With NHL rosters quickly getting filled up after free agency opened at the beginning of the month, we’re entering one of the busiest times of the year for the AHL. Players are now flocking to the minors for playing security next season, allowing AHL teams to snap up promising young talents and veteran players alike as they round out their complementary players to their NHL affiliate’s prospects and farmhands. AHL teams have been busy acquiring talent this morning, so we’re listing all of today’s moves in the league:
- After getting his NHL contract with the New York Islanders mutually terminated, reigning AHL goal-scoring leader Andy Andreoff has officially left the North American pro circuit for KHL club Sibir Novosibirsk, signing a one-year contract. An alternate captain for the Bridgeport Islanders during his two seasons there, Andreoff’s 37 goals in 69 games were good enough to capture the league’s Willie Marshall Award for the first time in his career. This will be the 32-year-old’s first overseas experience, as the Canadian-born center developed through the OHL before beginning his pro career with the Los Angeles Kings organization in 2012.
- Czech defenseman Andrej Sustr is joining Andreoff in heading overseas, signing a contract for 2023-24 with DEL side Kolner Haie. The veteran of 362 NHL games spent all of 2022-23 in the minors, posting three goals, 11 assists, 14 points, and a +8 rating in 51 games split between the Iowa Wild and San Diego Gulls. His NHL negotiating rights were temporarily dealt from the Anaheim Ducks to the San Jose Sharks at the end of last month, but the UFA has opted to return to Europe for his first overseas experience since spending two years in China with Kunlun Red Star from 2019 to 2021.
- KHL club Dinamo Minsk joins Novosibirsk in nabbing some AHL talent today, inking forward Sam Anas and defenseman Yanni Kaldis to one-year deals. The 30-year-old Anas has played the last seven seasons exclusively in the AHL, accumulating 398 games of experience without ever receiving an NHL chance. The 2019-20 league leader in assists is fresh off a Calder Cup victory with the Hershey Bears, where he notched 12 points in 20 games of postseason play. Kaldis, 27, had spent the last three seasons with the Bakersfield Condors, where he registered 13 goals, 51 assists, 64 points, and a -2 rating in 132 games.
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed one of their parent club’s unsigned prospects to a one-year deal for 2023-24, getting Austrian defender Thimo Nickl under contract. A 2020 fourth-round selection of the Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh acquired the 21-year-old defender’s signing rights in a minor swap at the end of March 2023. Nickl spent the last two seasons with AIK in the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan, amassing 18 points and a -14 rating in 85 games. He’s a likely candidate for ECHL assignment and could spend a large portion of next season with the Wheeling Nailers.
- The Hartford Wolf Pack have signed Canadian free agent forward Sahil Panwar to a one-year contract after he concluded his junior career in 2022-23. The 21-year-old exploded offensively after a mid-season move in the OHL to the Hamilton Bulldogs, where he would finish third on the team in scoring with 21 goals and 52 points despite playing just 34 games. A very late bloomer, Panwar also attended the New York Rangers’ recent development camp on an invitation basis.
- Canadian defenseman Devante Stephens is returning to the Syracuse Crunch on a one-year contract. The 26-year-old registered 17 points in 64 appearances for the Crunch between 2019 and 2021, but spent the last two seasons with the Abbotsford Canucks and Tucson Roadrunners. A responsible bottom-of-the-lineup defender, he should compete for an everyday role in Syracuse among the Tampa Bay Lightning’s thin organizational defensive depth.
- Nine players are heading to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, who are filling out their roster completely by themselves as they will not have an NHL affiliate next season. Forwards Peter Abbandonato, Hudson Elynuik, Kyle Marino, Cole Schneider, and Chris Terry, defensemen Tory Dello and Tyson Feist, and goaltender Adam Scheel have all signed one-year deals. The headliners here are Marino, who will rejoin the team in a bottom-six role after appearing in their 2022 Calder Cup championship run, and a pair of forwards with some limited NHL experience in Schneider and Terry. The Wolves now have 12 forwards, four defensemen, and one goalie signed to their roster for next season, so they still have a fair bit of work to do until their full complement of players is set.
- A former second-round pick, Tyler Benson, has signed a one-year agreement with the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Henderson Silver Knights. The Silver Knights are getting an above-average player in Benson, as he scored 176 points in 217 career games with the Bakersfield Condors. During the 2020-21 season, although there were no Calder Cup playoffs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the AHL’s Pacific Division did have playoffs, and Benson was on the Condors team that defeated the Silver Knights in the finals.
- The Utica Comets, an AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, announced a trio of signings today, adding Ryan Fitzgerald, Yushiroh Hirano, and Eric Cooley to AHL contracts today. Fitzgerald is the most recognizable of the group, spending the last three seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In 45 games played over the last three years, Fitzgerald has 13 goals and 10 assists. Fitzgerald is the son of the Devils’ General Manager, Tom Fitzgerald.
- The Manitoba Moose have signed forward C.J. Suess to a two-year contract, giving him playing security through 2025. Once a prospect of Manitoba’s parent club, the Winnipeg Jets, Suess spent last season in the San Jose Sharks organization, where he tallied 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 46 games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and made one NHL appearance for the Sharks. The 2014 fifth-round pick previously amassed 166 games with the Moose during his time in the Jets organization, recording 45 goals and 83 points.