It’s two weeks into the NHL regular season, but things are still just ramping up in the minor leagues. The AHL is set to open next weekend and teams are starting to reinforce their rosters with some players that might have otherwise signed two-way NHL contracts. As those moves come in, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor transactions right here:
- The Rochester Americans have signed Remi Elie and Nicholas Welsh to one-year, AHL contracts for the 2020-21 season. Elie, 25, has played in more than 100 NHL games including 72 in the 2017-18 season with the Dallas Stars. He’s has spent the majority of the last two seasons with Rochester, scoring 13 points in 34 games last season. Welsh, just 23, was last seen playing in Slovakia where he failed to register a point in six games. The former QMJHL standout spent two years at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed Michael Joly and Dylan MacPherson to professional tryouts, while inking Brett Brochu to an amateur tryout. Brochu is probably the most interesting name of the bunch, given his historic success as the starter for the London Knights of the OHL last season. His 32 wins set the OHL record for most by a 16 or 17-year-old rookie, but Brochu still went undrafted thanks to his diminutive stature. While the OHL continues to wait out the current COVID situation in Ontario, Brochu will get a chance to test his skills against professionals.
- Mason McTavish, one of the players NHL Central Scouting believes has a chance to be selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, has officially been loaned to EHC Olten in Switzerland until further notice. The 17-year-old forward scored 29 goals and 42 points in just 57 games last season as a rookie for the Peterborough Petes of the OHL.
- After playing in 20 games with Geneve Servette in Switzerland, Damien Riat is headed to the AHL to join the Hershey Bears. The Washinton Capitals prospect was a fourth-round pick in 2016 but hasn’t come to North America yet. In those 20 games, Riat had 18 points, his best performance so far in a professional career that actually spans back to the 2015-16 season.