SHL’s HV71 Signs Tanner Kero
HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League has signed forward Tanner Kero, according to a team release. Kero wasn’t signed to an NHL contract in 2023-24 but did spend the season in the Avalanche organization on an AHL deal with the Colorado Eagles.
Kero is a veteran of five NHL seasons between 2015-16 and 2021-22, playing 134 games and scoring 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points with a +9 rating. Most of that time came on the right wing, but he did log significant time at center in his first couple of campaigns in a depth role for the Blackhawks.
An undrafted free agent signing by Chicago out of Michigan Tech in 2015, Kero has long been a consistent AHL scoring presence but has only challenged for full-time NHL usage on a handful of occasions. After appearing in three straight campaigns with Chicago to begin his professional career, he spent the entire season in the minors after being traded to the Canucks in 2018 and again after signing with the Stars as a free agent in 2019.
But the pandemic yielded some opportunity for Kero, who avoided minor-league assignment entirely in 2020-21 and instead spent the campaign on the NHL roster or the taxi squad. He was extremely serviceable in a fourth-line role for Dallas that year, posting three goals and 10 points in 39 games, outmatched only by his 16-point, 47-game campaign with Chicago in 2016-17. But he struggled to have the same effect the following season, going without a goal and logging just three assists with a -5 rating in 23 games. That’s the last we’ve likely seen of Kero in the NHL.
Kero will now test international waters for the first time in his career with the Jönköping-based HV71, who narrowly avoided relegation to HockeyAllsvenskan last season after finishing 13th in the SHL with a 13-30-5-4 record. His 106 goals and 274 points in 402 career AHL games suggest he should have success in Sweden in a middle-six role. It’s a one-year deal, so an exceptionally strong showing for Kero, who turns 32 later this month, could lead to an NHL return.
Utah Signs Jaxson Stauber To Two-Way Deal
The Utah Hockey Club has signed goaltender Jaxson Stauber to a two-way contract, per a team announcement. He’ll participate in Utah’s first-ever training camp after being non-tendered by the Blackhawks last week.
Stauber’s NHL résumé consists of six games with Chicago in the 2022-23 season. He spent all of last year on assignment to AHL Rockford, where he had a .902 SV%, 2.85 GAA, two shutouts and an 18-8-3 record in 31 games.
An undrafted free agent signing by the Hawks out of Providence College in 2022, the 25-year-old Stauber has been largely solid since turning pro but didn’t have much of a future in Chicago with the younger, higher-ceiling trio of Drew Commesso, Adam Gajan and Arvid Söderblom also in the mix. He fared well in his limited NHL stint with the Hawks, posting a 5-1-0 record with a .911 SV% and 2.81 GAA.
Utah already has their NHL goaltending tandem set with Connor Ingram and Karel Vejmelka. That means Stauber is likely destined for waivers during training camp en route to beginning the season with AHL Tucson, where he’ll split duties with Matt Villalta, who’s signed through 2025-26.
They also have 21-year-old UDFA signing Anson Thornton under contract, but injuries limited him to just 13 combined AHL and ECHL games last season, and he didn’t perform well at either level. He needs more seasoning, and Utah will find a home for him in the low-level minors. Stauber thus serves as a one-year bridge with Villalta until Thornton or one of their high-end goalie prospects, Michael Hrabal and Rasmus Korhonen, sign their ELCs.
Detroit Red Wings Sign Tory Dello
The Detroit Red Wings organization has made an addition to their AHL affiliate as the team announced a one-year, two-way contract with defenseman Tory Dello. It will mark the first time in Dello’s short career that he has signed with an NHL franchise.
After a lengthy stay with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, the Lakewood, IL native committed to the University of Notre Dame where he would spend the next four years. During his time in South Bend, Dello scored seven goals and 40 points in 154 games for the Fighting Irish and amassed 133 PIMs in the process. Dello signed an AHL contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins once his playing days in Notre Dame ended.
Dello’s time in the AHL has been very similar to his time in the NCAA as he’s rarely seen on the scoresheet outside his time in the penalty box. Going into his sixth professional season, Dello has played 188 games split between the Griffins, Laval Rocket, and Chicago Wolves while collecting 12 goals, 38 points, and 112 PIMs overall.
