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Mike Vecchione

2023 AHL All-Star Rosters Announced

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While the focus of many hockey fans is on the upcoming NHL All-Star festivities, the AHL is set to hold its own event to honor the league’s best players. Today, they announced the rosters for the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic, which will be held in Laval, Quebec on February 5-6. Todd Nelson (Hershey), Greg Moore (Toronto), Neil Graham (Texas), and Mitch Love (Calgary) will be the four head coaches.

The rosters are as follows:

Atlantic Division

F Will Cuylle, Hartford Wolf Pack
F Tyson Foerster, Lehigh Valley Phantoms
F Ethen Frank, Hershey Bears
F Matthew Highmore, Springfield Thunderbirds
F Vinni Lettieri, Providence Bruins
F Riley Nash, Charlotte Checkers
F Mike Vecchione, Hershey Bears

D Samuel Bolduc, Bridgeport Islanders
D Xavier Ouellet, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
D Cam York, Lehigh Valley Phantoms

G Brandon Bussi, Providence Bruins
G Joel Hofer, Springfield Thunderbirds

North Division 

F Alex Barré-Boulet, Syracuse Crunch
F Brandon Biro, Rochester Americans
F Gabriel Dumont, Syracuse Crunch
F Anthony Richard, Laval Rocket
F Logan Shaw, Toronto Marlies
F Egor Sokolov, Belleville Senators

D Justin Barron, Laval Rocket
D Noel Hoefenmayer, Toronto Marlies
D David Jiricek, Cleveland Monsters
D Darren Raddysh, Syracuse Crunch

G Nico Daws, Utica Comets
G Joseph Woll, Toronto Marlies

Central Division 

F Riley Barber, Texas Stars
F David Gust, Rockford IceHogs
F Tommy Novak, Milwaukee Admirals
F Lukas Reichel, Rockford IceHogs
F Brett Seney, Rockford IceHogs
F Sammy Walker, Iowa Wild

D Declan Chisholm, Manitoba Moose
D Thomas Harley, Texas Stars
D Max Lajoie, Chicago Wolves
D Brian Lashoff, Grand Rapids Griffins

G Yaroslav Askarov, Milwaukee Admirals
G Jesper Wallstedt, Iowa Wild

Pacific Division

F Thomas Bordeleau, San Jose Barracuda
F Michael Carcone, Tucson Roadrunners
F Seth Griffith, Bakersfield Condors
F Matthew Phillips, Calgary Wranglers
F Andrew Poturalski, Coachella Valley Firebirds
F T.J. Tynan, Ontario Reign

D Ryker Evans, Coachella Valley Firebirds
D Brad Hunt, Colorado Eagles
D Daniil Miromanov, Henderson Silver Knights
D Christian Wolanin, Abbotsford Canucks

G Lukas Dostal, San Diego Gulls
G Dustin Wolf, Calgary Wranglers

Waivers: 09/30/22

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After waivers opened yesterday, quite a few players have ended up on the wire today. Teams keep making cuts to their rosters, and any veteran player needs to clear before being assigned to the minor leagues. Here are the names on waivers today.

Dallas Stars 

Riley Barber
Ben Gleason
Tanner Kero
Jerad Rosburg
Joseph Cecconi
Rhett Gardner

Detroit Red Wings

Chase Pearson

Florida Panthers

Connor Bunnaman

New York Rangers

Andy Welinski
Tim Gettinger

Philadelphia Flyers

Isaac Ratcliffe
Linus Sandin

San Jose Sharks

C.J. Suess
Andrew Agozzino

Tampa Bay Lightning

Daniel Walcott
Darren Raddysh
Maxime Lagace
Trevor Carrick

Washington Capitals

Michael Sgarbossa
Riley Sutter
Mike Vecchione
Hunter Shepard

Washington Capitals Extend Mike Vecchione

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The Washington Capitals have signed Mike Vecchione to a one-year, two-way extension that will keep him in the organization through 2022-23. The pending free agent forward will earn a $750K salary in the NHL, and a $275K salary in the AHL next season.

Vecchione, 29, has played just one game for the Capitals this season, his first NHL experience since originally signing out of the NCAA in 2017. Once a highly sought-after college free agent, the minor league veteran has now settled into a top role in the AHL, where he’ll likely play out most of this new contract.

In 46 games with the Hershey Bears this year, Vecchione has 38 points, taking his AHL total to 162 in 257 games. This new contract means he won’t have to fight for a new contract in the summer when he would have hit free agency and keeps him with the same organization–something that has been out of reach the past few seasons.

