Rangers Re-Sign Braden Schneider
The Rangers have agreed to terms with one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing that they’ve reached a two-year contract with defenseman Braden Schneider. While financial terms were not disclosed, PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the agreement pays $1.76MM in 2024-25 and $2.64MM in 2025-26 for a $2.2MM AAV. That last number will serve as his qualifying offer in 2026 where he will have salary arbitration eligibility.
The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by New York in 2020, going 19th overall. He has been a full-time NHL regular since partway through his rookie professional season, giving him more than 200 career NHL appearances which is something that can’t be said for many players exiting their entry-level pacts.
However, Schneider has had a very limited role in his first three seasons. Last season, he played in all 82 games, notching 19 points along with 133 blocks and 167 hits. However, his playing time remained below the 16-minute mark, a number he has yet to surpass in those three years. Notably, even as a physical defensive defender, Schneider barely averaged one minute per game in shorthanded situations last season.
Between limited offensive output and what has basically been a permanent spot on the third pairing so far, a bridge contract was the only logical outcome for both sides. Schneider will need to play his way into a top-four opportunity over the next couple of years before he’ll have a chance to command a longer-term, bigger-money agreement.
With this signing, New York now has a little over $5.1MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. The majority of that will be earmarked for their last remaining restricted free agent, defenseman Ryan Lindgren. The 26-year-old filed for salary arbitration earlier this month with a hearing date yet to be set.
Lohud’s Vince Z. Mercogliano reported earlier this week that the two sides were making progress on a bridge agreement. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the terms of the deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Columbus Blue Jackets, Jet Greaves Avoid Arbitration
Saturday: The Blue Jackets have officially announced the contract.
Friday: The Columbus Blue Jackets and goaltender Jet Greaves have avoided arbitration according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reports it will be a two-year contract for Greaves and he will earn $800K on a two-way agreement in 2024-25, and the contract will become a one-way deal in 2025-26 with a salary of $825K.
Greaves was not widely regarded as a top organizational prospect by the Blue Jackets after the team signed him as an undrafted free agent from the OHL’s Barrie Colts in 2022. Greaves split time between Columbus’ AHL and ECHL affiliates during the 2021-22 season where he posted a 12-12-3 record in 29 games for the Cleveland Monsters and a 10-5-0 record in 15 games for the Kalamazoo Wings. Greaves posted similar save percentages between the two leagues but produced a better goals-against average in the AHL with a 2.84 compared to a 3.05 in the ECHL.
Thanks to a quality rookie season in the AHL, Greaves spent the entirety of the 2022-23 season with the Monsters and earned a 19-16-5 record in 43 games while posting a .899 SV% and 3.08 GAA. The young netminder also made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets last year where he stopped 43 of 46 shots against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a loss.
Greaves was once again assigned to the minor leagues out of training camp for the 2023-24 campaign and performed markedly better. In 46 games for Cleveland, Greaves achieved a 30-12-4 record while recording a .910 SV% and 2.93 GAA. In his first trip through the Calder Cup playoffs, Greaves picked up eight wins and a .926 SV% while pushing the eventual champion Hershey Bears to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
He was also given more of a chance with the Blue Jackets this past season as Greaves suited up nine NHL games and recorded a .908% against the likes of the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Carolina Hurricanes. Greaves will easily crack Columbus’ lineup to start the season if the team is willing to carry three goaltenders on the roster. However, with Elvis Merzlikins expected to be the team’s starter with Daniil Tarasov backing him up, there is all indication that Greaves will start with the Monsters to start the 2024-25 campaign.
AHL Signings: 7/12/24
With the major dust settled in NHL free agency, teams’ AHL affiliates are looking to fill out their roster to complement the many two-way additions made around the league so far this summer. Expect many minor-league-only contracts signed as the month progresses. Here are today’s:
- The Springfield Thunderbirds announced they’ve signed veteran defenseman Scott Harrington to a one-year contract. Harrington, 31, has 255 games of NHL experience and last suited up in 2022-23 for the Ducks and Sharks. He spent last season in Switzerland with the ZSC Lions of the National League, where injuries limited him to four assists, 2 PIMs and a +4 rating in 14 games. He’ll look to get back on track in North America and will take part in his eighth AHL season, now with the Blues’ affiliate. In addition to Anaheim and San Jose, Harrington has also spent time in the Blue Jackets, Maple Leafs and Penguins organizations.