With the Red Wings looking to graduate some defensive prospects to the NHL level this season, Dello may find a home on the Griffins as the team’s sixth or seventh defenseman. Grand Rapids recently qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season and will be looking to return in this upcoming season. Keeping this in mind, and factoring in the glut of prospects in Detroit’s system, Dello’s playing time may be considerably limited on the life of this contract.
Golden Knights Sign Callahan Burke, Robert Hägg
The Golden Knights have brought in forward Callahan Burke and defenseman Robert Hägg on one-year deals for 2024-25, per their CapFriendly pages. Burke’s is a two-way deal paying him $775K in the NHL and $300K in the minors, while Hägg’s contract is a one-way worth $775K.
Burke, 27, began his professional career as an undrafted free agent signing by the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2020 out of Notre Dame. The Massachusetts native worked his way up the organizational ladder, playing a season and a half for the Eagles before earning an entry-level deal from the Avalanche in December of 2021. He remained with the Avs on two-way deals for the next few seasons, eventually making his NHL debut over a two-game stint early in the 2022-23 campaign.
The Avs traded Burke to the Hurricanes just after this past season began, but without a full-time AHL affiliate in 2023-24, Carolina loaned him back to the Eagles for the entirety of the year aside from a one-game call-up in October. He didn’t register a point in his three combined NHL showings over the past two seasons, posting a -1 rating while averaging 8:14 per game. The 5’10”, 183-lb forward is coming off a decent season with the Eagles, tying his career-high of 16 goals and 39 points in 57 games.
He provides some veteran experience for AHL Henderson, where he’s likely destined for should he clear waivers during training camp.
Despite being signed to a one-way deal, a similar fate likely belies Hägg, who played just five games with the Ducks last season and spent nearly all of the campaign on assignment to AHL San Diego. Now 29, the Swede is a decent call-up option with nearly 350 games of NHL experience. He could provide some decent competition for Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak for an extra defense spot out of camp, but the latter signing a two-year, one-way deal earlier this week indicates Vegas is likely ready to give the 23-year-old more consistent big-league minutes.
Hägg was a second-round pick of the Flyers in 2013, suiting up in 236 games for them over five seasons before being traded to the Sabres in 2021. Since then, he’s played spot duty on the Panthers’ and Red Wings’ blue lines as well as Anaheim’s.
Islanders Sign Marc Gatcomb, Fredrik Karlström
The Islanders have signed depth forwards Marc Gatcomb and Fredrik Karlström to one-year deals. Gatcomb’s is a two-way pact worth $775K in the NHL and $125K in the AHL, per PuckPedia. PuckPedia also reported Karlström’s signing as a one-way pact yesterday, but CapFriendly has his deal as a two-way worth $775K in the NHL and $250K in the minors.
It’s the first NHL contract for Gatcomb, who turns 25 later this month. That makes him slightly too old for an entry-level contract, so this is a standard two-way deal. After finishing up a four-year stint at UConn in 2022, he’s spent the last two seasons on AHL contracts with the Canucks’ affiliate in Abbotsford, where he’s totaled 12 goals, 16 assists and 28 points in 112 games. Most of that offense came this past season, recording nine goals and 20 points in 61 games.
Gatcomb’s development has been a slow climb since his freshman year at UConn in 2018-19 when he scored just one goal in 31 games. Now an everyday fixture at the second-highest level in the North American pyramid, he’ll look to take another step forward this season after he’s presumably assigned to AHL Bridgeport during training camp.
Karlström, meanwhile, does have some NHL experience to his name. The third-round pick of the Stars in 2016 made eight appearances during brief call-ups for Dallas in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, posting one assist and a +3 rating while averaging 8:18 per night. Since coming to North America three years ago, he’s spent nearly all of his time on assignment to AHL Texas, where he compiled 47 goals and 99 points in 184 games. He played in all 72 regular-season games for Texas last year and produced a career-high 21 goals and 44 points, along with a +14 rating.
He’s the more likely of the pair to see an NHL call-up this season, but both are likely slated for Bridgeport to open the campaign.
