in an NHL game. Shortly after the start of the 2023-24 NHL season, Bellows signed a professional tryout agreement with the Toronto Marlies without receiving any offers from NHL teams.
Bellows performed very well on his PTO with the Marlies as he scored 27 goals and 49 points in 52 games. Behind finishing fifth on the team in scoring, Bellows has now collected 64 goals and 109 points in 189 games at the AHL level. Because of his strong performances in the minor leagues, the Predators likely pursed Bellows to help their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
Golden Knights Sign Akira Schmid
The Vegas Golden Knights have signed goaltender Akira Schmid to a two-year, one-way contract with a salary of $875K in both seasons, per CapFriendly.
It’s been under a week since the Golden Knights acquired Schmid and Alexander Holtz from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Paul Cotter and a third-round pick in 2025. Due to his approximate $850K salary from 2021-2024, Schmid’s qualifying offer with Vegas would have been close to $900K, which the team decided not to extend to Schmid.
Only on the free agent market for a few days, Schmid officially joins the Golden Knights with plans on starting the year with their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. Vegas already filled the hole left by the trade of Logan Thompson, as they’ve signed goaltender Ilya Samsonov to assume the role of backup.
The past two seasons for Schmid could not be more dissimilar even though he totaled nearly the same amount of games played. On the backs of an impressively strong year from the rest of the young roster, Schmid recorded a 9-5-2 record while posting a .922 save percentage and 2.13 goals against average. Somehow, in only a year, Schmid recorded a 5-9-1 record for New Jersey, earning a .895 SV% and 3.15 GAA.
It will be difficult for Vegas to surmise exactly what goaltender they will be getting after such a stark contrast in performance. By starting in Henderson, Schmid will join a team on the rise as they look to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 AHL season.
Kraken Sign Josh Mahura
The Seattle Kraken have signed defenseman Josh Mahura to a one-year, league-minimum contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Mahura moves to Seattle after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Florida Panthers. He was left without much to base negotiations on, with lower-body injuries in December and March, in addition to healthy scratches, limiting Mahura’s year to just 30 games and nine assists. He was much more productive last year, his first year in Florida, recording a career-high 16 points in 82 games. It stands as his only full year in the NHL up to this point. In total, he’s managed 45 points across 191 games – enough to hold Mahura in the limbo of a seventh-defender for both the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks since 2018.
Mahura will now look to bounce back from ailment and absence with a prove-it deal in Seattle. He’ll stand to benefit from Seattle’s departure from Brian Dumoulin, though Mahura will still need to compete with players like Ryker Evans and Jamie Oleksiak for ice time. This deal will also reunite Mahura with Brandon Montour, who he occasionally played alongside with the Panthers. Montour signed a much heftier seven-year, $50MM deal with the Kraken on July 1st.
Despite meager scoring through his first stint in the NHL, Seattle’s pass-first style could be a nice match for Mahura, as he looks to regain the strong scoring he boasted in juniors.