Blue Jackets Sign Kirill Marchenko To Three Year Deal
The Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed forward Kirill Marchenko to a three-year deal worth a reported $11.55MM (as per team website). The new deal will give the 24-year-old a $3.85MM AAV over the contract’s lifetime and set him up for a nice payday if he blossoms into the player he believes he can become. The former second-round pick in 2018 was set to go to Arbitration later this week on July 31st but will no longer have to travel to Toronto after coming to an agreement.
In his first two NHL seasons, Marchenko has posted 44 goals and 23 assists in 137 games and cemented himself as part of the Blue Jackets young core going forward. His back-to-back 20+ goal seasons put him in rare company in Blue Jackets franchise history as Marchenko became just the second Columbus player ever to record two 20-goal seasons to begin their NHL career.
Marchenko’s rise to regular NHLer happened rather quickly after he started the 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League with the Blue Jackets affiliate the Cleveland Monsters. He tallied 19 points in 16 games and followed it up making his NHL debut in early December 2022. After his call-up, Marchenko went on a tear, setting a Blue Jackets record for most goals by a rookie with 21 in just 59 games.
This past year was a difficult season for the Blue Jackets, but Marchenko established himself by setting career highs in goals with 23 and assists with 19 while dressing in 78 games.
With a three-year deal in his back pocket, Marchenko and the Blue Jackets can turn their focus to next season and take the next steps in their progression. Marchenko has the skill and size to become an NHL power forward, but he will need to show he can produce better results against tougher competition if he wants to become a perennial 30-goal scorer in the NHL.
Blue Jackets Re-Sign Kent Johnson
The Blue Jackets have re-signed one of their remaining free agents, announcing today that they’ve inked forward Kent Johnson to a three-year contract. The deal will carry an AAV of $1.8MM per season. GM Don Waddell released the following statement:
Kent Johnson is an exciting young player with tremendous upside, and we are happy that he will continue to grow and develop as a Blue Jacket. He is just beginning to scratch the surface of what he can be as a player, and we believe he will be a very important part of our hockey club moving forward.
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal will pay Johnson $1.6MM next season, $1.8MM in 2025-26, and $2MM in 2026-27. That $2MM figure will be his required qualifying offer at that time when he will have two years of club control remaining along with salary arbitration eligibility.
The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by Columbus back in 2021, going fifth overall following a very strong freshman year at Michigan that saw him record just over a point per game. Johnson was even better the following season, notching 37 points in 32 contests, convincing Blue Jackets management that he was ready to turn pro.
Johnson signed late in the 2021-22 campaign, burning the first year of his contract in the process. He got into nine games with them, recording three assists, a respectable total for someone just making the jump. He then followed that up with a 16-goal, 40-point effort in 2022-23, making him a popular breakout candidate heading into last season.
Unfortunately for both Johnson and the Blue Jackets, last year was a rough one. After a slow start, he was demoted to AHL Cleveland where he spent the better part of a month. Johnson was quite productive in that stretch, notching five goals and ten assists in ten games, earning a recall in late November. However, production was still hard to come by and he wound up finishing the year with just six goals and ten assists in 42 NHL appearances before a shoulder injury at the end of February ended his year prematurely.
As a result, a bridge agreement made the most sense for both sides as Johnson now has time to prove that last year was an aberration and not a sign of things to come. He has a new head coach in Dean Evason, giving him a fresh start after struggling under Pascal Vincent last year.
Columbus still has some work to do on the contract front this summer. Winger Kirill Marchenko‘s arbitration hearing is scheduled for Wednesday with pre-hearing filings due on Monday if a deal isn’t in place by then. Meanwhile, Cole Sillinger, picked seven spots after Johnson in 2021, is also a restricted free agent in need of a new contract. Cap space won’t be an issue in these negotiations as they still have more than $15MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ondrej Kase Re-Signs In Czech League
Back in May, free agent winger Ondrej Kase was said to be generating NHL interest after a strong season back home in Czechia. However, a deal at the top level didn’t materialize so instead, he has elected to re-sign a one-year deal with HC Litvinov, per a team release.
The 28-year-old had some success in the NHL early in his career, notching 57 goals and 67 assists in 258 games over parts of seven seasons. However, concussion troubles repeatedly set Kase back to the point where he missed nearly the entire 2022-23 campaign aside from just over 11 minutes of ice time in Carolina’s season opener.
Needing a reset, Kase decided to return home last season and joined Litvinov alongside his brother David Kase. The move proved to be a strong one. Not only did Kase stay healthy but he also led his team in scoring with 23 goals and 31 assists in 48 games. His 54 points were enough to put him in third place league-wide in that department.
That landed Kase a spot on the Czechs’ entry at the World Championship back in May. Kase played a prominent role for the hosts, picking up seven points in ten games along the way to a gold medal.
