Jaret Anderson-Dolan Signs In SHL
Former Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, and Los Angeles Kings forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan has decided to begin his European professional career, signing a two-year contract with Brynäs IF in the SHL.
The No. 41 pick of the 2017 NHL draft, Anderson-Dolan has been on the NHL/AHL roster bubble for the better part of the last half-decade. The 26-year-old has gotten into 134 career NHL games, including a career-high of 46 during the 2022-23 season.
A 6’0″, 194-pound center, Anderson-Dolan was never quite able to secure a lasting role in the NHL. He largely played in a fourth-line capacity at the NHL level, scoring a total of 29 points in his 134 career NHL contests. While he did show some ability as a defensively-oriented fourth-line player, he was never able to secure a lasting spot in an NHL lineup after departing the Kings organization, the place where he was drafted.
Over the last two seasons, Anderson-Dolan has seen his chances to play in the NHL grow increasingly sparse. He got into just seven games during the 2024-25 season, though he did manage to skate in five playoff contests. But in 2025-26, Anderson-Dolan spent the entire year in the AHL, going the first season of his professional career without appearing in any NHL games.
But while Anderson-Dolan’s status as a legitimate call-up option was increasingly imperiled over the last two years, his status as a quality AHL scorer was not. Anderson-Dolan has a career-high of 47 points at the AHL level, coming in 54 games during the 2021-22 campaign, and has in other years found a way to remain productive, even if not quite at that near point-per-game level. Anderson-Dolan scored 13 goals and 36 points in 72 games during 2025-26, good for second on the Manitoba Moose.
Unfortunately for Anderson-Dolan, several factors appear to have converged to push him out of an NHL organization. Firstly, his 2024-25 season was notably unproductive, as he only managed 19 points in 51 games. That, combined with his single point in seven postseason contests this past spring, may have cast doubt on his abilities as a reliable AHL scorer. Additionally, Anderson-Dolan has now played in 372 combined games across the NHL and AHL. As a result, he is no longer considered a “development player” per the AHL’s development rule.
For players who age out of the development player threshold, the league’s rule can make finding a landing spot to stay in the AHL quite a bit more difficult. Now, Anderson-Dolan will continue his career by joining Brynäs, a club looking to rebound after a disappointing 2025-26 season.
Jets Sign Cole Perfetti To Five-Year Contract
The Winnipeg Jets won’t need arbitration to find a new contract for their most important restricted free agent, after all. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Jets have signed forward Cole Perfetti to a five-year, $30MM ($6MM AAV) contract. Winnipeg has confirmed the contract.
Finally, Perfetti lands the long-term deal he was looking for from the Jets. Back in 2024, when his entry-level contract with Winnipeg expired, Perfetti held out on a new contract with the Jets until September 23, only a few days before the start of the 2024-25 campaign. Yielding to a bridge contract at the time, the Jets have seen what they’ve needed from Perfetti to warrant a longer-term deal.
At the time, Perfetti’s ask for a long-term deal was largely indefensible. Despite being the 10th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, Perfetti hadn’t broken out into a legitimate top-six candidate by that point. Throughout his entry-level contract, Perfetti scored 29 goals and 75 points in 140 games with a +24 rating, averaging 14:10 of ice time per game. His possession and defensive metrics were solid, but Perfetti looked more like a really good third-line player rather than a top-six candidate.
Similarly, Perfetti has given Winnipeg much of the same on his two-year bridge deal. Since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, Perfetti has registered 30 goals and 82 points in 150 games with a +5 rating, a marginal 0.011 points-per-game increase in scoring. Still, he has averaged an approximate 53.0% CorsiFor and 90.5% on-ice SV% at even strength, which isn’t typical for wingers, especially those near the top of the forward corps.
Additionally, Perfetti was injured for a decent chunk of the 2025-26 campaign. During preseason action against the Calgary Flames, Perfetti suffered a high-ankle sprain, causing him to miss the first 14 games of the regular season. Had he started the year on time, Perfetti may have gotten closer to the 50-point campaign he had in 2024-25.
Regardless, the Jets have inked Perfetti to a $6MM price tag while buying out two years of his UFA status. Assuming Winnipeg continued to qualify him, Perfetti would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency after the 2028-29 campaign. Now, he’ll remain with the Jets through the 2030-31 season.