While he doesn’t provide any real impactful depth for the Capitals, there is at least a chance that he could see some more NHL time. If he does, he’ll cost just the league minimum, a handy option to have as Washington and the rest of the league continue to deal with a relatively flat cap.

AHL Shuffle: 03/20/22

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After a busy Saturday that saw Nicolas Deslauriers traded to the Minnesota Wild, Hampus Lindholm traded to the Boston Bruins, and Claude Giroux traded to the Florida Panthers, as well as several exciting games, the NHL is back in action today. The New York Islanders will visit the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon in the Flyers’ first game since the Claude Giroux trade. The Dallas Stars head to Washington, D.C. to take on the Washington Capitals and try to break out of their recent slide. Perhaps most intriguing, the New York Rangers visit the Carolina Hurricanes in a matchup of two Metropolitan Division heavyweights, and a potential playoff series in the making. Even with all the game action and the potential trade deadline action, there are still plenty of small transactions happening, and we will keep track of them here.

Atlantic Division:

  • After recalling him yesterday, the Ottawa Senators have sent defenseman Dillon Heatherington back to the Belleville Senators of the AHL. Heatherington did not get a chance to suit up for Ottawa in their loss last night to Montreal before being sent down, and has not played an NHL game since December 18th. The 26-year-old has had a productive return to North America this season, putting up 11 points in 27 AHL games this season on the blue line after returning from a season in the KHL.

Metropolitan Division:

  • The Ontario Reign announced they have acquired defenseman Thomas Hickey on loan from the New York Islanders. Hickey, who was playing for the Bridgeport Islanders in the AHL, will head to the Reign of the AHL, the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliate. It’s an interesting move to see, as Hickey is an NHL caliber defenseman who has been playing in the minors for the Islanders for much of the past three seasons in the AHL, now moved in the AHL. Although Hickey does have to move from the east coast to the west, Bridgeport is currently out of the playoff race in the AHL, sitting in seventh place in the Atlantic Division, while Ontario is in second place in the Pacific Division, so an opportunity to help out in meaningful games may be appealing to Hickey.
  • The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Brett Leason from the Hershey Bears and re-assigned forward Mike Vecchione to Hershey. A second-round pick by Washington in 2019, Leason has split time between Hershey and Washington this year, tallying four points in 15 games for Hershey and six points in 35 games for the Capitals this season. Vecchione, on the other hand, has produced well for Hershey this year with 12 goals and 24 assists in 43 games, but has seen just one NHL game this year, playing Friday night against Carolina, his first NHL game since he played his only other two for the Philadelphia Flyers back in 2017.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled goaltender Jean-Francois Berube on an emergency recall basis. Berube, 30, has performed admirably so far this season, with a .924 save percentage in his four games played. As regular starter Elvis Merzlikins battles with injuries and Joonas Korpisalo is potentially getting traded before the deadline, Berube’s stay in Columbus could end up being more permanent than his emergency designation would lead one to believe.

Central Division:

  • The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have recalled forward Jeff Malott from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. If he plays, the 25-year-old Mallot would be making his NHL debut after spending the last two seasons with Manitoba. Previously, Mallot spent four years at Cornell University before turning professional for the 2020-21 season. With the addition to their roster, the Jets would now be able sit one of either Paul Stastny or Andrew Copp ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline (or both if they are willing to play 11 forwards and 7 defensemen).

Pacific Division:

  • The Vegas Golden Knights assigned forward Jake Leschyshyn and defenseman Daniil Miromanov to the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL. Leschyshyn has performed nicely this year in the face of adversity, being routinely shuffled between the NHL and AHL. (In fact, the shuffling continued today. Leschyshyn is already back in Vegas.) Though he has just five points through 27 NHL games this season, he has been a force for Henderson this year, posting 26 points in 32 games. It’s been almost the exact same story for Miromanov this season, shuffling between the NHL and AHL. Miromanov has just one point in nine NHL games this season as a defenseman, but has impressed with 30 points in 42 AHL games. The Golden Knights also called up defenseman Brayden Pachal. Pachal, 22, is an undrafted blueliner who has gotten into one game for the Golden Knights this year. He had seven points in 24 games for the Silver Knights last season.
  • The Seattle Kraken returned forward Kole Lind to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL from loan. Lind played just three games for Seattle on this assignment, and has only played seven this entire season, recording two assists. The forward has performed nicely in Charlotte this year, producing 17 goals and 18 assists in 46 games for the Checkers. The Checkers are the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, however because Seattle’s AHL affiliate will not start until the 2022-23 season, the two teams have agreed to split their use of the Charlotte team for this season.

