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Alexandre Carrier

Minor Transactions: 01/16/21

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While there will be plenty of taxi squad activity around the league today, there will be plenty other transactions around the hockey world as well. We’ll keep tabs on those here:

  • The Predators announced that they’ve assigned defenseman Alexandre Carrier to Chicago of the AHL. The 24-year-old played in three games with Nashville last season but spent most of the year with AHL Milwaukee where he had five goals and 32 assists, exactly matching his 2018-19 output but did so in 21 fewer games (55 in 2019-20, 76 the year before).
  • Buffalo has recalled goaltender Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen from his loan to TPS Turku, the Finnish team announced. The 21-year-old is regarded as a potential goalie of the future for the Sabres and he held his own in Finland’s top league, posting a 2.52 GAA with a .908 SV% in 13 games.  He split last season between AHL Rochester and ECHL Cincinnati but should more action in the AHL this year.
  • The Flyers announced (Twitter link) that they have loaned center Tanner Laczynski to Lehigh Valley of the AHL. The 23-year-old is in his first professional season after wrapping up his college career with Ohio State where he had 11 goals and 23 assists in just 36 games last season.
  • Lehigh Valley is also prepared to bring in a trio of minor league veterans on AHL contracts as well. AHL reporter Tony Androck notes that the Phantoms are expected to sign goaltender Zane McIntyre and forwards Ryan Fitzgerald and Tanner MacMaster to one-year deals. McIntyre, who was recently in training camp with the Arizona Coyotes, is a former teammate of Fitzgerald’s with the Providence Bruins. MacMaster is coming off a 30-point campaign with the Toronto Marlies and is looking to prove that he is a dangerous scorer worthy of an NHL look.
  • The AHL’s Colorado Eagles have signed a number of Avalanche prospects to amateur tryout agreements, including goaltender Trent Miner and forwards Jean-Luc Foudy, Sasha Mutala, and Luka Burzan. All four prospects play in either the OHL or WHL and have been out of commission for some time. They’ll at least get a chance to suit up in AHL training camp with the Eagles, if not longer.
  • Winnipeg Jets prospect Daniel Torgersson, a 2020 second-round pick, may have an eye on a extended development period at home in Sweden before making his way across the Atlantic. Torgersson’s current team, the SHL’s Frolunda HC, have announced a two-year extension with the young power forward, keeping him under contract through 2022-23. The NHL and SHL have a transfer agreement in place, but the term of Torgersson’s new deal at least implies he has considered spending a couple more years in Sweden with the Indians.
  • NHL veteran Matt Puempel will also be playing in Sweden this season. The 27-year-old forward, unable to find a new NHL contract, has signed on with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks for the remainder of the season, the team announced. Puempel is coming off a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings, but saw just eight total games of NHL action in that time. Puempel has 87 NHL games and 340 AHL games on his resume.

Nine Players Placed On Waivers

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After 25 players found themselves on waivers on Friday (23 of which cleared), it’s a smaller group of players on the waiver wire today.  James Mirtle of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the following nine players have been waived:

Edmonton Oilers

F Joseph Gambardella

Nashville Predators

D Alexandre Carrier
D Ben Harpur
G Kasimir Kaskisuo
D Tyler Lewington
F Sean Malone
F Michael McCarron
F Anthony Richard

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Michael Hutchinson

All nine players have some NHL experience, ranging from one game for Malone and Kaskisuo to 127 for Hutchinson.  The latter actually started last season as the backup in Toronto but struggled mightily before being waived and sent to the minors.  He was flipped to Colorado before the trade deadline and as a result of injuries to both Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, Hutchinson actually was the starter for the Avalanche by the time their postseason run came to an end.  While he did relatively well, he still had to settle for a two-year, two-way deal that was ultimately signed to meet a pending expansion requirement.

Teams will have until 11 AM CT on Sunday to place a claim on any of these players.  If they pass through, they’ll be eligible to be assigned to the minors or to the new taxi squads.

Yannick Weber Signs PTO With Nashville Predators

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When the Nashville Predators released their training camp roster on Saturday, there was a familiar yet surprising name included on the list. Veteran defenseman Yannick Weber, who has donned a Nashville sweater for the past four years, will be back with the team in camp. However, it will not be in a contractual capacity for the season. The free agent defender will compete for a roster spot and thereby an extension while playing on a PTO agreement.

Weber, 32, is another example of a solid veteran player who has been left without options by this off-season’s flat cap market. While Weber is no offensive dynamo, he has built a long NHL career off of being a sound, reliable defensive player who works especially well as a plug-and-play depth option. Although some may not think of Weber as a surefire starter, he has quietly played in over 70% of Nashville’s games over the past four years as a regular in one of the league’s best defense corps. Weber has at least earned the right to prove he can still be an effective player and Nashville knows better than anyone that he is worth a look.

The problem though is that the Predators have all but replaced Weber’s role this off-season. The team re-hauled its bottom pair in free agency with the additions of Mark Borowiecki and Matt Benning, two similar defensive-minded blue liners. The team also has promising prospect Jeremy Davies waiting in the wings and an already-large group of experienced depth options in Jarred Tinordi, Ben Harpur, Tyler Lewington, and Alexandre Carrier. Weber is arguably a better option than many of these players but he is unlikely to unseat Borowiecki and Benning as a starter and would likely battle Tinordi or Davies to be the next man up as well. While the taxi squad offers some expanded opportunities for depth this season and could be an ideal spot for Weber, his PTO does not necessarily imply that a contract is eventually guaranteed.

 

Nashville Predators Extend Alexandre Carrier

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The Nashville Predators have handed out a multi-year contract extension to a player still unproven at the NHL level, signing Alexandre Carrier to a three-year deal. The two-way contract will kick in for the 2020-21 season, and carries an average annual value of $733K. Adam Vingan of The Athletic tweets the full breakdown:

  • 2020-21: $700K NHL/$125K AHL
  • 2021-22: $750K NHL/$175K AHL
  • 2022-23: $750K NHL/$200K AHL

Carrier, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Predators in 2015 but quickly became one of the more interesting defensive prospects in their system. With seasons of 39, 28, 37 and 37 points, his offensive ability has never been contained at the minor league level, and his continued development in his own end makes him a potential candidate for an NHL job next season.

How he’ll perform at the higher level however is still completely undetermined, given that he has played in only five NHL games thus far in his career. The 6’0″ defenseman was set to become a restricted free agent this summer after his entry-level contract expired, but instead of taking a one-year qualifying offer to see how he might perform next season, Carrier will lock into the security of a three-year deal.

That kind of multi-year commitment is par for the course with Predators GM David Poile, who is always looking for ways to maximize value in young players. Should Carrier prove to be an NHL option he will actually come with a cap hit lower than the league minimum in 2021-22, when it increases to $750K.

Though technically this contract is currently scheduled to leave him an RFA again at its conclusion, if Carrier doesn’t receive a legitimate NHL opportunity over the next three years he would become a UFA instead. Should he fail to play in 77 more NHL games, he would qualify for Group VI UFA status as a 26-year old.

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