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Ryan Fanti

Lightning Sign Ryan Fanti

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A strong showing in the minors this season has landed goaltender Ryan Fanti an NHL contract.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have signed the netminder to a one-year, two-way deal.  The pact pays $775K at the NHL level and $80K in the minors.

The 25-year-old was originally an Oilers prospect after signing with them as an undrafted college free agent back in 2022.  However, he spent the bulk of his tenure with them at the ECHL level, leading to a non-tender last summer.  He eventually caught on with Tampa Bay on a minor-league deal with AHL Syracuse although he spent most of the season in ECHL Orlando, putting up a 2.71 GAA and a .907 SV% in 37 games.  Fanti impressed in limited action with the Crunch as well, posting a 1.33 GAA and a .950 SV% in six outings with them.

Fanti is now the fifth goaltender the Lightning have under contract next season.  Excluding the NHL tandem, he’ll be battling for playing time with the Crunch with veteran Brandon Halverson along with prospect Harrison Meneghin who just signed his entry-level deal a couple of weeks ago.  Matt Tomkins, who was the backup for the Crunch this season, is a pending unrestricted free agent and may not return.

Pacific Notes: Jasek, Fanti, Brzustewicz

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The Canucks still hold the exclusive signing rights of Czech winger Lukas Jasek, but he won’t be returning to the organization next season. He’s signed a two-year contract with Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (translated team release link).

Jasek, 26, was a sixth-round pick of the Canucks in 2015 and spent the following three seasons in the Czech Extraliga before signing his entry-level contract and joining their AHL affiliate, then the Utica Comets, in 2018. He played in parts of four seasons for the Comets, putting up overall decent numbers with 86 points (30 goals, 56 assists) and a +11 rating in 153 appearances, but didn’t get an NHL call-up during that time.

Vancouver liked what they saw enough to extend him a qualifying offer when his ELC expired in 2021, but Jasek declined to accept and returned to Europe for a bigger role. He spent two seasons in Finland with Liiga’s Pelicans before transferring to Sweden in 2022, signing on with the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn.

Jasek had 28 points in 49 games but couldn’t help them avoid relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan, but he’ll stay in the top tier of the Swedish system next season with Örnsköldsvik’s MoDo. The Canucks must sign him before July 1, 2025, and buy him out of the second year of his new deal with MoDo, or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • The Oilers will carry netminder Ryan Fanti as their emergency backup for tonight’s Game 1 of their first-round series against the Kings, the team announced. While not on the game roster, he could enter the game for Edmonton if Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard leave the game with injuries. They’ll allow the more experienced Jack Campbell to continue getting game action at the top minor-league level as AHL Bakersfield begins its playoff run. Fanti, 24, has played sparingly this season with ECHL Fort Wayne and missed the first few months of the season with an injury, going 9-6-1 with a .915 SV% in 17 outings since his return. He has no NHL experience and only nine games of AHL experience.
  • One of the Flames’ top defense prospects, Hunter Brzustewicz, will finish 2023-24 on an ATO with AHL Calgary, the minor-league club announced. Brzustewicz, 19, was a third-round pick of the Canucks last year but had his signing rights dealt to Calgary in the Elias Lindholm trade. He inked his entry-level deal back in March and, given his November birthday, will be eligible to suit up full-time with the Wranglers next season. He finished the year with 92 points in 67 games for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.

West Notes: Couture, Mäkiniemi, Oilers Injuries

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As reported by Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka, San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture is out with a lower-body injury. He’s been assigned a week-to-week status, although Couture elaborated that there’s “no timetable” for when he’ll be returning to the ice. Any extended Couture absence would be a major blow to the Sharks’ ability to compete in the wake of this offseason’s Erik Karlsson trade. Couture scored 67 points last season and operates in a crucial role centering one of the Sharks’ top two lines, the other driven by Tomáš Hertl.