14 Players Clear Waivers

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Oct 6: All 14 players have cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Oct 5: Training camp continues to move along and every day brings more cuts. Many of those sent to the minor leagues need to clear waivers, and Chris Johnston of the Toronto Star tweets out today’s full list of 14.

Buddy Robinson (ANA)
Bokondji Imama (ARI)
Cameron Hughes (BOS)
Joona Koppanen (BOS)
Tyler Lewington (BOS)
Ryan MacInnis (BUF)
Sean Malone (BUF)
Ethan Prow (BUF)
Brett Connolly (CHI)
Joseph Gambardella (NJD)
Michael Hutchinson (TOR)
Brian Pinho (WSH)
Michael Sgarbossa (WSH)
Mike Vecchione (WSH)

The big name today is Connolly, who carries a $3.5MM cap hit this year and next. The 29-year-old scored just three goals and six points in 31 games split between the Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks last season, a far cry from the consistent 15-20 goals he had recorded each of the previous four years. A team with extra cap space could certainly take the chance of him rebounding to those numbers, or if he clears, the Blackhawks could send him to the minor leagues. If they did, $1.125MM of his cap hit would be buried.

Training Camp Cuts: 1/10/21

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With the start of the season just days away, more teams should be starting to trim their rosters. We’ll keep tabs on those moves here and update this post throughout the day.

Colorado Avalanche (via team release)
D Kyle Burroughs (to Colorado, AHL)
C Sheldon Dries (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Nick Henry (to Colorado, AHL)
D Jacob MacDonald (to Colorado, AHL)
C Jayson Megna (to Colorado, AHL)
D Dan Renouf (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Miikka Salomaki (to Colorado, AHL)
D Peter Tischke (to Colorado, AHL)
C T.J. Tynan (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Mike Vecchione (to Colorado, AHL)
G Adam Werner (to Colorado, AHL)

Colorado Avalanche Announce Four Minor Contracts

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The Colorado Avalanche are expected to be a potential landing spot for some of the very best free agents on the market, but for now they’ll announce some organization depth instead. Sheldon Dries, Miikka Salomaki, Kiefer Sherwood and Mike Vecchione have all signed contracts with the Avalanche. Financial details have not yet been announced.

Dries was already in the system, signed out of Michigan University in 2017 as an undrafted free agent. He has played in 45 NHL games over the years but does most of his damage in the minors. In 50 AHL games this season he recorded 21 goals and 35 points, making him an easy call-up option.

Starting with Salomaki, the other three names have NHL experience of their own. The 27-year-old former Nashville Predators forward has played 167 games at the highest level, but registered just 27 points in that time.

Sherwood, who is just 25, has played 60 NHL games over the last two seasons but was another strong minor league performer. He’ll provide even more goal scoring for the Colorado Eagles, a team that will be loaded once again.

Vecchione was a sought after college free agent in 2017 and ended up inking a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, but hasn’t played in the NHL since that spring. Instead he’s been a monster in the minor leagues, recording seasons of 40, 38 and 36 points without even playing 70 games in a single one.

Waivers: 09/20/19

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The waiver period for the 2019-20 season opened today, and teams all around the league started clearing spots on their rosters. These players are all on waivers:

Dallas Stars

F Michael Mersch
D Reece Scarlett

Edmonton Oilers

F Josh Currie
F Joseph Gambardella
F Brad Malone
D Keegan Lowe

Florida Panthers

F Joel Lowry
F Paul Thompson
F Kevin Roy
D Tommy Cross

New York Rangers

F Matt Beleskey

St. Louis Blues

F Jordan Nolan
F Mike Vecchione
F Nick Lappin
D Joey Laleggia
D Jake Dotchin

Tampa Bay Lightning

G Louis Domingue
G Mike Condon

Vancouver Canucks

F Justin Bailey

Vegas Golden Knights

F Tyrell Goulbourne
D Brett Lernout
D Jaycob Megna

St. Louis Blues Sign Derrick Pouliot, Five Others

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The NHL’s only Australian is on the move. Nathan Walker is set to sign a two-year, two-way deal with the defending champion St. Louis Blues. They didn’t stop there though, as the Blues have announced two-way contracts with five other players—Derrick Pouliot, Mike Vecchione, Nick Lappin, Jake Dotchin and Evan Polei.

Even though they were relatively quiet today, deciding to keep their Stanley Cup group together instead of bringing in any top names, the Blues have done well to add real depth to the organization on inexpensive deals. Pouliot especially was expected to get a more lucrative contract than this, even though the Vancouver Canucks had decided to not issue him a qualifying offer. The 25-year old even landed on our Top 50 UFA list, though admittedly he didn’t have a ton of leverage after a 12-point season.

