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After waiting several years for his contracts overseas to expire, the Columbus Blue Jackets have finally signed Dmitri Voronkov to a two-year entry-level deal. The Russian forward has been approved for a work visa, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, though it is still unclear when he will travel to Columbus.

Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen released a statement on the signing:

Dmitri is a big, strong forward who can play at center ice or on the wing and is coming off an outstanding season in the KHL. He is a skilled player that has shown an ability to score goals while playing a physical two-way game. We believe he has tremendous upside and are looking forward to his joining our group and continuing his development as a Blue Jacket.

Voronkov, 22, was the 114th overall pick in 2019 but quickly shot up prospect lists with a solid showing in the KHL as a rookie and an outstanding performance in the 2020 World Juniors. While his offensive output (and playing time) has wavered at times at the Russian professional level, there were flashes of a potential breakout on the horizon.

That breakout happened this season, when Voronkov scored 18 goals and 31 points in 54 games for Ak-Bars Kazan before adding eight goals and 12 points in 24 postseason matches—barely missing out on a league championship.

A member of the 2022 Olympic team, he is coming to the Blue Jackets as a potential day-one option for their 2023-24 roster. He can contribute in a variety of ways and should give Columbus another piece to try and fit into their rebuild.

Mark Divver of NHL.com is reporting that NCAA defenseman Ryan Siedem has entered the college transfer portal. Siedem is a senior at Harvard and just completed a season in which he registered 17 points in 34 games for the Crimson.

In college hockey the transfer portal is an online database that allows student athletes to declare their desire to transfer to a different school. Divver reports that he has heard rumors that Michigan is the favorite to land the 22-year-old New Jersey native.

Siedem was never drafted but he did attend the Washington Capitals 2022 development camp. He didn’t walk away with a contract or any type of a guarantee, but now as he finds himself in the transfer portal, it is being reported that he does have some AHL offers.

Siedem won’t put the puck in the net very often, in fact his lone goal this season came by the way of an empty netter. Looking back, he hasn’t put up more than four goals in any season since 2014-15. While he isn’t a shooter, he is a strong passer and can facilitate breakouts utilizing a good first pass.

In some exciting news for next season in the international scene, USA Hockey announces that David Carle will lead the 2024 U.S. National Junior Team from the bench. Carle, who is still only 33 years old, has been at the helm of the Denver University Pioneers for the last five years.

In every season since taking over as head coach, Carle has led the Pioneers to the Frozen Four Tournament every year, winning the title over Minnesota State during the 2021-22 season. Throughout his head coaching career, he has accrued an overall record of 116-53-13, giving him a career-winning percentage of .637.

For the United States National Junior team in particular, since the 2015 tournament, the team has earned two gold medals, one silver medal, and three bronze medals. Typically engaging in legendary battles with Canada’s National Junior team, if Carle’s college pedigree is any predictor, the United States might be an even tougher challenge to the back-to-back defending champions.

The tournament will start later this year, starting on December 26th and ending on January 5th of 2024. The tournament will be played in Sweden, and the United States will be in Group B, including Czechia, Norway, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

The Minnesota Wild have inked another prospect, signing Hunter Haight to a three-year, entry-level contract that starts in the 2023-24 season. Haight plays for the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, where he will remain through the end of the season.

Unlike many of the prospects signed over the last few days, Haight isn’t your mid-round overage draft pick. The 18-year-old forward has been a top prospect in Ontario for years and was selected 47th overall last summer after a solid rookie campaign with the Barrie Colts.

This season, after a slow start with Barrie, a trade brought him to the Spirit where his game has flourished. Through 33 games with Saginaw, the brilliant stick handler has 36 points, and still has plenty of time to round out the rest of his game.

Despite the contract “starting” next season, Haight will almost certainly be returned to junior in 2023-24, meaning it will slide forward another year. While he has shown well at Minnesota development camp, it is extremely unlikely that he makes the jump right to the NHL.

Since he’ll still be only 19, he isn’t eligible for AHL play, meaning it’s back to the OHL where he’ll try to make Canada’s World Junior team and continue his upward trajectory.

