Penguins Sign Luke Richardson To PTO
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed goaltender Luke Richardson to a professional try-out agreement, per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Rorabaugh points out that Kain Tisi – the current goalie coach of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – coached him during his time with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Richardson, 25, is five years removed from his years in Kitchener, since spending three years at Queens University, signing with the AHL’s Belleville Senators at the tail-end of the 2022-23 season. That made last year Richardson’s first full pro season, though he only managed to slot into 12 games for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits. However, he won in seven of those appearances, while saving 298 of the 320 shots he faced (.931). That’s a strong way to start a career and continues Richardson’s reliability from college. He posted a combined .922 save percentage through 62 games and three seasons, per HockeyDB.
Richardson will now look to truly sink his teeth into a pro career under his former coach. He’ll step into a crowded Penguins goaltending room – joining Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov, Taylor Gauthier, and Filip Larsson in the fight for AHL ice time. Winning out minutes over that bunch could be difficult, though even a full season as the ECHL backup could provide Richardson with an uptick in games. He’s stood tall in his pro appearances so far and may even end up a surprise of training camp if he stays locked in.
Flames Sign Cole Schwindt And Ilya Solovyov
The Calgary Flames have signed their last two pending RFAs ahead of training camp, agreeing to a one-year, two-way contract with forward Cole Schwindt, and a two-year, hybrid contract with defenseman Ilya Solovyov. Schwindt will carry an $800K cap hit at the NHL level. Solovyov will earn a league-minimum $775K salary at the NHL level, while his deal will be two-way in year one and one-way in year two. Schwindt’s deal was first reported by Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960, while Solovyov’s contract was announced by agent Dan Milstein.
Schwindt has spent the last four seasons clawing his way up minor-league depth charts, beginning his career with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch in the shortened 2020-21 season. He scored two points in 10 games in his first year – production that paled in comparison to the 40 points he’d score in 72 games with the Charlotte Checkers in the following year. That hot scoring boosted Schwindt to Charlotte’s top line and ultimately earned him the first three games of his NHL career when the Florida Panthers faced injury. He failed to score in those appearances but flashed enough to be included in the infamous Matthew Tkachuk trade a few months later – joining Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, and a draft pick in being moved to the Calgary Flames.
That deal moved Schwindt to the Calgary Wranglers lineup, where he took some time to find his footing, scoring just 32 points in 70 games in 2022-23. He improved on that a bit this year, climbing back to 36 points in 66 games and once again earning NHL ice time – though he again failed to score through four outings.
Schwindt seems set to return to his role of top minor-leaguer next season, looking to continue to improve his scoring. If he does, the 23-year-old winger could be a favorite depth fill-in as Calgary pushes through the 2024-25 campaign with a much younger lineup than last season.
Solovyov has been in a similar spot to Schwindt, fighting up the minor-league lineup, though he’s spent the entirety of his three-year pro career in the Flames organization. He moved to the AHL in 2021-22, recording just eight points in 51 games as a rookie. Solovyov boosted that production to 18 points in 68 games in the following year. That seems to be more in line with his routine scoring, vindicated by his 15 points in 51 games this year, which was enough to earn Solovyov his first 10 NHL games in the middle of the year. He recorded three assists and four penalty minutes in those outings, looking fairly stout on a Flames defense in need of help.
While Schwindt will need to work his way up to the NHL fringe, Solovyov will jump straight into a competition for minutes with peers like Joel Hanley, Kevin Bahl, and Jake Bean. Each member of that trio carries more NHL experience than Solovyov, but his deal featuring a one-way year could be a strong indication of his lineup upside.
Predators To Sign Lucas Johansen To PTO
Defenseman Lucas Johansen will join the Nashville Predators in training camp on a professional tryout agreement as reported by Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game. The younger brother of former Predator Ryan Johansen has spent the better part of the last decade with the Washington Capitals organization.
