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Canucks Sign Tom Willander To Entry-Level Contract

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The Canucks announced they’ve signed Tom Willander, the organization’s top defense prospect, to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. The deal carries a $950K cap hit with an $855K base salary and a $95K signing bonus each year, per PuckPedia.

It’s been a rocky few months for Vancouver and Willander, whom they selected No. 11 overall in the 2023 draft. After a repeat performance of his strong freshman performance at Boston University in his sophomore year in 2024-25, most expected he’d turn pro with the Canucks as soon as BU’s season ended.

That didn’t happen, and reporting quickly indicated a rift in contract talks related to how much they were willing to give Willander in Schedule A performance bonuses. General manager Patrik Allvin even said shortly thereafter that Willander informed them he planned to return to BU for his junior season. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports Willander’s ELC affords him up to $800K in A bonuses each season, short of the $1MM max but above the $475K they entered talks with, Dhaliwal said last month. PuckPedia confirms his deal averages $800K in A bonuses per season – up to $500K in 2025-26, $900K in 2026-27, and the maximum $1MM in 2027-28.

Willander, 20, will now have the chance to make the Canucks’ roster out of camp in the fall. He’ll begin his professional career with AHL Abbotsford if he doesn’t. Signing his contract prohibits him from returning to college, and since he’s a first-round pick, Vancouver doesn’t have to offer the Swede on loan to the Swedish Hockey League team that owns his rights (Rogle BK) before assigning him to the minors.

A 6’1″, 190-lb righty, Willander has good offensive tools but isn’t an all-out point producer. He plays more of a well-rounded game and racked up a +57 rating in 77 games over two years with the Terriers, including six goals and 43 assists for 49 points. He was named to Hockey East’s Second All-Star Team in each of his two collegiate seasons.

Willander has also done well for his country at the last two World Junior Championships, posting eight points and a +12 rating in 14 games. While Sweden didn’t medal at this year’s tournament, he won a silver medal with them last year. He ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Canucks’ system behind winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s most recent team-by-team breakdown. He’ll first be eligible for restricted free agency in 2028.

Antti Raanta Signs In Finland

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Former NHL goaltender Antti Raanta is continuing his career overseas on a one-year deal with Finland’s Lukko, his hometown club, the Liiga club announced today.

Raanta was linked to Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League shortly after his season ended in March, but that didn’t come to fruition. Last year was Raanta’s first overseas in over a decade, ending his 11-year NHL career to sign with Geneve-Servette HC in Switzerland’s National League.

The stint in Switzerland marked somewhat of a bounce-back for the 36-year-old. While injury-prone and rarely capable of carrying a starter’s workload, Raanta always was one of the league’s best goalies statistically throughout his career. Things came crashing down in his final NHL season, though. He posted just a .872 SV% in 24 games for the Hurricanes in 2023-24 and conceded 9.3 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.

With Geneve-Servette, the 6’0″ Finn improved his numbers to a 2.74 GAA, .902 SV%, one shutout, and an 11-10-0 record in 24 games. While not world-beating numbers, they were enough to prove the one-time Jennings Trophy winner can still play in a top-flight European league.

He’ll now get the chance to do so again with Luuko, where he played the entirety of his youth/junior hockey before making his Liiga debut with them in the 2009-10 season. He posted a 2.49 GAA, .915 SV%, three shutouts, and a 12-14-6 record in 35 appearances for the club across three seasons before spending two years as the starter for Assat, where his 2012-13 campaign for the record books earned the undrafted free agent an NHL contract with the Blackhawks for the following season.

Flyers Re-Sign Rodrigo Abols

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The Flyers are keeping depth center Rodrigo Abols around for another season, PuckPedia reports. It’s a one-year, one-way deal with an $800K cap hit.

It’s a significant raise in real cash for Abols, who signed a two-way deal with Philadelphia last summer. The 29-year-old Latvian was a seventh-round pick by the Canucks in 2016 but had spent most of his professional career overseas, a one-year run in the Panthers’ farm system in 2019-20 notwithstanding.

After establishing himself as a quality middle-six center with good defensive instincts in the Swedish Hockey League with Orebro HK and Rogle BK, Abols decided to try North American hockey again in the 2024 offseason. He didn’t make the Flyers’ roster out of camp but got some extended looks in the latter half of the campaign, marking his NHL debut.

The 6’4″, 205-lb center played 22 games for the Flyers, almost exclusively in a fourth-line role. He averaged just 9:11 per game but did manage a pair of goals and three assists. Most of his positive impact was felt in the faceoff circle, where he won 66 of his 113 draws (58.4%). He didn’t have sterling defensive impacts, but things weren’t as bad as his -10 rating in limited action suggested, either. Philadelphia controlled 49% of shot attempts and 46.1% of expected goals with Abolts on the ice at 5-on-5.

