International Transactions: Glauser, Bayreuther, Svechnikov
Defenseman Andrea Glauser will not come to the National Hockey League after all. According to a press release, Fribourg-Gottéron of Switzerland’s National League announced they have signed Glauser to a seven-year contract starting in the 2025-26 season. Glauser previously played for Fribourg-Gottéron between 2015-2018.
A few months ago, there was documented interest in Glauser from the New York Islanders organization which was reportedly set to offer the 28-year-old defenseman a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Glauser excels in the transition game from the blue line and plays a very physical game compared to his peers which led to Lou Lamoriello and Patrick Roy scouting the Swiss defenseman. It is unknown if the Islanders offered Glauser a contract but he has inevitably decided to stay in his home country.
It’s difficult to imagine Glauser having excelled after transitioning to North American hockey at the professional level given that his career-high in points (in a much weaker league to add) is 17. He’s also suited up for Team Switzerland in the last three World Championships where he has scored two goals and four points in 24 tournament contests.
Other international transactions:
- It did not take long for Lausanne HC to replace Glauser on the back end as the team announced they had signed defenseman Gavin Bayreuther to a one-year contract. It will be Bayreuther’s first attempt at international hockey after spending the last eight years split between the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations. The former undrafted free agent from St. Lawrence University is a veteran of 122 games at the NHL level while adding five goals and 28 points to the scoresheet. Bayreuther spent much more time in the AHL where he has suited up in 238 games while scoring 25 goals and 117 points in the process.
- Another former NHL player is on the move internationally as Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL announces they have signed forward Evgeny Svechnikov to a one-year contract. The former 19th overall pick of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2015 NHL Draft spent last season in the KHL with Ak Bars Kazan where he scored eight goals and 13 points in 31 games. Svechnikov never panned out to live up to his draft ranking with Detroit but did earn 39 goals and 101 points at the AHL level with 186 games played.
Islanders Linked To Andrea Glauser
The Islanders have been heavily scouting Swiss free agent defenseman Andrea Glauser and are expected to pursue him aggressively this offseason, reports Emmanuel Favre Montreal of LeMatin.ch. Albeit via translation, Montreal reports both GM Lou Lamoriello and head coach Patrick Roy have personally scouted Glauser this season, and a source told him the Isles could offer a contract as rich as $1.5MM on a one-year deal, unusually high for an undrafted free agent that hasn’t had much other documented NHL interest.
Glauser, who turned 28 last week, is a transition-minded defender with a rather physical game. He’s spent the entirety of his professional career in the Swiss National League, playing for HC Fribourg-Gottéron and SCL Tigers before landing with Lausanne HC in 2021. He’s served as an alternate captain there for all three years of his tenure, and his 2023-24 campaign is still ongoing as they’re alive in the semifinals of the NL playoffs.
His point totals have never jumped off the page. He posted four goals and 16 points in 47 regular-season games this season, in line with his 0.31 career point-per-game average in the NL. He’s become somewhat of a mainstay on the Swiss national team in his prime, though, appearing for the country in back-to-back World Championships. The 6’0″ right-shot blue-liner has never taken home any major pieces of hardware at home or internationally.
Glauser is too old for an entry-level contract, so the Isles would need to offer him a standard deal, eliminating the potential for performance bonuses and meaning all his money is guaranteed. The willingness to offer him $1.5MM on a contract suggests it would be a one-way agreement, too, offering them no cash discount if he’s assigned to the minors. That cap hit is above the buried threshold of $1.15MM, too, meaning he’d still cost the Islanders $350K against the cap if sent to the AHL.
The Isles’ transition game from their defensemen has suffered with the slight declines of Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, although Noah Dobson‘s emergence as a top-15 defender has quieted some of those worries. Glauser would likely replace veteran Robert Bortuzzo, a pending UFA, as the fourth right-shot defenseman on their depth chart behind Dobson, Pulock and Scott Mayfield.