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Islanders Sign Maxim Tsyplakov To Two-Year Deal

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The Islanders have avoided an arbitration hearing with restricted free agent winger Maxim Tsyplakov and signed him to a two-year, $4.5MM contract, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Tsyplakov’s hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, so the settlement comes with four days to spare. Of the seven players who made it to mid-July without having their arbitration cases settled, two of them have now agreed to new deals. The Kraken reached a three-year, $13.575MM deal with Kaapo Kakko, whose hearing was initially scheduled for today, last Tuesday.

The situation surrounding Tsyplakov was rare in that he was eligible for arbitration immediately after his rookie season. That’s rarely the case, but since he signed his first NHL contract last summer at the age of 25, he only needed one season’s worth of 10 games of professional experience to qualify.

In the end, they avoid a hearing and reach a resolution to reward Tsyplakov, who was viewed as the top international free agent on last summer’s market, following a rookie season that saw the Russian forward adjust well to North American ice. There were questions about his offensive ceiling, considering his previous KHL track record – he’d never scored more than 10 goals in a pro season before his 31-goal, 47-point breakout for Spartak Moscow in 2023-24 – but he mainly put those to bed in his first season on the Island.

Tsyplakov obviously didn’t reproduce his KHL numbers, but he settled in well as a valuable middle-six checking winger. His 10-25–35 scoring line in 77 games ranked eighth on the team in point production, and there’s likely room for improvement moving forward after he only shot 8.6% in 2024-25. Tsyplakov also ranked fifth on the team in hits with 140 while averaging 14:58 per game, 1:31 of which came on the power play. He didn’t see any penalty kill usage but provided good possession impacts at even strength with a 51.6 CF%, 2.8% better than how the team fared without him on the ice.

Since his underlying numbers suggest replicable offensive production, a $2.25MM cap hit seems like good value for Tsyplakov’s services, even if he sees his minutes reduced slightly with the free agent signings of Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov, another KHL pickup, likely pushing him down the depth chart somewhat. The Islanders now have $1.625MM in projected cap space this season with a full roster, according to PuckPedia.

The deal walks Tsyplakov, who turns 27 in September, to unrestricted free agency in 2027.

Image courtesy of Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images.

Morning Notes: Berard, Nabokov, Kärki

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Rangers winger Brett Berard played through most of his rookie season with a labrum tear, he told Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

He sustained the shoulder injury back in November in what was just his fourth career NHL game, but it wasn’t significant enough to keep him out of game action through the remainder of the regular season. While he was initially named to the United States’ roster for the 2025 World Championship on the heels of his first taste of NHL hockey, he ended up pulling out to fully rehab the injury as he aims to crack New York’s opening night roster for the first time in the fall.

“Just kind of lingered all year, wore a brace all year,” Berard said. “It was good to kind of get that situated. It feels good, it feels strong. So just trying to get it all better, but we feel a lot better now.”

Berard, who turns 23 in September, scored six goals and 10 points in 35 appearances for the Rangers last season while averaging 10:43 per game. The 2020 fifth-round pick will likely build on that deployment this season, as the Blueshirts’ roster turnover over the last few months means there are a couple of top-nine spots for the taking, one of which he’ll hope to grab. The diminutive but high-energy lefty also scored 23 points in 30 games for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack last season.

More from around the league:

  • Avalanche goaltending prospect Ilya Nabokov has officially put pen to paper on a one-year deal to keep him in Russia for 2025-26 with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the league announced. Nabokov signed his entry-level contract with Colorado in May, but it was quickly reported that the Avs planned to loan him back to Metallurg for the upcoming season. While he was initially draft-eligible in 2021, he was finally selected in the second round in 2024 on the heels of a dominant postseason for Metallurg that earned him a Gagarin Cup championship, playoff MVP honors, and the KHL’s Rookie of the Year award. He’ll likely compete for the No. 2 job behind Mackenzie Blackwood when he comes to North America in 2026-27.
  • Golden Knights defense prospect Arttu Kärki is on the move in his native Finland, with HIFK announcing they’ve signed him to a two-year contract. Vegas selected Kärki in the third round of the 2023 draft but hasn’t yet signed him; they have until June 1, 2027, to do so before they lose his rights. The 20-year-old lefty got his first taste of professional hockey last season and split the campaign between Tappara and Ässät in Finland’s top league, recording 14 points and a -11 rating in 43 games. The shot-minded rearguard will look for more offensive success as he remains in Liiga with HIFK.

