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West Notes: Damiani, Groulx, Calgary

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The Dallas Stars have signed restricted free agent forward, Riley Damiani, to a one-year, $775K contract according to Cap Friendly (Tweet Link). Although a decrease in pay at the NHL level, Damiani will see his pay go from $70K to $117.5K at the AHL level.

Drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Draft, Damiani has done much better than expected, earning a chance at the NHL level at 22 years old last season. Playing seven games, Damiani scored one goal and one assist, playing in a very limited role for Dallas.

The situation has been much different for Damiani at the AHL level with the Texas Stars, regularly featuring in the team’s top nine. Playing in 151 games thus far with the baby Stars, Damiani has 37 goals and 66 assists, regularly finishing in the top 10 among forwards in points.

Other notes:

  • Much like Damiani, the Anaheim Ducks signed a similar restricted free agent forward today, securing a one-year, two-way deal with Benoit-Olivier Groulx. Drafted 54th overall in the same year as Damiani, Groulx has more experience at the NHL level, scoring three points in 20 total games. Having spent much of his time at the AHL level, Groulx has 39 goals and 51 assists in 145 games played for the San Diego Gulls.
  • Ryan Pike of Flames Nation announced today that the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL have parted ways with their General Manager, Jeff Chynoweth. Chynoweth had previously been the team’s GM since the 2017-18 season, making the playoffs a total of four times in six seasons. Before his time with the Hitmen, Chynoweth spent the better part of 15 seasons serving as General Manager of the now-defunct Kootenay Ice, becoming President of the team after the 2010-11 season.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Jakub Dvorak

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In a press release this afternoon, the Los Angeles Kings announced they have signed 54th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Jakub Dvorak, to an entry-level contract. It will be a typical three-year contract, paying the young defenseman an AAV of $900K per season.

Dvorak is not much of a point scorer but relies primarily on his large frame. Standing at 6’5″, Dvorak uses his body substantially as a hard-hitting defenseman and uses solid body positioning to gain control of the puck.

In his draft year, Dvorak played for Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga, tallying two assists in 24 games. The team played well, finishing with a record of 19-10-10, losing in the playoff quarterfinals to Mountfield Hokejový Klub in five games. Dvorak surely benefited from the wisdom of the former NHL talent on his team, including forwards Tomas Plekanec and Marko Dano.

In all likelihood, Dvorak will start the year on Liberec, as Los Angeles is steadfast in competing for the Stanley Cup this season, and will likely be seeking more NHL-ready talent on the blue line. Even if the Kings did not consider themselves to be in contention for the sport’s top prize, it would be rare to see a second-round pick play a season after their draft.

Red Wings Sign Wyatt Newpower

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Signing back with the only organization he has known, defenseman Wyatt Newpower has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Detroit Red Wings for the 2023-24 NHL season. The deal will pay Newpower a total of $775K at the NHL level.

Capping off a four-year career in the NCAA with the University of Connecticut, Newpower finished his senior year on a solid run, scoring three goals and 19 assists in 34 games. During the 2020-21 season, which was shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Newpower joined the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters on an amateur tryout agreement, scoring three goals and seven assists in 24 games.

His year with the Monsters was enough to entice the Red Wings, who gave Newpower a two-year, $1.6MM agreement before the start of the 2021-22 campaign. Over the last two years with Detroit’s AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, Newpower has been a stable defenseman, playing a total of 114 games, scoring five goals and 12 assists overall.

It will be highly unlikely to ever see the Minnesota native ever see action in the NHL, but at the AHL level, Newpower has become a serviceable defenseman to eat minutes. With a prospect cupboard full of young talent on the blue line, Newpower will be relied upon to show Detroit’s younger players the ropes in the minor leagues.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Zach Sanford

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Zach Sanford to a one-year, two-way deal, according to a team release. CapFriendly has confirmed the contract will pay Sanford $775K at the NHL level for the 2023-24 season.

