Minor Transactions: Kempe, Novak, Berger
Former Coyotes forward Mario Kempe is continuing his career overseas on a one-year contract with Austria’s EC-KAC, the club announced.
The older brother of top Kings winger Adrian Kempe is entering his 18th professional season, the vast majority of which were spent in Europe. Now 36, he was a fifth-round pick of the Flyers back in 2007 but only played five games for their AHL affiliate in 2008-09 before returning overseas. His only NHL experience came later in his career with Arizona, recording a 6-7–13 scoring line in 70 games across the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
Injuries have diminished the once-effective scorer in recent years. He spent last season in Finland with Tappara, scoring 11 points in 30 games for the Liiga club. He now joins EC-KAC in the ICEHL – still a major pro league in Europe, but not at the level of the KHL, SHL, Liiga, or Swiss NL. He’s spent most of his career in his native Sweden, recording 56 goals and 115 points in 328 career SHL games for Djurgårdens IF, MODO Hockey, Rögle BK, and Luleå HF.
More moves from around the hockey world:
- The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, announced today they’ve signed forward Jakov Novak to a one-year deal. He spent the last two years in the Canadiens organization on minor-league deals with AHL Laval and ECHL Trois-Rivières. He was over a point-per-game for the latter club last season (57 in 53 GP) en route to a Kelly Cup championship. The 26-year-old winger was a 2018 seventh-round pick of the Senators but had his signing rights later traded to Montreal, which never signed him to an NHL deal.
- The Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, are signing left-shot defender Carter Berger, Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey reports. Berger, 25, was a fourth-round pick by the Panthers in 2019 but never signed. He spent his first pro season last year under contract with AHL Hartford but played almost exclusively on assignment to ECHL Bloomington, where he had an 8-25–33 scoring line with a -7 rating in 67 games.
Canadiens Acquire Rights To Jakov Novak From Senators
The Canadiens have made a small addition to their prospect pool as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve acquired the rights to forward Jakov Novak from the Senators in exchange for future considerations.
The 24-year-old was a seventh-round pick by the Sens back in 2018 (188th overall) after a strong showing with Janesville of the NAHL. Novak went on to play three seasons at Bentley University before transferring to Northeastern for the final two years of his college career. Last season, he posted eight goals and four assists in 35 NCAA contests before turning pro, signing with Allen of the ECHL, Ottawa’s affiliate in that league. At that level, he got into 14 games and fared well, collecting seven goals and five helpers.
It was believed that Novak’s NHL rights would have lapsed back in mid-August but that wasn’t the case on a technicality since he had already signed an AHL contract with Laval, Montreal’s farm team. Now, the two sides have finalized the rights swap, giving the Canadiens the ability to sign him to an entry-level deal if they so desire.
Update On This Year’s August 15 Free Agents
Most NHL free agent business is dealt with in the early summer months. There is one important date later each year, however. August 15 marks the date when NHL teams lose their exclusive signing rights to most college-drafted players if they’ve graduated (or completed without graduating) college and are not yet signed to an entry-level contract.
Earlier this month, we published a list of players slated to hit the UFA market yesterday if not signed to an ELC within the coming days. However, the guidelines the NHL uses to determine a college graduate are some of the most complex sets of rules relating to contractual obligations in pro sports. That means it’s often impossible to glean a full list of players whose rights have expired (or not expired) until after the August 15 deadline has passed.
This year was no different, as CapFriendly issued multiple updates today on their X account regarding the list of August 15 free agents they’d made public earlier in the month. Three players who were slated to expire actually remained on their team’s reserve list: Calgary Flames 2018 fourth-round pick F Demetrios Koumontzis, Ottawa Senators 2018 seventh-round pick F Jakov Novak, and Senators 2018 second-round pick D Jonny Tychonick.
On the flip side, 12 players they expected to remain on teams’ reserve lists hit the free-agent market yesterday. With that in mind, we have a revised, accurate list of players who became unrestricted free agents yesterday. Asterisked players were not originally expected to come off their team’s reserve list.
Anaheim Ducks
*F Trevor Janicke (2019 fifth round, 132nd overall)
Arizona Coyotes
F John Farinacci (2019 third round, 76th overall)
*F Anthony Romano (2019 sixth round, 176th overall)
Boston Bruins
*D Dustyn McFaul (2018 sixth round, 181st overall)
Calgary Flames
*F Joshua Nodler (2019 fifth round, 150th overall)
Carolina Hurricanes
F Kevin Wall (2019 sixth round, 181st overall)
Chicago Blackhawks
F Jake Wise (2018 third round, 69th overall)
Colorado Avalanche
*F Matt Stienburg (2019 third round, 63rd overall)
Columbus Blue Jackets
D Robbie Stucker (2017 seventh round, 210th overall)
Detroit Red Wings
F Robert Mastrosimone (2019 second round, 54th overall)
*F Ethan Phillips (2019 fourth round, 97th overall)
Edmonton Oilers
F Skyler Brind’Amour (2017 sixth round, 177th overall)
Minnesota Wild
*D Marshall Warren (2019 sixth round, 166th overall)
New Jersey Devils
*D Case McCarthy (2019 fourth round, 118th overall)
*F Patrick Moynihan (2019 sixth round, 158th overall)
New York Islanders
D Christian Krygier (2018 seventh round, 196th overall)
F Jacob Pivonka (2018 fourth round, 103rd overall)
New York Rangers
*F Eric Ciccolini (2019 seventh round, 205th overall)
*F Riley Hughes (2018 seventh round, 216th overall)
Ottawa Senators
*F Luke Loheit (2018 seventh round, 194th overall)
Philadelphia Flyers
F Jay O’Brien (2018 first round, 19th overall)
San Jose Sharks
D Arvid Henrikson (2016 seventh round, 187th overall) Originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
D Ryan O’Connell (2017 seventh round, 203rd overall)
Winnipeg Jets
G Jared Moe (2018 sixth round, 184th overall)
Of the list above, Krygier and Pivonka are remaining in the Islanders organization on confirmed AHL contracts for 2023-24, although they remain eligible to sign with another NHL team should one come calling. All others are either returning to school for 2023-24, have contracts signed in other leagues, or are not signed for next season.
Notably, this is the official confirmation that the Flyers’ exclusive signing rights of O’Brien have lapsed. As compensation for not signing a first-round pick to their entry-level contract, the Flyers will receive a compensatory second-round pick from the league in the 2024 NHL Draft.