Hurricanes Sign Jackson Blake To Eight-Year Extension

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The Hurricanes announced Thursday night that they’ve signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45MM extension that will kick in for the 2026-27. While that would normally mean an average annual value and cap hit of $5.625MM, the actual cap hit of the contract will fall in the $5.1MM range due to deferred compensation, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The contract buys out the extent of Blake’s RFA eligibility and will make him a UFA following the 2033-34 season.

Blake’s stock has been on the rise since immediately after Carolina selected him in the fourth round in 2021. He was a USHL All-Star in his post-draft season with the Chicago Steel before making the jump to NCAA hockey with North Dakota, where he totaled 102 points in 79 games in two seasons – earning a Hobey Baker finalist nod in his sophomore year. He signed his entry-level contract with the Hurricanes in April 2024 and joined them for the brief remainder of the regular season.

In his first full pro season, Blake hit the ground running. He made the Canes out of camp and had five points through his first nine games despite seeing less than 12 minutes of ice time per night. That offense didn’t quite hold up the rest of the way, though.

While he ended up seeing significant deployment alongside Sebastian Aho at even strength, he ended up finishing the year with a 17-17–34 scoring line in 80 games, finishing ninth on the team in scoring and ninth in Calder Trophy voting as the league’s Rookie of the Year. That’s fine production, especially considering he averaged under 14 minutes per game on the year. He’ll need to build on it to justify that cap hit, though, especially with so much risk attached to a max-term deal.

The good news is that Blake has another year left on his entry-level contract to continue his development before he’ll need to start justifying that cap hit. The son of former NHLer Jason Blake turns 22 next month, yet with this deal, he’s guaranteed to surpass his dad’s career earnings.

Carolina has historically opted to sign their young players for as long and as early as possible, a trend that continues here. Sometimes, it’s paid off – their eight-year, $59.4MM commitment to Seth Jarvis last offseason looks like a steal after he put up a repeat 67-point performance in 2024-25. There’s also the glaring example of where that strategy has failed regarding center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, whose $4.82MM cap hit looks more stomachable now with a rising ceiling but is still well above his market value four years into the deal. The jury is still out on newly-acquired Logan Stankoven, who they inked to an eight-year, $48MM extension at the beginning of the month.

Blake’s deal will be one of the last of its kind. It contains two elements – deferred compensation and an eight-year term – that will be outlawed when the new CBA Memorandum of Understanding takes effect on Sep. 15, 2026. If he waited until reaching RFA status next summer to sign, a lengthy negotiation could have lost him that eighth year if the two sides didn’t come to terms until the beginning of training camp.

With the salary cap’s Upper Limit projected to reach $104MM in 2026-27, the Hurricanes have around $16MM in projected space with Blake’s and Stankoven’s deals taken care of. While they’re projected to be Carolina’s 11th and 12th highest-paid forwards on their opening night roster this season, they’ll be their fifth and sixth-highest paid forwards in 2026-27.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

KHL Notes: Konyushkov, Kisakov, Timashov

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Canadiens defense prospect Bogdan Konyushkov has signed a one-year extension with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod to keep him in Russia through the 2026-27 season, the league announced. Konyushkov, 22, was a fourth-round pick in 2023 and came to Montreal for development camp a few weeks ago, per Marco D’Amico of RG.

