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Minor Transactions: 01/12/23

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There are quite a few intriguing contests on the NHL calendar for tonight, including a celebration of now-retired defenseman P.K. Subban in Montreal as the Canadiens take on the Nashville Predators. Fans can also enjoy two of the NHL’s top-10 teams, the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken, do battle as well, among many other games. As people across the hockey world take in these matchups, numerous teams in overseas leagues and minor leagues are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll track those moves here.

  • 2018 Dallas Stars second-round pick Albin Eriksson has signed an extension with his current club, BIK Karlskoga, a team in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. The Stars let their exclusive rights to sign Eriksson expire last summer, seemingly not seeing enough development in his game to merit signing him to an entry-level deal. The six-foot-three winger has fared better in the Allsvenskan than he did in the SHL and Liiga, and he’s currently leading Karlskoga in goal scoring with 14 goals and 26 points in 33 games.
  • Veteran Liiga forward Panu Mieho has left for Sweden, signing a two-year contract with Timra in the SHL. By signing this deal, Mieho leaves Ilves Tampere in his fifth year with the club. Mieho’s scoring has been down this season, as he’s managed just seven points in 23 games, so perhaps the 27-year-old is hoping this move to the SHL can help improve his form.
  • Harri Pesonen, captain of Switzerland’s SCL Tigers, has signed a two-year extension to remain with his team. Pesonen is actually a former NHLer, having played four games for the New Jersey Devils in 2012-13. He’s played exclusively in Europe since 2014, and has been an elite forward in the Swiss league. Pesonen has scored 26 points in 34 games this year for the Tigers and is a two-time IIHF World Champion and a one-time Olympic Gold Medalist.
  • Former Boston College star Julius Mattila has signed a one-year extension with his current club, Lukko, of the Finnish Liiga. An alternate captain at Lukko, Mattila has been a consistent scorer in Finland. He has 78 points in 153 career games in Finland’s top league and helped Lukko win the 2020-21 Liiga title.
  • HC Sparta Praha has signed two players to two-year contract extensions: Ondrej Miklis and David Nemecek. Miklis, 26, transferred from Kladno in 2021 and is establishing himself in Czechia’s top league. Nemecek, 27, is a top defenseman for Prague. He is in his third season with the team and has spent three seasons of his career in North America, having patrolled the blueline in the OHL, WHL, and USHL.
  • Sandro Schonberger is going to continue his captaincy of the DEL’s Straubing Tigers for another season. The German forward is in his fifteenth season with the Bavarian club, and he’s in his tenth as the team’s captain. Despite a budget that is reportedly one of the lowest in the DEL, the Tigers have managed to consistently reach the DEL’s playoffs under Schonberger, a testament to the 35-year-old’s leadership and play.
  • Another DEL veteran has signed an extension with his current club: Sven Ziegler. The 28-year-old forward, who is a veteran of over 400 DEL games, will remain with the Iserlohn Roosters for another season, per a team announcement. Ziegler has been with the Roosters for the past two seasons, leaving Straubing in 2021 to sign in Iserlohn.
  • Former Kootenay Ice forward Arnaud Jacquemet has signed a two-year extension to remain with his current team, Geneve-Servette HC. The 34-year-old is closing in on a decade spent playing in Geneva and is in his fifth season as an alternate captain for the team. On his watch, Geneva has managed to win two Spengler Cups, and this year he’s scored seven points in 26 games.
  • Yesterday, just a short period after acquiring him via trade, the Orlando Solar Bears released goaltender Joe Murdaca. The acquisition of Murdaca led to the team’s release of veteran netminder Brad Barone, and now with Murdaca gone, it means the Solar Bears have let go of two netminders in under a week. It’s likely that the return of prospect goalie Jack LaFontaine from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch had something to do with these moves, as he’ll now resume his role as the Solar Bears’ undisputed number-one goalie. The Solar Bears were Murdaca’s sixth career ECHL team, and now he’s moved on to his seventh, having been claimed off of waivers by the Norfolk Admirals.
  • Jordan Kaplan, the 25-year-old brother of Philadelphia Flyers third-round pick Devin Kaplan, was released by the Newfoundland Growlers yesterday, per the ECHL’s official transactions page. Kaplan made his professional debut with the Adirondack Thunder last season, scoring 32 points in 65 games after a four-season collegiate career spent at Sacred Heart University and the University of Vermont. He signed with the Norfolk Admirals in August, but after scoring just one point in 11 games he left to join the Reading Royals. Kaplan got just three games in Reading before he was released, and just under a month ago he signed in Newfoundland. Now, he’s been claimed off of waivers by the Worchester Railers.
  • Just one day after signing him, the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen have released forward Kyle Blaney. The 31-year-old ECHL veteran scored 43 points in 65 games last season for the Kalamazoo Wings and will now be forced to find a new team to continue his career with, now that this signing in Jacksonville has ended without a single game played.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Minor Transactions: 01/11/23