Capitals Re-Sign Alex Limoges To Two-Way Deal
The Capitals are bringing back one of their top minor league scorers for another season, as they’ve re-signed forward Alex Limoges to a two-way deal, according to a team announcement. He’ll earn a $300K salary while in the AHL and cost $775K against the cap if on the NHL roster.
Limoges, 27 in September, has yet to make his NHL debut but has been one of the AHL’s more consistent scorers over the past few seasons. After finishing his collegiate career at Penn State during the pandemic, the undrafted Virginia native spent two seasons on AHL contracts with the Ducks’ affiliate in San Diego before landing an entry-level deal with the Jets in 2022. He spent the entire season on assignment to AHL Manitoba, though, and didn’t receive a qualifying offer the following summer, paving the way for him to sign a two-way deal contract with the Capitals last offseason.
The 6’1″, 201-lb forward has averaged around 0.80 points per game throughout his minor-league career, a number he climbed slightly north of this season. On assignment to AHL Hershey for the entirety of the season, Limoges finished second on the team in scoring with 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) in 62 games with a +17 rating. He added 13 points in 20 playoff games as he helped guide Hershey to its second straight Calder Cup championship.
Limoges’ likelihood of receiving an NHL recall dwindles as he ages, but he’s likely still among the Caps’ top five or six options to bring up from the minors if injuries strike. His new deal represents a decent raise from last season’s $235K AHL salary. While he was an RFA this summer, he’ll age out by the end of 2024-25 and will be a UFA upon expiry.
Sharks Sign Carl Grundström To Two-Year Deal
The Sharks have signed left winger Carl Grundström to a two-year, $3.6MM contract, per a team release. The team also officially announced a two-year deal for Ty Dellandrea, as reported earlier Thursday. Grundström’s deal will carry a $1.8MM cap hit until expiry in 2026.
Grundström spent the 2023-24 season with the Kings, where he’d spent his entire NHL career to date after being acquired from the Maple Leafs as part of the Jake Muzzin trade in 2019. The 26-year-old winger was limited to 50 appearances last season by injury, posting eight goals and four assists for 12 points.
The 2016 second-round pick was a solid fourth-line checking winger from the moment he entered the league five years ago, and little has changed since. In 236 career showings in L.A., the Swede had provided solid depth offense with 40 goals and 67 points while recording 564 hits. He’s stayed mostly disciplined despite his physical play, never tallying more than 26 PIMs in a single season.
With the Kings looking to shore up their defensive depth, they dealt Grundström’s signing rights to their NorCal rival in exchange for stay-at-home defender Kyle Burroughs last week. It took a few days, but San Jose now has him under contract, avoiding a potential arbitration hearing. It’s a $500K raise annually over Grundström’s previous deal. He’ll compete for ice time with other grinders like Klim Kostin and Luke Kunin in San Jose’s bottom six.
Sharks Sign Ty Dellandrea To Two-Year Deal
The Sharks have signed right winger Ty Dellandrea to a two-year, $2.6MM deal, according to PuckPedia. He’ll cost $1.3MM against the cap in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Dellandrea, 24 later this month, has 151 games of NHL experience, all of those coming with the Stars over the past four years. An RFA this summer, the Sharks acquired his signing rights from Dallas for a 2025 fourth-round pick on June 19.
The 2018 13th overall pick looked like he had locked down a full-time NHL role after playing in all 82 games for Dallas in 2022-23, but he fell out of favor in the most recent campaign. In that 2022-23 season, Dellandrea scored nine goals with 19 assists for 28 points with a +9 rating. He was deployed in fourth-line minutes at even strength but was an important part of the Stars’ penalty kill, averaging just over two minutes per game there to bring his nightly average to 14:12.
But in 2023-24, he played just 42 games for Dallas, posting nine points and a -10 rating. He spent the whole season on the NHL roster but sat for about half of it as a healthy scratch, including a nearly three-week stretch in January. He averaged 12:40 per game on the year, still seeing significant usage shorthanded when dressed, but his even-strength minutes were reduced by a decent margin.
Time is slowly running out for Dellandrea, who scored 70 points in 47 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds in his final season of junior hockey, to develop offensively. The Sharks still likely see upside in Dellandrea as a potential future third-line fixture with a solid two-way game, especially considering his strong showing in his one full season in the minors (50 points in 68 games with AHL Texas in 2021-22). They can be patient with his development, too – he won’t be UFA-eligible until 2028.