The news gives the intriguing right-shot some extended runway in his development, but it doesn’t necessarily affect Montreal’s ability to sign him at some point since they hold his rights indefinitely. Montreal selected the smooth-skating rearguard two years after he was initially eligible to be drafted after he broke out in a full-time KHL role with Torpedo, and he’s since recorded an 11-59–70 scoring line with a -13 rating in 196 games at Russia’s top level.

Last season did mark something of a step back for Konyushkov, who recorded a career-low 17 points and a minus-five rating. He was assigned to the VHL’s Torpedo-Gorky NN of Russia’s second-tier pro league for their postseason, leading the playoffs in scoring by a defenseman with 13 points in 17 games as he helped them to a championship. Despite his age, his well-rounded game made him Torpedo’s leader in average ice time last year. He’ll now be eligible to come to the Canadiens on June 1, 2027, unless they negotiate an early release with Torpedo.

More from the KHL:

  • Former Sabres prospect Alexander Kisakov has landed a tryout contract with Dynamo Moscow, per a team announcement. Kisakov, 22, was a second-round pick by Buffalo in 2021 but was non-tendered when his entry-level contract expired in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. While the undersized winger displayed a high-ceiling and high-energy offensive game in the Russian junior ranks, he scored just 25 points in 93 games for the AHL’s Rochester Americans over the past three years as he battled injuries.
  • Winger Dmytro Timashov has signed a two-year contract with Admiral Vladivostok, Ronnie Rönnkvist of HockeySverige reports. The Ukrainian-born Swedish national recorded nine points in 45 NHL games for the Maple Leafs, Islanders, and Red Wings across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. He’s been overseas since terminating his contract with New York early in the 2021-22 season. He split last season between the KHL’s HK Sochi and Geneve-Servette HC of Switzerland’s National League, limited to 13 points in 44 games across the two clubs.

Devils Sign Thomas Bordeleau To Two-Way Deal

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The Devils announced Thursday they’ve signed restricted free agent forward Thomas Bordeleau to a two-way deal, which carries a $775K NHL salary and a $100K AHL salary with a $125K guarantee.

New Jersey acquired the rights to the 23-year-old earlier this month from the Sharks, sending depth center Shane Bowers the other way. A 2020 second-round pick, Bordeleau was once one of San Jose’s more promising prospects with a strong body of work over his two seasons at the University of Michigan. However, his development in the minors never took off, while others in the Sharks’ deep pool of young players surpassed him.

Last season was especially trying for the Houston native. He still put up a 14-24–38 scoring line in 59 games for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, but that 0.64 points per game pace was a step back from last year’s, and he only received a one-game NHL call-up after recording 11 points in 27 games for the Sharks in 2023-24.

There’s more of an opening for a young depth center in New Jersey than there was in San Jose, especially with Erik Haula and Curtis Lazar leaving the organization this offseason and no meaningful additions down the middle outside of overseas signing Juho Lammikko. If he can rediscover that previous NHL form he showed in short bursts with the Sharks, there’s an opening – albeit a slim one – for Bordeleau to make the team out of camp.

While undersized, his game has historically been more effective down the middle. If he doesn’t crack the roster, he’ll need to clear waivers to head to AHL Utica – something he’s never had to do before.

With Bordeleau signed, the Devils have 47 of their 50 contract slots filled for 2025-26. The only other unsigned RFA in the organization is star defenseman Luke Hughes, who remains without a deal as New Jersey has $6.9MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.

Dominik Uher Signs With DEL’s Kölner Haie

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According to a team announcement, the DEL’s Kölner Haie have signed veteran forward Dominik Uher to a contract for the 2025-26 season. It’ll be Uher’s eighth consecutive season in the DEL, and his first outside the Fischtown Pinguins organization.

It’s been a decade since Uher had any relevance in North American hockey. The Frydek-Mistek, Czechia native was drafted 144th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2011 NHL Draft after a relatively productive career with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs.

Uher began playing for the Penguins organization during the 2012-13 campaign, scoring four goals and seven points in 53 games for their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He improved considerably the following year, scoring seven goals and 24 points in 68 games with a +9 rating.