Not that long ago, Sanford used to be a solid forward in the bottom six of the St.Louis Blues organization, winning a Stanley Cup with the team during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. During that regular season, Sanford suited up in 58 games for the Blues and had an incredible 16 goals and 14 assists, only averaging about 12 and a half minutes a night.

Following a tremendous year with the Blues, the team rewarded Sanford with a two-year, $3MM contract extension, taking him to the end of the 2020-21 NHL season. Unfortunately for him and the organization, Sanford fell back down to earth, only scoring 16 points the next season. Due to the drop in production, St.Louis shipped Sanford to the Ottawa Senators the following summer for a package that included forward Logan Brown.

His production did not improve in Canada’s capital, leading to Sanford spending time with both the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators since that trade. Although not suiting up much for the Predators at the professional level last season, Sanford put up a respectable 12 goals and 16 assists in 45 games playing for the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

As Sanford now takes his services to the Coyotes, access to playing time is more readily available for him. Arizona presumably has their top-six forward unit set for next season, but will likely cycle through numerous players this season to fill out the bottom of their forward core.

Buffalo Sabres Sign Anton Wahlberg, Brett Murray

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The Buffalo Sabres have the first member of their 2023 draft class under contract, announcing the signing of forward Anton Wahlberg to a three-year entry-level deal. PuckPedia has the details of his contract, which carries a cap hit of $897K:

Years 1 and 2: $775K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus, $82.5K minors salary
Year 3: $885K salary, $95K signing bonus, $82.5K minors salary

The team also signed AHL depth forward Brett Murray to a one-year deal, keeping one of the Rochester Americans’ best scoring options in the organization on a two-way deal worth $775K in the NHL.

Buffalo selected Wahlberg with their first of two second-round picks in last month’s draft, utilizing the 39th overall pick to bring him into the organization. The rangy Swedish center has pro-level size already at 6-foot-3 and 192 pounds and plays a rather well-rounded game. There were definitely players with higher NHL ceilings available at Wahlberg’s pick, but he was certainly a safe option early in the second round that’s hard to make much fuss about.

Wahlberg’s spent most of his development with the Malmo Redhawks’ junior program in Sweden’s top U-20 league. Last season, his 27 points in 32 games were eclipsed by quite a few peers within his class, but he did earn an extensive look against pros in the SHL, recording two goals and two assists in 17 games for the Redhawks.

He’s a player the organization is quite high on – general manager Kevyn Adams said after selecting Wahlberg that they were trying to trade up into the late first round to select him. He’s already arrived stateside, too, getting to know the organization at development camp earlier this month.

That being said, given he’s not a first-round pick, his SHL team has the final say in where he’ll play if he’s not in the NHL right away, which is the likely scenario. Malmo has Wahlberg under contract for 2023-24 and will almost certainly want him back in the fold as they try to avoid relegation, meaning Buffalo will loan him back to Sweden for the upcoming season. Doing so will slide the beginning of his ELC to 2024-25.

Murray, on the other hand, will continue his stay in the Sabres organization after tallying 49 points in 71 games for the Americans last season, which ranked third on the team. The 24-year-old does have some NHL experience under his belt, playing in 21 games for the Sabres over the past few years after they selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft. In four total seasons in Rochester, Murray has amassed a total of 56 goals and 69 assists for 125 points.

Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Jonathan Gruden

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have made their second signing of the day, locking in forward Jonathan Gruden for the upcoming season by re-signing him to a one-year contract extension. The two-way deal keeps the restricted free agent in the Penguins organization for 2023-24 with a $775K cap hit; PuckPedia reports his AHL compensation will be $100K.

The son of new Toronto Marlies head coach and former NHLer John Gruden, the 23-year-old winger was originally a fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in the 2018 NHL Draft. Gruden’s signing rights were dealt to the Penguins as part of the trade return for goalie Matt Murray in October 2020.