Given Abols’ track record of quickly returning to Europe when things didn’t work out stateside, some believed it was likely he’d do so again this summer upon reaching unrestricted free agency. Philly would almost certainly need to give him a one-way commitment to retain him – evidently, that’s what they’ve decided to do. Whether the deal indicates they’ve pencilled him into a fringe roster spot remains to be seen.

If not, Abols was a good producer for AHL Lehigh Valley. He posted a 15-17–32 scoring line in 47 games for the minor-league club.

Dallas Stars Activate Miro Heiskanen From LTIR

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Earlier today, Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News passed along a note from Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, indicating defenseman Miro Heiskanen would return tonight if everything at practice went well this morning. A few hours later, the Stars announced they’d activated Heiskanen from their long-term injured reserve, indirectly confirming he’d be in the lineup against the Winnipeg Jets this evening.

Heiskanen has been out of the lineup since January 28th after suffering a lower-body injury against the Vegas Golden Knights. During the game, after being tripped up by Dallas forward Roope Hintz, Vegas captain Mark Stone collided headfirst with Heiskanen’s knee, necessitating his teammates to help him off the ice.

A few days later, on February 4th, Heiskanen underwent successful knee surgery for the injury. Still, DeBoer expressed optimism that Heiskanen would return before the end of the regular season. Dallas waited a month to place Heiskanen on LTIR, using the salary cap savings to acquire fellow countryman Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes.

Thanks to Rantanen, the Stars survived a hotly contested opening-round matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, defeating their Central Division rivals in seven games without Heiskanen or star forward Jason Robertson. Robertson returned for the Stars in Game 1 of their Round Two series against the Jets, and they’ll have a mostly healthy lineup tonight for the first time this postseason.

Although his offensive output was depressed this year, Heiskanen has been a premier player for the Stars, particularly in the Stanley Cup playoffs. During their run to the Final in the 2019-20 postseason, Heiskanen scored six goals and 26 points in 27 games. Throughout their back-to-back Western Conference Finals runs in 2023 and 2024, Heiskanen scored seven goals and 28 points in 38 contests, averaging 28 minutes of ice time.

Oilers Recall Collin Delia

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With Calvin Pickard remaining unavailable for the Oilers due to an undisclosed injury, they’ve opted to bring up some extra depth.  Per the AHL’s transactions log, they’ve recalled netminder Collin Delia from AHL Bakersfield.

The 30-year-old spent the season with the Condors after signing a one-year, two-way deal last summer, not getting any recalls to Edmonton.  Delia played in 25 games with Bakersfield, putting up a 2.81 GAA and a .905 SV%, a significant improvement on the 3.55 and .872 marks he had with AHL Manitoba last season.

Delia also has 52 career NHL appearances under his belt over parts of five seasons.  The first four of those came with Chicago but his most significant opportunity at the top level came back in 2022-23 with Vancouver when he got into 20 games, posting a 3.28 GAA and a .882 SV%.

Delia is now the fourth goalie up with the Oilers, joining Pickard, Stuart Skinner, and Olivier Rodrigue, who was Delia’s netminding partner with Bakersfield this season.  Delia will likely serve as the emergency third goalie in case of injury until Pickard is cleared to return.

Nicolas Mattinen Signs In Germany

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Defenseman Nicolas Mattinen is heading back to Europe after one year in the Maple Leafs organization. Adler Mannheim of Germany’s DEL announced today they’ve signed him to a one-year deal for 2025-26.

Mattinen, an Ontario native, was a sixth-round pick by the Leafs in 2016. The 6’5″, 216-lb righty didn’t land a deal with Toronto when his time in juniors ended. Instead, he took the college route and spent three years at the University of Ottawa.

After COVID limited Mattinen to 42 college games over three seasons, he landed a tryout with the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate to end the 2021-22 season. That didn’t result in a firm NHL or AHL contract offer, so he opted to head overseas instead.

It was an excellent decision for Mattinen, who spent two years tearing up Austria and Germany with Villacher SV and the Straubing Tigers. After posting 42 points in 46 games with Villacher in the ICEHL and being named a league All-Star in 2022-23, he signed on with Straubing in the more competitive DEL for 2023-24 and posted a 16-30–46 scoring line in 52 games with a +14 rating en route to being named the top German league’s Defenseman and Player of the Year.

Eight years after drafting him and six years after losing his exclusive signing rights, the Leafs were finally ready to offer the 27-year-old a contract. They signed him to a two-way deal last April to cover the 2024-25 campaign. He didn’t get an NHL call-up, though, and he was limited to just four assists in 22 games with AHL Toronto. With virtually no meaningful playing time, it was a presumably easy decision for Mattinen to pursue a return to a league where he’s had considerable success.

Filip Roos Signs In Sweden

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Senators blueliner Filip Roos was slated to become a Group Six unrestricted free agent this summer but has opted not to test the NHL UFA market.  Instead, SHL Farjestad announced that they’ve signed the blueliner to a two-year contract.