- The Milwaukee Admirals have signed forward Kale Howarth to a one-year deal and center Kyle Marino to a two-year pact, per a team announcement. Neither brings NHL experience to the club, which serves as the Predators’ primary affiliate. Howarth, 27, was a 2017 fifth-round pick of the Blue Jackets but wasn’t signed to an entry-level contract upon finishing up his collegiate career at UConn in 2021. He’s spent the last three seasons in the Blackhawks organization on AHL contracts, splitting his time between the Rockford IceHogs and their ECHL affiliate, the Indy Fuel. Injuries cost him a solid chunk of last season, limiting him to 20 total games. He had six points in 50 games with the IceHogs since turning pro. Marino, 29, will fill out an enforcer role and can play defense if necessary as well. The 6’3″, 220-lb aggressor spent last season with the Chicago Wolves, where he had four points and a career-high 114 PIMs in 65 games. Like Howarth, he’s entering his fourth AHL season.
- The Kings organization has added some goalie depth in the form of Dryden McKay, who inked a one-year contract with the Ontario Reign today. The 26-year-old has spent most of the last two seasons with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, the second-tier affiliate of the Maple Leafs, which ceased operations shortly before the end of the 2023-24 campaign. McKay, who was an intriguing addition to the Toronto pipeline after winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey with Minnesota State in 2021-22, has been unimpressive. He posted a .899 SV% and 3.18 GAA with a 27-20-5 record for Newfoundland the past two years. He has two AHL games to his name, both in 2022-23, recording a .885 SV% and 3.38 GAA for the Toronto Marlies.
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed defenseman Mats Lindgren to a one-year deal, the club announced. Lindgren, 20 in August, lands with the Pittsburgh organization after finishing his junior career with the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels. The smooth-skating left-shot defender was drafted 106th overall in 2022 by the Sabres but wasn’t offered an ELC before the June 1 deadline, thus becoming a UFA. He’ll try to work his way up toward earning an NHL deal with Pittsburgh after recording 41 points and a -4 rating in 63 games for Red Deer last season.
Rangers Re-Sign Chad Ruhwedel To Two-Way Deal
The Rangers have signed defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to a one-year contract, the team announced Friday. The right-shot blue liner lands a two-way deal with a $775K cap hit, reports Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today Sports. He’ll earn $400K in the minors with a $450K guarantee, PuckPedia adds.
Ruhwedel, 34, had a challenging season in 2023-24. He made 47 appearances for the Penguins, where he’s suited up since signing as a free agent in 2016, scoring once and adding three assists for four points. While he’s never been relied upon for offense, he’s normally had serviceable possession metrics in a fringe bottom-pairing role. That wasn’t the case last season, though, as his 48.0 CF% and 46.9 xGF% were his worst as a Penguin. With Pittsburgh out of the playoff race, the Rangers picked Ruhwedel up at the trade deadline for some added blue-line insurance in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick. He played in just five regular season games down the stretch and didn’t see any playoff action for the Blueshirts, though.
But Ruhwedel does have a longer track record of serving as an above-average seventh defender, a form New York could be banking on him returning to. Since making his debut for the Sabres back in 2012-13, Ruhwedel has amassed 13 goals, 36 assists, 49 points and a -9 rating in 364 contests while averaging 15:08 per game. He’s historically managed average possession metrics and is a fine two-way talent to deploy in a third-pairing role, although he doesn’t have any upside on special teams.
The Rangers being able to bring Ruhwedel back on a two-way deal is a tad intriguing, considering he hasn’t seen AHL ice since a five-game stint in 2018-19. For now, he still projects to win a roster spot out of camp as an extra defenseman, although his path to regular minutes is disadvantageous with Adam Fox, Braden Schneider and Jacob Trouba ahead of him on their RD depth chart. He’d have a shot at competing with Zachary Jones for a steady third-pairing role if he were a lefty, but that isn’t the case. They have a vacancy there after Erik Gustafsson departed for the Red Wings in free agency.
With parts of 12 NHL seasons under his belt, Ruhwedel would be an attractive claim candidate if he hits waivers in the fall or during the season.
NL’s HC Lugano Signs Radim Zohorna
HC Lugano of the Swiss National League has signed forward Radim Zohorna to a one-year deal, per a team announcement.
Zohorna, 28, has been a fringe NHLer for the past four years, mostly with the Penguins. He made a combined 25 appearances for them in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, 10 appearances split between the Flames and Maple Leafs in 2022-23, and returned to Pittsburgh for a career-high 33 games played in 2023-24. He accumulated 18 points in that total 68-game sample. He reached UFA status last week after wrapping up his one-year, two-way deal with the Pens.
A few years ago, Zohorna was a relative unknown, spending all of his professional career in his native Czechia until the Pens took a swing on the 6’6″, 230-lb forward as an undrafted free agent signing in 2020. In the preceding season with the Extraliga’s BK Mladá Boleslav, Zohorna hit career highs with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 46 games. After beginning his entry-level contract with Pittsburgh back on loan to Mladá Boleslav during COVID, he erupted for 22 points and a +19 rating in just 21 games before the 2020-21 NHL season began in January, at which point he joined AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Pens briefly lost Zohorna for the 2022-23 season after Calgary claimed him on waivers and later traded him to Toronto at the deadline, but he was brought back as a free agent last summer. His AHL results since coming to North America have been strong, posting 32 goals and 92 points in 132 games. But he was never able to convert that appealing blend of size and scoring ability into consistent NHL minutes, serving primarily as a fourth-line fixture during his various call-ups. He only averaged more than 10 minutes per game in a single season once.
