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Minor Transactions: 05/10/23

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The eyes of the hockey world are on two significant NHL contests tonight. The Toronto Maple Leafs are fighting to keep their season alive against the Florida Panthers, while the Edmonton Oilers are looking to tie their series against the Vegas Golden Knights at two games a piece.

While the NHL playoffs continue on, teams across the hockey world are getting significant offseason work done. We’ll keep track of any notable moves those teams make here:

  • Minnesota Wild 2022 first-round pick Liam Ohgren has transferred to Farjestad BK of the SHL, according to a team announcement. Ohgren spent this past season in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan looking to help his longtime club Djurgardens IF achieve immediate promotion back to the SHL. While Djurgarden ultimately failed, falling in a seven-game promotion series final to MoDo, Ohgren himself had a strong season. The 19-year-old scored 19 goals and 33 points in 53 combined regular-season and postseason games. He’ll now join the 2022 SHL champions for next season, and then potentially head to North America to play in the NHL or AHL with the Wild organization in 2024-25.
  • Former NHL bottom-sixer Frederik Gauthier has signed a one-year contract extension with Swiss National League side HC Ajoie. Gauthier signed with Ajoie last summer after spending seven seasons as an NHL-AHL tweener in North America. He has nearly 200 NHL games on his resume, and scored 23 points in 52 games last season. Now 28 years old, this contract extension ensures Gauthier will spend another season in Switzerland before potentially contemplating making a return to North American ice.
  • David Warsofsky, a former NHL defenseman and AHL All-Star, has signed a one-year contract extension to remain with his current club, the DEL’s Augsburg Panthers. The 32-year-old blueliner was never quite able to overcome the disadvantage his five-foot-eight frame presented when attempting to establish himself in the NHL, though he nonetheless became a quality player at the AHL level. Warsofsky’s 2016-17 season was his best, as he scored 47 points in 58 games for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and he now two years removed from his most recent AHL game Warsofsky has become a solid DEL offensive defenseman. He scored 21 points in 36 games last season at Augsburg and represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
  • Reigning Liiga champions Tappara Tampere issued updates on the contracts of quite a few players today, including one on a quality NHL prospect. Calgary Flames 2022 second-round pick Topi Ronni has signed a two-year extension to remain with Tappara until the end of the 2024-25 season. Ronni split the season between Tappara’s main team and their U20 team, scoring 25 points in 19 U20 games and 5 points in 22 games in Liiga. In addition to the news on Ronni, Tappara also announced that they have signed a two-year deal with former Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Otto Somppi, 25. He had 19 points in 59 for Lukko this past season and will now head to Tampere to join the league champions. They have also signed former Florida Panther Anton Levtchi to a three-year extension, locking him down after he scored 25 points in 29 games after returning mid-season from the Panthers organization.
  • Former Philadelphia Flyer Linus Hogberg has signed a two-year contract with the SHL’s Frolunda HC. Hogberg, a 2016 sixth-round pick, is a left-shot defenseman who spent several seasons developing his game with Vaxjo and HC Vita Hasten in his home country before crossing the pond in 2021 to play in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Hogberg’s time with the Phantoms was decent, and he even earned five NHL games, though he didn’t fully establish himself in the organization’s plans. As a result, he left in the middle of this past year to re-join the SHL, and now has his club for the next two years of his career.
  • Sergei Kostitsyn, a former 50-point scorer with the Nashville Predators, has reportedly signed a one-year extension to remain with Metallurg Zhlobin, the champions of the Belarusian Extraleague. Kostitsyn has had quite the journey since leaving the KHL after 2018-19. The 36-year-old has had stops in Romania and Ukraine before signing back in his native Belarus for this season. Now, he’ll stay with Zhlobin looking to help them defend their recent title.
  • 2015 third-round pick and former Soo Greyhounds star Blake Speers will not return to HockeyAllsvenskan’s Vasteras IK for next season. Speers’ debut in Sweden was a difficult one, as he managed only four goals and 14 points in 38 games. He did help Vasteras reach the second division’s playoffs, but ultimately now will have to look elsewhere to continue his professional career. Part of the trade that landed Taylor Hall with the Arizona Coyotes, Speers has five NHL games on his resume.
  • Arvid Henrikson, a former Montreal Canadiens and (briefly) San Jose Sharks prospect, has signed with Vasterviks IK in HockeyAllsvenskan. The 25-year-old was a 2016 seventh-round pick of the Canadiens and was part of the trade that net the team a fifth-round pick when they acted as a “cap broker” to facilitate the trade of Nick Bonino to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Henrikson only played in one game as a member of the Sharks organization, an April 15th win over the Tucson Roadrunners, and did not see his ATO converted into a full-time opportunity. Now he begins his pro career in earnest overseas.