Johansen was previously thought to be one of the better two-way defensive prospects in the Capitals pipeline after being selected by the organization with the 28th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft. He came from a Kelowna Rockets program in the WHL that became known for churning out quality defensive prospects. Johansen got off to a quick start with the Capitals’ organization in the 2017-18 season scoring six goals and 27 points in 74 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Injuries quickly began to pile up for the young defenseman who only mustered 59 games for the Bears from 2018-2021. The injury concerns negatively impacted his value as a prospect as Washington pivoted to other options on the blue line. Johansen only managed to skate in six games for the Capitals from 2021-24 with only two points to show. There is little to no chance of Johansen cracking Nashville’s blue line for the upcoming season out of camp. Still, he could prove valuable with the organization’s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee.
The Admirals have been one of the AHL’s best regular season teams over the last few years finishing third or higher in the Central Division in seven out of the previous eight seasons. The team has failed to deliver in the playoffs despite the regular season success losing the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back campaigns against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Johansen may be the missing piece to finally get the Admirals over the hump, however, as he recently won back-to-back Calder Cup championships with Hershey.
Nashville Predators Re-Sign Philip Tomasino
The Nashville Predators have signed their final remaining restricted free agent one day before the team is set to participate in their first on-ice session of training camp. According to a team announcement, Nashville has agreed to a one-year, $825K contract with forward Philip Tomasino.
It’s been a difficult few years for the former 24th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. Tomasino became a full-time member of the Predators’ roster relatively quickly after securing a point-per-game season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves in 2020-21.
He was a promising depth scorer for the Predators during his rookie season in 2021-22, with 11 goals and 32 points in 76 games while averaging 11:32 minutes of ice time per night. Tomasino’s versatility up front allowed Nashville to move him from his natural position at center, which took some pressure off the young forward. He finished seventh on the team in scoring and was looking for more responsibility in his sophomore season.
In a somewhat confusing decision by the Predators, Tomasino did not make the team out of training camp for the 2022-23 NHL season and wasn’t recalled until February 13th of that year. He was nearly a point-per-game player with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, with 12 goals and 32 points in 38 contests, but he received little interest in Nashville despite the team struggling on offense. Tomasino finished the 2022-23 regular season with five goals and 18 points in 31 games averaging nearly four minutes more ice time than his rookie year.
Despite the Predators becoming one of the league’s better offensive teams under new head coach Andrew Brunette; Tomasino’s output plummeted. He scored seven goals and 20 points through 41 games for Nashville while posting 11 goals and 18 points in 21 games with Milwaukee. In early May, Brunette publicly called out Tomasino when he said, “If he continues to have the skill without the work, I don’t think he has a chance to play with us next year“.
One would reasonably assume from that quote that Tomasino has an outside chance of making Nashville’s roster this season unless his work ethic has dramatically improved. The team had a busy offseason and has expectations for the Stanley Cup playoffs this year so they are not in a position to have any slack on offense. It may be much of the same for Tomasino by starting the year in Milwaukee and trying to force Nashville’s hand on a call-up.
Blues Sign Six Players To Tryouts
The Blues signed forwards Nikita Alexandrov, Sam Bitten, Matthew Peca, defenseman Scott Harrington, and goaltender David Tendeck to professional tryouts, general manager Doug Armstrong announced Wednesday. Undrafted forward Jake Gudelj will also be in Blues camp on an amateur tryout.
Extending a PTO to Alexandrov allows him to participate in training camp despite still being a restricted free agent. The 24-year-old remains unsigned after appearing in 23 games for St. Louis last season, recording two assists and a -4 rating while averaging 8:32 per game.
A second-round pick of the Blues back in 2019, Alexandrov completed his entry-level contract in 2023-24. He’s grown into an elite offensive presence in the minors, recording 45 points in 48 games with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds over the past two seasons, but hasn’t climbed past a fourth-line role at the NHL level.
Bitten, Harrington, and Peca already have contracts in hand with the Thunderbirds for this season, so their PTOs simply allow the Blues to give them a look in an NHL environment and further posit whether to extend two-way offers to them as the season progresses. Bitten has no NHL experience, but the latter two vets have combined for 338 appearances at the game’s highest level.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Tendeck will look to land likely an AHL contract with Springfield or an ECHL contract with the Blues’ second-tier affiliate, the Florida Everblades. The former Coyotes draft pick ended a tumultuous 2023-24 campaign with the Everblades, logging a .972 SV% and 0.99 GAA in three appearances after being a sub-.900 netminder in the ECHL since the beginning of 2022-23.
