Minor Transactions: 12/20/2025
The midpoint of the season has sparked a flurry of action across the hockey world. Some players are finally being moved from a slow start to the season, while others are finding their first contracts of the year. The notable moves have been rounded up and captured below:
- Former New York Islanders center Leo Komarov has signed a one-year contract with HC Davos of Switzerland’s National League. The 38-year-old Estonian spent the last two seasons with HIFK of Finland’s Liiga. He scored 23 points in 55 games with the club, but wasn’t able to secure a contract for this season. That will change with a move to Switzerland, marking the eighth professional hockey league that Komarov has played in – on top of tenures in Finland’s Mestis and Liiga, Russia’s KHL, the AHL and NHL, and Sweden’s SHL. He will offer Davos veteran depth.
- Also signing an overseas contract is former Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who has left his professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins to sign a deal with Lowen Frankfurt of Germany’s DEL. Tokarski made two appearances with Grand Rapids on his try-out, posting one win and a .929 save percentage. He posted a .897 Sv% in 21 AHL games, and a .902 Sv% in six NHL games, in the Carolina Hurricanes’ organization last season. He’ll join Frankfurt for the second-half of the year and could have an open path to the starting role, with all three of Frankfurt’s goaltenders posting sub-.900 Sv% through the first half of the season.
- Hard-hitting Utah Mammoth prospect Tomas Lavoie has been traded in the QMJHL. He will head to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in exchange for five draft picks, including a first-rounder, headed back to the Cape Breton Eagles. Lavoie was a core piece of the Eagles this season, offering stalwart defense and reliable puck-moving. The former third-round pick has 21 points in 24 games this season and could bring a reliable, shutdown role to a Saguenéens lineup currently leaning on high-octane defenders like Alex Huang.
- Seattle Kraken prospect Alexis Bernier will also head to the Saguenéens in exchange for Leo-Gabriel Gosselin and five draft picks. Bernier is a volume shooter who racked up 14 goals and 46 points in 59 games with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar last season, but hasn’t yet played this year. He could be due for a major breakout after rivaling point-per-game scoring last season, which should only bolster a Saguenéens lineup that has already propped up shoot-first wingers Maxim Massé and Émile Guité. The Saguenéens will go all-in on this season before likely losing Masse, Guite, and many others to pro deals.
Prospect Notes: Frondell, Kraken, Pickford
The Blackhawks were originally hoping to have Anton Frondell with them for rookie camp as well as main training camp this month, relays Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link). However, when the center indicated that he felt his development would be best served by staying in Sweden with SHL Djurgarden instead of an early-season interruption, they agreed to that plan instead. Frondell was the third-overall pick back in June on the heels of an impressive showing with Djurgarden in the second-tier Allsvenskan when he had 25 points in 29 games. That team earned a promotion to the SHL this season, which will give Frondell tougher competition to play against. GM Kyle Davidson noted that the expectation is that no matter what, this will be Frondell’s final year in Sweden.
More prospect news from around the NHL:
- The Kraken are without a pair of prospects as their rookie camp begins. The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Alexis Bernier is out as he continues to recover from ACL surgery while center Julius Miettinen is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained in training camp with WHL Everett. Bernier had a strong post-draft season with QMJHL Baie-Comeau, collecting 14 goals and 32 assists in 59 games but isn’t eligible to play in the minors this season. As for Miettinen, he notched 39 points in 36 games with the Silvertips and briefly spent time as a reserve with AHL Coachella Valley in the playoffs. However, he also isn’t eligible to play in the minors this season.
- The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Bryce Pickford is dealing with a lower-body injury and didn’t take part in practice today. The 19-year-old wasn’t drafted in his first year of eligibility last year but went in the third round back in June, going 81st overall. Pickford had a breakout year offensively in 2024-25, notching 20 goals and 27 assists in 48 regular season games with WHL Medicine Hat before adding 24 more points in 18 postseason contests.