It’s not the worst salary either, especially for a player who projects to be in the middle-six of the forward corps. A $6MM salary for the 2026-27 campaign will only represent 5.769% of the Jets’ overall cap space, and will only continue to decrease from there. For comparison, dating back to the flat salary cap in 2023-24, when the upper limit was $83.5MM, a similar contract percentage would have been a $4.8MM salary.
Lastly, Perfetti’s desire for a long-term deal with the Jets should be music to the organization’s ears. Winnipeg has made good on extending core players like Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Josh Morrissey, and Connor Hellebuyck in years past, but has had a hard time acquiring external talent. Even though Perfetti doesn’t have a similar ceiling to the aforementioned group, it’s important for Winnipeg to retain the talent that wants to stay there.
Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee of Imagn Images.
Jets Sign Viggo Bjorck To Entry-Level Contract
The Winnipeg Jets have put pen to paper with their top draft pick of the 2026 NHL Draft. According to a team announcement, the Jets have signed forward Viggo Björck to a three-year, entry-level contract.
PuckPedia shared the year-by-year breakdown of Björck’s new contract:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing Bonus | Perf. Bonus | AHL Salary |
| 2026-27 | $922.5K | $102.5K | $1MM | $87.5K |
| 2027-28 | $967.5K | $107.5K | $1MM | $87.5K |
| 2028-29 | $1.0125MM | $112.5K | $1MM | $87.5K |
Björck, 18, was drafted with the eighth overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft by Winnipeg. Going into the draft, Björck was ranked as the fourth-best skater coming out of Europe behind Ivar Stenberg, Alberts Smits, and Oliver Suvanto by NHL Central Scouting.
A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Björck has spent the last two years in the SHL’s Djurgårdens IF program. Throughout the 2024-25 campaign, playing in the J20 Nationell, Björck scored 27 goals and 74 points in 42 games with a +38 rating, with an additional four goals and 15 points in nine postseason contests. Throughout the 2024-25 U18 World Junior Championship, Björck showed off more of his offensive prowess, registering four goals and eight points in seven tournament contests.
Throughout his draft season, Björck mostly played in the SHL. Given that he was playing against much older competition, his offensive output understandably decreased. Still, he put together a solid season, scoring six goals and 15 points in 42 games with a +5 rating. Now playing in the U20 IIHF World Junior Championships in the 2025-26 season, Björck tallied three goals and nine points in seven games, helping Sweden to the Gold Medal.
Additionally, the Jets won’t need to keep tabs on Björck’s development from afar. A few days ago, Djurgårdens IF confirmed they have released Björck from his contract, allowing him to suit up for Winnipeg or the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for the 2026-27 campaign.
Hearing Dates Set For Players Who Filed For Arbitration
Salary arbitration hearings are a little more than a week away with a total of 15 players filing for one earlier this month. Ottawa’s Xavier Bourgault has already signed while the other 14 are still without contracts. PuckPedia has received the schedule for hearing dates, which is as follows:
July 20
D Jamie Drysdale, Flyers
F Cole Perfetti, Jets
July 22
F Trevor Zegras, Flyers
July 23
G Jet Greaves, Blue Jackets
July 25
F Connor McMichael, Blues
F Jason Robertson, Stars
July 27
F Cole Sillinger, Blue Jackets
July 28
F Nicholas Robertson, Penguins
July 29
D Braden Schneider, Rangers
D Ronan Seeley, Hurricanes
July 30
F Kirby Dach, Canadiens
F Alex Jefferies, Islanders
August 1
F Peyton Krebs, Sabres
G Akira Schmid, Panthers
Philadelphia will be busy early in the process but that is by choice, as teams can request where their players are scheduled on the arbitration docket. Conversely, teams like Montreal, Florida, and Buffalo likely requested that their players be placed at the back, allowing for more time for negotiations or planning.
A refresher on the arbitration rules:
- A player and team can settle on a deal at any point before the hearing starts.
- Once the hearing has taken place, the arbitration decision must be issued by email within 48 hours of the closing.
- Arbitration awards can only be one or two years in length; players who are in their final year of restricted free agency are only entitled to a one-year term.
- The team decides on the awarded term, as these were all player elections.
- The team can walk away from the arbitration decision if a contract with an average annual value of more than $4.9508MM is Teams have 48 hours to decide if they’ll accept or walk away.
Once a team has had all of its cases settled or awarded, a second buyout window will open up three days later. However, only a player who was on the roster at the trade deadline and has a cap charge of $4MM or more is eligible to be bought out during this 48-hour window.
