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Blues Sign Adam Jecho, Lukas Fischer To Entry-Level Contracts

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10:56 a.m.: PuckPedia reports the details of Jecho’s and Fischer’s contracts. The former carries a uniform structure of a $775K NHL salary, $97.5K signing bonus, $102.5K games played bonus, and an $85K minors salary across all three years for a cap hit of $872.5K. Fischer’s, meanwhile, carries a cap hit of $932K and breaks down as follows:

Year 1: $775K NHL, $97.5K SB, $102.5K GP bonus, $85K minors
Year 2: $850K NHL, $97.5K SB, $27.5K GP bonus, $85K minors
Year 3: $877.5K NHL, $97.5K SB, $85K minors

9:33 a.m.: The St. Louis Blues have officially signed a pair of players from their 2024 draft class. St. Louis announced they’ve signed forward Adam Jecho and defenseman Lukas Fischer to three-year, entry-level contracts.

Jecho, drafted 95th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, recently wrapped up his second season with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. There wasn’t much of an offensive increase in his year-to-year totals, as Jecho went from a 23-goal, 47-point campaign in 2023-24 to a 25-goal, 53-point season this year. Still, it was a positive confirmation that he has plenty of skill for his frame. Jecho would immediately become one of the tallest forwards in NHL standing at 6’5″, 201 lbs, but he plays with the puck skills of a much smaller athlete.

Meanwhile, Fischer was drafted one round ahead of Jecho at 56th overall. He’s similarly sized, carrying a 6’3, 185 lb frame. The Brighton, MI native finished his third season with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, and his first as captain, scoring 15 goals and 22 assists in 51 games. Fishcer’s assist totals were on pace with his junior-career trajectory, but his 15 goals were a notable improvement from his previous career-high of six.

As the son of former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer, Lukas plays remarkably similar to his father. He’s a physical blue liner, and some penalty troubles come with that. Still, the Blues would likely rather have a young defenseman play in the organization who’s not afraid of the increased physicality that comes with professional hockey.

The Blues didn’t confirm in the announcement whether either player would join their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, for the rest of the season. Still, both players are under 20 years old, meaning they could spend another season with their respective junior programs.

Stars Sign Ayrton Martino To Entry-Level Contract

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March 25: Dallas announced shortly thereafter that they inked Martino to a two-year, entry-level pact beginning next season. PuckPedia reflects his deal will carry a $775K base salary in each season along with up to $57.5K in performance bonuses, an annual $92.5K signing bonus, and an $80K minors salary for a cap hit of $867.5K. He will be a restricted free agent at age 24 in the summer of 2027.

March 24: Stars prospect Ayrton Martino will finish the 2024-25 season in the organization on a tryout with AHL Texas, per the league’s transaction log. The move is likely a precursor to the 2021 third-round pick signing his entry-level contract with Dallas in the coming days.

Martino, 22, is coming off a standout senior season at Clarkson University. The 5’11” left-winger had sniffed a point per game over his three previous collegiate seasons but exploded for 25-26–51 in 39 games this year. That made him one of the 10 finalists for this year’s Hobey Baker Award, and he’s currently tied for fourth in NCAA scoring. Clarkson isn’t in this year’s national tournament, though, so he’ll likely be lapped by a couple of players who are when all is said and done.

In his draft year, Martino was viewed as a bit of a steal when Dallas selected him 73rd overall. Most identified him as an early-to-mid second-round talent after he posted 56 points in 38 games with the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League. Nonetheless, he slipped to the Stars – where he’s now the No. 5 overall prospect and No. 2 forward prospect in a pool that’s taken a huge hit with recent graduations, per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.

He’s nearly a lock to get his ELC with Dallas, and while he should be ticketed for the AHL opening night roster next fall, he could be under consideration for a brief call-up next year if he takes the adjustment to pro hockey in stride. The Toronto native totaled 50-95–145 in 144 games for Clarkson. If not signed by Dallas, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on Aug. 15.

