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RFA Notes: Frost, Dellandrea, Newhook

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With fewer and fewer of the top unrestricted free agents still left on the open market, the focus in some markets has shifted from who teams will be bringing in this offseason to what sort of contracts their restricted free agents might receive. The Philadelphia Flyers are one of those teams, and The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported today on Twitter that contract talks with restricted free agent center Morgan Frost “are ’positive’ and progressing.”

Frost, 24, set himself up extremely well for this summer’s negotiations with a breakout 2022-23 campaign. He flew past his career-highs to post 19 goals and 46 points in 81 games, and he could end up a long-term middle-six center for Philadelphia. The Flyers still have more than enough cap space to entertain all possible forms of a Frost extension, whether bridge contract or long-term pact, so the main issue will likely be how the Flyers evaluate Frost’s long-term future and how comfortable they are making a long-term financial commitment to that future.

Some other notes on RFA’s across the NHL:

  • Pagnotta reports that the Dallas Stars have “just started discussions” on a new contract for RFA forward Ty Dellandrea. Just 22 years old, Dellandrea is a valued leader in Dallas who took a major step forward this season. The 2018 13th overall pick followed up his strong 2021-22 AHL campaign by establishing himself as a full-time NHL player and scoring 28 points. The Stars’ cap situation might mean that a short-term deal is necessary here, though the Stars are obviously big believers in Dellandrea so a long-term pact wouldn’t be entirely surprising either.
  • Finally, Pagnotta reports that the Montreal Canadiens and newly-acquired RFA forward Alex Newhook still “haven’t begun” negotiations on a new contract. Seeing as the Newhook trade was widely cited as mirroring last year’s Kirby Dach deal, it would be no surprise to see Newhook’s contract match the deal Dach signed last offseason, a four-year pact with an AAV a little above $3MM. Newhook has been more productive in the NHL than Dach was to that point, so Newhook’s deal could look a little different, but using that contract as a general guide is likely to be wise.

Minor Transactions: 07/03/23

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NHL free agency has moved from the “frenzy” stage that defines July 1st to more of a steady flow of news, and just as NHL teams are adding players for next season so are teams in minor leagues and pro leagues across the hockey world. We’ll keep track of notable transactions here.

