Despite signing his two year, $4.45MM bridge deal more than a week ago, Coyotes winger Tobias Rieder was only able to join the team to practice on Wednesday, reports AZCentral’s Sarah McLellan. The reason for the delay was that Rieder needed to a new his work visa, a process that took longer to complete than anticipated.
Although he joined the team so late, head coach Dave Tippett expects Rieder to be in the lineup on Saturday night for their season opener. The team isn’t worried about there being much rust either as Rieder played in six games for Team Europe at the recent World Cup of Hockey (recording one assist). He’s expected to start the season alongside rookie center Dylan Strome and third year winger Anthony Duclair.
Elsewhere around the league:
- The Boston Bruins have inked UFA defenseman Matt Bartkowski to a minor league PTO, Providence GM John Ferguson Jr. told Mark Divver of the Providence Journal (Twitter link). Bartkowski was in training camp with Ottawa this preseason but failed to secure a contract. He spent last year with Vancouver but before that, he played 131 games over five seasons with the Bruins.
- Calgary left winger Johnny Gaudreau has a five team trade-allowed list in the final year of his contract. Among the five teams he would accept a trade to is the Philadelphia Flyers. As Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes, Gaudreau has already expressed an interest in joining the Flyers at some point in his career though it remains to be seen if Calgary would even entertain the idea of trading him there at some point in this contract.
- The Coyotes announced that they have signed undrafted center Lane Pederson to a three year entry level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pederson attended Arizona’s rookie camp and is off to a strong start this season with Swift Current of the WHL, picking up nine points in his first seven games.
- Anaheim has placed center Joseph Cramarossa on waivers, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The 23 year old made the team out of training camp but a roster spot needed to be freed up to accommodate the acquisition of Emerson Etem off the waiver wire. Cramarossa had 11 goals and six assists in 61 games with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego last season.
- Edmonton defenseman Eric Gryba cleared waivers today but will remain with the team as they have placed fellow blueliner Brandon Davidson on IR, notes Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal (Twitter link). The Oilers inked Gryba to a one year, two-way deal worth $950K at the NHL level on Wednesday.