The 26-year-old came to North America in 2022, signing an entry-level deal with Chicago as an undrafted free agent.  He played in 17 games with the Blackhawks the following season and held his own while logging over 16 minutes a night of playing time.  However, he only saw action in four NHL games last season and wound up being non-tendered last June.

That brought him to Ottawa in free agency back in July as he inked a one-year, two-way deal on the second day of free agency.  The hope was that he’d serve as quality depth with AHL Belleville and potentially fill in when injuries arose on the back end.  The first part happened as he was an important part of Belleville’s back end where he chipped in with 17 assists in 68 games but didn’t receive any recalls during the season.

While Roos’ performance would have been enough to secure another two-way NHL deal this summer, it appears he decided that he’d be better off returning home for now.  But a good showing over the next two seasons could be enough to get him back on the NHL radar at that time.

Radim Zohorna Signs In Sweden

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Cross Radim Zohorna off the free agent list.  Rather than attempt a comeback in North America, he has decided to remain overseas.  However, instead of staying in the Swiss League, he’s off to Sweden as Farjestad announced that they’ve signed the forward to a two-year deal.

The 29-year-old looked like a possible late bloomer after showing some offensive upside in his native Czechia.  That, coupled with a 6’6 frame, was enough for Pittsburgh to ink him to an entry-level deal in 2020.  He split that season back home and in the Penguins’ system and held his own in eight NHL games, where he had four points.

That was enough to land him a longer look at the top level the following year when he got into 17 contests with Pittsburgh but in 2022-23, he found himself on waivers and was claimed by Calgary.  He subsequently cleared waivers soon after and spent most of the year in the minors while also getting a brief stint with Toronto.  The Penguins brought Zohorna back in 2023-24 on a two-way deal where he got into a career-best 33 games, bringing his tally to date to 68.

However, rather than search out another two-way pact in North America, Zohorna decided to try his hand overseas last summer, inking a one-year deal with HC Lugano.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a quiet year offensively as he had nine goals and 13 assists in 39 games, numbers that were relatively close to his AHL production from the year before.  Now, he’s on the move once more with the hopes that a strong showing in Sweden could get him back on the NHL radar down the road.

Dominik Kubalik Signs Two-Year Deal In Switzerland

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There’s no NHL comeback yet for winger Dominik Kubalik. He’s signed a two-year deal to stay in Switzerland with National League club EV Zug, the team announced – although it contains an NHL out clause if he receives an offer.

Kubalik last played in the NHL with the Senators in 2023-24. It was a nightmarish season for the Czech forward, who managed only 11 goals and 15 points in 74 games (with a -30 rating) after rattling off four straight seasons above 30 points to begin his NHL career.

Understandably, there wasn’t much interest in his services on the open market after such a stark dropoff. He returned to Switzerland last summer on a one-year deal with HC Ambri-Piotta, the club where he had two seasons above a point per game before signing with the Blackhawks in 2019. Kubalik, now 29, regained his status as a top-tier scoring threat overseas with a 27-22–49 scoring line in 52 games to lead the team. That was also good enough to lead the NL in goals.

He may still land an NHL offer this summer after his resurgence, but if not, he’s got a backup plan with Zug. His intra-league move links him up with former NHLers Gabriel Carlsson, Raphael Diaz, and Fredrik Olofsson.

Sharks Sign Mattias Havelid To Entry-Level Deal

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The Sharks announced they’ve signed defense prospect Mattias Havelid to his entry-level deal. It’s a three-year pact beginning next season, keeping the 21-year-old under contract through 2027-28.  PuckPedia reports that the contract will have a $905K cap hit and a $950K AAV including potential bonuses.

San Jose selected Havelid midway through the second round (No. 45 overall) in 2022. The 5’10” righty is the son of longtime NHL defender Niclas Havelid and, nearly three years on from draft day, still brings an intriguing offensive skillset to the Sharks’ backend.

He’s had somewhat of a rocky development path, not getting as much playing time in the top-flight Swedish Hockey League as the Sharks would have liked. His SHL club, Linköping HC, opted instead to loan him to Djurgårdens IF of the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan for a good chunk of 2024-25. That was a great decision – Havelid finished the year with 14 points and a plus-seven rating in 18 games and helped them earn promotion back to the SHL for 2025-26.

Havelid suited up for the Swedes at last year’s World Juniors, posting six points in seven games en route to a silver medal. He’ll presumably slide in with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate next season after recording 19 points in 110 career SHL games, unless San Jose reaches an agreement with a Swedish club to loan him back overseas until he’s NHL-ready. He’s not under contract with Linköping past this year.

The agile skater did not check in among the Sharks’ top 15 prospects when Scott Wheeler of The Athletic put together his prospect pool rankings midseason, but that comes with the territory of being an intriguing yet flawed prospect in the league’s deepest system. San Jose was still a year away from losing his signing rights, so the organization is obviously still invested in his development.

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