Minor Transactions: 07/09/19
There are still several top free agents out on the market, but teams are also busy filling out their organizational depth charts and providing competition at the minor league level. With that in mind, we’ll keep track of those smaller transactions right here:
- The Toronto Marlies have re-signed Giorgio Estephan, Tanner MacMaster and Alex Gudbranson to minor league deals, adding to their already impressive depth. The Marlies have been one of the most active minor league clubs in free agency and look like they’ll have a strong system again at both the ECHL and AHL levels. The Newfoundland Growlers, who won the Kelly Cup in their inaugural season, will happily welcome back Gudbranson who served as alternate captain last year.
- Ryan Zapolski, who suited up for the United States at the most recent Olympic Games, will play for the Vienna Capitals of the EBEL next season after struggling for Jokerit in 2018-19. The 32-year old goaltender has found success everywhere he has played, and will now experience a new city and league in Austria.
- Wayne Simpson, who played for the Rochester Americans last season and has been a strong offensive contributor in the AHL for several years, will play in the DEL next season for ERC Ingolstadt. The 29-year old was never drafted but has recorded at least 36 points in each of his six professional seasons.
Training Camp Cuts: 9/16/18
With training camp fully underway, teams area already making cuts as they send players to juniors or back overseas. Here’s a rundown of today’s moves:
- The Carolina Hurricanes announce they have assigned three players back to their junior teams, including forwards Stelio Mattheos, Luke Henman and defenseman Brendan De Jong. Mattheos, the team’s third-round pick in 2018 will return to the Brandon Wheat Kings where he scored 43 goals last year in the WHL. Henman was the team’s fourth-round pick in this year’s draft and will return to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL. De Jong was a 2017 sixth-round pick, who will return to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have trimmed their training camp roster from 77 to 46 as they have sent eight players back to their junior teams, loaned one to Europe and sent another 17 to the Toronto Marlies’ training camp today, according to Postmedia’s Lance Hornby. That leaves 46 players in the Maple Leafs’ camp. The team sent Zachary Bouthillier, Filip Kral, Owen Lalonde, Ryan McGregor, Roman Pucek, Ian Scott, Riley Stotts, and Eli Zummack. The team also loaned Jesper Lindgren back to HPK of Finland’s Liiga. The team also sent Matthew Bradley, Sean Durzi, Hudson Elynuik, Giorgio Estephan, Brady Ferguson, Alex Gudbranson, Mac Hollowell, Sam Jardine, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Stefan LeBlanc, Eamon McAdam, Griffen Molino, Ryan Moore, Zach O’Brien, JJ Piccinich, Scott Pooley, Kristians Rubins to the Marlies training camp.
- The Detroit Red Wings announced they cut 10 players from camp today as they now stand at 61 players. The team assigned forwards Zach Gallant and Brady Gilmour as well as defensemen Cole Fraser, Jared McIsaac, Alec Regula and Reilly Webb to their respective junior teams. The team also released forwards Pavel Gogolev, Maxim Golod and Nicolas Guay as well as goaltender Justin Fazio from their amateur tryouts.
- The Edmonton Oilers announced they have cut three players from the training camp roster today and returned them to their junior teams, including forward Kirill Maksimov, defenseman Dmitri Samorukov and goaltender Olivier Rodrigue. Samorukov and Maksimov were the team’s third-round and fifth-round picks, respectively in 2017, while Rodrigue was their second-rounder this year.
Snapshots: Gaudreau, Wingels, AHL Signings
Johnny Gaudreau was on Philadelphia CBS radio this morning, and gave a quote that partially stopped the hearts of many Calgary Flames fans listening in.
I’ve got a ton of family here, all my friends…all my friends come back here, all my good friends and kids that I’ve played with my whole life are from South Jersey. It would be sweet to play here some day. You never know in sports, but there’s a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area.
This can probably be put up there with Drew Doughty‘s comments on playing in Toronto from earlier this offseason, as something said just to appease the listeners of the radio program Gaudreau was on at the time. After all, he did sign a long-term deal with the Flames last summer and said at the time that he’d like to play his whole career with Sean Monahan in Calgary if he could. Still, it’s something to remember for the summer of 2022 when a 28-year old Gaudreau is destined to be an unrestricted free agent.