  • Former Chicago Blackhawks 20-goal scorer Richard Panik has signed with HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Extraliga. Panik, 32, is a veteran of over 500 NHL games, last playing in the league in 2021-22 with the New York Islanders. He signed overseas for 2022-23 and scored nine points in 19 games for Lausanne HC in the Swiss National League. Now Panik will return to the club he played for in his youth and the team the Tampa Bay Lightning selected him out of at the 2009 draft.
  • Jonah Gadjovich, a regular on the San Jose Sharks for the past two seasons, signed a one-year AHL deal with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers yesterday. A 2017 second-round pick, Gadjovich played 78 games for the Sharks across two seasons, averaging nearly nine minutes of ice time per game. Gadjovich is a big, physical winger who has 10 career NHL points, and will now return to the AHL for next season. Gadjovich’s last stretch in the AHL was quite successful (15 goals in 18 games for the Utica Comets in 2020-21) so this contract is Gadjovich’s chance to put together a productive season to earn another NHL deal.
  • The AHL’s Providence Bruins have signed two players to one-year, two-way AHL/ECHL contracts: goalie Shane Starrett and defenseman Ethan Ritchie. Starrett, 28, was the number-one goalie for the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks last season and re-established himself in North America’s third-tier league with a .913 save percentage in 54 games played. That was an important development for Starrett, who spent the year as the starter for the EIHL’s Glasgow Clan. Starrett does have some AHL experience (including a 42-game stretch with the Bakersfield Condors in 2018-19 where he posted a .918 save percentage) and will bolster the goaltending depth behind Brandon Bussi and Kyle Keyser in Providence, likely to spend most of his time with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. Ritchie, 21, gets signed after his overage OHL season where he scored 44 points in 65 games with the Sarnia Sting. The brother of 2023 Colorado Avalanche first-rounder Calum Ritchie, he’ll now begin his pro career either in Maine or Providence.
  • Although his production declined from 19 goals and 43 points in 2021-22 to just six and 19 in 2022-23, John Stevens has earned a two-year AHL contract extension with the Abbotsford Canucks. The 29-year-old former Northeastern Husky has been in the Vancouver Canucks’ minor-league system for the past four seasons, and Abbotsford GM Ryan Johnson said Stevens “personifies what we are as an organization.” He brings leadership value as a former NCAA captain and an alternate captain for Abbotsford, and if he can get back to his 2021-22 numbers he’ll be one of the AHL Canucks’ most important players.
  • The Grand Rapids Griffins have poached the captain of the Providence Bruins, signing right-shot blueliner Josiah Didier to an AHL deal. Didier, 30, led the AHL in plus-minus rating in 2019-20 and is a Calder Cup champion. He’s played nearly 400 career games in the American League, and joins recent NHL signing Brogan Rafferty as a move that will help beef up the right side of the defense in Grand Rapids.
  • 28-year-old blueliner Ryan McKinnon, a former captain of two different QMJHL teams during his junior career, has signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Belleville Senators. McKinnon split last season between the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders and ECHL’s Worcester Railers, and hasn’t yet played a season as a full-time AHLer. That’s what makes the one-way status of this deal significant, as McKinnon worked his way up from being a full-time ECHLer in Worcester to a place on the AHL/ECHL bubble, a space he’s lived in for most of his pro career. Now, he’ll have a chance to establish himself as a full-time AHL player in Belleville.
  • Longtime minor leaguer Mark Alt spent most of last season as a free agent, ultimately latching on with the DEL’s Straubing Tigers for their playoff push and seven postseason games. Now, the Tigers have announced that Alt will not return to the club as he focuses on a full-time role outside of hockey. While there’s no word on if Alt, 31, is ending his eleven-season pro career, it’s certainly possible that Alt’s decision not to continue in Europe is an indication that he’s moving away from hockey. In any case, Alt has nearly 500 AHL games on his resume and has played in 20 NHL games, meaning regardless of what he chooses for his future he’s had a hockey career to be proud of.
  • Two-time AHL All-Star and former NHLer Matt Fraser will remain with his current club, the ICEHL’s EC-KAC, after the team decided not to exercise their opt-out clause for next season. Fraser, 33, has played in Klagenfurt for the last three seasons and took home an ICEHL title for them in 2020-21, scoring the championship-winning goal himself. Fraser last played in North America way back in 2015-16, though he’s had a successful run in Europe since he crossed the Atlantic. Fraser ranked second on Klagenfurt in goals with 14 last season and will likely remain one of the team’s top goal-scoring options moving forward.
  • The KHL’s Barys Astana made a few significant moves earlier this month, and perhaps the two biggest were the club’s signings of Eddie Pasquale, one of the KHL’s top goaltenders, and former NHLer Pontus Aberg. Pasquale, 32, returns to Kazakhstan to play for the team he began his KHL career with in 2019-20. Pasquale took home KHL Goaltender of the Year honors in 2020-21 and posted a .927 save percentage in 50 games last season for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Aberg, 29, was a point-per-game player in 22 games for the Swiss NL’s Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, and now returns to the KHL for the second time in his career. He spent 2020-21 with Traktor Chelyabinsk, scoring 23 points in 49 games before leaving the league that offseason to return to North America.
  • Alex Ciernik, a recent fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, will play with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Vasterviks IK on a permanent basis after spending 10 games there on loan last season. The 18-year-old was selected 120th overall at the 2023 draft last week, and has 12 points in 37 career games at Sweden’s second-highest level of pro hockey.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Five Key Stories: 6/26/23 – 7/2/23

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With the NHL electing to cram as much offseason activity as possible into a few short days, it was quite a busy week around the NHL.  We’ll recap the biggest stories here which are much too plentiful to summarize in just five headlines.