Capitals Sign Jakob Chychrun To Eight-Year Extension

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Jakob Chychrun to an eight-year, $72MM extension ($9MM AAV). An extension between the Capitals and Chychrun has seemingly been in the works for some time, with rumored interest dating back to the beginning of the season.

The deal comes across as a market-setter for upper-echelon defensemen ahead of unrestricted free agency kicking off in a few months, not too dissimilar from how Leon Draisaitl’s eight-year, $112MM extension influenced the market for superstar forwards. Of course, Chychrun would be the top name on that market if he didn’t reach an agreement with Washington. Instead, he gets a deal that gives him much-desired stability while tying him for the tenth-highest-paid defenseman in the league, at least for next season.

Acquired from the Senators last summer in what was Chychrun’s second swap in as many years, the soon-to-be 27-year-old has re-emerged as a top-20 rearguard in the league. He’s seemingly shed the injury-prone label that followed him at the beginning of his career in Arizona, playing in 147 of 152 possible contests since the beginning of last season. After spending the first eight years of his time in the NHL with middling Coyotes and Senators clubs, he’s tracking to make the postseason for the first time aside from Arizona’s appearance in the 2020 bubble – playing a crucial role on the current President’s Trophy favorite.

The Caps’ league-leading offense is something to behold, considering their question marks entering the season about their depth, and a large part of their system success can be attributed to how general manager Chris Patrick retooled their blue line on the fly. Along with signing Matt Roy, acquiring Chychrun gave the Caps another puck mover with historically strong possession impacts to slot into their top four. He’s held up his end of the bargain, ranking third in the league in goals by defensemen with 18 and adding 25 assists for 43 points, second among Washington defenders behind John Carlson’s 46. He’s split the year between pairings with Carlson and Trevor van Riemsdyk, leading to a slight reduction in ice time compared to his career average. His 20:56 ATOI is his lowest mark since the 2018-19 campaign, but that’s a testament to Washington’s blue line depth more than anything else.

Aside from the point totals (his 0.662 points per game are 17th in the league among defensemen), he continues to positively impact the Caps’ ability to keep the puck out of their net. His 52.8 CF% is second among Washington defensemen behind Carlson at even strength, and his +4.6 expected rating is third. While his overall shares are driven more by his offensive production, his raw defensive numbers at 5v5 (26.15 scoring chances against per 60 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick) are still in line with his teammates.

Chychrun will return to D.C. next season along with all five of his regular teammates on defense, barring any trades. As the aging Carlson and van Riemsdyk weigh their future past next season, Washington’s defensemen at No. 2-4 on their depth chart – Chychrun, Roy, and Rasmus Sandin – are all signed through at least 2029. The other piece of the puzzle, Martin Fehérváry, is set to be an RFA in the summer of 2026 in Washington’s last year of team control. The Caps are committing $33.025MM in cap space to their blue line for 2025-26, 34.6% of the $95.5MM upper limit.

Overall, Washington now projects to have $14.125MM in spending money this offseason with six roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. They don’t have any particularly high-cost pending free agents on the active roster, so that should be enough flexibility to retain who they want while making a somewhat impactful add on the open market.

Since the beginning of Chychrun’s breakout 2020-21 campaign in Arizona, when he finished 10th in Norris voting, he ranks 27th in the league among defensemen in points per game (min. 100 games). He has 94-165–259 in 532 career games with Arizona, Ottawa, and Washington.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

PHR’s Josh Erickson contributed significantly to this article.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Luke Haymes

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have again tapped into the collegiate free-agent market. Yesterday evening, the Maple Leafs announced they’ve signed center Luke Haymes to a two-year contract while also announcing he’ll finish the 2024-25 campaign on an amateur tryout agreement with their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

Haymes recently wrapped up a three-year career with Dartmouth College of the NCAA’s ECAC Hockey Conference. He finished his collegiate career with 41 goals and 70 points in 83 games and a -17 rating. Haymes had begun drawing NHL interest last season after his breakout sophomore campaign.

