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New Jersey Devils Sign Three Players

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The New Jersey Devils have signed three players to two-way contracts: forwards Kyle Criscuolo and Justin Dowling, as well as netminder Erik Kallgren. Each deal has an NHL cap hit of $775k.

Dowling received a two-year deal with a $500k AHL salary, while Criscuolo and Kallgren each received two-year deals with $340k and $450k AHL salaries, respectively.

Criscuolo, 31, is a former Calder Cup champion with 367 games of experience in the AHL. He scored 29 points in 60 games last season split between the Grand Rapids Griffins and San Jose Barracuda, and has 16 games of NHL experience on his resume. He’ll be expected to be a top-nine forward for the Devils’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.

Dowling, 32, is also a former Calder Cup champion who has captained an AHL side before as well. Dowling was a longtime top-six force for the AHL’s Texas Stars and spent most of last season with the Abbotsford Canucks, where he scored 46 points in 56 games. He could be counted on as one of Utica’s top scorers if a player like Graeme Clarke spends significant time in the NHL.

Kallgren, 26, has been with the Toronto Marlies for the past two seasons and has seen some NHL time thanks to untimely injuries to Maple Leafs netminders. Kallgren doesn’t have an extensive track record in the AHL but will likely pair with Nico Daws to take up the bulk of Utica’s available starts.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Noel Acciari

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After acquiring him for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins hockey operations boss Kyle Dubas has acquired forward Noel Acciari for his new team. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, he’s signed the veteran to a three-year, $2MM AAV contract.

Acciari was acquired by Dubas at the 2023 trade deadline as part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade, and he was a decent bottom-sixer for Toronto acquitting himself well defensively while helping them eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. Acciari has nearly 400 games of NHL experience and has been on some long playoff runs, such as the Boston Bruins’ run to the 2019 Stanley Cup final.

Acciari does have a 20-goal season on his resume but that’s not a major part of his game. He’s a steady, reliable penalty-killing bottom-sixer who provides versatility to the third or fourth lines in a lineup. He’ll likely become a favorite of head coach Mike Sullivan, who could quickly deploy him in high-leverage defensive situations.

A $2MM price tag with a three-year term might be a bit expensive for a 31-year-old with this kind of skillset, but it’s nothing unreasonable. He’ll improve Pittsburgh’s bottom-six from where it was last year, especially when combined with some of the team’s other signings from today, such as for Lars Eller or Matt Nieto.

Florida Panthers Sign Dmitry Kulikov

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The Florida Panthers have signed yet another defenseman, bringing back familiar face Dmitry Kulikov, according to TSN’s Chris Johnston. The deal has been officially announced, with the Panthers specifying that it’s a one-year pact. Per CapFriendly, it’s a $1MM AAV deal.

Florida brought Kulikov into the NHL with the 14th overall pick in 2009, and he went on to play 460 games for them over seven seasons before departing the organization in 2016. He overcame some long-term injuries in the middle of his career to rebound as a rather effective shutdown defender in the past few seasons, but he got stuck on one of the worst defensive teams in recent memory last season with the Anaheim Ducks.

He’ll try and show he’s still got what it takes to be an everyday NHLer this season in Florida, although he’s a candidate to slip out of a lineup spot upon the returns of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour from injury. Still Kulikov’s defensive upside is worth the gamble at $1MM and can be buried in the minors if need be without penalty.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Alex Killorn

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The Anaheim Ducks are working on signing forward Alex Killorn, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the deal carries a four-year, $6.25MM AAV. Anaheim would soon make the deal official.  The contract carries a full no-trade clause in the first two seasons before dipping to a 15-team NTC in the final two.

Tampa Bay expressed a desire to keep the 11-year veteran in the fold but their salary cap situation made such a move extremely difficult to accomplish.  In the end, Killorn opted to take the biggest contract given to a forward thus far in free agency.

The pricey contract is one that’s well-earned for the 33-year-old who has found a new gear offensively in recent seasons.  After putting up a surprising 25-goal, 59-point showing in 2021-22, Killorn improved on those numbers last year, picking up 27 goals and 37 assists, both career highs.  He followed that up with a productive playoff performance, collecting five points in their first-round exit to Toronto, good for a tie for third in team scoring.  In doing so, he basically priced himself out of being able to stay with the Lightning.

Instead, Killorn joins an Anaheim team at the other end of the competitive spectrum.  The Ducks have amassed one of the strongest prospect pools in the NHL and have several impact young forwards on their roster, including middlemen Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish.  GM Pat Verbeek will be counting on Killorn to provide some leadership and stability on one of their wings to help in their development.  While it’s unlikely that Killorn will be able to put up the same level of production he had in Tampa Bay, they can afford to carry an above-market contract on their books for the time being as they still have nearly $29MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, with Zegras, Troy Terry, and Jamie Drysdale in need of new contracts as restricted free agents.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Nick Bjugstad, Three Others

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a two-year, $2.1MM deal, per PHNX’s Craig Morgan. Bjugstad spent most of last season in Arizona before a mid-season trade sent him to the Edmonton Oilers. They’re also signing former Coyote Alex Galchenyuk to a one-year, two-way contract with a $775k cap hit $225k AHL salary, and $325k total guarantee according to PuckPedia.