Several of the others have legitimate NHL experience though, meaning the Blues will be able to pick and choose who starts the year on the NHL roster and who goes to the AHL as injury insurance. The team knows just how much of a grind it is to get all the way to the championship and will be well prepared in case of injury.

Free Agent Focus: Philadelphia Flyers

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Free agency is now less than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  The Flyers have a number of both restricted and unrestricted and will likely have to use quite a bit of their cap space to lock up all of them in the coming weeks.

Key Restricted Free Agents: D Ivan Provorov — Only a year ago, Provorov’s name was being bandied about as one of the top young defensemen in the league and while that hasn’t necessarily changed, Provorov struggled in his third season. After tallying 17 goals in 2017-18, the 22-year-old saw those numbers drop to just seven goals this season and pick up a career-low 26 points and saw his defense take a step back. The team expects Provorov to have a bounce-back season, but have already gone out and added Matt Niskanen, who is expected to be paired with Provorov next season to give him a veteran partner in hopes of developing him into the franchise defenseman they believe he is. The one thing that has been consistent is how much the Flyers have been using him as he played a career-high 25:07 in ATOI. Provorov should get a significant raise from the $1.74MM he made last year.

F Travis Konecny — After scoring 48 goals over the past two seasons, Konecny is expected to score a big raise. The 22-year-old put up almost the exact same number two years ago and has proven to be a valuable piece in the team’s top-six. On top of that, Konecny has shown himself to be an agitator on the ice (despite his smaller frame) which became even more apparent after the team traded away Wayne Simmonds at the trade deadline. Considering how young he is, the team may want to sign him to a long-term deal now in hopes that he continues to improve and get better as all signs suggest he could become a top-line scorer for the franchise. He made $1.1MM last season, but should get quite a bit more.

D Travis Sanheim — After a solid rookie season, Sanheim took his game up a notch in his first full year as he played all 82 games, averaging 19:34 minutes on the ice and nine goals and 35 points, suggesting that the first-round pick from 2014 is finally developing into the top-four blueliner that the team had hoped. You could make the case that he was the most improved player on the team last year. After making $1.26MM last season, however, the 23-year-old should get a significant raise as well.

Other RFAs: F Nicolas Aube-Kubel, F Justin Bailey, D Jacob Graves, F Ryan Hartman, F Scott Laughton

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Kevin Hayes — Hayes hasn’t played a game for Philadelphia ever, but he might be the most significant of their free agents. The team sent Winnipeg a fifth-round pick to acquire Hayes’ rights, a rare move by teams, with the hope that they could begin negotiating with Hayes now and convince him to sign a deal before other teams can begin communicating with him. The 27-year-old has been a solid centerman for two seasons now with the New York Rangers. However, when the Rangers decided he wasn’t a part of the team’s long-term plans, they traded him to Winnipeg. Hayes didn’t have the effect on the Jets’ second line that they had hoped and were happy to get something for Hayes’ rights. Regardless, the Flyers need a second-line center to take over for the next couple of years until Nolan Patrick is ready to move into that role. However, with rumors that Hayes could be asking for $7MM or more, that’s a steep price and so far the Flyers haven’t had much luck in getting Hayes to sign early.

G Cam Talbot — There are a number of goaltenders on the team hitting unrestricted free agency, but what the team is looking for is a veteran goaltender that can help mentor young star Carter Hart. Talbot could be that top candidate as the 31-year-old was acquired at the trade deadline in hopes he could be that guy. Unfortunately he struggled in four appearances, but he remains a candidate to be brought back, especially at a heavily discounted price, although the team could just as easily find another player to fill those shoes.

Other UFAs: F Cole Bardreau, F Greg Carey, G Brian Elliott, F Byron Froese, F Tyrell Goulbourne, G Mike McKenna, G Michal Neuvirth, F Phil Varone, F Mike Vecchione

Projected Cap Space: With a little more than $49MM in commitments for next season (per CapFriendly), the team has plenty of money to make changes and moves. With a cupboard of top prospects fast approaching and a number of tradeable players, the Flyers are likely to look quite differently. However, much of the team’s success this summer will be in trying to find a second-line center. The team still hopes it can be Hayes, but if not, the Flyers will have to find another candidate either through free agency or trade. Regardless, some of that $33.8MM in projected cap space will have to go to their young restricted free agents and hopefully, they can lock all of them up to long-term deals now, but there are lots of possibilities in Philadelphia this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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