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Ottawa Senators Sign Oskar Pettersson

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The Ottawa Senators have signed forward Oskar Pettersson to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced today. Financial details were not disclosed.

The 19-year-old Swedish prospect had a strong season in his home country. A cerebral and speedy winger, Pettersson tallied two points and 33 penalty minutes in 29 regular-season games with Rogle BK of the SHL, his first pro experience. In Sweden’s U20 league with Rogle’s top junior team, Pettersson led his team in points per game among players with at least 10 games, recording 23 goals and 10 assists in 24 games.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion gave a statement on Pettersson’s signing:

Oskar has quickly become one of the organization’s top prospects. He had a strong first pro season and showcases a similar maturity level to players who are much older than he. A north/south winger who has demonstrated that he’s capable of playing in all situations, he routinely utilizes his speed to effectively cycle the puck. He’s a smart player with good habits; his work ethic alone is certain to be of considerable value to him as he strives to take the next step.

Selected by the Senators with the 72nd overall pick in the third round of the 2022 NHL Draft, Pettersson joins two other players from the team’s draft class who Ottawa has already signed: defensemen Tomas Hamara (87th overall) and Jorian Donovan. Pettersson is expected to attend the Senators’ upcoming annual development camp before returning to Rogle for the next season, the team said.

Given his age, Pettersson is eligible for a one-year slide on this deal if he plays less than 10 NHL games. With Pettersson not expected to see NHL ice in 2023-24, his three-year contract will likely kick in for the 2024-25 campaign.

Maxime Lagace Signs In Sweden

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Veteran goaltender Maxime Lagace has had no trouble getting contracts in recent summers, locking in one-year, two-way deals fairly early in free agency in each of the last five seasons.  However, he has opted to go a different route this time around as Farjestad of the SHL announced that they’ve signed Lagace to contract for the 2023-24 season.

The 30-year-old has spent the last two seasons with Tampa Bay, primarily with their AHL affiliate.  After being one of the stronger goalies at the minor league level in previous years, Lagace struggled this past season, notching a 3.34 GAA with a .888 SV%, his poorest numbers since the 2016-17 campaign.  This was also just the second time in the last six seasons that Lagace didn’t see any NHL action; the bulk of his playing time at the top level came back with Vegas in their inaugural year.

Lagace’s signing amounts to a trade of sorts.  Earlier this offseason, Tampa Bay lured away Matt Tomkins from his contract with Farjestad, inking him to a two-year, two-way contract.  That move effectively pushed Lagace out of a job in Syracuse as Tomkins will work with prospect Hugo Alnefelt next season.  In the end, it’s Lagace who winds up with Tomkins’ old job.  If things go well for him in Sweden in 2023-24, it’s quite possible that Lagace could look to return to North America and resume his familiar third-string role if he wants to try to get another taste of NHL action.

Theodor Lennstrom Linked To Florida Panthers

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Undrafted free agent defenseman Theodor Lennstrom could land his second NHL contract this offseason in the form of a one-way deal with the Florida Panthers, Swedish outlet Hockey Sverige reports.

Lennstrom, 28, signed with the Edmonton Oilers for the 2020-21 campaign, but COVID limited him to just 23 combined regular-season and playoff games in the minors with the Bakersfield Condors, recording a combined two goals and 10 points. Since then, Lennstrom has posted high-end offensive numbers in the Swedish Hockey League and signed a two-year contract for 2023-24 and 2024-25 with Swiss side Geneve-Servette HC.

Now, it seems that deal could be terminated as an NHL opportunity has presented itself for Lennstrom. The Panthers, who are in desperate need of quality depth defensemen who can contribute more offensively than their current options like Marc Staal and Josh Mahura, present a solid fit for the European veteran.

Lennstrom scored 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points in 45 regular-season SHL games with Farjestad BK during the past two seasons. His 14 points in 19 games during the 2022 SHL playoffs guided Farjestad to a league championship.

Size isn’t a large weakness for Lennstrom, as Elite Prospects lists him at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. Where he excels is his speed game – he’s a quick and agile skater who can gain the zone quickly. Room for improvement in his positional play in his own zone, though, has kept him out of the NHL until this point.

If it is a one-way deal, as the report suggests, Florida likely envisions Lennstrom as a seventh defenseman and would bank on him making the team out of camp. The Panthers don’t have any left-shot defenders like Lennstrom at the minor league level ready to step in next season, although University of Denver grad Michael Benning could make a run for a spot on the right side.

