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Karson Kuhlman Signs With Sweden’s Rögle BK

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Former NHL winger Karson Kuhlman has signed a one-year contract with Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League, the club announced. There won’t be a return to North America in 2025-26 for the Minnesota native, who spent last year in Finland with Lukko.

Kuhlman, whose season in Finland this year was the first overseas one of his career, did well to rejuvenate his production. His most recent season stateside was an exceptionally difficult one. Kuhlman inked a two-way deal with the Islanders for 2023-24 but was buried in the minors for the entire season after clearing waivers, putting together a lowly 12-10–22 scoring line with a -29 rating in 72 games for AHL Bridgeport. That’s garish production for someone with nearly 150 games of NHL experience, even for a depth piece.

The former NCAA championship tournament MVP found much more offensive success in Finland. He served as an alternate captain for Lukko and led the club in scoring with a 21-25–46 line in 60 games, helping them finish atop the Liiga regular-season standings for the first time in four years. He was Liiga’s player of the month in December while posting the highest points per game rate of his professional career in any league.

Instead of searching for an NHL two-way deal this summer and battling it out for a roster spot in training camp, he’ll opt for more security in what will presumably be a top-six role with Rögle. The team has been a middle-of-the-pack one in the SHL for the past few years, but has been active this offseason, landing ex-NHLers Mark Friedman and Fredrik Olofsson in recent weeks. They’re still rather light on offensive firepower, though, and Kuhlman has a chance to play the same starring role for them as he did for Lukko.

Kuhlman, undrafted, last saw NHL action in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Jets. He has a 12-18–30 career scoring line in 147 games with Boston, Seattle, and Winnipeg.

Canadiens’ Gustav Lindström Signs Five-Year Contract In SHL

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Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League has signed Canadiens pending RFA defenseman Gustav Lindström to a five-year deal, the club announced. He’s now set to play in his home country through the 2029-30 season.

Lindström, a depth piece on the Red Wings’ blue line after they drafted him in the second round in 2017, was first picked up by Montreal ahead of the 2023-24 season in exchange for Jeff Petry. He was claimed off waivers by the Ducks mid-season, but after Anaheim didn’t issue him a qualifying offer, he returned to Montreal as a UFA signing at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Canadiens waived Lindström to begin the year, and that was his most recent transaction. He spent the entire season in the minors for the first time since arriving in North America in 2019, recording a 4-7–11 scoring line with 28 PIMs and a +18 rating in 42 games for AHL Laval. Understandably, he’ll opt for more opportunity overseas in a more familiar environment.

Montreal can still issue Lindström a qualifying offer to retain his signing rights, but doing so would only keep him on their reserve list through June 30, 2026. Unless he desires an NHL return one year into his multi-year commitment to Djurgården, doing so would only take up a reserve list spot unnecessarily. It’s more likely they’ll non-tender him and let his exclusive NHL signing rights lapse.

The 6’2″ Lindström heads back home after posting a 5-30–35 scoring line with a -21 rating in 174 NHL games for Anaheim, Detroit, and Montreal between 2019-20 and 2023-24. He averaged 15:34 per game during his tenure with the three clubs.

Lindström’s only previous SHL experience came with Frölunda HC in the 2018-19 campaign, when he posted six points and a minus-five rating in 40 games while playing a depth role on the league’s championship club that year. He now joins a Djurgårdens team fresh off promotion following three years in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. He’s the second pending NHL RFA they’ve picked up in the last few weeks, joining Predators winger Jesse Ylönen.

Jere Innala Returning To Sweden’s Frölunda HC

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Avalanche pending UFA winger Jere Innala won’t re-sign with the club and will instead return to Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League, where he still had a valid contract through 2025-26, per a team announcement.

Innala, 27, joined Frölunda for the 2022-23 campaign. He put up a 26-28–54 scoring line in 94 games there, as well as 11 goals in just 14 playoff games in 2024, before landing an entry-level contract with Colorado as an international free agent last summer.

The 5’9″ Finn got a fair amount of reps with the big club, particularly mid-season when injuries ravaged their forward group. But despite making 17 appearances, he never got on the scoresheet and averaged just 7:09 per game with a minus-three rating. He managed eight shots on goal, and the Avs were outchanced 42-39 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.

He still spent a good portion of the season in the minors with AHL Colorado, where he was a solid scoring presence but not dominant. He logged 17-11–28 in 43 games, which could presumably be the only AHL appearances of his professional career.