Draft Night: It was a draft that was supposed to feature plenty of intrigue, especially on the trade front.  Instead, not a single swap materialized.  However, there was a surprise at the beginning of the draft.  While Chicago picked Connor Bedard first as expected, Anaheim opted to not go with the consensus second choice, instead selecting Leo Carlsson.  That freed up Columbus to grab that consensus second choice, Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli.  The full results of the draft can be found here.

Chicago Adds Veterans: Following the addition of Bedard, the Blackhawks decided that they needed to bring in some quality veterans to help take some pressure off him (and also to get to the cap floor).  They did that by acquiring Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from Boston in exchange for defensemen Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell.  Hall has two years left on his deal with a $6MM AAV and will give Bedard a legitimate top-six winger to play with.  Foligno, meanwhile, was a pending unrestricted free agent but quickly inked a one-year, $4MM deal to stick around; Chicago handed that same agreement to Corey Perry days later.  Boston, meanwhile, used that freed-up cap space to sign several players to short-term contracts early in free agency.

Busy Buyout Market: The buyout market started with a splash when Vancouver bought out Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  It ended with one too as Winnipeg was unable to find a taker for Blake Wheeler, instead buying out the final year and $8.5MM on his contract, taking on $2.75MM in dead cap charges for the next two years.  That wasn’t the priciest one of the week either as Nashville somewhat surprisingly bought out the final three years and $24MM of Matt Duchene’s contract, taking on more than $19MM in dead cap charges spread out over the next six seasons.  Detroit (Kailer Yamamoto) and Boston (Mike Reilly) also executed buyouts on the final day.

Dubois Traded: After many months of speculation, Pierre-Luc Dubois is on the move.  However, it wasn’t to Montreal where it was believed his preference would be to play.  Instead, he was dealt to Los Angeles in exchange for Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick; as part of the trade agreement, Dubois signed an eight-year, $68MM contract.  Dubois will team up with Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault to form one of the deepest center groups in the NHL while serving as Kopitar’s eventual replacement when the captain calls it a career.  As for Winnipeg, they get a pair of top-six forwards headlined by the 23-year-old Vilardi who put up 41 points in 63 games last season.  They’re looking to stay in the playoff mix and while they don’t have a top-end talent in Dubois anymore, their forward group is certainly deeper now.

Eight For Meier: The Devils were in a situation where they skirted the $10MM qualifying offer owed to Timo Meier by filing for club arbitration but it put some pressure on them to get a long-term deal done before the hearings came around.  They did just that, signing the winger to an eight-year deal that carries an $8.8MM AAV, making him the highest-paid forward on the team.  Meier reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career last season with New Jersey making a big move to acquire him at the deadline.  They have found a way to fit in max-term deals for both Meier and Jesper Bratt now while they also quietly picked up Tyler Toffoli from Calgary to give them more firepower for next season.

Free Agent Frenzy: Buoyed by the addition of more than 100 players to the open market after a busy non-tender deadline, July 1st represented a very busy day on the NHL calendar with more than $650MM in contract commitments to 166 players.  The biggest signings by position in terms of AAV were the Hurricanes picking up Dmitry Orlov on a two-year deal with a $7.75MM price tag, a sizable overpayment in money to get a short-term agreement that better fits their pay structure.  Up front, Alex Killorn wasn’t able to work a deal out with Tampa Bay, instead landing a four-year pact worth $6.25MM per season with Anaheim, a surprise day-one spender.  Meanwhile, in goal, the biggest contract given to a UFA was Pittsburgh re-signing Tristan Jarry to a five-year agreement that carries a $5.375MM AAV, one of three contracts handed to goalies that saw NHL action last season.