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It’s a relatively light day on the NHL calendar, with just four games on the docket. Two sets of Pacific Division rivals will do battle tonight, with the Anaheim Ducks taking on the Edmonton Oilers, while the San Jose Sharks will attempt to best their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. As the NHL season rumbles along, many minor league, overseas league, and junior league teams are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • Kevin Roy, who spent last season with the Laval Rocket of the AHL, is leaving Brynas IF. The Swedish club announced yesterday that their short-term agreement with Roy expired and that he would not be offered an extension. Roy, 29, has 28 NHL games on his resume (from 2017-18 and 2018-19) and scored one goal in his six-game run with Brynas in the SHL. 
  • Former NHL defenseman Korbinian Holzer is remaining in the DEL. The German blueliner, 34, has extended his contract with DEL side Adler Mannheim for another season. Holzer, a veteran of over 200 NHL games, last played in the NHL in 2019-20. Since then, he’s played one season in the KHL, two with Mannheim, and represented Germany at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and two straight IIHF World Championships.
  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Zayde Wisdom was re-assigned to the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals, today. Wisdom, 20, was a fourth-round pick of the team at the 2020 draft and impressed as a rookie in the AHL, scoring 18 points in 28 games at an age where playing in the AHL can be very challenging. Wisdom returned to the OHL last season and scored 38 points in 43 games. This season, his second as a professional, hasn’t gone to plan, as Wisdom has just seven points in 28 games playing in a bottom-six role.
  • Former Olympian Janis Kalinins, who represented his native Latvia at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, has signed an extension to remain in the KHL. KHL side Amur Khabarovsk has announced contract extensions for both Kalinins and defenseman Cameron Lee, a former Penguins AHLer. Kalinins, 31, has a .923 save percentage in 19 games this season, while Lee scored 14 points in 35 games as a top-of-the-lineup blueliner for the team.
  • Slovakian pro side HK Poprad have signed two players to their squad, Slovakian center Petr Kolouch, and American forward Nick Jermain. Kolouch, 31, is a veteran of the European professional circuit, having spent more than a decade playing in Czechia. So far this season, he’s played in Austria with EC Graz. Jermain, 26, was a four-year player at Quinnipiac University and made his professional debut last season in the ECHL. He has nine points in 24 ECHL games this season.
  • Miles Gendron, a 2014 third-round pick of the Ottawa Senators, left his club yesterday. Storhamar, a team in the Norwegian Fjordkraft-Ligaen, announced that they had parted ways with Gendron yesterday. Gendron had played in 19 games in Norway after signing with Storhamar in the offseason and has scored eight points. A return to North America could be in the cards for Gendron, as he’s spent the past few years manning the bluelines of the ECHL. 
  • The EIHL’s Glasgow Clan announced a pair of signings yesterday, bringing in former Arizona Coyotes prospect Niklas Tikkinen, as well as ECHL defenseman Jeff Solow. For Tikkinen, the signing moves him from Denmark, where he’s spent the last two seasons, to Scotland. For Solow, the deal will represent his first chance to test his mettle on a professional basis outside of North America. 
  • 2007 Columbus Blue Jackets second-round pick Will Weber has signed a two-year extension to remain with his current club, the DEL’s Schwenninger Wild Wings. Weber, 34, is in his fifth season playing in Germany, having spent the last three with the Wild Wings. The big six-foot-three blueliner has registered one assist and 69 penalty minutes in 30 games this season.
  • Another member of the 2007 draft class, Dallas Stars fifth-rounder Ondrej Roman, has ended his contract with France’s Rouen Dragons via a mutual agreement. Roman, a 33-year-old Czech winger, signed in France in the summer having spent the past two seasons in the Czech league. He found success in France, scoring 25 points in 27 games, and will now look to another destination to continue his professional career.
  • Johan Ivarsson, a veteran of both the SHL and Liiga, has signed a two-year extension with his current club, Sodertalje SK. The 27-year-old is playing in Sweden’s second division, HockeyAllsvenskan, for the first time in a half-decade, attempting to get Sodertalje promoted. Ivarsson signed with his current club after a two-year stint with TPS Turku in Finland, and has scored 10 points in 31 games.
  • Veteran minor league netminder Alex Sakellaropoulos has signed with the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators, per a league announcement.  The 28-year-old has played for seven ECHL clubs in the past five years, bouncing around somewhat in order to fill in for teams in need of help in the crease. Last season, Sakellaropoulos got some consistency, playing in 30 games for the Adirondack Thunder. He wasn’t great, posting an .881 save percentage, but he’s solidified himself as an option in the ECHL, one the Gladiators will now turn to.
  • Former ECHL star Darik Angeli has departed his club, the EIHL’s Belfast Giants. The 32-year-old scored 70 points in 63 ECHL games last season and signed with Belfast over the summer. The former Ohio State Buckeye will now leave Northern Ireland having scored twelve points in 24 games there.
  • Longtime ECHL scorer Kyle Blaney has signed a contract with the Jacksonville Icemen. The 31-year-old spent last season with the Kalamazoo Wings, scoring 43 points in 65 games. He should be able to help Jacksonville’s offensive attack, a unit that currently ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of goals scored.
  • Defenseman Dilan Peters was released by his club, the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, today. The six-foot-six blueliner was traded to Newfoundland on December 6th, heading there from the Wheeling Nailers, the team he signed with in the summer. Peters, who has made his professional debut this season, has yet to register on an ECHL scoresheet, and he had gotten into nine total games across both teams before yesterday’s release. 
  • Swiss blueliner Samuel Kreis, a seasoned veteran who has spent over a decade playing in his home country’s top professional league, has signed a three-year deal with SC Bern, set to begin next fall. The 28-year-old signed with EV Zug in 2021 and helped the team win the 2021-22 NL Championship. Kreis last played for Bern in 2016-17 and won three league championships and a Swiss Cup in his time there.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Minor Transactions: 01/08/23