The Sharks have been focused on adding some more NHL-experienced talent to protect their developing forward prospects in recent weeks. They claimed forward Barclay Goodrow off waivers, signed Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg in free agency, and brought in depth winger Carl Grundström in a trade with the Kings, although he’s still an RFA in need of a deal. That’s likely GM Mike Grier‘s next order of business after getting one done for Dellandrea today.
Nikita Zaitsev Signs With KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg
July 4: Khayrullin’s report has come to fruition. It’s a four-year deal for Zaitsev with SKA, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports.
May 20: It has been a fairly steep fall from grace for defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. A few years ago, he was logging over 20 minutes a night but he has since been included as salary cap ballast in a trade twice and had a very limited role this season with the Blackhawks. Instead of seeing what might await him in free agency, it appears he has decided to head home as Sport-Express’ Arthur Khayrullin reports that Zaitsev is expected to sign a multi-year deal (a minimum of three years) with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The 32-year-old came to North America back in 2016 and made an immediate impact with Toronto, recording 36 points, 136 blocks, and 176 hits in 72 games while averaging more than 22 minutes per game, an impressive first year. That earned him a seven-year, $31.5MM extension one year later and the Maple Leafs thought they had a core piece locked up for the long haul.
Unfortunately for them, it didn’t work out that way. Zaitsev didn’t reach the 20-point mark let alone getting back to 36 over those seven seasons. While he still logged some big minutes after being traded to Ottawa, his role eventually dwindled and eventually, the team parted with a pair of draft picks (a 2023 second-rounder and a 2026 fourth-rounder) to get Chicago to take the remaining year and a bit off their hands.
This season, Zaitsev found himself a healthy scratch on quite a few occasions while also missing time due to illness, an upper-body injury, and a knee issue that kept him out for 19 games. As a result, he made a career-low 38 appearances, notching just seven points, 70 hits, and 69 blocks in a little under 16 minutes per contest, all career-lows as well.
With Chicago having several young defensemen on the cusp of pushing for full-time NHL duty, they weren’t going to bring Zaitsev back. While it’s possible he could have had some interest in a depth role on an NHL roster, it looks like he’ll opt for the security of a multi-year agreement back home. Assuming a contract gets finalized, Zaitsev will depart the NHL with 118 points in 482 career appearances, a pretty good career overall for an undrafted player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hurricanes Sign Jack Roslovic
July 4: It’s a one-year, $2.8MM deal for Roslovic, the Canes confirmed Thursday morning.
July 3: The Carolina Hurricanes are making strides in repairing their forward core as several players recently left the team on the free-agent market. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the organization will be signing forward Jack Roslovic although no financial terms of the deal have been confirmed.
The Columbus, OH native was originally brought to the NHL after being selected with the 25th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Winnipeg Jets organization. Roslovic spent one year at the Miami University (Ohio) before turning professional for the 2016-17 season. Roslovic broke into the organization with 13 goals and 48 points in 65 games as a rookie for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
After another impressive start to the season in the AHL, Roslovic became a full-time member of the Jets partway through the 2017-18 season. Over 180 games in Winnipeg, Roslovic scored 26 goals and 67 points while playing in a middle-six role before the team moved his signing rights to his hometown Columbus Blue Jackets in the deal that brought Pierre-Luc Dubois to Winnipeg.
Moving into a second-line role with the Blue Jackets, Roslovic experienced the most productivity in his career up to this point. In three and a half seasons for the Blue Jackets, Roslovic scored 51 goals and 146 points in 206 regular season games. The team failed to make the playoffs throughout his entire tenure in Columbus and decided to part ways with him this past year by shipping him to the New York Rangers in exchange for a conditional fourth-round selection in 2026.
Returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs after four years, Roslovic provided solid play for the Rangers as the team ended their season in the Eastern Conference Finals. While averaging 13:51 of ice time over 16 games, Roslovic scored two goals and eight points during New York’s postseason run. Due to the major loss of talent in Carolina over the last several days, Roslovic should find a spot in the team’s middle-six on the reported contract.