Islander Spending Spree: The biggest contract of the first day of the new league year came from the Islanders who handed goaltender Ilya Sorokin an eight-year, $66MM extension that will begin in the 2024-25 season.  The 27-year-old has been nothing short of stellar since coming to the NHL in 2020-21, posting a 2.34 GAA with a .924 SV% and 16 shutouts in his first three seasons.  His deal ensures that the Islanders will have top-level goaltending for the long haul.  They also brought back veteran Semyon Varlamov on a four-year, $11MM agreement to serve as Sorokin’s backup.  The 35-year-old was one of the better options on the open market although few expected him to get four years.  Few also expected GM Lou Lamoriello to hand out a pair of seven-year contracts to keep Pierre Engvall ($3MM AAV) and Scott Mayfield ($3.5MM AAV) in the fold.  Both players are quality role pieces but it’s fair to say there’s some sticker shock on the length of those contracts.  All told, nearly 19% of the $650MM in commitments from Saturday came from the Isles.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Alex DeBrincat

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With Senators winger Alex DeBrincat making it known that he does not intend to sign a long-term deal with Ottawa, there has been an expectation of a trade for several weeks.  However, the draft came and went without any move and after yesterday’s flurry of signings, there aren’t many teams left that can cover the full cost of a long-term agreement.

Speaking with reporters yesterday including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion provided some updates on the status of trade talks.  He noted that on multiple occasions, they seemed to be close on a trade but once his agent (Wasserman’s Jeff Jackson) received permission to speak to the acquiring team about working out a new contract, they weren’t able to come to terms, scuttling the swap.

On Saturday, Dorion provided Jackson with permission to speak to multiple teams about a new contract for DeBrincat but again, nothing to this point has materialized.  The GM attempted to explain the reasoning:

There’s varying degrees of interest. Teams call, we get close to a deal, I give them permission, and sometimes they’re not ready to pay maybe the term that we’re ready to pay.  He’s 25 years old, so he’s looking for something in particular, and I can talk about it because we own his rights, so I think the degrees (of interest) vary.

DeBrincat is coming off a quieter year by his standards but he still put up 27 goals and 39 assists last season in his first year with Ottawa.  But with two 41-goal seasons under his belt from his time with Chicago, it would appear that Jackson is seeking a contract for his client that’s more commensurate with his historical production.  Evidently, teams aren’t giving into that just yet.

The Senators filed for club-elected salary arbitration with DeBrincat in the first window last month, taking the $9MM qualifying offer off the table.  Instead, that allows them to come in with an offer as low as $7.65MM.  Arbitration hearings don’t start until late July and roll into early August so that represents the next hard pressure point, so to speak.

However, it’s still in Ottawa’s best interest to try to get a trade done before then as this situation is likely holding up some of their offseason spending plans.  Until they know who they’re getting back for DeBrincat – it almost certainly won’t just be a futures-based return – they won’t know exactly how much more money they have left to work with.  Right now, there are still several quality players available on the open market.  By the time arbitration hearings being, that’s unlikely to be the case.  But at this point, the hold-up appears to be on DeBrincat’s end in terms of his asking price on a contract, not Ottawa’s asking price in a trade.

Wild Acquire Pat Maroon And Max Cajkovic

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The Wild have added a veteran to their forward mix as they have acquired winger Pat Maroon from Tampa Bay along with Max Cajkovic in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick.  Both teams have announced the swap.

Maroon spent the last four years with the Lightning, winning a pair of Stanley Cups along the way.  However, his production dropped considerably last season, going from 27 points to just 14.  Of course, Maroon is more known for his physical play and he still provides that in spades, chipping in with 172 hits and recording a league-high 150 penalty minutes.  He has one year left on his contract with a $1MM AAV.  As part of the trade, Tampa Bay is paying 20% of that money.

The 35-year-old has played in 729 career NHL contests over parts of a dozen NHL seasons, recording 117 goals, 171 assists, and 930 playoff minutes.  Maroon also has plenty of playoff experience, suiting up in 150 postseason contests where he has 51 points and 197 penalty minutes along with three Cup titles from 2019 through 2021.  He’ll take the place of Ryan Reaves on Minnesota’s fourth line after Reaves inked a three-year contract with Toronto on Saturday.