Gudelj, 18, was draft-eligible for the first time last summer but already has three seasons of junior hockey under his belt. Injuries limited the forward to 16 games last season with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, posting three goals and four assists. He’ll look to capture an entry-level contract with the Blues to turn pro within their system in 2025.
Oilers Sign Mike Hoffman To PTO
The Oilers have signed forward Mike Hoffman to a professional tryout, the team said Wednesday.
Hoffman, 34, will look to get his feet back under him in Edmonton after a trying 2023-24 campaign. Entering the final season of a three-year, $13.5MM deal he signed with the Canadiens in 2021, Montreal moved him to the Sharks in August as part of the massive three-team trade that sent Erik Karlsson to the Penguins.
In San Jose, Hoffman had his worst season since establishing himself as a full-time NHLer with the Senators in the 2014-15 campaign. Making 66 appearances, his 10 goals, 13 assists, 23 points, 71 shots on goal, and 13:44 ATOI were all his lowest in a full NHL season.
Hoffman was once a prolific top-six scoring winger, hitting the 20-goal mark in six straight seasons with the Sens and Panthers from 2014-15 to 2019-20. But his production dipped once the pandemic hit, and he hasn’t recorded more than 20 goals or 40 points in a season since.
He does bring 228 goals, 487 points, and 745 games of NHL experience to Oilers camp, though. He may be a higher-upside bottom-six option on the wing than Mattias Janmark or Vasily Podkolzin, but for a team already ripe with veteran scoring wingers, Hoffman will need to prove he’s more than just a redundancy for players like UFA additions Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner in order to earn a contract.
The Oilers have $945K in projected cap space with one open roster spot, per PuckPedia. They also have depth defenseman Travis Dermott in camp on a PTO, so one tryout being successful likely precludes the other one from resulting in a deal.
Cal Foote Signs In Slovakia
Former NHL defenseman Cal Foote has signed a one-year deal with HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia, the team announced Wednesday on Instagram. Foote is one of five ex-NHLers facing sexual assault charges in London, Ontario, stemming from an alleged 2018 assault perpetrated by members of the Canadian men’s national junior team.
Among the group, Foote is the third player to sign a contract to play professionally overseas for 2024-25, joining Dillon Dubé and Michael McLeod. Former Flyers netminder Carter Hart remains unsigned, while ex-Senators winger Alex Formenton has retired and is now working in construction, a court filing indicated.
The judge overseeing the case, London Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas, recently granted an application from the lawyers for the accused to skip the pretrial legal arguments for “compelling economic reasons” (via Kate Dubinski of CBC News). Foote and Hart weren’t signed at the time, but Thomas said his lawyer indicated “indicated that their training must continue at a high level if they are to have some hope of continuing as professional hockey players.”
Foote, 25, spent part of last season in the Devils organization before being charged in January and taking a leave of absence from the team. He struggled in minor-league action, posting nine points and a -14 rating in 24 contests for the AHL’s Utica Comets. The 2017 first-round pick of the Lightning also had an assist and a +3 rating in four NHL contests with New Jersey.
Stars Re-Sign Thomas Harley
With their salary cap situation making it hard for a long-term deal to be an option, the Stars unsurprisingly have opted for a bridge agreement with defenseman Thomas Harley. The team announced that they’ve inked the blueliner to a two-year, $8MM contract. GM Jim Nill released the following statement:
Thomas is one of the league’s top young defensemen. His performance last season was a testament to the way that he has worked on and off the ice to become a better player. We are looking forward to his continued growth and helping anchor our blueline for many years to come.
PuckPedia reports that the deal will pay Harley $3.5MM this season and $4.5MM in 2025-26. The latter number will represent his qualifying offer and he will also be arbitration-eligible at that time.
Harley’s performance last season was certainly worthy of the praise from his GM. The 23-year-old only has one full NHL season under his belt – 2023-24 – but it was a very strong one which saw him record 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games while averaging just over 21 minutes a night. Harley was quieter offensively in the playoffs (four assists in 19 appearances) but still logged heavy minutes, averaging nearly 24 minutes per contest, second only to Miro Heiskanen. His goal total put him in a tie for eighth-most among all NHL rearguards.