After failing to lock down an NHL job, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Innala remain in Europe for the remainder of his career. Doing so would provide him more opportunities to play internationally, where he’s won a gold and silver medal for Finland at the World Championships in the past few years. He also won a Liiga title with HPK back in 2019.

Mark Friedman Signs Two-Year Deal In Sweden

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June 5: Friedman is heading to Sweden but not with either of the two clubs mentioned. He signed a two-year contract with Rögle BK instead, according to a club announcement.

May 29: Veteran defenseman Mark Friedman has spent the bulk of his playing time in the minors over the last couple of seasons so it appears that he may be looking to try something different next season.  Mattias Persson of Hockeynews.se reports that the blueliner will be signing in the SHL with Farjestad and Orebro believed to be the two teams vying for his services.

The 29-year-old has seen NHL action in seven straight seasons.  However, he has largely been in a depth or reserve role over that time as he has suited up in just 93 games at the top level with three different teams.  Overall, Friedman has four goals and nine assists in those outings while logging a little over 13 minutes a night.

Friedman started the season with Vancouver but after getting into 23 games with them last season, that number dropped to just five this year.  After clearing waivers, he spent 20 games with AHL Abbotsford before being moved to Nashville for future considerations back in February.  Despite the Predators having injuries on their back end down the stretch, Friedman didn’t see any more NHL action and got into 21 regular season games with Milwaukee.  All told, he had three goals and 16 assists between the two teams before adding three points in ten playoff contests.

A pending unrestricted free agent, Friedman now qualifies for full veteran status in the AHL moving forward; teams can only dress five players with more than 320 professional games played, a mark he eclipsed this season.  Accordingly, that could have limited his market this summer.  Instead, it appears that Friedman has decided to get out ahead of that with a deal in Sweden on the horizon.

Hurricanes’ Jesper Fast Announces Retirement

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Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast has decided to call it a career. He’s announced his retirement at the age of 33, after 11 seasons and 703 games in the NHL. Fast spent seven seasons with the New York Rangers, and his last four seasons with the Hurricanes.

Fast faced an uphill battle to the pros from the start. He was originally drafted in the sixth-round of the 2010 NHL Draft, after making his professional debut in Sweden’s SHL. He continued on for three seasons in Sweden’s top league, before making the jump to North America at the end of the 2012-13 campaign. He spent the bulk of the 2013-14 season in the minors, but also earned the first 11 games of his NHL career on the back of 34 points in 48 games as an AHL rookie. Fast didn’t score in any of those NHL appearances, but did enough to flip the balance in his sophomore season – with 11 appearances in the AHL to 58 games in the NHL. He scored six goals and 14 points in those appearances, then added six points in 19 games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Fast locked in his spot in New York’s bottom-six after providing strong, two-way support during their theatric 2015 run. He scored just 30 points in 79 games during his first full NHL season in 2015-16, but provided heaps of impact on both ends of the ice. That pattern came to define Fast over the next few years – consistently rivaling 30 points and making tough plays across the ice. He was a player that fans wanted to root for more than they wanted to root against, even if his scoring or lineup role never jumped off the page.

But Fast’s career was marred by injuries in nearly every year. He played in fewer than 70 games in six of his 11 NHL seasons, largely thanks to his gritty and aggressive role. The poor injury luck came to a peak in the 2023-24 season, when Fast suffered a broken neck in the final game of Carolina’s season. That injury held him out of the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign, and will now lead him into retirement. It’s an unfortunate cap to a tenacious career that continued on into Fast’s 30s. He was a playoff hero in Carolina’s 2023 postseason, netting nine points and two overtime game-winners in 15 games.

Even with an early end to his career, it’s hard to imagine Fast staying away from the hockey world for too long – whether he returns in a Swedish coaching role or supporting NHL development.