In all fairness to Haymes, his career -17 rating can be inferred as a team statistic rather than an individual one. Dartmouth finished with a record of 5-24-1 in Haymes’s rookie year during the 2022-23 NCAA campaign, finishing last in the conference by a healthy margin. The team finished remarkably better in his sophomore season, finishing fourth in the conference with a 13-10-9 record. The better team finish was evidenced in Haymes’s stat line, scoring 18 goals and 18 assists in 31 games with a +2 rating.

Dartmouth continued to improve this season, finishing with an 18-13-2 record. Unfortunately, Haymes lost a few games due to injury, finishing the year with 12 goals and 18 points in 22 games. The Big Green made another ECAC Hockey tournament push but failed to reach beyond the semifinals for another consecutive season.

Haymes can play in meaningful hockey once he plays his first contest with the Marlies. The team is poised for playoff positioning in the AHL’s North Division with a 32-20-3-6 record through 61 contests. They’ll have a competitive battle with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters for third place in the division over the last handful of games in the regular season.

Ottawa Senators Reassign Stephen Halliday

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Mar. 25: Halliday’s first call-up was short-lived, as the Senators announced they’ve reassigned him to AHL Belleville. The roster move indirectly confirms that Tkachuk should be in the Senators’ lineup tonight when they match up against the Buffalo Sabres.

Mar. 24: The Senators announced they’ve recalled center Stephen Halliday from AHL Belleville. It would be his NHL debut if he enters the lineup tomorrow against the Sabres. That’s a distinct possibility as captain Brady Tkachuk was absent from today’s practice, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports, after logging only 13:23 of ice time against the Devils on Saturday.

It’s been a huge year for Halliday, who the Sens selected in the fourth round (No. 104 overall) in the 2022 draft. Selected after being passed over in the 2020 and 2021 drafts, the 6’4″, 212-lb pivot headed to Ohio State immediately following his selection after four years in the United States Hockey League. The big, playmaking pivot averaged nearly a point per game across two seasons for the Buckeyes, posting 19-58–77 in 78 appearances and finishing as a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award in 2023-24. Ottawa signed him to his entry-level contract last March, paving the way for him to jump to the pros.

Here in 2024-25, Halliday has flourished in Belleville. After impressing with nine points in seven Calder Cup Playoff games to end last season, he leads the B-Sens in scoring with 15-28–43 in 59 games. He has some work to do defensively; his -19 rating is the worst on the team by a significant margin. It’s nonetheless an impressive step for the 22-year-old, who’s tied for fifth in AHL rookie scoring.

That impressive offensive performance will, at the very least, get him his first appearance on an NHL roster, even if he doesn’t play. If he does, the left-shot forward could slot in on the wing instead of down the middle with Tkachuk absent. The captain has seen his minutes managed carefully since returning from the lower-body injury he sustained at the 4 Nations Face-Off, only seeing more than 19 minutes in a game twice this month. He’s clearly still nursing the injury, so with a five-point cushion on a playoff spot with 13 games to go, they may opt to give him some rest against a Buffalo squad that’s slated to finish last in the conference.

Halliday still has another year left on his ELC, which carries a $950K cap hit. Ottawa has just $130K in cap space after the recall, even while using Nick Cousins’ LTIR placement to stay compliant. The Sens, who haven’t been carrying an extra forward for a while now, will presumably send Halliday back to Belleville once Tkachuk is ready to play again.

Rangers Recall Nicolas Aubé-Kubel

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Per a team announcement, the Rangers have recalled winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel from AHL Hartford. He could make his Blueshirts debut tomorrow against the Kings, but it’s far likelier he’s an extra body for injury insurance on their California road trip.