Sharks head coach David Quinn told the media that he’s giving offseason trade acquisition Mikael Granlund a look down the middle in Couture’s absence. While Granlund is certainly a player with a lot of NHL experience and scored 64 points in 2021-22, his play more recently (specifically as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins) drew some harsh criticism. Although some focus will be on the young talent that may emerge in the preseason, Couture’s health status could end up being the number-one storyline to watch for Sharks fans in the lead-up to opening night.

  • San Jose netminder Eetu Mäkiniemi had his 2022-23 season cut short in March, when he underwent hip surgery. Mäkiniemi said today that he’s still not quite at 100 percent, though he does feel on track to begin playing games by the start of the season. The 24-year-old Finnish international played in a total of 24 games last season and posted a .906 save percentage in the NHL and a .900 mark in the AHL.
  • The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman shared two injury updates from Edmonton Oilers training camp. 23-year-old center Ryan McLeod had a “soft-tissue tweak and was kept off the ice for precautionary reasons,” while minor-league netminder Ryan Fanti is out with a “hip issue” on a month-to-month basis. McLeod is expected to be a major part of the Oilers’ bottom-six plans, so the hope is that he’ll quickly resume full participation in training camp. Fanti, who is also 23, played in 34 games in the ECHL last season and is likely to return there once he is fully recovered.

Pacific Notes: Kylington, Golden Knights, Fanti

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While the Flames have been without defenseman Oliver Kylington all season so far due to a personal matter, GM Brad Treliving told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that they’re not giving up on the idea that he will be back at some point in the second half.  Kylington had a breakout year in 2021-22, collecting 31 points in 73 games, earning himself a two-year, $5MM contract in the process and his return would certainly be a big boost to Calgary’s back end.  At the moment, there haven’t been any discussions with him about when he might be able to return but with the trade deadline now less than two months away, it stands to reason that those conversations will be taking place at some point in the near future as if Kylington isn’t able to return, Calgary may have to make a move to find a replacement for the stretch run.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • There’s more help on the horizon when it comes to the Golden Knights. After getting center Jack Eichel and winger Paul Cotter back on Thursday, they could get winger Jonathan Marchessault back in the lineup tonight against Los Angeles, reports Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  The 32-year-old has missed six straight games with a lower-body injury but still sits third on the team in goals with 14.  Gotz adds that defenseman Alec Martinez also has a chance to return tonight although, with the team off until Thursday after this game, they could opt to give him a few more days of rest.  The veteran has been out for four straight games after being injured in the Golden Knights’ first game after the holiday break.  He has five assists in 37 contests this season.
  • The Oilers have re-assigned goaltender Ryan Fanti to Fort Wayne of the ECHL, per the AHL’s transactions log. Edmonton signed the 23-year-old to an entry-level deal back in March but he has struggled in his first full professional season, posting a save percentage below .900 in both the AHL and ECHL.  He had a 3.46 GAA and a .895 SV% in seven games with AHL Bakersfield during his seven-week stint with the Condors.

Oilers Sign Ryan Fanti

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The Oilers have dipped into the college free agent market, announcing the signing of goaltender Ryan Fanti to a two-year, entry-level contract.  Financial terms of the deal which begins next season were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the contract will carry an AAV of $925K.

The 23-year-old recently wrapped up his second season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.  Fanti took over the starting job this year and certainly made the most of it, posting a 1.83 GAA along with a .929 SV% in 37 games along with seven shutouts.  That resulted in him being named to the All-NCHC First Team earlier this month.  The Bulldogs made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament after Fanti posted a shutout against Western Michigan but they fell 2-1 to Denver over the weekend, ending Minnesota-Duluth’s season in the process.

While this signing won’t directly affect Edmonton’s playoff hopes this season, it’s worth noting that Fanti has signed an ATO agreement with their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield for the rest of the season.  That could permit Stuart Skinner to be recalled to the Oilers, giving them another option with both Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen coming off tough outings recently.  In the meantime, Edmonton has added a promising goalie prospect to the fold in Fanti but he’ll be a few years away from realistically being ready to push for NHL playing time.

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