Snapshots: Avalanche, Squires, Ziemmer
The Avalanche announced some heavy roster trimming after playing their final regular season game last night. Forwards Jere Innala, T.J. Tynan, Chris Wagner, and defensemen Wyatt Aamodt and Jack Ahcan were reassigned back to AHL Colorado after being called up recently to allow some lineup staples to rest. All the players listed saw limited action down the stretch, and all five appeared in last night’s win over the Ducks to give Colorado its fourth straight season with over 100 points. The Avs finished with a 49-29-4 record and will face the Stars in the first round as the lower seed. The group of five will now suit up for the Eagles in the Calder Cup Playoffs, with more experienced names like Wagner likely to be among the first added to the Avalanche’s postseason roster if injuries necessitate a recall.
Other minor moves from around the league this morning:
- The Devils announced today that they’ve reassigned right-wing prospect Cam Squires to AHL Utica after he finished his major junior season with the Cape Breton Eagles of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Squires, fresh off his 20th birthday, led Cape Breton in scoring with 24-51–75 in 58 games this season and 15th overall in the QMJHL. A 2023 fourth-round pick, he signed his entry-level deal last summer and will kick off his first full professional campaign next season, presumably in Utica.
- The Kings are also giving one of their prospects a taste of pro hockey to end the season, reassigning right-winger Koehn Ziemmer to AHL Ontario. The 2023 third-rounder is coming off a 37-goal, 71-point campaign in 61 games with the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League, but he’s still failed to break the career-high 89 points he scored in his draft year with the Cougars. With his 20th birthday behind him, as well as four seasons of WHL play, he’s eligible for a full-time assignment to Ontario beginning next season.
Devils Sign Cam Squires To Entry-Level Deal
The Devils have inked right winger Cam Squires to his entry-level contract, the team implied in an X post on Friday. It’ll be a three-year deal for the 19-year-old.
Squires has spent the past three seasons as one of the better offensive options for the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles, where the Prince Edward Island native has totaled 79 goals and 91 assists for 170 points in 197 games. The 6’0″, 170-lb forward broke out for 30 goals and 64 points in 67 games in his draft year and improved to 33 goals and 72 points in 66 games last season.
New Jersey snagged Squires a tad later than some expected him to go in last year’s draft, taking him with their lone pick in the fourth round (No. 122). TSN’s Craig Button had him as the No. 87 prospect in the class, while FC Hockey had him at No. 95. In their 2023 NHL Draft Guide, Elite Prospects’ David St-Louis called him “an intelligent player, one who can intercept opposing plays and transform them into offense, make imaginative passing plays, fakes, and who can find openings in goalie’s coverage.” The scouting site listed his puck protection game and his overall agility as his biggest weaknesses.
Squires is still too young for a full-time AHL assignment, per the NHL’s transfer agreement with the CHL. He’s not projected to make a push for a roster spot out of camp in the fall, so he’ll likely be loaned back to Cape Breton for his final season of junior hockey. As such, his ELC will slide to 2025-26 and expire in the 2028 offseason, at which point he’ll be an RFA.