Aubé-Kubel, 28, was acquired from the Sabres in the trade that sent defenseman Erik Brännström to Buffalo before the deadline. After being waived by the Sabres on Jan. 27 and subsequently reassigned to the minors, he’s posted a combined 5-4–9 scoring line in 15 games between the two organizations’ AHL affiliates this year, including one goal in three games with Hartford since the swap.

A second-overall pick by the Flyers back in 2014, Aubé-Kubel was an NHL regular on a championship-winning team with the Avalanche three years ago. His stock has tumbled since, though, leading to multiple waiver placements and a handful of AHL stints for the first time since the pandemic.

He was a strong piece on the Capitals’ fourth line last season, posting 6-10–16 in 60 games with a plus-four rating and 159 hits. That landed the grinder a $1.5MM commitment from the Sabres on a one-year deal last summer, but he wasn’t nearly as effective in Buffalo. Injuries limited him to a goal and an assist in 19 games for the Sabres before he landed on waivers.

The 6’0″, 207-lb winger still counts $350K against the cap when he’s in the minors because of his salary checking in above the maximum buriable threshold, so the Rangers only add $1.15MM to their books with the recall. New York now has an active roster of 25 players, including the injured Arthur Kaliyev, who’s done for the year. Aubé-Kubel is a pending unrestricted free agent.

Flames To Sign Owen Say To Entry-Level Contract

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The Flames have signed goaltender Owen Say to a one-year contract worth $872,500 for the 2025-26 campaign. While the team announced it as a two-way deal, it’ll be an entry-level one since his age on Sep. 15 of the calendar year the agreement was signed will be 24.

Say, who turns 24 in June, is an undrafted free-agent pickup out of Notre Dame. He started his collegiate career at Mercyhurst in 2022-23 but transferred to the Fighting Irish for his junior year last summer.

The 6’2″ Canadian has steadily upped his numbers in the NCAA ranks, averaging a .914 SV% and a 3.09 GAA across 69 career appearances for the two schools. He posted a .903 and .913 in his two seasons behind a weak Mercyhurst club before bettering himself with a 2.82 GAA and a .920 SV% in 27 games for Notre Dame. While they finished last in the Big 10, Say had a 10-15-0 record and posted those numbers behind the conference’s worst defense.

Assuming they filed this deal as a standard two-way contract, as they announced it, instead of an entry-level one, the league will likely reject it, and they’ll need to re-file it properly as an ELC. Calgary made the opposite mistake last season when attempting to sign forward Sam Morton out of college – while he was 24 at the time of signing, he turned 25 before Sep. 15. He was thus ineligible for the entry-level contract they attempted to sign him to. The league rejected the deal and had to re-file it as a two-way agreement.

Say will be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026. Calgary now has 24 contracts on the books for next season.

Lightning Sign Cooper Flinton To Entry-Level Deal

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The Lightning have signed left-winger Cooper Flinton to a two-year, entry-level deal beginning next season, according to a team release. The forward just wrapped up his junior season at Dartmouth College. He will finish the season with the Bolts’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse on a tryout agreement.

Flinton, 21, was a seventh-round selection of the Lightning in the 2021 draft but barely played that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent his post-draft season with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League before making the jump to Division I NCAA play with Dartmouth.

The 6’2″, 205-lb winger was more of a power forward in his junior days, but he’s shifted his game to be more scoring-oriented since joining the Big Green. In 2022-23, he made a decent impact as a freshman – ranking fifth on Dartmouth in scoring with 6-9–15 in 27 games. He’s upped that production over the last two years, posting 15-10–25 in 30 games last season and 11-13–24 in 32 games this year. He’s a strong top-six forward on a Dartmouth team coming off an 18-win season, its highest total since 2015-16.

Flinton doesn’t earn mentions in most public rankings of the Bolts’ prospect pool. A recall is certainly possible before his deal runs out at the end of the 2026-27 season, but he’s likely destined to play a full-time role with Syracuse. His performance there will dictate whether he receives a qualifying offer that summer to remain in the Tampa organization. The Bolts now have 28 out of the maximum 50 contracts on their books for next season, per PuckPedia.