Wild Notes: Gustavsson, Reaves, Goligoski

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This is an offseason full of questions for the Minnesota Wild. A team perenially on the verge of taking the next step has now lost seven straight playoff series, and they enter the 2023-24 landscape with only $8.23MM in projected cap space and multiple players to sign.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin spoke with The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith on the unique challenges brought in by their cap situation and commented on the futures of multiple players, including breakout netminder Filip Gustavsson. The 24-year-old Swede will undoubtedly receive some Vezina Trophy votes after posting a .931 save percentage in 37 starts, but he’s also a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. Guerin told Russo and Smith “there’s always challenges” when it comes to locking in contracts on a team without much maneuverability, but said talks with Gustavsson would start “very, very soon” and he’s confident they’ll reach an agreement.

Other notes from Guerin’s interview with Russo and Smith:

  • Guerin highlighted Ryan Reaves as one of the unrestricted free agents he’s focused on retaining this summer. After an early-season trade from the New York Rangers, Guerin said he was impressed with Reaves’ on-ice and off-ice presence, viewing him as integral to the team’s locker room chemistry. Reaves scored 15 points in 61 games this season with Minnesota, his highest scoring total since the 2019-20 season with the Vegas Golden Knights. He’ll need to take a discount on his previous $1.75MM cap hit to stay in a Wild uniform.
  • One player who’s not a pending free agent is defenseman Alex Goligoski, but Guerin said he’ll still sit down and have a talk with the veteran defenseman about his future. Locked in through next season with a no-movement clause and a $2MM cap hit, Goligoski, 37, oftentimes found himself as a healthy scratch this season, including in all six playoff games. If he’d be open to a trade somewhere else for more playing time in likely his last NHL season, it would free up some much-needed cap space for the Wild.

Sweden Announces 2023 World Championship Roster

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Sweden has revealed its roster for the upcoming 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, and it’s filled with an impressive mix of NHL players, high-end SHL players, and young prospects. The team is hoping to bring in Sweden’s first medal at the tournament since winning back-to-back golds in 2017 and 2018.

Headlining the roster are some prominent NHLers, including seasoned veteran Jakob Silfverberg and younger players like Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren, and Fabian Zetterlund. For Silfverberg, who’s rumored to return to Sweden after his current contract with the Anaheim Ducks expires, this is his first appearance at the Worlds in over a decade. There’s also top 2023 NHL Draft prospect Leo Carlsson, who could see his name called as early as third overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets after spending the entire season up in the SHL with Örebro HK.

On the blue line, Sweden is led by a pair of longtime NHLers in Christian Folin and Patrik Nemeth, but their best defender is undoubtedly Washington Capitals youngster Rasmus Sandin. Others, such as three-time Swiss league defenseman of the year Henrik Tömmernes, provide some valuable depth.

In net, Sweden will be relying on a trio of capable goaltenders led by one of the best prospects in the world – Jesper Wallstedt. The Minnesota Wild prospect posted a .908 save percentage in 38 games with the AHL’s Iowa Wild and put up a .940 mark in international play for Sweden last year at the World Junior Championship. If Wallstedt doesn’t run away with the crease, there’s a high-end second option in SHL and KHL veteran Lars Johansson, who recorded a sparkling .958 save percentage for Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The full roster can be found below:

F Pär Lindholm
F Dennis Everberg
F Marcus Sorensen
F Andre Petersson
F Leo Carlsson
F Lucas Raymond
F Oscar Lindberg
F Jakob Silfverberg
F Jonatan Berggren
F Fabian Zetterlund
F Linus Johansson
F Carl Grundström
F Jacob de La Rose
F Alexander Nylander

D Christian Folin
D Henrik Tömmernes
D Patrik Nemeth
D Lukas Bengtsson
D Rasmus Sandin
D Anton Lindholm
D Jonathan Pudas
D Joel Persson

G Jesper Wallstedt
G Lars Johansson
G Jacob Johansson

 

Jacob Middleton To Play For Canada At IIHF Worlds

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After revealing their initial roster yesterday for the upcoming World Championship, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blues goaltender Joel Hofer and Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton have been added to the roster.  Hofer spent most of the season with AHL Springfield but didn’t look out of place in six games with St. Louis where he posted a .905 SV%.  He’s expected to be the backup for the Blues next season and will compete for playing time in this event with Buffalo’s Devon Levi and Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault.