Lennstrom suited up for Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, posting a -3 rating in five games without getting on the scoresheet.

Minor Transactions: 06/13/23

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The NHL season could end tonight with a Game 5 win for the Vegas Golden Knights, bringing them their first-ever Stanley Cup in just six years of existence. It’s business as usual around the rest of the hockey world, though, as non-candidates for NHL free agency solidify their homes for 2023-24. We’ll keep a list of those notable transactions here today, as always.

  • Detroit Red Wings goalie prospect Victor Brattström signed a one-year contract with SHL side HV71 today, forming a tandem with former Calgary Flame Joni Ortio. Brattström, 26, played the last two seasons primarily with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, but posted disappointing numbers (.891 save percentage, 15-24-7 record in 50 games played). An over-age sixth-round selection in the 2018 NHL Draft, Brattström was a pending restricted free agent and likely won’t be qualified by the Red Wings.
  • 27-year-old defenseman Keaton Thompson has signed a one-year contract extension with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, per the club. A third-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks back in 2013, Thompson’s become an AHL mainstay as a depth defenseman but has yet to make his NHL debut. The North Dakota product registered four goals and six assists in 40 games with Milwaukee last year, his first with the team after six previous seasons split between the San Diego Gulls and Iowa Wild.
  • The AHL’s Texas Stars have announced that defenseman Michael Karow has signed a two-year contract extension to remain in Cedar Park. The 24-year-old former Arizona Coyotes prospect just finished up his first full season as a professional after spending a half-decade playing college hockey. Karow began the year playing in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads but quickly proved himself to be ready for the next level. He eventually got into 36 games for the Stars, including eight playoff games, and tallied 11 total points.
  • The Laval Rocket of the AHL have re-signed forward Riley McKay and hybrid forward/defenseman John Parker-Jones to one-year, one-way AHL deals. McKay, 24, is a hard-nosed grinder who was twice the WHL’s most penalized player in his junior hockey days. This past season he split time between AHL Laval and the Montreal Canadiens’ ECHL affiliate, the Trois-Rivieres Lions. He scored seven points in 23 games at the AHL level while adding on 118 penalty minutes. Parker-Jones, 23, is a massive six-foot-seven, 230-pound player who played in 20 games for the Rocket and 17 for the Lions, flashing some offensive touch at the ECHL level with 7 goals and 11 points in 17 games.
  • 2020-21 ECHL Goalie of the Year Jake Hildebrand is moving to one of the top clubs in the DEL: Eisbaren Berlin. The 29-year-old secured a contract from the bounce-back-seeking Polar Bears after a strong two-season start to his overseas pro career. He led the second-tier DEL2 in save percentage and goals-against-average in 2021-22, leading Frankfurt to promotion to the top-tier DEL. This past season he played in 50 games and posted a solid .911 save percentage, helping his newly-promoted club avoid relegation and reach the DEL playoffs. Now the former college hockey star will join Carolina Hurricanes prospect Nikita Quapp in Berlin’s crease and likely be their go-to option in net.
  • Austrian ICEHL club Black Wings Linz will have to look for a new leading scorer as they announced today that Norwegian center Michael Haga will not be returning to the club for next season. Haga, 31, scored 16 goals and 45 points in 43 games for Linz, helping them reach the ICEHL playoffs. He’s a player with exceptional puck skills for his level of hockey and showcased them frequently not only with Linz but also with Norway at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month, where he helped Norway achieve a historic upset victory over Canada. Haga has seen only sporadic success at higher levels of European competition earlier in his career, such as in the SHL or Liiga, but perhaps now with this release he’ll be afforded the opportunity to once again try his luck in one of Europe’s top leagues.
  • While Canadian Evan Jasper has been a quality scorer in the ECHL and was a crucial contributor to the Bietigheim Steelers’ promotion-winning 2020-21 campaign, his 17 goals and 32 points this past season were not enough to help the club avoid relegation back to the DEL2. With the Steelers now in the second tier of German hockey, Jasper has decided to sign elsewhere, landing with HK Mountfield in the Czech Extraliga. Jasper’s track record of solid scoring numbers in the ECHL and DEL should translate to the Czech league, where he’ll likely be counted on as a top-six forward for Mountfield.
  • Former EIHL First-Team All-Star Josh Roach has signed a contract extension to remain with the Belfast Giants, the reigning champions. Injuries cost him a large chunk of games this season but when healthy he’s among Belfast’s most important players. With Roach re-signed, Giants defenseman Will Cullen has signed elsewhere, joining with HK Olimpija Ljubljana of the ICEHL, a club in Slovenia’s capital city. Cullen scored 32 points in 52 games for the Giants and added three points in four playoff games. Now, the one-time ECHL blueliner will try his luck in Central Europe.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