While the 2019 first-round pick (18th overall) had a more limited track record compared to some more established young blueliners, Harley’s play last season could realistically have put a long-term agreement past $7MM per season on a max-term deal. But to give him that would have necessitated some cost-cutting now, something that Dallas as a win-now team wouldn’t have been looking to do.
This is the second notable contract of the day for the Stars’ back end with Esa Lindell inking a five-year extension earlier today. In getting these deals done, Dallas now has their top five defensemen signed through at least the 2025-26 season which will give them a bit of stability on that front.
With the move, the Stars now have their full team signed for the upcoming season. PuckPedia projects them to only have $694K in cap space but that’s with a full-sized roster. If Dallas is willing to carry fewer the maximum number of players and opts to continue the daily shuffling of waiver-exempt players (as they did frequently with Logan Stankoven last season, for example), then they should put themselves in a position to comfortably bank some in-season cap room, barring a rash of injuries, of course.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Transactions: 9/17/24
With training camps starting over the next couple of days, some players are still trying to find a place to play for the upcoming season. We’ll run down the recent minor moves here.
- The Panthers have brought in forward Aidan McDonough on a PTO for training camp, relays David Dwork of The Hockey News (Twitter link). The 24-year-old had a strong college career at Northeastern University and went straight to the NHL after that, getting in six games with Vancouver late in the 2022-23 season. McDonough spent last season with AHL Abbotsford but only managed 11 goals and eight assists in 59 games, resulting in a non-tender back in June.
- Free agent winger Ivan Lodnia will attend training camp with the Sharks on a PTO, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 25-year-old played for new San Jose head coach David Warsofsky back with AHL Chicago in 2021-22. After missing all of 2022-23 with an injury, Lodnia spent last season with ECHL South Carolina, recording 25 points in 30 games.
- The Kraken’s AHL team in Coachella Valley announced the signing of forward Landon McCallum to a one-year deal. The 21-year-old wrapped up his major junior career last season, recording 21 goals and 38 assists in 64 games with OHL Sudbury while adding four points in nine playoff contests.
- While free agent Simon Johansson was hoping to stay in North America this season, that isn’t going to be the case as Ilves in Finland announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a two-year deal. The 25-year-old spent the last two seasons in Minnesota’s system, playing with AHL Iowa. Johansson had a decent showing in 2023-24 with 21 points in 72 games but was non-tendered in June.
Canucks’ Alexander Edler Announces Retirement
The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they’ll sign defenseman Alexander Edler to a one-day contract on October 11th, allowing him to retire in the city he spent 15 seasons in. Edler is a veteran of 1,030 NHL games, spending all but 105 of those in a Canucks jersey.
Edler holds a case as the draft day steal of 2004, originally going in the third round but since totaling the seventh-most NHL games of anyone in the class. He earned a top-pair role in Vancouver as a rookie in 2007, immediately flashing reliable two-way play and modest scoring. He’d become known for his consistency, emerging as one of Vancouver’s most utilized defenders through the bulk of the Sedin era and routinely challenging the 35-point mark. Edler’s career year came in the 2011-12 season, when he tallied 11 goals, 38 assists, and 49 points in 82 games – career-highs in all four stats, and the only time that Edler played in a full season. His 409 points in 925 games with Vancouver both rank as all-time highs among Canucks defenders.
Edler continued playing over 20 minutes a night through his final season in Vancouver in 2021. But the addition of superstar Quinn Hughes challenged Edler’s role, leading him to sign with the Los Angeles Kings, where he’d close his career on a pair of one-year contracts. His scoring took a hit in his final years – falling from a per-game average of 0.44 points in Vancouver (409 points in 925 games) to just 0.29 in Los Angeles (30 points in 105 games). He was one of only a few 2004 draft picks still playing in the NHL last season, joining Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Blake Wheeler, and Alex Goligoski.
The Canucks will honor their longtime top-defender with a pre-game ceremony during their October 11th matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.