He’ll now look for more opportunity in Switzerland, joining a Lugano forward core rife with former NHLers (Mark Arcobello, Daniel Carr, Jiří Sekáč, Calvin Thurkauf). To open up a roster spot for Zohorna, Lugano released undersized forward Arttu Ruotsalainen, who was disappointing with 14 points in 43 games last year. Ruotsalainen’s NHL rights are still held by the Sabres, who signed him as a UDFA in 2019, but he won’t be coming back to Buffalo – he already found a new home on a one-year deal with Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League today.
SHL’s Växjö Lakers Sign Otto Koivula To Two-Year Deal
Finnish forward Otto Koivula is heading back to Scandinavia, inking a two-year deal with Växjö Lakers HC of the Swedish Hockey League last night, per a team release. The longtime Islanders farmhand was a Group VI UFA.
Koivula, 26 in September, didn’t see any NHL ice last season but did make 28 career appearances for the Isles across the 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. A 2016 fourth-round pick, Koivula carried a fair bit of intrigue with his 6’5″, 225-lb frame but never could eke out a full-time NHL role. He tallied four assists and a -1 rating during his time in the show, averaging 8:25 per game and struggling in the faceoff dot (42.8 FO%).
A power forward at heart, Koivula can play both center and wing and has spent most of his time under contract with New York on assignment to AHL Bridgeport. There, he’s been a valuable contributor to a club that’s struggled to have success, only making the playoffs twice in Koivula’s six-year tenure. He made 274 appearances for the Baby Isles, scoring 65 goals and adding 114 assists for 179 points. He tallied 194 PIMs, a -13 rating, and was often among their top scorers. His 30 points last season ranked fourth on the club despite being limited to 47 games.
Koivula last suited up in a European pro league while on loan to Liiga’s HIFK during the pandemic, racking up 11 points in 14 games there in 2020-21. His track record overseas is strong, winning the Liiga’s Rookie of the Year award back in 2016-17 with 10 goals and 30 points in 50 games for Ilves. He’ll be an impact piece for the Lakers, who have won four SHL championships in the past decade and have finished top-five in the league for four years in a row.
His role in Bridgeport will likely be replaced by Fredrik Karlström, who the Isles signed earlier this month after spending the last three years in the Stars organization. He tallied 21 goals and 44 points in 72 games for AHL Texas last season.
Bruins Re-Sign Michael Callahan, Alec Regula To Two-Way Deals
The Bruins announced today that they’ve re-signed defensemen Michael Callahan and Alec Regula to one-year, two-way contracts with $775K cap hits. Regula will earn $215K in the minors, PuckPedia reports. Both were RFAs after receiving qualifying offers last month.
Callahan, 24, has yet to make his NHL debut but solidified himself as a full-timer with AHL Providence in his second full professional season last year. He set career-highs across the board with three goals, 14 assists and 17 points in 70 appearances, posting a -14 rating while serving as an alternate captain.
He has good speed for his 6’2″, 201-lb frame and projected as a defensively sound two-way blue liner. However, it looks like he’ll be more of a stay-at-home type at the pro level, especially if he ever cracks the NHL. That’s far from a given and would be a solid return on the Bruins’ investment – they initially acquired Callahan’s signing rights from the Coyotes for a 2024 seventh-round pick (later traded to the Oilers, used to select D Bauer Berry) as he was wrapping up his collegiate career at Providence in 2022. He was initially a fifth-round pick of Arizona in 2018 out of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.
Meanwhile, Regula returns to Boston still in search of his first NHL games since being acquired from the Blackhawks in last summer’s Taylor Hall trade. The 6’4″ right-shot defenseman turns 24 in August and was dominant on assignment to Providence last season after clearing waivers, leading the AHL with a +36 rating despite only playing in 55 games. He added four goals and 22 assists for 26 points, displaying solid puck-moving ability and reiterating that he likely has a future as an everyday NHLer somewhere down the line.
After such a performance, the Regula clearing waivers next fall isn’t a given. The Sharks took a flier on a similarly cast defender with little to no NHL experience off the waiver wire in Ty Emberson last season, turning him into a full-time NHLer as one of their top matchup options. Their situations aren’t exactly congruent, though. Emberson, who had been playing in the Rangers organization, had no NHL experience at the time of his claim, while Regula has 22 appearances under his belt across parts of three seasons with Chicago, recording a goal and a -5 rating.