San Jose Sharks Sign Filip Bystedt

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The San Jose Sharks have gotten one of their more promising prospects under contract as they announced the signing of center Filip Bystedt to a three-year, entry-level deal. Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka reports the average annual value of the deal is $925,000 with a yearly signing bonus of $83,300.

Bystedt, 19, could play on either side of the ocean next year. Drafted out of the Swedish Hockey League, he’s eligible for AHL play if the Sharks choose to bring him to North America. The Sharks could also loan Bystedt, who was under contract in Sweden through 2025, back to his SHL club, Linköping HC.

Standing at 6-foot-4 and nearly 200 pounds, Bystedt broke out in a big way in his first full SHL campaign in 2022-23. After earning the 27th overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, Bystedt recorded seven goals and 20 points in 45 games with Linköping, solid production for a teenage player.

His game revolves around his combination of size and speed – he’s quite the skater for possessing such a rangy frame. It’s what permits him to excel offensively from the middle of the ice, posting positive impacts in transition and having a decent shot to go along.

If he doesn’t hit 10 games in the NHL this season, Bystedt is still young enough to be eligible for an entry-level slide. If he spends the entire year in Sweden (or the minors), his contract will kick in for the 2024-25 season instead.

Bystedt was one of three draft picks the Sharks received from the Arizona Coyotes on draft day in 2022, trading down from the 11th overall pick. Bystedt was the highest of those three selections. The selection was originally owned by Carolina, but was transferred to Montreal as compensation for signing Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet. Montreal then traded it to Arizona in exchange for Christian Dvorak.

Snapshots: Panthers Injuries, Johansson, Dadonov

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It appears the Florida Panthers won’t be without Radko Gudas in their lineup for too long. After leaving Game 2 (which he was already doubtful for with a separate injury) of the Stanley Cup Final after a hard hit from Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice expects Gudas to be ready for Game 3 tomorrow night.

Both Gudas and winger Eetu Luostarinen, who hasn’t played at all in this series, were absent from Panthers practice this morning. Luostarinen isn’t expected to return for Game 3 but remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Box stats say Gudas has only played a marginal role in Florida’s storybook run, playing just 17 minutes a game and registering three assists, but his physical style and game-changing hits have propelled the Panthers to some key moments in this postseason. That’s not to discount his actual defensive play — which has been, along with his partner Josh Mahura, the best of Florida’s three usual pairings.

More from around the NHL today:

  • Earlier in the offseason, SHL club Färjestad BK announced they had signed pending Colorado Avalanche UFA netminder Jonas Johansson, bringing him back to his home country. Less than a month later, however, they’ve already terminated the deal, citing Johansson’s belief he could get another NHL opportunity before 2023-24 begins. While the road has been rocky for the 27-year-old Swede, Johansson had his best pro season to date in 2022-23, playing a career-high 26 AHL games after bouncing up and down between leagues and recording a .920 save percentage.
  • The Anaheim Ducks attempted to acquire Evgenii Dadonov from the Vegas Golden Knights at the 2022 trade deadline but failed due to Vegas not properly handling Dadonov’s no-trade clause — which listed Anaheim as a team he could not be dealt to. The deal was nullified by the league as a result, and now the Ducks are requesting a compensatory draft pick from the league, as reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He says the league is considering granting the Ducks’ request, which could likely see them gain an additional pick in this year’s draft, bringing their total number of picks to 10.

Lawrence Pilut Signs In Switzerland

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It’s back overseas for Lawrence Pilut, who has yet to find any sort of consistency in his professional hockey career. The defenseman has signed a contract with Lausanne HC of the Swiss National League that runs through the 2024-25 season.

Pilut, 27, is scheduled for unrestricted free agency this summer after re-joining the Buffalo Sabres in 2022-23. The Swedish defender played 17 games at the NHL level this year, spending most of his time in the minors with the Rochester Americans.