With the year he had, it wasn’t surprising to see his name pop up among potential international free agents looking to get back to the NHL. But in the end, he cited family reasons as a factor in deciding to stay at home for at least one more year. If he can have another showing like his 2023-24 performance, there’s a very good chance he’ll be back on the NHL radar next spring as well.
Minor Transactions: 7/26/24
Beyond the odd re-signing, it has been quiet on the transactions front in recent days across the NHL. However, there have been a handful of smaller moves with some NHL ties. We’ll run the ones not already covered elsewhere here.
- Former NHLer Tomas Jurco is on the move again as KHL Kunlun announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the winger to a one-year deal. Jurco played in 221 career NHL games between four different teams, tallying 22 goals and 31 assists. The 31-year-old split last season between Switzerland and Russia and does have a history with Kunlun having spent the 2022-23 campaign with them where he set the franchise record for points per game average after recording 25 points in 32 contests with them.
- Washington’s farm team in Hershey announced that they’ve signed forward Erik Mittendorf to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old split last season between AHL Utica and ECHL Adirondack. With the Comets, Mittendorf picked up nine points in 24 games in his first taste of action at that level. He was much more productive with the Thunder, however, tallying 18 goals and 14 assists in 36 games while tacking on six points in a dozen playoff contests.
- The Henderson Silver Knights, affiliate of Vegas, announced a pair of recent moves. First, they re-signed blueliner Brandon Hickey to a one-year deal. The 28-year-old will return for his third season with Henderson after he picked up eight points in 35 games in 2023-24. They also re-upped forward Jett Jones on a one-year agreement. The 21-year-old played his first professional campaign last season after spending parts of five years in the WHL. Jones picked up five points in 31 games with the Silver Knights and added six more in 36 contests with ECHL Savannah.
Steven Kampfer Signs In KHL
After spending the last two seasons exclusively in the minors, veteran free agent Steven Kampfer has decided to go back overseas. Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL announced that they’ve reached an agreement with the defenseman for the upcoming season.
The 35-year-old is a veteran of 15 professional seasons, getting into 231 NHL games over parts of nine years. The bulk of those contests came with Boston who acquired him from Anaheim back in 2010; he wound up with two separate stints with them, bookmarking his time at the top level. All told, Kampfer has 15 goals and 24 assists along with 305 blocks and 328 hits in just under 16 minutes per game at the NHL level.
Kampfer has spent the bulk of his professional career in the minors, however, spending parts of 11 seasons in the AHL, spanning 370 games. 45 of those came last season with Tucson where he was fairly productive offensively, collecting 22 points.
But with his last NHL appearance coming back in the 2020-21 campaign, Kampfer has decided that his best bet is to return to Russia where he spent the 2021-22 season with Ak Bars Kazan. With them, he logged nearly 21 minutes a game while collecting 30 points in 45 appearances and returning to the KHL might give him a chance at playing a bigger role than he was in Arizona’s system as a veteran mentor.
Jets Re-Sign Simon Lundmark To Two-Way Deal
The Jets have re-signed defense prospect Simon Lundmark to a one-year, two-way deal, per a team release. It’s an NHL salary and cap hit of $775K, although his AHL salary wasn’t disclosed by the team. However, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press relays that Lundmark will make $100K in the minors.
The 51st pick of the 2019 draft, Lundmark spent all three seasons of his entry-level contract on assignment to AHL Manitoba. He became an RFA this summer after the Jets tendered him a qualifying offer.
Before signing his ELC in 2021, Lundmark spent two post-draft seasons with Linköping HC in his native Sweden. There, the right-shot defender scored twice and added 14 assists for 16 points in 118 games with a -20 rating before making the move across the pond.
Lundmark put up good offensive totals at the junior level in Sweden, but he was always projected as more of a stay-at-home defender in the professional ranks. That profile has held true on the farm, where he’s consistently averaged around 0.25 points per game across his three AHL seasons. In total, Lundmark has put up 48 points (12 goals, 36 assists) with a -17 rating in 188 games with Manitoba.
He’s still likely developed a bit slower than expected. Five years post-draft, the Jets would have at least liked Lundmark to earn an NHL recall at some point, even if he’d yet to establish himself as a full-timer.
That hasn’t been the case for the 23-year-old Stockholm native, but it could change next season with his new contract in hand. The loss of Brenden Dillon on the open market and the buyout of Nate Schmidt will open up some increased opportunities for the Jets’ young defenders, namely 2019 first-round pick Ville Heinola. But Lundmark, who was selected 31 spots after Heinola that year, should find himself in that conversation as well.
The youngsters will be competing with more experienced adds Dylan Coghlan and Haydn Fleury, who both signed two-way deals with Winnipeg this summer, for call-ups from Manitoba. Heinola, who’s logged 35 NHL appearances but spent all of last season in the minors, may be on the opening night roster this fall.