Despite a relatively tepid showing with the WBS Penguins from 2015 to 2016, the Penguins called up Uher in late December of the 2014-15 season, allowing him to make his NHL debut. He went scoreless across two games, averaging 6:28 of ice time with a -1 rating.

Uher returned to his native Czechia following the 2015-16 AHL season, signing on with the Extraliga’s HC Sparta Praha. He scored 10 goals and 28 points with a +8 rating in 98 games before transferring to the DEL, where he’s been ever since.

Given that it’s been the longest stay he’s had with a team in his professional career, there’s no doubt why Uher has had the most success in the DEL with the Pinguins. Throughout his seven years with the club, Uher has scored 46 goals and 127 points in 300 games, adding another five goals and nine points in 39 playoff contests.

Daniel Sprong Signs With CSKA Moscow

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July 23: Sprong has signed with CSKA, per a team press release on Wednesday. It’s only a one-year deal.

July 13: Despite putting up two straight seasons of more than 40 points, Daniel Sprong’s free agent market last summer could be described as tepid as best.  Now, coming off a year that saw him spend time with three different organizations and an extended stint in the minors, it’s fair to suggest that his market is even weaker this time around.

With that in mind, it appears that another option could be on the table for the 28-year-old.  Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis reports that Sprong is receiving interest from a pair of KHL teams, CSKA Moscow and Avangard Omsk.

Last season, Sprong started the season in Vancouver after inking a one-year, $975K contract with the Canucks nearly three weeks into free agency last summer.  However, after playing sparingly with them over the first month of the season, Vancouver flipped the winger to Seattle for future considerations.  Considering that his best NHL campaign came back in 2022-23 with the Kraken, the move made sense for Seattle.

Unfortunately for them, he wasn’t able to rediscover that level of success in his second stint with the franchise.  Sprong played in just ten games with them before being placed on waivers in January.  He cleared, spending the next two seasons with AHL Coachella Valley before being flipped to New Jersey at the trade deadline with the Devils looking for some low-cost depth heading into the playoffs.

Sprong played in 11 regular season games with them, bringing his 2024-25 total to 30 but he only managed two goals and five assists in those appearances, including just two helpers with the Devils.  That resulted in Sprong being scratched in four of five postseason contests, a quiet end to a tough year.

Still, Sprong has had some NHL success, tallying 87 goals and 79 assists in 374 games over parts of nine seasons spread across seven different organizations.  He’s someone who at this point profiles as a likely PTO candidate before training camps open up in September with a reasonable chance of landing at least a two-way deal.  But if Sprong’s preference is to get something more guaranteed before then, it looks like he’ll have a chance to get a guaranteed deal in Russia in the coming weeks.

Maxime Lagace Signs In Austria

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Former NHL goaltender Maxime Lagace is joining the Graz 99ers of Austria’s ICEHL, according to a club announcement Wednesday.

Lagace, 32, last appeared in the NHL with the Lightning in the 2021-22 season. He remained in their organization the following season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch before making the move overseas for 2023-24.

The longtime No. 3/4 option has spent the last two years in Sweden with the SHL’s Farjestad BK. He was their starter last season ahead of Ducks prospect Damian Clara but had a tough regular-season performance, posting a .887 SV% and 2.64 GAA in 31 appearances. That was still good for a 17-10-2 record, though, and he was exceptional with a .927 SV% and 1.63 GAA in 11 Champions Hockey League games as Farjestad finished as the runner-up in the continental tournament.

Instead of returning to North America, Lagace will continue being content with playing a starring role in Europe. He’ll be one of the top goaltenders in the less competitive ICEHL, joining a 99ers roster that also contains former NHLers Korbinian Holzer, Kevin Roy, and Josh Currie.

Lagace first stepped into action with the Golden Knights in their inaugural season amid a rash of injuries in their crease, making 16 of his 20 career appearances in the 2017-18 campaign. He struggled with a .867 SV% and 3.92 GAA but still managed a 6-7-1 record with some exceptional goal support. He has a career 8-9-1 record with one shutout and an .870 SV%.