Canucks Expected To Activate Thatcher Demko

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The Canucks are expected to reinstate goaltender Thatcher Demko from injured reserve today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on today’s 32 Thoughts podcast. Vancouver plans to start the netminder for tonight’s Hughes bowl against the Devils.

Demko, 29, was a Vezina Trophy nominee for the first time in 2023-24 but sustained a knee injury in Game 1 of the postseason that ended his campaign. The injury, later revealed to be a complex issue with his popliteus muscle, also kept him on the sidelines through the first two months of 2024-25. Upon returning to the lineup, he wasn’t himself – posting a .881 SV% and a 2-1-3 record in seven starts before briefly exiting the lineup again with a back injury. That one only cost him a couple of starts, and he returned a week later. He logged an improved but still underwhelming .899 SV% in 10 appearances leading into the 4 Nations break.

In Vancouver’s final game before the break, Demko left midway through the first period of his start against the Maple Leafs with a lower-body injury and hasn’t played since. While unrelated to his popliteus muscle issues, it kept him off the ice for over a month. He only returned to practice as a full participant yesterday, but Friedman reports he’s been doing “a lot of work behind the scenes” in an attempt to return to play as soon as possible for the stretch run.

Demko’s return could make a considerable impact in the Western Conference wild-card race. Back-to-back losses have slashed Vancouver’s playoff chances to 11.3%, per MoneyPuck, now sitting five points back of the Blues with two games in hand, but the Flames are still ahead of them in the catch-up race. While Demko hasn’t been great this year, his season numbers are better than what Kevin Lankinen has given them since the break. After signing a five-year, $22.5MM extension last month, he’s posted a 5-6-1 record and a .885 SV% in 12 appearances. Fatigue has likely played a factor for Lankinen, who’s started 10 of Vancouver’s 11 games in March. His 44 starts and 46 appearances on the year are already career-highs by a significant margin.

Since we’re past the trade deadline, the Canucks won’t need to make a corresponding move to activate Demko from IR. Nonetheless, they’ll presumably return current backup Arturs Silovs to AHL Abbotsford unless they have a desire to carry three goalies.

Hurricanes Reassign Juha Jaaska

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March 24: Carolina returned Jaaska to Chicago yesterday, according to the AHL’s transactions log. He saw a season-high 12 minutes of ice time on Saturday against the Kings, although it didn’t go particularly well for him – he was a minus-three in a 7-2 loss. He was scratched in yesterday’s win over the Ducks, with captain Jordan Staal returning to the lineup after a one-game absence.

March 22: The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled forward Juha Jaaska from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Jaaska spent just over a month on the NHL roster from early January to early February. He played in the first 17 NHL games of his career on the call-up and recorded four assists, nine penalty minutes, and a plus-three.

This is Jaaska’s first season in North American pros. He’s made good work of it, netting 10 goals and 24 points in 41 games with the Wolves – good for sixth on the team in scoring. Jaaska previously spent the last nine seasons with HIFK Helsinki of the Liiga, Finland’s top pro league. He worked his way up through the HIFK system and slowly climbed his way up their pro roster. Jaaska made his Liiga debut in the 2015-16 season and played through his first full year in 2017-18. He had five points in 26 games as a rookie and grew those numbers to 21 points in 47 games as a sophomore.

Jaaska was typecast as a power-forward early in his pro career, the natural result of a 6’0″, 210-lb frame. But he found a scoring groove over the last two Liiga seasons. He’s scored double-digit goals in each of his last five seasons – now including 10 goals in the AHL – and managed a career-high 37 points in 56 games of the 2022-23 Liiga campaign. Jaaska followed that with 30 points in 57 games last year. Those numbers, and his ability to reach the 30-point mark in back-to-back years, was enough to inspire Carolina to sign him to a one-year, $850K contract this summer. Now, Jaaska will get yet another chance at hardy NHL minutes after posting five points in his last five AHL games.

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