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It’s another busy day on the NHL calendar, with half of the league set to do battle. Tonight’s highlights include a matchup of two bitter Central Division rivals when the St. Louis Blues take on the Minnesota Wild, and a Western Canadian showdown as the Vancouver Canucks test their mettle against the Winnipeg Jets. As hockey fans across the world enjoy these contests, teams from minor leagues, overseas leagues, and junior leagues are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • After spending two seasons in North America and playing in over 100 NHL games, former Detroit Red Wings forward Christoffer Ehn made the choice to head back to Europe to continue his career. The 26-year-old has spent the past two seasons playing for Linkoping in the SHL, and has been solid. Today, Linkoping announced that Ehn has signed a three-year extension to remain with the team. Linkoping currently stands ninth in the SHL standings, and with this extension in hand Ehn will now be able to be a core player helping the team climb the Swedish hockey ranks.
  • Vladimir Roth, a veteran of the European pro hockey circuit, has returned to his old stomping grounds at HC Ocelari Trinec. The 32-year-old blueliner last played with the Czech side in 2019-20, and has in total played parts of eight seasons there. So far this season Roth has played mostly in Prague at the second-division level, and he’ll now get another chance in Czechia’s top division with this move.
  • The departures from Lillehammer, a team in the top Norwegian professional league, continue. Yesterday, Lillehammer lost a top scorer, Martin Gran, and today they lose another key forward, Henrik Eriksson. Eriksson, 26, has scored 30 points in 29 games for Lillehammer, and will now join the Belfast Giants of the EIHL, the top professional hockey league in the United Kingdom.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Minor Transactions: 01/01/23

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With the new year now upon us, today features the first slate of games of 2023. With the Winter Classic coming up tomorrow, there’s quite a bit on the calendar for NHL fans to get excited about. As these games go on, teams in minor and overseas leagues are making tweaks to their rosters. We’ll keep track of any notable moves here:

  • 2016 Vancouver Canucks draft pick and established SHL scorer Rodrigo Abols will be changing clubs this summer. The Latvian forward has announced that he will be leaving his current club, Orebro, to sign with Rogle for next season. Abols has 20 points in 27 games this season and last played in North America in 2019-20, scoring 23 points in 36 games for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
  • Former Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway has parted ways with his current club, EHC Freiburg of the German DEL2. Reway arrived in the German second division after playing last year in the Czech second division. He has scored 23 points in 20 games this year for Freiburg.
  • The Erie Otters have completed a trade with the Niagara IceDogs, landing Pano Fimis, the number-two pick of the 2020 OHL Priority Selection. Fimis, who went undrafted last year, has scored 24 points in 28 games this year. He’ll arrive in Erie likely that this trade can spark increased production and give him a shot at getting drafted in the summer.
  • Tim Soderlund, perhaps best known for being a part of the 2021 trade of Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers, has parted ways with his current club, Djurgardens IF. The 24-year-old winger, a 2017 fourth-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, has scored 14 points in 29 HockeyAllsvenskan games this season. He last played in North America in 2021-22, splitting time between the AHL and ECHL before heading to Djurgarden.

Oliwer Kaski Signs In SHL

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When Oliwer Kaski left North America in 2020, after just one season in the AHL, the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t going to give up his rights completely. The team issued Kaski a qualifying offer, meaning he stayed on their reserve list and could only sign a contract with them if he wanted to return.

Those rights were only held through his age-27 season, though, which is this year for the undrafted defenseman. If Carolina wanted to bring him back, they would have to sign him by the end of June, or Kaski would become an unrestricted free agent.

It doesn’t appear like that will happen, as the Finnish puck-mover has signed a contract with HV71 in the SHL through 2024. That ends a short run in the Swiss league where he found little success, playing 20 games for Lugano this season.

He scored just four points in those games, but that’s not common for Kaski, who has filled the net wherever he plays. Over the last two seasons in the KHL, he scored 26 goals and 67 points in 105 games. When this contract with HV71 ends, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in North America too, meaning there could potentially be a return.

He’ll also be closing in on 30, though, so he may just continue to be an excellent offensive defenseman overseas, and never realize that dream of playing in the NHL.

Mario Kempe Signs In SHL

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It’s been a few years since Mario Kempe was suiting up in the NHL and it appears as though a return to North America isn’t ever going to come. The veteran forward has signed a new two-year deal with Lulea HF in Sweden.

Kempe, 34, has spent the last three seasons in the KHL, after playing 52 games for the Arizona Coyotes in 2018-19. The older brother of Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe, he was a fifth-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2007 that only ever played eight games for the organization, all at the minor league level. An elite skater, he had lots of success in North America, including two seasons with the St. John’s Fog Devils of the QMJHL, but never seemed content to spend his years in the AHL.

Throughout his career, Kempe has played all over the world, suiting up last season in Belarus with Dinamo Minsk. His return to the SHL is a long-awaited homecoming, given he hasn’t played in Sweden since 2014.

A two-year deal essentially removes any chance of another AHL stint, though it seemed unlikely already. In 70 career NHL games, Kempe scored 13 points.

Minor Transactions: 11/23/22

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There’s a busy schedule tonight across the NHL, with fifteen contests set to be played. Highlighted by the New Jersey Devils’ chase of a franchise-record fourteenth-straight win, tonight looks set to be a treat for hockey fans. As these games are set to begin, teams across the hockey world are making tweaks to their roster. We’ll keep track of all those moves here.

  • Theodor Niederbach, one of three Detroit Red Wings 2020 second-round picks, is headed down a division. Per a team announcement, HockeyAllsvenskan’s MoDo Hockey has received Niederbach on a loan from his SHL club, Rogle BK. The hope is that Niederbach can find more offensive success in Ornskoldsvik than he was finding in the SHL, as he has just one goal and zero assists in 17 SHL games so far this year.
  • Pavel Gogolev, an undrafted prospect who was signed into the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, has been assigned to the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Newfoundland Growlers. Gogolev had been with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, and he played a single game there. Gogolev should be an elite scorer in Newfoundland, as he scored 20 points in just 14 games there last season to go along with eight points in ten playoff games.
  • Veteran Swiss league forward Julian Schmutz has just seven points in 22 games so far this season playing for HC Davos, but that hasn’t stopped him from securing his playing future. Per a team announcement, rival Swiss club SCL Tigers has signed Schmutz to a three-year contract, set to begin after this season. The Tigers have had a tough season so far in 2022-23, with just nine wins in 23 games, so they’ll hope that Schmutz can improve their overall game next season.

This page will be updated throughout the day. 