As for Cajkovic, the 22-year-old spent most of last season at the ECHL level, recording 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games with Orlando; he suited up in just two contests with AHL Syracuse.  His placement in the trade appears to be more for opening up a contract slot for the Lightning rather than being a key component for Minnesota.  Cajkovic has one year remaining on his entry-level deal and is almost certain to be back in the minors again next season.

With the swap, Tampa Bay frees up $800K in cap flexibility.  It’s likely that they’ll put that money toward a new deal for RFA winger Tanner Jeannot.  Per PuckPedia, they have a little under $3MM in cap room (including Brent Seabrook’s LTIR savings) with the bulk of that likely being needed to lock up their key trade deadline acquisition from last season.

Coyotes Sign John Leonard

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Jul 3, 2:52 p.m.: Arizona has made the acquisition official, but did not confirm the terms of the contract.

Jul 2, 6:10 p.m.: The Coyotes are set to add some more forward depth as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (Twitter link) that Arizona has agreed to terms with free agent winger John Leonard on a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $80K in the minors while having a guaranteed salary of $150K.

The 24-year-old was a sixth-round pick by San Jose back in 2018 and spent two years in their system before being moved to Nashville as part of the Luke Kunin trade last summer.  Last season, he spent the bulk of the year with the Preds’ affiliate in Milwaukee, putting up 17 goals and 27 assists in 67 regular season games while chipping in with an assist in six postseason contests.  However, they opted to non-tender him on Friday, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Leonard has seen NHL action in each of his three professional campaigns, including six with the Predators last season, scoring once.  All told, he has 64 career appearances at the top level, tallying five goals and 11 assists while logging an average of a little over 11 minutes per night.

Leonard is likely to start the season with Arizona’s AHL affiliate in Tucson but should be among the early candidates for a recall.  If things go well for him in 2023-24, the Coyotes can retain his rights as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent through the 2025-26 campaign.

Day One Free Agent Recap: Metropolitan Division

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The NHL’s Metropolitan Division did some shopping yesterday, with a few teams making big splashes on the free agent market. Bigger deals include the New York Islanders’ twin seven-year deals for Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall, as well as a pricey two-year pact between the Carolina Hurricanes and Dmitry Orlov.

Carolina Hurricanes

F – Michael Bunting (3-year, $13.5MM, $4.5MM AAV)

F – Jesper Fast (2-year, $4.8MM, 2.4MM AAV)

D – Dmitry Orlov (2-year, $15.5MM, $7.75MM AAV)

G – Frederik Andersen (2-year, $6.8MM, $3.4MM AAV)

G – Antti Raanta (1-year, $1.5MM)

Columbus Blue Jackets

F – Adam Fantilli (3-year entry-level contract $950k AAV)

New Jersey Devils

F – Michael McLeod (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Nathan Bastian (2-year, $2.7MM, $1.35MM AAV)

F – Kyle Criscuolo (1-year, $775k)

F – Justin Dowling (1-year, $775k)

G – Erik Kallgren (1-year, $775k)

New York Islanders

F – Pierre Engvall (7-year, $21MM, $3MM AAV)

D – Scott Mayfield (7-year, $24.5MM, $3.5MM AAV)

G – Ilya Sorokin (8-year, $66MM, $8.25MM AAV)

G – Semyon Varlamov (4-year, $11MM, $2.75MM)

New York Rangers

F – Blake Wheeler (1-year, $800k)

F – Nick Bonino (1-year, $800k)

F – Tyler Pitlick (1-year, $787.5k)

F – Riley Nash (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Alex Belzile (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

D – Connor Mackey (1-year, $775k)

D – Erik Gustafsson (1-year, $825k)

D – Nikolas Brouillard (1-year, $775k)

