The NHL’s holiday roster freeze is in place, meaning teams are restricted from trading, waiving, loaning, or otherwise moving their players for the next week. However, that roster freeze doesn’t extend to all foreign and minor leagues, meaning there are still some moves from outside the NHL that are worth tracking. We’ll mark those down here.
- Former San Jose Sharks goalie prospect Alexei Melnichuk signed a one-year, two-way (KHL/VHL) contract with KHL club Avangard Omsk, per a team announcement. Should he get into a game in Omsk, it would be Melnichuk’s third KHL team of the season, having already played for HC Sochi and Traktor Chelyabinsk. Melnichuk, 24, last played in the NHL in 2020-21, getting into three games for the Sharks, and spent time in 2021-22 with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.
- Minor league defenseman Nick Albano has left the Belleville Senators to sign a one-year contract with Vasteras IK, a club in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish hockey. Albano, 26, is an undrafted product out of UMass Boston that has played the last two seasons as an AHL/ECHL journeyman with five different teams.
- William Rapuzzi, an accomplished veteran scorer of the European pro hockey circuit, has switched clubs. The 32-year-old Alaska native is departing HC Slovan Bratislava, where he has played just three games in the last four months, to sign with EHC Olten in the Swiss League, the second tier of pro hockey in Switzerland. The signing is a major coup for Olten, the current league leaders, as Rapuzzi scored a whopping 55 points in just 38 games the last time he played in the Swiss League.
- The QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads have made a major trade, acquiring Alexandre Doucet from the Val d’Or Foreurs. Doucet is the league’s second-highest scorer, his 53 points in 37 games behind only Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Jordan Dumais and his 61 points in 28 games. The move helps Halifax, who are currently third in the QMJHL standings, compete this year, while the tenth-place Foreurs add some draft picks.
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