A versatile two-way winger, Gruden had a strong development season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2022-23, registering 16 goals and 15 assists in 54 games. He worked his way up the Penguins’ depth chart to be one of their top call-up options, making his NHL debut for Pittsburgh this January and playing a fourth-line role for three games.

Gruden won’t be on the Penguins’ NHL roster to start the season, but he is set to reprise a top-six role in the minors in 2023-24. The Michigan-born winger will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next offseason.

AHL Transactions Ledger: 07/14/23

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Welcome to today’s edition of the AHL Transactions Ledger as we continue to summarize all the off-season player movements in the NHL’s primary feeder league. As affiliates gear up for the upcoming season, front offices across the league are hard at work, fine-tuning their rosters and adding supplemental pieces to the nucleus of each team – their NHL parent’s top prospects. As always, here’s a full list of today’s noteworthy signings, trades, and other transactions in the AHL:

  • Czech defenseman Filip Kral has signed a one-year contract with the Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga, departing the Toronto Marlies after the Maple Leafs did not issue him a qualifying offer last month. The 23-year-old now heads to one of the top teams in Finland after playing a total of 92 games with the Marlies across the past three seasons, recording seven goals and 22 assists. Kral made his NHL debut last season after injuries decimated Toronto’s defense early on, playing a very limited role in two games on the team’s West Coast road trip in late October 2022. A two-way defenseman who excels in playing the puck in tight spaces, Kral was Toronto’s fifth-round selection in the 2018 NHL Draft.

While they did lose Kral, the Marlies went a long way toward filling out next year’s depth, signing six players out of the junior and college ranks to one-year deals:

  • Diminutive forward Jackson Berezowski, 21, turns pro after playing his entire junior career with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, amassing 232 goals and 102 assists in 273 games. He leaves as the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer and served as team captain since 2021. Last season, he recorded career highs with 48 goals and 81 points, tying for the WHL lead in power-play goals with 22.
  • 24-year-old Brock Caufield, the older brother of Montreal Canadiens star sniper Cole Caufield, heads to the Marlies after appearing in 172 games for the University of Wisconsin over five seasons, totaling 33 goals and 41 assists. Born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Caufield was part of the Wisconsin team that won the Big Ten regular-season championship in the 2020-21 season. A winger like his brother, Caufield will look to leverage a strong finish to his collegiate career into a full-time AHL role with the Marlies in 2023-24.
  • Forward Neil Shea, 23, spent last season with Sacred Heart University, recording 30 points in 37 games. The Marshfield, Massachusetts-born Shea earned a spot on the Atlantic Hockey First All-Star Team and also appeared in six games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves on a tryout after his collegiate season concluded. Shea split his NCAA career between Sacred Heart and Northeastern University, collecting a total of 27 goals and 40 assists in 123 games.
  • 5-foot-9 forward Tate Singleton, 24, recently completed his college career at Ohio State University, playing 140 games and contributing 33 goals and 37 assists. In the 2022-23 season, Singleton achieved career highs with 11 goals and 16 assists. Like the others, he’ll look to leverage a strong finish to his collegiate career to win one of the limited spots available on the Marlies and avoid assignment to the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.
  • The only NHL-drafted player on this list is 23-year-old left wing Tyler Weiss, whose signing rights with the Colorado Avalanche are set to lapse by August 15 if he doesn’t sign an entry-level contract. The 109th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft played 159 games during his collegiate career with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, amassing 116 points over five seasons.
  • Last but not least is 21-year-old right-shot defender Nolan Dillingham, who spent the past season with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, recording six goals and eight assists in 45 games. The Ontario-born defender has good size at 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds and served as Sarnia’s captain last season. He’ll aim to embark on a pro career with his hometown Marlies, but given their deep blueline, Dillingham is the most likely player on this list to play out next year in the ECHL.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Emil Pieniniemi

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The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that they’ve signed defense prospect Emil Pieniniemi to a three-year, entry-level contract, which PuckPedia reports carries an NHL salary of $775K, a signing bonus of $95K, a games-played bonus of $80K, and a minors salary of $82.5K in all three seasons. The contract carries a cap hit of $870K.