Jets’ Viggo Bjorck To Play In North America This Season
When the Jets selected Swedish center Viggo Björck with the eighth overall pick last month, they weren’t expecting to see him in Winnipeg until spring 2027 at the earliest. He was entering the final season of his contract with Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League.
Today, however, Djurgården announced that they’ve granted Björck a release for the highly-touted 18-year-old to pursue opportunities in the Jets organization for 2026-27. He’s yet to sign his entry-level contract, so he’s ineligible to play NHL games for Winnipeg as of now, but there’s plenty of time for that to change between now and training camp.
As a first-round pick, the Jets would have been able to assign Björck to the AHL outright following training camp without Djurgården’s permission – regardless of his contractual status in Sweden – per the NHL’s transfer agreement with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Still, today’s news offers early confirmation that Björck will be suiting up for either the Jets or AHL Manitoba when the puck drops on the 2026-27 campaign.
Björck became the Jets’ No. 1 prospect by a wide margin as soon as he was selected, galvanizing a pool that most opined was near the middle of the league in strength. While undersized at just 5’9″ and 181 lbs, the Stockholm native played nearly his entire draft season against professional competition in Sweden’s top league and was expected to compete for Djurgården’s first-line center job this season. In 42 SHL outings for Djurgården last year, he posted six goals and 15 points, leading the league in scoring among under-18 players. He was exceptional internationally, having nine points in seven games en route to a gold medal for Sweden at the World Juniors and adding a 1-5–6 scoring line in eight outings for the senior team at the World Championship in May.
Expecting Björck to go from a sheltered SHL role to being an NHL impact player as a rookie would be short-sighted, though, especially given his frame. It’s most likely he gets a trial in Manitoba to start the season in a high-leverage role before being considered for a call-up. While he’s coming from Europe, he’s still slide-eligible this year, so if he played under 10 NHL games, the first year of his entry-level deal would defer to 2027-28.
Speculating Likeliest Landing Spots For Hellebuyck
One of the prominent names featured in recent trade speculation has been Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. While a deal didn’t come to fruition at the draft, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press feels a trade this summer remains extremely likely. With long-time playing partner Eric Comrie moving on in free agency and Stuart Skinner (a player who has made 50 or more appearances in four straight years) coming in, Winnipeg now has a bit of security if they opt to move the three-time Vezina winner. Buffalo was a speculated landing spot back at the draft while McIntyre believes that San Jose could be a suitable destination. While they have Yaroslav Askarov in the fold, their pivot to more of a win-now approach could make someone like Hellebuyck appealing while they have the cap space to fit him in. Hellebuyck hasn’t formally asked for a trade but that won’t stop the speculation about a possible move from continuing.
Jets Announce New ECHL Affiliate
It seems like the hits will just keep coming in Anaheim this summer. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier’s price tag could be as much as a $15MM AAV, as he said on today’s episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek.
Surely in no mood to sell himself short after a team-leading 41-goal campaign at just age 22, the forward is in for a huge payday, although he’s not offer sheet eligible. Even just a few weeks ago, the idea of Anaheim having to choose between him or the dynamic 21-year-old center Leo Carlsson would seem impossible, but Philadelphia’s five-year $90 million offer sheet ($18MM AAV) has wrecked any hopes of a smooth July in Anaheim.
The clock is ticking, as general manager Pat Verbeek has just until this Friday to decide whether to match the record-setting offer. Assuming he does, the Ducks will be left with just over $9 million in cap room, still not enough to take care of Gauthier barring something unexpected. Even if Verbeek is able to move out a contract such as Frank Vatrano’s $4.5MM, one of three high-cost veterans along with Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn, there’s still hardly any breathing room, not to mention that the Ducks lost four big pieces on the back end, 35-year-old Nick Jensen being the only addition so far.
One has to ask, how did things turn so quickly for a playoff team who had so much cap room? It’s all hindsight now, but Verbeek did himself no favors in negotiation with Carlsson. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported that the Swede was looking for around $15MM earlier this summer, if not even less, an AAV which is now long gone as a possibility. Anaheim would take in four first round picks if they somehow let Carlsson walk away, a massive haul which could acquire another star caliber player via trade. With the picks themselves though, it’s highly unlikely they’d land another player of his talent without lottery luck. Whatever is in store for the Ducks in the next 48 hours will be fascinating to watch unfold.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Center Mitchell Stephens has re-signed with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in an AHL contract for two years, the team announced. A 2015 second-round selection of Tampa Bay, the now 29-year-old won a Stanley Cup in 2020 with the Bolts, making stops in Detroit, Montreal, and finally Seattle (Coachella Valley’s NHL franchise) in the past five years. With 123 NHL games under his belt, the Ontario native has 19 points. Stephens has landed at the AHL level as a solid contributor, recording 27 points in 69 games for the Firebirds this past season, good for ninth best on the team. His two-way acumen is especially impactful at the AHL level.