G – Jonathan Quick  (1-year, $825k)

Philadelphia Flyers

F – Garnet Hathaway (2-year, $4.75MM, $2.375MM AAV)

F – Ryan Poehling (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Rhett Gardner (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Pittsburgh Penguins

F – Noel Acciari (3-year, $6MM, $2MM AAV)

F – Lars Eller (2-year, $4.9MM, $2.45MM AAV)

F – Joona Koppanen (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Matt Nieto (2-year, $1.8MM, $900k AAV)

D – Ryan Graves (6-year, $27MM, $4.5MM AAV)

D – Ryan Shea (1-year, $775k)

G – Tristan Jarry (5-year, $26.875MM, $5.375MM AAV)

G – Alex Nedeljkovic (1-year, $1.5MM)

Washington Capitals

F – Max Pacioretty (1-year, $2MM)

F – Pierrick Dube (2-year, $1.9MM, $870k AAV)

G – Hunter Shepard (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Bertuzzi

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.

This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.

Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.

The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.

Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.

Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.

His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.

Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.

That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Jiri Patera

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The Vegas Golden Knights re-sign netminder Jiri Patera to a one-year, two-way contract. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a $775k AAV, a $100k AHL salary, and a $145k total guarantee.

Patera, 24, is a member of the Golden Knights’ original draft class from 2017, when he was selected in the sixth round. The six-foot-two Czech netminder developed in the USHL before spending two seasons in the WHL with current Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon’s club, the Brandon Wheat Kings.

A First-Team All-Star in the WHL, Patera turned pro in 2020-21, splitting time with HC Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Extraliga and the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights.

Patera had a difficult start to life in Henderson but in 2021-22 he regrouped his game in the ECHL and ended the season with a .910 save percentage and 2.76 goals-against-average in the AHL.

This past season, Patera got used to a larger workload playing 31 games for Henderson. His numbers held steady despite getting a larger role in the AHL, and he even earned two starts for Vegas in the NHL, winning both with a .929 save percentage.

With this contract Patera secures his place for another season with Vegas’ AHL affiliate, and he’ll hope to earn more NHL call-ups as he makes a push to become a regular face at the game’s highest level.

Seattle Kraken Sign Kailer Yamamoto

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The Seattle Kraken are returning Kailer Yamamoto to his home state. The Spokane, Washington native and former Edmonton Oiler has signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the NHL’s youngest franchise.

As he was bought out by the Detroit Red Wings a few days ago, Yamamoto’s signing with the Kraken means Detroit effectively traded him for Daniel Sprong, another right-winger who Seattle chose not to issue a qualifying offer.

By signing Yamamoto over Sprong, the Kraken save $500,000 (Sprong earned $2MM from the Red Wings) and receive a younger player with a less impressive recent track record but a more extensive resume of NHL success.

While Sprong’s 21 goals and 46 points this year dwarf Yamamoto’s 10 goals and 25 points, just one year ago Yamamoto had 20 goals and 41 points.

Yamamoto also flashed high offensive upside in 2019-20, when he scored 11 goals and 26 points in 27 games.

Now plugged into one of the league’s highest-scoring environments in Seattle, the Kraken will hope that Yamamoto can bring a more consistent level of offensive production, and perhaps access the upside that saw him drafted 22nd overall in 2017 on a more regular basis.

The Kraken have quite a few quality wingers slated to play ahead of him on their roster, but the depth of Seattle’s lineup will play to Yamamoto’s advantage. Assuming he can make a good impression at training camp, Yamamoto has a strong chance of playing next to other capable NHL offensive producers, and if he can find the right linemates and build some chemistry he could really pop, giving Seattle a strong return on this $1.5MM investment.

If he ends up playing more the way he did late in his Oilers tenure, this could end up a wasted $1.5MM for the Kraken, which would hurt even more if Sprong goes on to great things in Detroit. But even with that risk in mind, this is a reasonable gamble to take on a young, energetic offensive forward.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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