In parts of nine AHL seasons, Lagace also posted a 2.79 GAA, .905 SV%, 13 shutouts, and a 126-68-38 record in 244 appearances. He scored a goalie goal with the Chicago Wolves in the 2018-19 season (video link).

Lightning Sign Ethan Czata To Entry-Level Deal

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The Lightning have signed forward Ethan Czata to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team said in a press release Wednesday. He was a second-round pick, their earliest selection in this year’s draft.

Czata’s deal carries a cap hit of $932K and an average annual value of $975K, according to PuckPedia. The contract, which is slide-eligible twice, has the following breakdown:

Year 1: $775K NHL salary, $97.5K signing bonus, $102.5K games played bonus, $85K minors salary
Year 2: $850K NHL/$97.5K SB/$27.5K GP/$85K AHL
Year 3: $877.5K NHL/$97.5K SB/$0 GP/$85K AHL

Selected No. 56 overall, a pick Tampa acquired from the Kings for winger Tanner Jeannot, Czata has spent the last two seasons with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. The physical center made 68 appearances last season, ranking fourth on the team with 21 goals and 55 points.

Czata has been a key force in helping the IceDogs, who have been among the OHL’s most hapless clubs in recent years due to ownership instability, return to relevance with their first playoff appearance since the pandemic. He also earned a spot on Canada’s roster at the 2025 U-18 World Juniors, posting a goal and four assists in seven games en route to a gold medal.

The 18-year-old  was a virtual second-round lock based on consensus rankings. He’s expected to return to Niagara after attending training camp with the Lightning, triggering an entry-level slide, but a breakout post-draft season could put him in the conversation for a roster spot in 2026-27.

If he’s loaned to the OHL as expected this season, Czata won’t count against the Bolts’ 50-contract limit. That’s crucial as they’re already at 47 deals signed, according to PuckPedia.

John Ludvig Signs In Czechia

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Free agent defenseman John Ludvig has signed with Czech Extraliga club HC Dynamo Pardubice, the team announced Wednesday. It’s a three-year deal, keeping him with the club through 2027-28. It’s the expected result after a report back in May linked Ludvig to the six-time Extraliga champions.

Ludvig, 24, spent last season with the Avalanche after they claimed him off waivers from the Penguins at the beginning of the season. A third-round pick of the Panthers in 2019, Ludvig signed a two-year, two-way deal to remain in the Florida organization in 2023 but never played a game for them under that contract, instead getting claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh during the following training camp.

While Ludvig was a consistent No. 6/7 option for the Pens in 2023-24 when healthy, he didn’t get the same usage in a deeper Colorado depth chart. He made only eight NHL appearances for the Avs after seeing 33 games of action for Pittsburgh the year before, serving as a frequent healthy scratch before landing back on waivers in January. That time, he cleared successfully and spent the remainder of the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

He would have still been under Avalanche control, but they opted not to issue him a qualifying offer last month, making him an unrestricted free agent. He now heads overseas to the club where his father, former Devils and Sabres winger Jan Ludvig, works as a skills coach.

The 6’1″, 214-lb lefty was a strong two-way threat in juniors with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and carries a physical edge, but he’d likely reached his ceiling as an NHL extra – particularly since the pandemic rushed him into pro hockey a year early and robbed him of development time.

Ludvig is a Canadian citizen but was born in Czechia, therefore he doesn’t count as an import signing for Pardubice. He hits pause on his NHL career for now with three goals, four assists, seven points, a -16 rating, 53 PIMs, and a 49.7 CF% in 41 appearances, averaging 12:02 per game when dressed.

He joins a Pardubice roster that boasts over 1,100 games of NHL experience thanks to veteran names like Vladimir Sobotka, Lukas Sedlak, Libor Hajek, and Jakub Zboril. The club has played exclusively in the top Czech or Czechoslovak league since records began, dating back to the 1937-38 campaign, and has made the Extraliga final in back-to-back seasons, losing both times.

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