Minor Signings: 07/02/2026
Although the overwhelming majority of the heavy lifting is done for much of the league, teams continue to poach the free agent market to address their depth and improve their AHL affiliates. Today, several recognizable names have signed, and we will continue to update the list throughout the day. Here are today’s minor signings:
- One of the particularly busy teams on the opening day of free agency, the San Jose Sharks announced four additional signings. The Sharks have signed netminder Kyle Keyser, forward Brett Leason, and forward Tye Felhaber to one-year, two-way contracts. Additionally, San Jose has signed forward Alex Barré-Boulet to a two-year, two-way contract.
- According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have signed forward Matthew Stienburg to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2026-27 season. Stienburg was injured for much of the 2025-26 season, finishing with two goals and three points in eight appearances for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
- The team at PuckPedia confirmed that the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Cole McWard to a two-year, $1.75MM contract. Surprisingly, it will be a one-way contract in both years of the deal. McWard spent last season with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, scoring six goals and 27 points in 63 games with a -11 rating.
- PuckPedia also confirmed that the New York Rangers have signed former first-round pick Dennis Cholowski to a two-year, $1.75MM contract. Cholowski has 173 games of NHL experience, scoring 13 goals and 42 points with a -60 rating, averaging 16:30 of ice time. Additionally, the Rangers announced that they’ve also signed forward Glenn Gawdin to a two-year, two-way contract.
- Adding to their defensive depth, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they’ve signed Travis Mitchell to a one-year, two-way contract. Aside from making his NHL debut, Mitchell spent much of last year with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, scoring one goal and 17 points in 58 games with a +3 rating.
- According to a team announcement, the Buffalo Sabres have signed forward Aidan McDonough to a one-year, two-way contract. McDonough is coming off his best professional season, scoring 23 goals and 44 points in 63 games for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
- The Florida Panthers announced that they’ve signed defenseman Casey Fitzgerald to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2026-27 campaign. Fitzgerald is two years removed from his first stint with the Panthers organization, when he scored four goals and 21 points in 69 games for the Charlotte Checkers with a +22 rating.
- According to a team announcement, the Winnipeg Jets have signed Henry Thrun to a one-year, two-way contract. Thrun spent most of last season with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, scoring five goals and 23 points in 55 games with a -1 rating. He added two goals and nine points in 24 postseason games, helping the Marlies to a Calder Cup championship.
- The Devils have re-signed Group Six UFA forward Xavier Parent to a one-year, two-way deal, PuckPedia reports. The 25-year-old played in five games with New Jersey last season, while adding 20 goals and 19 assists in 63 games with AHL Utica.
Devils Activate Timo Meier, Assign Two To AHL
The Devils made a trio of roster moves before Friday’s freeze. The team announced that winger Timo Meier has been activated off the non-roster list while winger Xavier Parent and defenseman Calen Addison were assigned to AHL Utica.
Meier had been away from the team for a little more than a week due to a family health matter. The 29-year-old is a key cog in New Jersey’s attack and got off to a strong start this season with 11 goals and 12 assists in 30 games while averaging a little under 19 minutes per game of playing time. Considering that the Devils are without five forwards at the moment (headlined by Jack Hughes and rookie Arseny Gritsyuk), his return will certainly be a significant one.
As for Parent, he received his first career NHL promotion earlier this month. The 24-year-old got into five games with the Devils while on recall but was held off the scoresheet while recording two shots and seven hits in 8:34 of ice time per night. Parent has been fairly productive in the minors with the Comets though, chipping in with six goals and six assists through 20 appearances so far.
Addison, meanwhile, received his first recall of the season last weekend but didn’t see any game action. A veteran of 152 career NHL appearances over parts of four seasons, the 25-year-old has gotten into 21 games with Utica, picking up two goals and seven assists. He and Parent will have to play in at least one game with the Comets before becoming recall-eligible again.
As a result of these moves, New Jersey now has one vacancy on its 23-player roster. That spot could be filled before long by one of their players currently on IR or a recall later on from the Comets.
New Jersey Devils Recall Xavier Parent
The New Jersey Devils announced today that forward Xavier Parent has been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
In a corresponding move, veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov, who has been out since Nov. 26 with an undisclosed injury, was placed on IR by the club. It was reported in late November that Dadonov was likely to miss an extended period of time with his injury.
The move to recall Parent gives the Devils an additional forward on its roster while Timo Meier is away from the club on a personal leave of absence. Meier’s absence leaves a hole in the Devils’ top six, specifically on the wing on the club’s first line alongside captain Nico Hischier.
On paper, it doesn’t appear Parent would be an ideal fit for such an important role, largely due to the fact that he remains a complete unknown quantity at the NHL level. The 24-year-old undrafted former QMJHL star has spent the entirety of his professional career to this point in the minor leagues, working his way up from the ECHL to, now, the NHL.