Sharks Re-Sign Thomas Bordeleau To Two-Way Deal
July 26: The Sharks officially announced a one-year, two-way deal for Bordeleau today.
July 25: The San Jose Sharks are reportedly close on a one-year contract with forward Thomas Bordeleau, per PuckPedia and Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. The contract carries a cap hit of $874K, matching Bordeleau’s qualifying offer.
This marks Bordeleau’s second pro contract after spending his three-year entry-level contract bouncing between the AHL and NHL lineup. He made his professional debut following the end of the University of Michigan’s 2021-22 campaign, ultimately earning eight games in the Sharks lineup. He posted a productive five assists in the performances, and carried the strong scoring through his AHL rookie season in 2022-23, with 41 points in 65 games.
That production was enough to earn Bordeleau more consistent NHL ice time this season, though he struggled to do much with the opportunity, netting just 11 points in 27 games. The lull warranted a demotion to the minors, where Bordeleau added 25 points in 35 games. Still, it was a down year – as Bordeleau clearly struggled to adapt his high-tempo, high-skill style to a Sharks team under constant pressure.
San Jose is hoping to be much more competitive next season, adding star prospects Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith on top of naming Ryan Warsofsky their new head coach. That much turnover should give Bordeleau a renewed chance to plant his flag in the Sharks lineup, though he’ll need to take big steps physically to stand out on what’s bound to be a very young Sharks roster.
Evening Notes: Perunovich, Condors, Savoie
St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich seems set up for a make-or-break season after spending the first three years of his pro career dealing with what seemed like neverending injuries. Forced absences have held Perunovich to just 73 appearances, and 23 assists through his entry-level contract. But despite what’s seemed like years of bad luck in St. Louis, Perunovich shared with Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that he wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. He said, “I want to succeed in the league, but the team I want to succeed with the most is St. Louis… They drafted me. Every other team looked over me and they’ve always had confidence in me. This is where I want to succeed, and I’ve never not thought that for a second.”
Perunovich explained how he’s changing his approach after a hardy year with the Blues lineup, adding that he’s hoping to think less and shoot more. Those certainly seem like timely changes as Perunovich approaches his 75th NHL game, still searching for his first career goal. And while goal-scoring has never been Perunovich’s forte, he did flash much more offensive upside in college, where he seemed much more confident in skating the puck across the red line and joining the offensive rush. He’s been much more pass-first at the professional level, though he’s improved his poise in sitting with the puck and waiting for opportunities to open up.
A strong start to the year could quickly earn Perunovich top-pair minutes, with Torey Krug facing injury and little competition coming from Nick Leddy or Pierre-Olivier Joseph. That could give Perunovich the groundwork for a breakout season, though he’ll need to first win out the battle for ice time.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- The AHL’s Bakersfield Condors have hired Adam Krug as an assistant coach and Kelly Guard as a goaltending coach. Krug has spent the last decade coaching the NCAA D-III Men’s team at Adrian College, having previously captained Adrian during two seasons of his own playing career. Krug took the team to unprecedented heights, including their first D-III championship in 2022 and a second-place finish in 2023. Adrian has developed into a powerhouse of D-III hockey and a major supporter of collegiate club hockey as a whole, with their ACHA D-II team winning a championship in 2021 and also finishing second in 2023. Meanwhile, Kelly Guard moves to Bakersfield after spending 12 years as the goalie coach of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. He’s overseen some impressive goalie seasons in that span – including Ian Scott’s .932 save percentage in 49 games of the 2018-19 season. He’ll look to carry that momentum into the pro level while Krug adjusts to a big jump in competition as Bakersfield makes two interesting, potentially high-impact hires.
- Former Oilers forward prospect Carter Savoie is heading overseas on a one-year contract with Liiga’s TPS, per a team announcement. Savoie, 22, didn’t receive a qualifying offer from Edmonton upon the expiration of his entry-level contract last month. The older brother of new Oilers prospect Matthew Savoie, whom they acquired via trade from the Sabres after non-tendering Carter, recorded 18 goals and 33 points in 109 games with AHL Bakersfield in parts of the last three seasons but never received an NHL call-up. Edmonton selected him 100th overall in the 2020 draft.
Penguins Sign Brayden Yager To Entry-Level Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed 2023 first-round pick Brayden Yager to his entry-level contract. Contract details have not yet been released. This move will likely turn Yager pro after a successful four-year career with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He was one of many offensive stars on the Warriors lineup, flanked by players like Jagger Firkus, Denton Mateychyuk, and, this season, Matthew Savoie. Moose Jaw vindicated such a talented lineup with a WHL championship this year, though they fell to third place in the 2024 Memorial Cup. Yager was a crucial piece all year long, tallying 35 goals and 95 points across 57 regular season games, and 27 points in 20 playoff games.