The 18-year-old Finn was Pittsburgh’s third-round pick in this year’s draft at 91st overall. He’s the first player taken outside of the first two rounds to sign his entry-level contract.

Pieniniemi did go a bit earlier in the draft than some thought, as most public scouts had him pegged as a fifth- or sixth-round pick. It’s obvious the Penguins believe in Pieniniemi’s defensive upside, which he showed as the hallmark of his game while playing in the Finnish U-20 circuit last season.

He does carry a prototypical frame for a defender that NHL teams desire at 6-foot-2, although he still needs to grow into it a little more before he’s pro-ready. His game revolves around his physicality and how he uses it to shut down the other team’s attack, with Elite Prospects describing his defensive style as “pinching aggressively and gapping up early, guiding opponents towards the boards before engaging physically.”

That’s not to say he’s an offensive liability – he did show the possibility of being an adept puck-moving defender at the pro level. Playing for Karpat in the top Finnish junior league, Pieniniemi tallied 13 points in 31 games and made his professional debut in the Liiga, dressing for one game with Karpat in December 2022 but not seeing any ice time.

Pittsburgh will likely loan Pieniniemi back to Karpat for the 2023-24 season, which will result in his entry-level contract sliding to start in 2024-25.

 

St. Louis Blues Sign Dalibor Dvorsky

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2023 top-ten pick Dalibor Dvorsky has another major career milestone under his belt just a few weeks after the draft: his first NHL contract. The St. Louis Blues signed their tenth-overall selection to a three-year entry-level contract today, per a team release.

The team did not disclose contract details. However, it’s important to note his signing doesn’t mean he’ll be playing in North America next season – as expected; he’ll be loaned back to SHL club IK Oskarshamn to honor the first year of a two-year deal he signed with them before the draft, reports Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland.

CapFriendly also confirms Dvorsky is eligible for an entry-level slide twice, given his signing age of 18, meaning a full-time loan to the SHL this season would kick the beginning of his ELC to 2024-25 (or later, if he plays less than ten NHL games again in 2024-25).

It’s likely Dvorsky is ready for some NHL looks after an additional year of development in Europe, though, and this upcoming year should likely be Dvorsky’s last in the Swedish professional circuit. The Slovak national spent most of his development from 2016 onwards playing in Sweden, where he registered 14 points in 38 games playing in the second-tier pros for HockeyAllsvenskan club AIK last season.

His draft stock varied a bit throughout the season, as his Allsvenskan production didn’t quite live up to the tantalizing flashes he showed when playing against his own peer group in Swedish juniors and internationally. Still, few Blues fans should complain about landing him at tenth overall, and today’s signing could very well begin a long tenure in St. Louis as a top-nine fixture.

New Jersey Devils Sign Chris Tierney

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Veteran forward Chris Tierney has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the New Jersey Devils, per a team announcement, cementing his home for the 2023-24 campaign. The deal is worth $775K in the NHL and $400K in the AHL.

Tierney split last season between the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens organizations and was assigned to the minors for the first time in seven seasons while with the Panthers. After a four-year run with the Ottawa Senators, during which his offensive production steadily declined, Tierney signed a two-way deal with the Panthers in free agency last summer before Montreal claimed him on waivers in February of 2023.

The 29-year-old natural center accumulated three goals and ten points in 36 NHL games last year, his lowest totals since turning pro in 2014. He still produced a decent clip in the minors, scoring three goals and adding 13 assists for 16 points in 20 games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

A second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2012, Tierney does bring nearly 600 career games of NHL experience to the Devils organization, but he’s not expected to play a significant role with the team this season. With the team losing some depth pieces to free agency, such as Jesper Boqvist and Miles Wood, Tierney does stand a chance to make the Devils out of training camp, although likely as a 13th or 14th forward.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Ontario product will be an unrestricted free agent again next summer.

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