They’ve also added forward Travis Barron to a one-year, two-way deal with a $775k cap hit and $100k AHL salary, per PuckPedia. Arizona also officially announced the signing of goaltender Matt Villalta to a one-year, two-way deal.

Bjugstad returns to the Coyotes after he returned to a top-six role there for the first time in a long time in 2022-23, recording a respectable 23 points in 59 games and showed flashes of the skill he displayed early in his career before injuries limited his long-term ceiling. He could very well find himself in the same role, competing for ice time down the middle with Barrett Hayton, Jack McBain, and Travis Boyd.

The Coyotes have also brought back Galchenyuk, who spent the entirety of the 2021-22 campaign in a Coyotes jersey, recording 21 points in 60 games. He did well when relegated to a minor-league role with the Avalanche last season, though, putting up a point per game, and could certainly find his way back into an NHL role alongside players like Michael Carcone and Liam O’Brien.

Barron and Villalta will spend the entirety of the season in AHL Tucson.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Laurent Brossoit, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jeffrey Viel

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The Winnipeg Jets have brought back two familiar faces. They’ve signed goaltender Laurent Brossoit back from the Vegas Golden Knights on a one-year $1.75MM deal, per TSN’s Chris Johnston. They’ve also signed forward Vladislav Namestnikov to a two-year, $2MM AAV deal per TSN’s Darren Dreger.  Dreger reports they’ve also added former San Jose Sharks forward Jeffrey Viel to a one-year, one-way $775k deal.

Brossoit returns to Winnipeg after a two-year stint with Vegas.  He originally signed with the Golden Knights to be their backup goalie and while he held that role in 2021-22, that wasn’t the case in 2022-23.  He underwent hip surgery last summer which kept him out of the lineup at the start of the year.  Upon returning, Brossoit cleared waivers and was assigned to AHL Henderson.  He played in 23 games with the Silver Knights, compiling a 2.72 GAA with a .909 SV% before being recalled in February when injuries struck.

Brossoit himself couldn’t avoid the injury bug the rest of the way as he spent a month on IR soon after but he still made ten starts for Vegas, posting a 2.17 GAA with a .927 SV%; the Golden Knights picked up at least a point in each of those starts.  That, coupled with injuries to Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, resulted in Brossoit being the starter for Vegas in their first-round victory over the Jets.  Unfortunately, Brossoit was injured partway through the second round against Edmonton, paving the way for Hill to run with the starting job from there.  Nevertheless, Brossoit did well enough to earn himself a second chance with the Jets.

As for Namestnikov, he was brought in from San Jose at the trade deadline, a day after the Sharks picked him up from Tampa Bay.  The 30-year-old provided Winnipeg with some much-needed secondary scoring down the stretch, picking up 10 points in 20 games with his new team while seeing his playing time jump up by more than three minutes a night to just under 15 minutes per game.

To say that Namestnikov has bounced around in recent years would be putting it lightly.  Since the 2019-20 season, the veteran has played for seven different teams (which doesn’t include his brief stint as a Shark).  It’s likely that putting a second year on the table helped to secure the commitment from Namestnikov who now has a chance to get a bit of stability while remaining an important part of Winnipeg’s secondary offensive group.

Viel, meanwhile, comes to Winnipeg after a five-year stint in San Jose.  The 26-year-old spent most of last season with the AHL Barracuda, picking up 15 goals and 16 assists along with 150 penalty minutes, good for third in the AHL in that department.  Viel is best known for being a physical presence on the fourth line in his previous NHL duty, collecting 112 hits and 139 penalty minutes (to go along with five points) in 49 career appearances with the Sharks.  As things stand, he’s a candidate to break camp with the Jets on either the fourth line or in a reserve role.

New York Rangers Sign Connor Mackey, Nikolas Brouillard

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The New York Rangers have made two additions to beef up their defensive depth, signing Connor Mackey from the Arizona Coyotes and Nikolas Brouillard from the AHL’s San Diego Gulls to one-year contracts.

Both are likely destined for AHL Hartford next season, especially with the Rangers further fortifying their blueline by signing Erik Gustafsson to a one-year deal today. Both players were signed to a league-minimum cap hit of $775K, with Mackey earning a $400K salary in the minors and Brouillard earning a $225K salary in the minors with $275K guaranteed.

Mackey joins the Rangers with three professional seasons under his belt, spent in the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes organizations. He’s shown some solid offensive acumen in limited NHL time, and he was a member of Team USA at the recent IIHF Men’s World Championship. After recording 36 points in 53 games with the AHL’s Stockton Heat in 2021-22, he’s destined for top-pair duty and heavy minutes in Hartford.

