Minor Transactions: 05/22/23
It’s been a rough past few days if you’re a Carolina Hurricanes or Dallas Stars fan. Save for some epic comebacks, the NHL is careening down the path toward a Vegas Golden Knights/Florida Panthers Stanley Cup Final. In the meantime, though, we continue to provide some coverage of notable moves outside the league, bringing a recap of some of the day’s most notable non-NHL transactions.
- DEL club ERC Ingolstadt, who finished second in the league and lost in the championship series, is saying goodbye to two overseas players who were crucial on their playoff run. American forward Stefan Matteau and Canadian forward Ty Ronning will not be returning to the team next season, with Matteau’s future pro career in doubt and Ronning looking to head elsewhere. Ronning, a former New York Rangers prospect, had 21 points in 29 games with Ingolstadt after terminating his AHL deal with the Iowa Wild mid-season. Matteau, a 2012 first-round selection who last played in the NHL for Colorado in 2021-22, had 28 points in 35 games after a mid-season transfer from the SHL’s Linköping HC.
- Former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Dominik Uher, now a DEL mainstay with the Fischtown Penguins, has inked a one-year extension with the club. The 30-year-old, selected in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL Draft, got into two NHL games with the Penguins in 2014-15 but had left for Europe by 2016. Since joining Fischtown in 2018-19, he’s recorded 96 points in 216 games for the club.
- After a six-game stint at the end of the season, defenseman Roman Kinal has signed a one-year extension with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. Kinal, 24, just wrapped up a five-season career at the University of Connecticut, where he served as captain in his final season and tied his career-high seven points.
This page will be updated throughout the day
Pacific Notes: Kraken, Foegele, Canucks
After acquiring winger Oliver Bjorkstrand from Columbus on Friday, the heavy lifting for Seattle’s offseason appears to be done. However, GM Ron Francis told reporters, including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, that he’s still open to adding another depth defenseman and another depth forward. The team has roughly $3.6MM in cap space per CapFriendly with Morgan Geekie still needing a new contract that will cut into that cap space. Ryan Donato was an intriguing non-tender earlier this month likely due to his arbitration eligibility despite recording 16 goals and 15 assists (good for sixth in team scoring) and Francis indicated that the door is still open to his return as well at the right price.
More from the Pacific Division:
- With the Oilers being among the teams that are still looking to clear out some money this summer, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal posits that the cleanest option for Edmonton might be to move winger Warren Foegele. Acquired in a trade from Carolina last summer, the 26-year-old signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal that has two seasons remaining. Foegele had 26 points in 82 games last season but posted 127 hits (a new career-high) which could be of interest to teams looking for some grit in the bottom six. Edmonton still has to re-sign forwards Jesse Puljujarvi, Ryan McLeod, and Kailer Yamamoto and are basically down to the LTIR space from Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith ($6.367MM combined). It will be difficult to sign those three with that money so finding a spot for Foegele would certainly help their cause.
- Winger Ty Ronning expressed an interest in signing with Vancouver this summer to play with AHL Abbotsford, notes Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. However, the team indicated that their preference was to focus on the development of their prospects which would have limited Ronning’s playing time and resulted in him signing with Minnesota’s farm team instead. The 24-year-old spent five years with WHL Vancouver so joining the Canucks would have been a homecoming of sorts.
New York Rangers Sign Ty Ronning
The New York Rangers announced three contracts today, two of which had already been reported. The one-year deals for Tim Gettinger and Adam Huska are now official; joining them is Ty Ronning who has also agreed to terms on a one-year contract. Ronning was a restricted free agent and not eligible for arbitration. Ronning’s deal is worth the league-minimum $750,000 with $75,000 in minor-league pay, per CapFriendly.
Originally a seventh-round pick in 2016, likely more to do with his name–he’s the son of long-time NHL forward Cliff Ronning–than his play, the 23-year-old forward has developed into a legitimate scoring threat in the minor leagues. Ronning had 10 goals and 18 points in 18 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack this season, continuing what has been a pattern to this point. In the 2017-18 season he scored 61 goals for the Vancouver Giants, and then for two seasons was nearly a point-per-game player in the ECHL.
None of the three should be impact players on the Rangers this year, but do offer real value to the AHL club. The undersized Ronning has always found a way to contribute offensively and he should find no trouble in that task for Hartford.