Atlantic Notes: Robertson, Hutson, Heponiemi

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While Nicholas Robertson got into a career-high 69 games with the Maple Leafs this season, his trade request from last year still stands, reports Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic (subscription link).  The 23-year-old had a career-best 15 goals this season and even chipped in with a pair of points in three postseason outings.  However, playing time remained hard to come by as he averaged just 12 minutes a night of ice time and it’s clear he’d like a shot at a bigger role elsewhere.  Robertson is a pending restricted free agent owed a qualifying offer of just under $919K.  However, he’s also arbitration-eligible which could push his price tag closer to the $1.5MM range.  If Toronto isn’t willing to pay that price, Robertson could get his wish for a change of scenery in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • While Lane Hutson will be eligible for a contract extension this summer, Arpon Basu of The Athletic posits (subscription link) that this file might not get done right away. The Canadiens have tried to keep their core players signing below captain Nick Suzuki’s $7.875MM but Hutson’s rookie year, his comparable players, plus the big increases coming in the salary cap will make that difficult.  It’s possible Montreal opts for a shorter-term pact to keep the AAV lower but it could also make sense to see what happens next year and decide from there.  Hutson, a Calder Trophy finalist, had six goals and 60 assists in 82 games this season.
  • After moving on from his team in Switzerland to become a free agent, it looked like there was a chance that Aleksi Heponiemi could be returning to the Panthers. However, that’s not the case as he recently inked a two-year deal with HV71 in the SHL, per a team release.  The 26-year-old has 25 career NHL games with Florida under his belt but after being primarily in the minors in North America, he headed overseas two years ago.  This past season with EHC Biel-Bienne, Heponiemi had 18 points in 37 games.  Florida will retain his rights as a restricted free agent through next summer.

Aleksi Heponiemi Signs In Sweden

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While Aleksi Heponiemi remains on the Panthers’ reserve list until next offseason, it doesn’t appear he’ll entertain an NHL return before then. The 26-year-old center signed a two-year deal with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League today, per a team announcement, essentially confirming Florida will lose his signing rights on July 1, 2026.

Heponiemi, a 2017 second-round pick, once checked out as one of the organization’s top prospects. The Finnish native was named the WHL’s Rookie of the Year in his draft year after posting 86 points in 72 games and took things to another level in 2017-18, leading the league with 90 assists in just 57 games while adding 28 goals for 118 points. But he didn’t immediately join the Panthers’ pro ranks after that, instead opting to return home with Kärpät in the top-division Liiga for 2018-19. He continued to impress there, logging 46 points in 50 games, finally receiving an entry-level contract from Florida at the end of the year.

Upon his arrival in the North American professional ranks, Heponiemi’s development and production cratered. He managed only 14 points in 49 AHL games in his first pro season stateside and managed only six points in 25 NHL games over the following three years. Upon becoming an RFA in 2023, the Panthers still issued Heponiemi a qualifying offer to retain his signing rights, but he was obviously unhappy with his trajectory in the organization and opted to return to Europe instead.

Heponiemi has spent the last two years with EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss National League. He’s been serviceable there but not as dominant as he would have hoped. The 5’10” pivot posted a 13-22–35 scoring line in 59 appearances since his arrival, and while Biel-Bienne signed him to a three-year extension last summer, they recently mutually terminated that contract.

He’ll now look to rediscover his game in Sweden, but with his production still yet to rebound to its ceiling, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him not add to his NHL resume down the line. A major resurgence with HV71 could put him on the international free agency radar in 2027, though.

Robert Hagg Signs In SHL

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May 29: Hagg is indeed heading to Brynas on a one-year deal, per a team announcement.

May 17: After seeing very limited NHL action this season, pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Robert Hagg is heading home.  The blueliner confirmed to Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom that he will be playing in the SHL next season; SportBladet’s Hans Abrahamsson adds that Hagg is expected to sign a one-year deal with Brynas.

The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Golden Knights last summer but he once again spent the bulk of the season in the minors with AHL Henderson where he had six goals and 21 assists in 54 games, his best offensive showing at that level.  However, his improved play didn’t give Hagg much of an opportunity with Vegas as he suited up just twice with them in late November.

Having cleared waivers for two straight years now while then spending the bulk of those campaigns in the AHL, the writing is clearly on the wall for Hagg.  He’s now viewed as more of a depth defender than someone that can be counted on to be a regular contributor in the NHL.  Accordingly, at this stage of his career, heading back home makes a lot of sense.