- The Winnipeg Jets announced a new ECHL affiliate, the Bloomington Bison. Unlike their AHL team the Manitoba Moose who share the same home arena, the Bison aren’t quite neighbors, located in Illinois. An ECHL expansion team founded in 2024, the club started out with an affiliation of the New York Rangers, going 37-30-2 last season and qualifying for the postseason. Any Bison player or opponent faces a long road to the highest level, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen. According to the league, 36 ECHL alumni players were on Stanley Cup rosters, and one cannot forget Brandon Bussi’s performance, the Carolina goaltender having played four games with the Maine Mariners in 2022-23.
15 Players Elect For Salary Arbitration
The deadline to file for salary arbitration passed at 5 P.M. ET on July 5. 15 players elected to head to arbitartion before then, including the market’s top free agent, Dallas Stars’ winger Jason Robertson. Arbitration hearings will take place between late-July and early-August. Filing for arbitration will restrict players from negotiating contracts with any other team, removing high-value RFAs like Robertson from offer sheet eligibility. Players will have the opportunity to continue negotiating with their current team and could avoid arbitration by reaching a new deal before their hearing occurs. The full list of players who filed for salary arbitration in 2026, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic, is as follows:
F Xavier Bourgault (Ottawa Senators)
F Kirby Dach (Montreal Canadiens)
D Jamie Drysdale (Philadelphia Flyers)
G Jet Greaves (Columbus Blue Jackets)
F Alex Jefferies (New York Islanders)
F Peyton Krebs (Buffalo Sabres)
F Connor McMichael (St. Louis Blues)
F Cole Perfetti (Winnipeg Jets)
F Jason Robertson (Dallas Stars)
F Nicholas Robertson (Pittsburgh Penguins)
G Akira Schmid (Florida Panthers)
D Braden Schneider (New York Rangers)
D Ronan Seeley (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Cole Sillinger (Columbus Blue Jackets)
F Trevor Zegras (Philadelphia Flyers)
Jets Sign Henry Thrun
- According to a team announcement, the Winnipeg Jets have signed Henry Thrun to a one-year, two-way contract. Thrun spent most of last season with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, scoring five goals and 23 points in 55 games with a -1 rating. He added two goals and nine points in 24 postseason games, helping the Marlies to a Calder Cup championship.
Jets Sign Mario Ferraro
The Jets are adding some grit to their back end. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that Winnipeg is signing defenseman Mario Ferraro to a three-year, $12MM contract, carrying a $4MM AAV.
The 27-year-old is leaving the only pro organization he has known, having been with San Jose since they drafted him in the second round back in 2017. Since then, Ferraro has emerged as a capable defensive defender, albeit one who has had to play in a role he hasn’t necessarily been best suited for. More of a second-pairing option, a lack of depth for the Sharks forced the veteran to play top-pairing minutes against top competition with his results in those situations being a bit spottier.
Last season, after a bit of a shopping spree from Sharks GM Mike Grier, Ferraro was moved into a more optimal spot on the depth chart. He responded with a strong showing, one that saw him pick up 23 points along with 150 blocks and 137 hits in 82 games while logging a little over 21 minutes per night. Widely speculated to be a trade candidate for a couple of years, a swap never materialized and while Ferraro had expressed an openness to re-signing, he was believed to be looking for a longer-term contract this summer.
That makes this deal a little puzzling as three years isn’t exactly a long-term pact. It’s actually one year less than the contract he just finished. Meanwhile, the $4MM price tag is only an increase of $750K per season on what he was making before, making this one of the more reasonable contracts of the day, a shrewd piece of business from GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.
As things stand, Ferraro will likely go into training camp battling Dylan Samberg to play on the left side of the second pairing with Josh Morrissey entrenched on the first pair. One of those two dropping to the third pairing will give the Jets the type of reliable defensive depth they’ve been craving for a few years now as they look to get back to the playoffs following a rough 2025-26 season.