This is the first NHL contract for Brouillard, 28, who’s spent the last three seasons on minor-league contracts with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls and done quite well, totaling 92 points (and 279 penalty minutes) in 168 AHL games. He’s obviously got a bit of snarl to his game and will join Mackey in Hartford’s top four on defense.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Ryan Donato

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed forward Ryan Donato to a two-year, $2MM AAV deal, first reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The Blackhawks have also officially announced the deal.

The 27-year-old spent the last two seasons in Seattle, putting up decent secondary scoring numbers along the way.  After picking up 16 goals and 15 assists in his first season with the Kraken, Donato followed that up with a 14-goal, 13-assist performance in 71 games despite seeing his playing time drop by more than 2:30 per game to just 11:15 a night.

While playing time was hard to come by on a deep Seattle squad, that shouldn’t necessarily be the case this time around on a Chicago team that has been busy adding this week after parting with many of their regular forwards in recent months.

Over the past few days, Taylor Hall was added to give top pick Connor Bedard a capable running mate on the top line while Andreas Athanasiou was recently re-signed.  Meanwhile, veterans Nick Foligno and Corey Perry were brought in on one-year, $4MM deals but those two figure to play on the fourth line, meaning there should be an opportunity for Donato to grab a hold of a regular spot in Chicago’s middle six.  If he’s able to do so, he could be in line for a career year which would also result in the Blackhawks getting a pretty good bang for their buck on this signing.

Seattle Kraken Sign Three Players

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The Seattle Kraken have completed contracts with three players. They’ve signed winger Marian Studenic from the Dallas Stars, re-signed Coachella Valley Firebirds defenseman Jimmy Schuldt, and re-signed forward John Hayden. The terms for the players’ contracts are as follows:

Studenic: one-year, two-way, $775K NHL salary, $300K AHL salary, $325K guarantee
Schuldt: one-year, two-way, $775K NHL salary, $250K AHL salary, $275K guarantee
Hayden: one-year, one-way, $775K NHL salary

The 24-year-old Studenic comes over from the Dallas Stars, where he recorded three points in 19 games over the past two seasons. He’ll likely stay in an AHL role next season, where he’s been a marquee scorer: he notched 21 goals and 48 points in 67 games with AHL Texas last season. He’s a solid replacement in the Kraken organization for Jesper Froden, who played a similar role in the minors but departed in free agency for a role overseas in Switzerland.

Schuldt, a rather steady two-way defender in the minors, hasn’t yet appeared in NHL action with the Kraken but is a bonafide top-four AHL defender. The 28-year-old Minnesota product notched eight goals, 32 points, and a +22 rating for Coachella Valley last season in 71 games, all career-highs, while playing for one of the best teams in the league. The organization is happy to have him stick around as a reliable presence in their farm system.

Lastly, there’s Hayden, the player with the most NHL experience on this list at 247 games. After sticking in the NHL full-time for four seasons, Hayden found his way back to the minors for most of 2022-23, where his hard-nosed game translated into a solid amount of offense with 33 points in 47 games. He appeared in just seven games for the Kraken, scoring two goals, and he’s destined for the same role in the organization next season.

Nashville Predators Extend Cody Glass, Sign Grosenick, Angello

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The Nashville Predators have signed rising center Cody Glass to a two-year contract extension carrying a $2.5MM AAV, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Additionally, the Predators have added to their minor-league depth, signing goaltender Troy Grosenick to a one-year, $775K contract (worth $175K in the minors, per PuckPedia), as well as forward Anthony Angello to a two-year, $1.55MM contract with an AAV of $775K at the NHL. Both contracts given to Grosenick and Angello are two-way deals.

Glass is coming off a breakout year that saw him lock down a full-time NHL spot for the first time.  The 24-year-old played in 72 games last season, picking up 14 goals and 21 assists while averaging nearly 15 minutes of playing time a night.  That earned him a spot on Canada’s entry at the Worlds where he added four assists in ten contests.  While that’s still not a great year for someone not far removed from being the sixth-overall pick in 2017, it was certainly a step in the right direction.

This contract basically represents a second bridge contract for Glass, giving both sides to see if his production last season is a sign of things to come or if it was more of a one-off.  With both Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen out of the picture now, it stands to reason that Glass should have a bigger opportunity next season.  He will still be RFA-eligible at the end of this deal and with the contract paying out an even $2.5MM per season, that will also represent his qualifying offer in 2025.

Grosenick is no stranger to the Predators organization having spent parts of three seasons in their system before moving on in 2020.  Since then, he has bounced around as a third-string option in Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia.  Last year, the 33-year-old played in just six games with Lehigh Valley, posting a 3.32 GAA along with a .892 SV%.  With Yaroslav Askarov set to command the bulk of the playing time, Grosenick is likely to be Nashville’s fourth-stringer next season but could be the one recalled to cover for short-term injuries to either Juuse Saros or Kevin Lankinen.

As for Angello, the 27-year-old was acquired back in March and finished the season strong with AHL Milwaukee, collecting seven goals and five assists in just 17 games.  However, Angello wasn’t able to carry over that level of success in the playoffs as he was limited to just three points in 16 playoff contests.  Nevertheless, the Preds have decided to bring him back where he will serve as injury recall depth next season.

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