The season was a fantastic encore to Yager’s draft-year performance in 2022-23, when he managed 78 points in 67 games on a, relatively, weaker Moose Jaw lineup. He showed all of the makings of a top prospect, and even earned top-10 and top-five hype from some public sources. He earned the attention with some fantastic playmaking abilities, showing a special ability to orchestrate play even at top speeds. But a lanky six-foot, 170-pound frame had some teams apprehensive come draft day, ultimately pushing Yager to 14th overall.
Only four players selected above Yager have made their NHL debuts – Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli, and Zach Benson – and they’ve each quickly carved out lineup roles. Yager will have the chance to do the same in Pittsburgh’s training camp, and could even wind up an X-factor for an aging Penguins core. But he seems more likely set for a trip to the AHL first, where he could join Moose Jaw teammate Atley Calvert, as well as Tristan Broz and Owen Pickering, as a top prospect fighting for minutes.
Flyers Sign Travis Konecny To Eight-Year Extension
1:19 p.m.: Konecny’s contract has a full no-move clause through 2030-31, reports The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz. His move protection drops to a modified no-trade clause in the final two years of the deal.
12:00 p.m.: The Flyers have signed top-line winger Travis Konecny to an eight-year, $70MM contract extension, the team announced. Teammate Travis Sanheim hinted at the news a few minutes before the announcement (X link).
The deal, which carries a cap hit of $8.75MM, will begin in the 2025-26 season and keep him under contract in Philly through 2032-33. It’s a significant raise from his previous $5.5MM cap hit.
It’s the most lucrative deal in Flyers franchise history, beating out the 12-year, $69MM pact they gave Mike Richards in 2008. The commitment demonstrated here to the 27-year-old, who’s coming off a strong season in 2023-24, is massive.
Konecny scored a career-high 68 points in 76 games, fueled by 33 goals and 35 assists, while averaging 19:50 per game. Per usual, he was an even-strength monster, posting 52 of those 68 points at 5-on-5, 4-on-4 or 3-on-3. His six shorthanded goals last season also led the league, and the 5’10”, 192-lb winger ranked eighth on the team with 90 hits.
It wasn’t technically his best season offensively, though. That came the year before when Konecny notched 31 goals and 61 points despite injuries limiting him to 60 games. That worked out to 1.02 points per game compared to last season’s 0.89.
Konecny was entering a contract year in 2024-25, and there was a wide belief the pending UFA may end up as trade bait with the Flyers still in the throes of a rebuild. But last season quelled most fears about his year-to-year offensive consistency while also reiterating he can be an effective penalty-killer, a role he only took on when John Tortorella took over behind the bench in 2022. He’s had strong relative possession impacts on the PK, too, painting a picture of a better all-around player than most would consider him to be.
Back in May, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz expected Timo Meier‘s eight-year, $70.4MM extension with the Devils to serve as a solid comparable in negotiations. Evolving-Hockey also projected a max-term extension for Konecny to carry a cap hit in the $8.8MM neighborhood. While there may be some early sticker shock on this rich of a deal, this shouldn’t be viewed as an overpay on his market value.
Beginning next season, Konecny will carry the highest cap hit on the Flyers’ roster. That honor currently belongs to captain Sean Couturier, who costs $7.75MM against the cap through 2030.
Konecny will make $7MM in actual cash in 2024-25 before his extension kicks in as part of his existing contract, which awards him a $4MM base salary and $3MM signing bonus in its final year. This is the second significant long-term deal for Konecny, who inked a six-year, $33MM pact in 2019.
It’s the fourth max-term extension handed out since the league calendar flipped to 2024-25, joining Predators goalie Juuse Saros, Canadiens rising star Juraj Slafkovsky and Hurricanes stalwart defender Jaccob Slavin. Konecny’s is the richest of them all, beating out Saros’ $61.92MM total value.
Accordingly, it’s the most consequential move of the Flyers’ offseason, although getting 2023 seventh-overall pick Matvei Michkov inked to his entry-level contract and brought over to North America sooner than expected is a close second. Michkov will likely slot in behind Konecny on the Flyers’ right-wing depth chart come opening night.
With the extension, the Flyers have already racked up a projected cap hit of $73.55MM for 2025-26 with a roster size of 18, per PuckPedia. The salary cap is projected to jump to around $92MM after increasing to $88MM this season, which would still leave them with around $18.5MM in space. That’ll be important with young building blocks Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Morgan Frost and Cameron York all due for new deals.
Since being drafted 24th overall by Philadelphia in 2015, Konecny has racked up 174 goals, 226 assists and 400 points in 564 career games with a -26 rating.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.