If this winds up being the end of the road for Hagg in North America, he’ll finish up with 345 career NHL appearances over parts of nine seasons across six organizations although more than two-thirds of those outings were with the Flyers.  Overall, Hagg has 63 points, 532 blocks, and 1,017 hits at the top level while logging 16:28 per game on average.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins Coaching, Roest, Kuokkanen

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The Pittsburgh Penguins’ coaching search continues to headline news out of the Metropolitan Division, as the squad seeks out their first change at head coach in the last decade. Their final rounds of interviews have led to two candidates emerging above the rest – Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love, and former Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Love has been behind the Capitals’ bench for the last two seasons, after spending the two years prior serving as the head coach of Calgary’s AHL squad. Love worked in the WHL and Canada’s U17 and U18 squads for the better half of the 2010’s. He supported Team Canada’s Gold Medal wins at the 2016 U17 World Hockey Championship, 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and 2020 World Junior Championship. He also won the AHL’s ’Coach of the Year’ award in both of his two years in the league – 2021-22 and 2022-23. The past two years in Washington have marked Love’s first in the NHL in any capacity, and a move to head coach would mark a quick reward after he supported Pittsburgh’s rival to a second-round exit this season.

Smith sits as an interesting option opposite of Love. He has spent the last season-and-a-half in an assistant or associate coach role with the Los Angeles Kings, who hired him on the same day that he was fired from the Senators’ head coaching role in 2023. Smith posted a combined 131-154-32 record in just over four years with the Senators. He also has six years of experience as an NHL assistant coach, spread between tenures with the Toronto Maple Leafs and L.A. Kings. He’d be a hotly debated addition, though offers a much hardier pro coaching resume than Love.

Other notes from the Metro Division:

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have parted ways with assistant general manager and AHL general manager Stacy Roest, per Ashley Wenskoski of CNY Central. Roest was a colleague of freshly-hired New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche during their shared time in Tampa Bay, and could be a candidate to join their front office. Roest has been with the Tampa Bay organization since the 2013-14 season, when he joined on as a Director of Player Development and AHL assistant coach. He was promoted to AHL GM in the 2019-20 season. Roest also played in 244 career games in the NHL, split between tenures with the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. He ended his career with nine years in Switzerland’s National League, which allowed him to support Team Canada at six separate Spengler Cups.
  • Former Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils centerman Janne Kuokkanen has extended his tenure overseas. He has signed a four-year contract with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. Kuokkanen played one season with Malmo in 2023-24 – scoring 44 points in 43 games – but opted to move to the National League for this season. He’ll reverse that decision one season later, after netting just 25 points in 35 games with Lausanne HC. Kuokkanen was a second-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft and played in 119 NHL games split between the Hurricanes and Devils. He scored 14 goals and 42 points in those appearances.

Central Notes: Marchessault, Ylonen, Hintz, Blackhawks

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Jonathan Marchessault’s first season in Nashville didn’t exactly go as planned.  Like many Predators who underachieved, his offensive numbers dipped, with his goal total being cut in half from 42 to 21 while his 56 points were his lowest since the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign.  With things not going well this year, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the belief is that the 34-year-old is open to moving on.  He’d be an intriguing addition for teams looking to add some firepower up front but the fact he has four years left on his contract (even at a reasonable $5.5MM price tag) could scare some suitors off, while Marchessault can also partially control his fate with a 15-team no-trade clause.

More from the Central:

  • As expected, Predators pending RFA Jesse Ylonen has officially signed with SHL Djurgarden, per a team release. He was linked to landing a deal in Sweden last week.  The 25-year-old was on Montreal’s roster full-time last season but he played exclusively in the minors this year, splitting time between farm teams in Tampa Bay and Nashville.  Between the two squads, Ylonen put 12 goals and 23 assists in 66 games.  Ylonen has two years of team control remaining but with arbitration eligibility.  Considering the term of this agreement is two years, the likeliest outcome is that the Preds simply non-tender Ylonen next month.
  • After missing Sunday’s game with a leg injury, Stars center Roope Hintz was back in the lineup tonight against Edmonton. He took the place of Evgenii Dadonov who was a healthy scratch.  Hintz entered the night tied for second on Dallas in points with 11 through 15 games after putting up 67 in 76 games during the regular season.
  • The Blackhawks made it official today that Anders Sorensen and Michael Peca will serve as assistants on Jeff Blashill’s staff, moves that were reported last week. Meanwhile, it appears the third and final spot is close to being filled as well as Blashill told reporters today including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link) that they’re close to getting that vacancy filled.  Whoever is hired will be taking the place of Kevin Dean who is not returning next season and will likely be tasked with working with their young defensive group.

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