Parent began his pro career with the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder in 2022, marking his entry into the wider Devils organization. (The Thunder are the Devils’ ECHL affiliate) While ECHL clubs generally act with a good degree of independence when it comes to the day-to-day hockey operations decision-making, Parent’s first pro contract was actually a two-year AHL deal with the Utica Comets.
Since the Comets’ hockey operations are run by executives who work for the Devils, (Devils AGM Dan MacKinnon serves as Comets GM) while Parent may not have occupied an NHL contract spot to begin his career, he has nonetheless spent his entire time as a pro under the watchful eye of Devils management.
Parent instantly impressed, turning a point-per-game ECHL rookie campaign into a full-time role in the AHL the following year. As an AHL rookie, Parent scored 15 goals and 45 points, earning himself an AHL contract extension for 2024-25. Parent continued his top-six production into 2024-25, earning himself an NHL entry-level deal for 2025-26.
It’s that entry-level signing, as well as Parent’s continued production, that’s earned him this recall, the first of his pro career. As a five-foot-eight undrafted winger, Parent has always battled steep odds en route to this call-up. But with the Devils in need of additional scoring, Parent placed himself in prime position to be recalled by leading Utica in scoring this season.
While it’s unclear whether Parent’s scoring ability (he has 12 points in 20 games for the Comets this season) will translate to the NHL level, his recall marks a genuine developmental success story for the Devils.
While much of the commentary regarding the Devils’ work in the AHL has been negative this season (the Comets are third-to-last in the AHL standings and are tied for the fewest goals scored), today’s recall of Parent does illustrate that there are still some positive storylines to follow in Utica.
Devils Sign Xavier Parent To Entry-Level Contract
The Devils have signed undrafted free agent forward Xavier Parent to an entry-level contract for the 2025-26 season, the team announced.
Parent, 24 later this month, has played in the Devils’ system for AHL Utica and ECHL Adirondack for the past three seasons on minor-league contracts. After sitting out the first few weeks of the campaign with an injury, he’s enjoyed a productive 2024-25 campaign with 11 goals, 15 assists, 29 points, and 39 PIMs across 44 outings with a minus-one rating.
The diminutive yet feisty 5’8″ forward can play both center and left wing, although he’s more comfortable on the latter. He spent his pre-professional years in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, earning a QMJHL Second All-Star nod in his final season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix in 2021-22 after he exploded for 51-55–106 in 65 games.
Initially eligible for the 2019 NHL draft but continuously passed over, he landed an AHL deal with Utica coming out of juniors and has since compiled 29-48–77 in 129 games for the Devils’ top development affiliate, also posting 51 points in 50 ECHL games in 2022-23.
He’ll now be eligible for an NHL call-up next year. New Jersey has used up 32 of their 50 contract slots for 2025-26.
AHL Notes: Parent, Isley, Sucese, Ahac
The Utica Comets kicked off a day of minor league signings by re-signing forwards Xavier Parent and Jace Isley to one-year, two-way, minor-league contracts. The duo will have a chance to earn an increased salary at the AHL level next season, after both spending a season in the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder.
Parent graduated from the Thunder partway through the 2022-23 season, after scoring 23 goals and 51 points in 50 games. He’s continued producing through his rookie AHL season this year, ranking third on the Comets in scoring with 45 points in 71 games. Isley has followed Parent’s path this year, graduating to Utica after 55 games in the ECHL, though he only scored 23 points of his own. He’ll aim to earn his first full AHL season next year, while Parent will be fighting to earn his first NHL contract.
Other notes from around the minors:
- The Hartford Wolf Pack have announced the signing of forward Nate Sucese to a one-year contract. He’ll move east after spending the last two seasons with the Chicago Wolves. Sucesse found his stride in Chicago, posting a career-high 23 goals and 37 points in 72 games this season – topping his previous high of 23 points, set last season. The pair of years was a big improvement from the 21 points in 49 games that Sucese totaled in his first two AHL seasons. The Penn State alum seems to have the wind behind his sails, and will now look to carve out a strong role in Hartford’s middle-six.
- Sticking in the realm of Big Ten alumni – the Abbotsford Canucks have signed former Ohio State defender Layton Ahac to a one-year deal. It will be the first move of Ahac’s career, after spending his first four pro years with the Henderson Silver Knights. He failed to find much space on the scoresheet, recording just one goal and 17 points across 148 games. But Ahac has nonetheless fought his way into a routine role, on the back of smart defending and passing. He’ll look to form a more robust resume with a move to Canada, joining a Canucks organization with a wide open defense depth chart.
- The Chicago Wolves have joined teams making additions today, signing forward Nikita Pavlychev to a one-year contract. Pavlychev will move to Chicago after spending the last three seasons signed with the Ontario Reign, though he spent the majority of those seasons with the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Pavlychev managed 108 points across 106 games in Greenville, ultimately working his way into a career-high 29 AHL games this season. He vindicated those performances with a stout 10 points, and will now look to firmly cement his feet as an AHL talent with the Wolves.