As for Middleton, the 27-year-old played in 79 games for the Wild this season, picking up 15 points and 155 blocks while logging over 19 minutes a night, all career bests.  He also picked up a pair of assists and 24 blocked shots in Minnesota’s opening-round exit to Dallas.  It will be his first time representing Canada internationally.

Ryan Reaves And Wild Have Mutual Interest In Contract Extension

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The Wild acquired veteran winger Ryan Reaves back in November, and it appears that they don’t want his addition to just be a short-term one.  Instead, it’s believed that there is mutual interest in signing the pending UFA to a contract extension, report Joe Smith, Michael Russo, and Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription link).

The 36-year-old was more productive than usual with Minnesota, potting five goals and ten assists in 61 games following the swap, matching the second-highest point output of his career.  Of course, Reaves is best known for his physicality as he added 152 hits, giving their fourth line a much tougher look.  Reaves also suited up in all six playoff games, picking up 21 hits and 14 penalty minutes.

Even though there appears to be interest in an extension, it’s far from a guarantee that they’ll be able to come to one.  Reaves’ expiring deal carries a $1.75MM cap charge and while the Wild were able to afford that this season, they won’t be able to next year.

The dead cap charges for the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter increase by $1MM each next season while extensions to Matt Boldy, Frederick Gaudreau, and Marcus Johansson are adding nearly $8MM more to their payroll.  As things stand, they have a little over $8MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, with six or seven roster spots to fill including a new deal for pending RFA netminder Filip Gustavsson.

Accordingly, paying a high premium for a fourth liner, or any premium at all, really, is a luxury that Minnesota can’t afford as things stand.  Meanwhile, there’s a very good chance that will be Reaves’ last contract so he’ll likely be looking for as much money as possible and perhaps a second year on the deal.  With that in mind, it certainly looks like the Wild will need to create some cap space before realistically trying to keep the veteran in the fold.

Latest On Matt Dumba

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The Minnesota Wild’s 2022-23 season ended with yet another first-round playoff loss last week, beginning the offseason work of general manager Bill Guerin. Guerin has a tall task ahead of him, as his mandate is to build a Stanley Cup contender around superstar Kirill Kaprizov but he must do so with the cap penalties charged for the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts set to rise to nearly $15MM combined.

One of the first cap casualties the Wild are anticipated to face due to the cost of those buyouts regards longtime Wild blueline staple Matt Dumba. The five-year, $6MM AAV contract Dumba signed in 2018 is set to expire, leaving his future in Minnesota in uncertain territory. Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast that it is “much more likely than not [Dumba] tests the market” when the new league year begins in the summer.

While Dumba may not reach the $6MM on his next contract that he earned on his last, it seems as though the Wild simply will not have the financial bandwidth to offer Dumba a market-rate contract. Friedman did add that the Wild are not yet closing the door on finding a way to retain Dumba, due to how much they respect and appreciate the player, but that his return has to be considered highly unlikely.

The upcoming class of free agent right-shot defensemen isn’t exactly overflowing with talent, and Dumba fits in as one of the top names set to be available, next to teammate John Klingberg and New Jersey Devils rearguard Damon Severson. While Dumba’s play has definitely declined since his 50-point peak in 2017-18, and his offensive production hit career-lows this past season, the 28-year-old still gave head coach Dean Evason over 21 minutes a night, including nearly two minutes short-handed.

21 minutes a night is, to be fair, a noticeable decline from the past few years as Dumba hadn’t averaged below 22 nightly minutes since he was in his first few seasons as an NHL regular. As a result, this decline in tangible returns for Dumba’s play (the decrease in ice time, points production) has left the 28-year-old’s ultimate value in a relatively nebulous place.

Is he still the dynamic, at times game-changing blueliner he was in the past? Can he still reach that point on his next contract?

Or is he a defense-only blueliner at this point in his career, and if that’s the case how much value in his own end will he bring?

Those are the questions teams will have to answer for themselves when they ponder extending Dumba a contract offer in the offseason.

It’s unclear at the current moment the level of wider leaguewide interest there is in Dumba, though it’s worth noting that all it really takes is one “believer” for Dumba to get a nice payday on his next deal.

