Minnesota is not expected to tender winger Pontus Aberg a qualifying offer this summer, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required). The Wild acquired him from Anaheim in January in the hopes that he’d be able to give them some much-needed secondary scoring after picking up 11 goals in just 37 games with the Ducks. However, he managed just a single tally in 22 games with Minnesota. Between that and the fact he has arbitration eligibility where his dozen goals would have him in line for a nice raise from the league minimum $650K he made over each of the last two seasons, the fact that they’re leaning towards letting him go shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Tampa Bay UFA Michael Bournival has retired, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse announced (Twitter link). The 27-year-old showed some promise early in his career with Montreal but injuries limited him in his time both there and with Tampa. In 2018-19, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury after just five games. He wraps up his career with 127 NHL games between Montreal and Tampa Bay (regular season and playoffs), posting 12 goals and 11 assists.
- While he made his NHL debut this past season, Lightning UFA goaltender Eddie Pasquale is heading overseas. Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a one-year contract. Pasquale was the starter for AHL Syracuse in 2018-19, posting a 2.35 GAA in 45 appearances while also getting into three games with Tampa Bay, his first career NHL appearances. Between this and their trade of Connor Ingram earlier today, their goaltending depth has taken a bit of a hit.
- Veteran winger Tanner Glass has retired and will join the Rangers in a player personnel role, reports Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. He spent parts of four seasons with New York in the past and after failing to land an NHL contract last summer, he played in France in 2018-19. He wraps up his playing days with nearly 600 career NHL games played with six different teams.