That sentence could describe most of his time in North America, as, despite rather strong results, Pilut has been constantly shuffled between the two levels. He first joined the Sabres in 2018 after a breakout campaign in the SHL and played 33 games in the NHL. That was followed by 13 appearances in 2019-20, before he decided to head to the KHL for two years.

Overall, Pilut has played 63 NHL games, registering nine points. A two-year deal in Switzerland doesn’t necessarily rule out a North American return, but it does make it much less likely.

He will be free to sign with anyone down the road, but his chance at becoming an NHL regular has likely passed.

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Emil Martinsen Lilleberg

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The coffee must be good in Tampa Bay today, as Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois has announced his third signing of the day. Per the team, the Lightning have signed Norwegian defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg to a two-year, two-way contract.

Lilleberg was part of the Arizona Coyotes organization until four days ago, when the team let his exclusive draft rights expire by not signing him to an entry-level contract. Arizona drafted Lilleberg with the 107th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.

The 22-year-old left-shot defender was drafted out of Norway’s top league, a rarity among an already rare class of Norwegian nationals. Since his draft year, though, he’s made the move to the more competitive SHL, playing the last two seasons with IK Oskarshamn.

Lilleberg recently committed to SHL club Växjö Lakers HC for the 2023-24 season, so it remains to be seen whether Tampa Bay will loan him there for the first year of his contract. While he may still have some upside, he won’t be ready to see NHL ice in any event next year.

He’s represented Norway at the highest possible level of international competition for six straight years, including three World Championships, two U20 World Juniors, and two U18 World Juniors. Last year with Oskarshamn, Lilleberg recorded three goals and 11 points in 46 games, along with a -4 rating.

If he does come to North America next year, he’ll be headed to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.

Minor Transactions: 06/04/23

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The start of the new league year and NHL free agency is inching closer, and more transaction activity is picking up throughout the world of professional hockey. We’ll keep track of moves from overseas and minor leagues here.

  • Former Vancouver Canuck Mike Zalewski will not receive a contract offer from ICEHL club Klagenfurt AC, ending his one-year stint there. A versatile forward who contributed to the 32-time Austrian champions’ penalty kill, Zalewski scored just five points in 20 games this season for Klagenfurt after a December transfer from Graz. The undrafted 30-year-old last played in North America in 2016-17, when he scored 18 points in 54 AHL games and managed to skate in one contest for the Vancouver Canucks.
  • Former college hockey star Troy Loggins has signed a one-year contract to remain with his current club, HC Nove Zamsky of the Slovakian Extraliga. The soon-to-be-28-year-old scorer transferred to Slovakia in January after beginning the season with Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan side Vasterviks IK. Before signing in Sweden last summer, Loggins had tried his luck at playing North American pro hockey and found some success at the ECHL level, scoring 25 points in 45 games for the Toledo Walleye in 2019-20. He also managed to skate in 28 AHL contests the following season, and now that he’s playing overseas he seems to have established himself as a difference-maker at the top level of Slovak pro hockey.
  • Veteran SHL rearguard Jonas Ahnelov announced he is leaving Leksands IF on social media today, confirming the end of his four-season run there. The 35-year-old 2006 third-round pick played three seasons in North America from 2008-2011, each with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. While he never made it to the NHL, Ahnelov has had an accomplished career patrolling the bluelines of the SHL and KHL. He’s logged over 500 games at the highest level of Swedish hockey and another 140 in Russia, and will now need to find a new team in order to continue his pro career.
  • 2020 Montreal Canadiens sixth-round pick Alexander Gordin is rumored to have signed a one-year contract with VHL club Ryazan VDV, per a report out of Russia. The 21-year-old forward was selected 171st overall at the 2020 draft by the Canadiens and this past season broke into Russia’s second-tier league, the VHL, as a regular for the first time. He scored eight goals and 12 points in 36 games for HK Rostov and also managed two points in six games at the KHL level with HK Sochi. As a drafted KHL prospect the Canadiens hold Gordin’s rights indefinitely, so they will likely continue to monitor his prospects moving forward, though with this transfer it is looking less and less likely that a future in Montreal is in the cards, though it’s obviously not impossible.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Minor Transactions: 06/02/23

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With the Stanley Cup Final set to start tomorrow, we are getting increasingly close to the start of the NHL offseason and the period of the summer where every club across the hockey world is in between seasons. Even as some teams vie for some of hockey’s highest honors, such as the Stanley Cup and Memorial Cup, most clubs are getting to work on building their teams for next season. We’ll keep track of any notable transactions overseas or minor league clubs make here:

  • Curtis McKenzie, the captain of the AHL’s Texas Stars, has signed a two-year contract extension to remain in Texas. McKenzie is on his second tour of duty with AHL Texas and has 99 NHL games on his resume, all with the Dallas Stars. A beloved part of the Stars’ 2014 Calder Cup-winning squad, McKenzie has scored 104 points in 142 games over the last two AHL campaigns. He is valued for both his on-ice contributions and also his off-ice leadership, and will now be able to help shepherd the next generation of Stars prospects on their way from Cedar Park to Dallas.
  • Former Ottawa Senator Filip Chlapik is returning to HC Sparta Praha in his native Czechia after spending last season with Switzerland’s HC Ambri-Piotta, per a team announcement. The move is a massive one for Prague as Chlapik, 25, was a dominant force during his one season in the Czech capital. In 2021-22 Chlapik scored 70 points in 53 games, leading the Czech Extraliga in all major offensive categories and winning Extraliga Player of the Year. Ambri-Piotta have already secured Chlapik’s replacement, Laurent Dauphin, but will surely miss having the 2015 second-rounder as he scored 24 goals and 37 points in 50 games in his debut season in the Swiss League.
  • Longtime AHL and ECHL netminder Joe Cannata is leaving the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn after three seasons spent with the club. The 33-year-old goalie arrived in the SHL after he was named Goalie of the Year of the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan in 2019-20, having posted a .938 save percentage in 41 games for IF Bjorkloven. Cannata, who last played in North America in 2019 with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies, served as Oskarshamn’s number-one goalie in 2020-21 before transitioning to more of a tandem role the last two years, ceding starts to 28-year-old Tim Juel. Now with Cannata departed and Juel signing a three-year deal with Timra, Oskarshamn will turn to Liiga star and former Arizona Coyote Marek Langhammer to man their crease.
  • Ryan Lasch, a well-traveled star in multiple major European pro leagues, is returning to Liiga’s Lahti Pelicans, the club he played for in both 2011-12 and 2020-21. The 36-year-old American has been a difference-maker at each stop of his pro career, perhaps most notably at Frolunda in the SHL where he has won the Champions Hockey League three times and the SHL title twice. Lasch has led the SHL in points three times and Liiga once, and is likely to be a key contributor for a Pelicans team hoping to win a championship after falling just short against Tappara Tampere in the finals this past season.
  • In advance of their first season in the SHL since winning promotion in April, MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik have signed Mikael Ruohomaa from rival SHL side Leksands IF. While Ruohomaa had a difficult 2022-23, scoring just four goals in 41 games, he is an established, productive player in Liiga, the KHL, and SHL, and should bring some reliability and scoring ability to MoDo’s lineup. As MoDo are looking to avoid relegation back to HockeyAllsvenskan next season, signings that bring in quality players such as Ruohomaa will be crucial.
  • While they’ll lose Ruohomaa to MoDo, Leksands IF have made a signing of their own, bringing in defenseman Eddie Larsson from Liiga’s HIFK Helsinki. Larsson, 32, won an SHL title with Vaxjo in 2014-15 and has nearly 500 games of SHL experience on his resume. He’ll help bolster a solid Leksands blueline that surrendered the fifth-fewest goals in the SHL last season.
  • Samuel Bucek, a star of the Slovakian league, is headed back to Slovakian side HK Nitra after a difficult campaign split between Russia and Czechia. The 24-year-old is headed home to Nitra, the club where he scored 41 goals in 50 games in 2021-22 and won the league’s MVP award. Nitra lost in the finals to HC Slovan Bratislava that season and then this season fell to 10th place in the league standings, meaning Bucek’s return to their lineup serves as a significant boost to Nitra’s hopes of returning to title contention.
  • After starring in the ECHL for the past three seasons, former Miami University (Ohio) captain Gordie Green is headed overseas to continue his pro career. The 26-year-old has signed with HC Innsbruck of the ICEHL, and will likely be counted on as a possible top scorer. Green scored 71 points in 62 games for the Toledo Walleye this past season but failed to register on the scoresheet in the six AHL games he received with the Grand Rapids Griffins and Miluwakee Admirals. Now, he’ll get a chance to impress in Austria and potentially begin the process of moving up the European pro hockey ladder.

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