Based on the fact that the Wild remain passionate supporters of Dumba’s overall value, and the fact that the team is still reportedly holding out hope they can find a way to retain him despite their dire cap situation, it’s entirely possible that another front office holds Dumba in a similarly high regard. If that’s the case, though, then his time in Minnesota (which has thus far lasted nearly 600 games played) is likely over.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Gaudreau, Jonsson-Fjallby, Bell

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The Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the postseason and have now revealed what injuries their players were dealing with in the playoffs. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, forward Frederick Gaudreau has been dealing with a significant abdominal injury and will require surgery. The injury has been nagging him for four months and he continued to play through it, but will now have surgery to repair the damage.

Gaudreau played all 82 regular season games and all of the team’s six playoff games, so the injury did not take him out of the team’s lineup. The 30-year-old forward scored 19 goals and 38 points for the Wild, adding some depth scoring and playing a gritty, defensively responsible role as well. He added three goals in six postseason contests as well. After proving his value this season, Gaudreau signed a five-year contract extension last month that kicks in next season and has a $2.1MM cap hit.

  • While Gaudreau was locked up by his team, one play that is now eligible to hit the open market is Winnipeg Jets forward Alex Jonsson-Fjallby. As capfriendly.com reports, the 25 year old will become a Group 6 UFA because of his age, and career games played. Had the Swedish winger played 75 career games before the end of this season, he would have retained RFA status and remained property of the Jets. He finished this season with 74 career games played.
  • The Belleville Senators have announced their new head coach. Per a team release, David Bell will take over behind the bench and becomes the third head coach in franchise history. The 46 year old was the team’s interim head coach since February 2, but was officially named the future bench boss for the 2023-24 season this week. He had been the team’s assistant coach since 2019 and has been behind the bench of an OHL or AHL team going back to the 2004-05 season.

Marco Rossi To Play For Team Austria

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  • Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild prospect, Marco Rossi, will suit up for Team Austria in the 2023 IIHF World Championships. Although playing in limited NHL action over the last two seasons, Rossi has been one of the better performers in the AHL, playing for the Iowa Wild. In his rookie season, Rossi scored 18 goals and 35 assists in 63 games played, and followed that up with almost a point-per-game performance this year, scoring 51 points in 53 games. In the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, although his team was eliminated in two games by the Rockford IceHogs, Rossi managed a goal and an assist.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Minnesota Wild Sign Marcus Johansson To Extension

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A few short days after their season came to its conclusion at the hands of the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild have announced they will be bringing back forward Marcus Johansson into the fold. The contract will be a 2-year, $4MM contract, extending Johansson through the 2024-25 season.

In his second tenure with the Wild, Johansson was a critical forward down the stretch in Minnesota’s playoff hunt. After being acquired from the Washington Capitals at this year’s trade deadline, Johansson played in 20 games, scoring six goals and 12 assists. Just as importantly, Johansson brought his career exceptional possession numbers, providing the Wild a Corsi For % of 52.2.

Heading into this year’s offseason, Minnesota was going to find itself in an increasingly difficult salary cap situation. Due to the past buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the cap penalty will increase from $6.37MM per player to $7.37MM per player, taking almost $15MM away from the Wild’s available cap. Even after signing Johansson, Minnesota still has five players headed for unrestricted free agency (three forwards, and two defensemen) and five players headed toward restricted free agency (three forwards, one defenseman, and one goalie).

Up to this point, taking into account the massive cap penalty given to the Wild due to their past buyouts, General Manager Bill Guerin has done a good job assembling a roster worthy enough to get into the playoffs almost year-in-and-year-out. He will have to continue to remain creative throughout this process, and bringing back Johansson on a relatively cheap contract is one way to get that started.

Joel Eriksson Ek Underwent Surgery, Will Be Ready For Camp

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Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek played just one shift in his team’s first-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sidelined by a lower-body injury sustained during the tail end of the regular season. Speaking during the team’s season-ending media availability today, Eriksson Ek told reporters, including The Athletic’s Joe Smith, that he sustained a broken fibula that “didn’t hold up” during his attempted return in Game 3.

The Wild center had surgery to repair the break and plans to be ready for training camp next season.

Eriksson Ek, the team’s strongest all-around center, was a critical absence in the Wild lineup as they failed to get much offense generated against the Dallas Stars. He notched a career-high 38 assists and 61 points in 2022-23.

Perennially in the Selke conversation, Eriksson Ek’s presence down the middle is a must-have for Minnesota to continue success with a cap-strapped roster next season. The Wild are expecting a breakout campaign from young Marco Rossi next year but need the leadership of Eriksson Ek to maintain playoff positioning.

Eriksson Ek joins pending restricted free agent Mason Shaw as Wild centers sidelined with long-term injuries over the offseason.

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