- The Blackhawks got some bad news today, as Tommy Wingels suffered a broken foot during his offseason training and will miss 6-8 weeks of the offseason. He is still expected to be ready for training camp, though missing two months of his offseason is never a good thing. Wingels was brought in on a one-year deal by the Blackhawks this summer to help fill out their bottom six with affordable veterans, after a season in which he produced just 12 points. It’s been a steep fall from his career-high of 38 in 2013-14, and he is best suited to a fourth line role at this point.
- The Toronto Marlies added a player from development camp earlier today, and also re-signed Alex Gudbranson to a two-way minor league deal. Gudbranson spent a few games with the Marlies at the end of last season on loan from the Minnesota organization, but will join Toronto full-time next year.
- Darryl Sutter won’t be in the Los Angeles Kings organization next season, but his son will. Brett Sutter, the former Calgary Flames prospect has re-signed with the Ontario Reign on an AHL contract. He scored 36 points with the Reign last year, after coming over from the Iowa Wild in 2016.
Minnesota Issues Qualifying Offers To Restricted Free Agents
According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Wild have tendered qualifying offers to (amounts pulled from CapFriendly’s QO calculator):
- Mikael Granlund ($3.2MM)
- Nino Niederreiter ($3.5MM)
- Erik Haula ($1.05MM)
- Gustav Olofsson ($874K)
- Mike Reilly ($874K)
The team has also decided not to qualify Guillaume Gelinas, Alex Gudbranson, and Brady Brassart, and is still deciding on Jordan Schroeder. It is likely that the team also qualified Christian Folin, but it is still unclear if the team has made a decision on Steve Michalek, Kurtis Gabriel, Zack Mitchell and Zach Palmquist, all of whom are also restricted free agents this summer.
Those free agents not issued an offer will become unrestricted free agents, while the Wild will retain the exclusive negotiating rights on the others even if they should turn down the offer. Both Reilly and Olofsson are still eligible for two-way offers, which they may accept. The other more established RFAs will in all likelihood turn them down and enter negotiations or the arbitration process.
The reason the team is still undecided when it comes to Schroeder, despite his 13 points in 37 games and pedigree as a first-round pick, is likely because he is eligible for arbitration. With Minnesota set to be very tight to the cap next season, they may not be able to afford the arbitration settlement for the 26-year old and could instead cut him lose or trade him in the coming days.
All teams must submit qualifying offers by 4pm on June 26th, or else lose their exclusive negotiating rights to that player. Last year, many players including Brandon Pirri and Beau Bennett did not receive offers by the deadline and became UFAs able to sign anywhere in the league.
Evening Transactions: Blues, Oilers, Devils, Sharks
News and notes from around the NHL this evening:
- The Blues announced that they have recalled forward Wade Megan from the Chicago Wolves. The 26-year-old made his NHL debut earlier this season, scoring a goal in his first career game. In 50 games with Chicago this season, Megan has collected a league-high 23 goals to go along with 22 assists. Earlier today, the team placed forward Paul Stastny on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
- The Oilers have activated winger Iiro Pakarinen from the injured reserve, the team announced on Twitter. This wasn’t a huge surprise, as Pakarinen was recalled earlier this week following the demotion of forward Anton Lander. After scoring five goals and compiling eight assists last year, the 25-year-old hasn’t played a single game for the Oilers this season.
- The Devils announced (via Twitter) that they had activated defender Jon Merrill from the injured reserve. After having missed the past four games with an upper body injury, the 25-year-old is expected to play for New Jersey tonight. In 27 games this season, the former second-rounder has accounted for one goal, three assists, and 18 penalty minutes.
- The Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate, announced (via Twitter) that they have acquired defender Alex Gudbranson on loan from the Wild. The 22-year-old has spent this season playing with the Quad City Mallards of the ECHL, where he’s compiled four goals and 11 assists in 45 games.
- As part of their near-daily roster shuffle for cap reasons, the Sharks announced (via Twitter) that winger Timo Meier and Marcus Sorensen, as well as defenseman Tim Heed, have all been sent to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Of the three, only Meier has played a semi-regular role in the NHL this season, suiting up in 25 games while recording three goals and two assists.