Deadline day is finally here! NBA teams will have until today at 2:00 pm CT to finalize trade agreements, and our sister site Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors on Twitter) has all the latest news, rumors and transactions for each of the league’s 30 teams!

It has already been an extremely eventful trade season, due in large part to the Nets, who traded star guard Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks on Sunday and reached a blockbuster agreement late on Wednesday night to send Kevin Durant to the Suns.

The Lakers, Jazz, and Timberwolves have also agreed to a major three-team trade that will see Russell Westbrook, Mike Conley, and D’Angelo Russell end up in new homes, while Jakob Poeltl and Josh Hart are among the other notable players reportedly changing teams.

Even with all that action so far, there are still plenty of storylines to keep an eye on as Thursday’s deadline nears. Hoops Rumors has provided a trade primer to help follow along.

For the latest updates on the NBA trade deadline, check out Hoops Rumors today! Last season saw a total of 20 in-season trades — including 10 on deadline day alone — and this season could be just as action-packed! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @HoopsRumors.

The New York Islanders are getting a huge boost ahead of their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, activating Kyle Palmieri and Adam Pelech from injured reserve. Hudson Fasching has been moved to IR and Dennis Cholowski loaned to the AHL to make room.

Palmieri, 31, has played just a single game since November, spending the rest of the time on the shelf. The veteran forward has six goals and nine points in 21 appearances this season, averaging more than 16 minutes a night. Given his $5MM cap hit (Palmieri is in the second season of a four-year deal), his absence was a significant blow to the forward group that has struggled of late.

In their last nine games, the Islanders have scored more than two goals just a single time, and that still resulted in a loss. They have been held to just a single goal in four of those games, and overall have fallen to sixth in the Metropolitan Division, just four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Perhaps more important, however, is the return of Pelech, who hasn’t played since December 6. The 28-year-old defenseman tilts the ice so significantly in his 21 minutes a night that the team has outscored opponents 27-16 despite Pelech playing against top competition and receiving more defensive deployment.

Even though he isn’t considered an offensive defenseman, his ability to break up cycles, stop rushes at the line, and turn over the puck results in much better opportunities for his teammates.

With them back, it will be a lot closer to the lineup that the Islanders though they would have heading into the season (even if Cal Clutterbuck and Oliver Wahlstrom are on IR).

While most of the headlines from today’s news conference with Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford will be about the “major surgery” coming up for the roster, or the lame-duck status of Bruce Boudreau, there was at least one nugget of positive news for fans.

Rutherford said that the team had started negotiations with Andrei Kuzmenko on an extension, ahead of the Russian winger becoming a free agent in July. Because he was 26 when the Canucks signed him, Kuzmenko was limited to a one-year entry-level contract last summer.

An extension will certainly come at a much higher price, given how well he has transitioned to life in the NHL. The offensive winger has 17 goals and 38 points in 42 games, while averaging just under 16 minutes a night. While there are flaws to his game, that kind of production can’t be overlooked.

Keeping a player of Kuzmenko’s caliber is certainly a positive – or at least it would be in most situations. Some might argue that for the Canucks, signing him is actually moving in the wrong direction. Rutherford himself talked today about how he hadn’t given the team enough cap-related freedom in his time there. Signing Kuzmenko certainly won’t help that, even if he is deserving of a raise.

The crux of that decision is in some of Rutherford’s other comments. He believes that the team can be competitive within the next three years, and that it has plenty of talented players already in place. Signing Kuzmenko, then, would make sense.

But there is a legitimate argument to be made that the Canucks should instead just cash in on their asset. Because he was limited to an ELC, Kuzmenko’s price tag is extremely low, relative to his production. That kind of asset would be very valuable on the trade market, especially with the possibility of an acquiring team extending him themselves.

It doesn’t look like that’s what the plan is here, given Rutherford’s explanation that the Canucks won’t be heading into a rebuild. Instead, another extension appears to be around the corner – albeit with a deserving player.