Nonetheless, both could return as reinforcements on a Providence blue line that’s looking rather crowded. Boston added some veteran help for their affiliate in the form of UFAs Jordan Oesterle and Billy Sweezey last week.
Jets Sign Dylan Coghlan
July 12: Winnipeg confirmed Coghlan’s deal Friday morning.
July 10: The Jets wasted little time getting their newest defenseman under contract. After acquiring Dylan Coghlan last weekend, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Winnipeg has inked the blueliner to a one-year, two-way deal. The contract will pay $775K in the NHL, $200K in the minors, and contains a guaranteed salary of $250K. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The 26-year-old was expected to be at least a depth option for Carolina last season but instead, he cleared waivers in training camp and spent most of the year with AHL Springfield. With them, Coghlan had a productive year, leading all AHL blueliners with 16 goals while chipping in with 25 helpers, earning himself an All-Star appearance in the process. While the Hurricanes tendered him a qualifying offer last month, they elected to move him for future considerations.
For his career, Coghlan has played in 106 career NHL appearances, most of which came with Vegas before they moved him to Carolina back in 2022. He should have a chance to battle for a depth role on Winnipeg’s roster in training camp but with Ville Heinola now waiver-eligible, the re-signings of Colin Miller and Logan Stanley, and the addition of Haydn Fleury in free agency, there’s a good chance that Coghlan will have to start with AHL Manitoba and try to work his way up from there.
KHL’s Barys Astana Signs Wade Allison
Former Flyers right winger Wade Allison is headed overseas. Barys Astana, the lone Kazakhstan-based club in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, announced today they’ve signed Allison to a one-year deal.
Allison, 26, is coming off a difficult 2023-24 season spent entirely in the minors after landing a full-time job in Philadelphia the year prior. The 2016 second-round pick failed to crack the team out of camp last fall and was placed on waivers, subsequently clearing and heading back to AHL Lehigh Valley, where he spent significant portions of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
The 6’2″, 205-lb power forward had previously put up good offensive production in the minors, tallying 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points in 38 games across his first two professional seasons. That, plus his physical acumen and good skating ability, landed him a job on the Flyers’ roster entering 2022-23, where he managed nine goals, six assists, 15 points and a -3 rating in 60 appearances in his lone full NHL season. He shouldered bottom-six minutes, averaging 12:54 per game, and had a negligible possession impact, with his CF% and xGF% both falling in line roughly with team averages.
They were solid enough contributions for someone who projected as an energy player regardless, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the fold entering last year. The AHL demotion was evidently demoralizing for Allison, who lost his scoring touch and managed only 10 goals and 17 points in 46 games on the farm before being traded to the Predators for Denis Gurianov in a swap of reclamation projects at the trade deadline. Allison didn’t earn a call-up to Nashville after the trade and finished the season with three goals and two assists for five points in 14 games on assignment to their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee.
Since he’d played less than 80 NHL games throughout his career and accumulated enough years of professional service, Allison became eligible for UFA status this summer via a Group VI exemption. Both he and Gurianov failed to stick with their new clubs, and the latter is expected to join him in the KHL next season.
Allison, a Manitoba native, hits pause on his North American professional career with 13 goals, nine assists, 22 points, a -3 rating and 40 PIMs in 75 games across parts of three seasons in Philly. A strong performance with Astana, whose roster for next season boasts former NHLers Nathan Beaulieu and C.J. Smith along with Avalanche center prospect Andrei Buyalsky, could guide him back to the NHL next summer.
Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Sammy Walker
The Minnesota Wild organization has brought back a depth player from the past two years as they announced a one-year contract for forward Samuel Walker. Walker will earn a salary of $775K in the NHL and $125K in the AHL for the 2024-25 season.
Although Walker started as a seventh-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2017 NHL Draft, he decided to forego his entry-level contract with the Lightning to spend the next four years in the NCAA with the University of Minnesota. Walker spent three years as the team captain for the Gophers and helped his team make it as far as the Frozen Four during his tenure with the school. Overall, Walker played in 144 games for the Gophers and scored a total of 48 goals and 112 points.
Walker became a collegiate free agent after his NCAA career ended and he quickly signed on with the Wild organization to a two-year, $1.85MM agreement. Since then, Walker has only played in 13 games for the Wild in the last two years where he has scored one goal and two points.
He has been a solid player in the minor leagues as he’s spent most of his time in the AHL with the Iowa Wild. Over the past two seasons, Walker has suited up in 126 games for AHL Iowa and has scored 41 goals and 93 points. With decent depth on the NHL roster, it may be tough for Walker to challenge for a spot on the opening night roster out of training camp. However, if there are injuries to the NHL-squad, Walker should serve as one of the first call-ups to fill in.