Minor Transactions: 11/22/22

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It’s a relatively quiet day on the NHL schedule with just four teams set to go to battle tonight. The Montreal Canadiens will be taking on the division rival Buffalo Sabres as the Sabres look to end their eight-game losing streak. Then, the Los Angeles Kings will host the New York Rangers as each team looks to build momentum and chase the teams above them in the standings. As the NHL readies for these contests, teams across the hockey world are making tweaks to their roster. We’ll keep track of all those moves here.

  • Alex Grant, a former Anaheim Duck and Arizona Coyote, is switching KHL teams. Kazakh club Barys Astana has announced that Grant has been moved to the team from his current KHL club, SKA St. Petersburg. Grant represented Canada at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and has six points in 16 KHL games this season.
  • Veteran minor-league defenseman Robert Hamilton is headed overseas. The 28-year-old blueliner has signed a two-year deal with KHL club Traktor Chelyabinsk and will leave his current team, the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, in order to play there. Hamilton bounced between the AHL and ECHL levels after ending his collegiate career at the University of Vermont, and in recent years had established himself firmly as an AHL-caliber player. Now, he’ll continue his career in Russia.
  • Maxim Chudinov, a veteran KHL defenseman with nearly 600 games of experience, is changing clubs. The 32-year-old has left Ak Bars Kazan to sign a deal for the rest of the season with Spartak Moscow. Chudinov, a 2010 seventh-round pick of the Boston Bruins, has played in seven games for Ak Bars Kazan and has registered one assist.
  • After scoring 18 goals and 38 points last season for IK Oskarshamn, Kim Rosdahl signed with another SHL club, Rogle BK. His time in Rogle hasn’t gone as planned, though, and with just three points in 17 games Rosdahl is headed elsewhere. The Malmo Redhawks have announced his signing to a two-year deal, meaning Rosdahl will head back to Malmo, which is his hometown and where he developed as a junior player.
  • Another winger who has been off to a tough start this season is changing clubs. Per a team announcement, 25-year-old forward Jordan Kaplan is headed from the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals to the Reading Royals. Kaplan has just one assist in 11 ECHL games so far this year but had 11 goals and 32 points in 65 games for the Adirondack Thunder last year.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Emil Heineman Loaned To SHL

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The Montreal Canadiens signed prospect Emil Heineman to a three-year entry-level contract back in April but he hasn’t played a single game yet this season at any level. That’s because of a thumb injury that kept him out six weeks, but as he returns to full health, the team needed to make a decision on where he would play.

Today, they have officially loaned Heineman back to Leksands IF of the SHL, his hometown club team that developed him in Sweden. It’s a nice birthday present for the young forward – who turned 21 on Wednesday – even if it means he won’t be getting an NHL salary. Ready to return to game action, he can try to take the next step in his development at home with a club he is familiar with.

Last season, Heineman had 11 goals and 16 points for Leksands, good numbers for a player so young. Always engaged, no matter where he is on the ice, the 2020 second-round pick has NHL potential, if he can polish off the rough edges of his game. Given that he’s already 21, another year in Sweden should set him up to compete for an NHL role in training camp next year, or play a significant one in Laval.

The first year of his contract will be used in 2022-23, despite him playing overseas.

Loui Eriksson Signs In SHL

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Long-time NHL forward Loui Eriksson will continue his hockey career overseas, returning to the team that he won a championship with in 2005. Frolunda has announced a contract for Eriksson that will last the rest of the season, though even the press release cautions expectations and notes that he hasn’t played in six months.

Eriksson, 37, crossed the 1,000-game threshold last season, suiting up 73 times for the Arizona Coyotes to take his NHL total to 1,050. Because of an ill-advised contract from the Vancouver Canucks in the summer of 2016 that made him the butt of many jokes as his career was winding down, it’s easy to forget how good Eriksson was in his prime. In his third year in the league, he scored 36 goals and 63 points with the Dallas Stars, only to follow it up with three straight 70+ point campaigns.

In fact, for the stretch between 2008-09 and 2011-12, Eriksson was 21st in league scoring while also receiving Selke Trophy votes as one of the best defensive forwards in the league. He was a true star at that point, even if it is kind of difficult to remember now.

Today, he returns to the organization that developed him and the SHL team he played with during the 2004-05 lockout season. As he explained in his introductory presser, he’ll also be reunited with Joel Lundqvist, team captain, and former teammate at several levels, including the Stars.

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