Minor Transactions: 03/31/23
It’s been a busy day across the hockey world, despite just four NHL games on the schedule. Today’s news cycle featured major headlines such as a season-ending surgery for William Eklund and the announcement of Jonathan Toews‘ return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup. Over in Europe, some big games have been played, including two contests in the DEL Semifinals in Germany, and the first game of the SHL semifinals: a 6-2 win for Vaxjo over Frolunda. Two thrilling overtime contests were completed in Finland’s Liiga semifinals, including a double-overtime victory by Champions Hockey League winners Tappara Tampere.
As fans across the hockey world enjoy all the action on offer this Friday, teams in both minor leagues and foreign leagues are completing transactions and either making changes for this season or preparing for 2023-24. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- Earlier this month, we covered reports that former NHL defenseman Juuso Riikola would be headed to Switzerland for next season. Today, those reports were made official as Swiss club SCL Tigers have announced that they have signed Riikola to a one-year contract for 2023-24. Riikola, 29, has 80 career NHL games on his resume and last played in North America last season, when he scored 35 points in 53 games for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. This season Riikola scored 19 points in 42 games as an alternate captain for the SHL’s IK Oskarshamn, helping them reach the first round of the SHL’s playoffs. Now, he’ll continue his pro career with the Tigers, hoping to keep them in Switzerland’s top league after the team just barely avoided relegation this season.
- The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, have signed NCAA free agent Max Andreev to an ATO agreement, one that will become a standard AHL player contract next season. The Cornell University product, 23, has scored 65 points in 77 games over the last three seasons he’s played. He made the ECAC’s Third All-Star team last season and served as an alternate captain this season, helping lead Cornell to an upset victory over the defending national champions the University of Denver. He’ll now join one of the AHL’s top teams with the hope of fashioning a professional career for himself and potentially even earning an NHL contract down the line.
- The AHL’s Iowa Wild have signed CHL free agent defenseman Landon Kosior to an ATO agreement for the rest of this season. Kosior, 20, is an undrafted blueliner who spent his major junior career with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. Kosior served as an alternate captain for the team this season and scored 63 points in 60 games, his first WHL campaign above the point-per-game threshold. As is generally expected for junior players who gain more experience, Kosior’s numbers took major jumps as he got older, and he went from 23 points in his first season with Prince Albert to the aforementioned 63 this season. With this ATO, Kosior will get his first taste of pro hockey with Iowa, and will likely get to follow along as the team prepares for the Calder Cup playoffs.
- 2022 Anaheim Ducks fifth-round pick Connor Hvidston has been signed to an ATO agreement by the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. The deal allows Hvidston to dip his toes into the waters of professional hockey now that his WHL season with the Swift Current Broncos is over. Hvidston was one of the youngest prospects available at the 2022 draft, just days from being in the 2023 class. He’s scored 21 goals and 65 points in 59 games this season, which ranks him third in team scoring. Seeing as he’ll have to wait until next September to turn 19, he’s still a ways away from turning pro full-time, but with this ATO agreement, he’ll at least get a firsthand look at what it takes to play professional hockey in the Ducks organization.
- Another Cornell University player has signed his first pro contract: defenseman Sebastien Dirven. The 24-year-old teammate of Andreev signed with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers after playing three seasons with the Big Red. The big six-foot-three, 200-pound blueliner doesn’t have much of an offensive game (just 15 points in 93 career NCAA games) but will add some size and snarl to the Nailers’ blueline as they conclude what has been a difficult 2022-23 season.
- 2016 Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Noah Carroll has signed his first professional contract, landing with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates. Carroll has spent the last four years with the University of New Brunswick on the Canadian university circuit, playing 59 games there. Before that point, the six-foot-one defenseman played for the Soo Greyhounds and Guelph Storm in the OHL, a major junior career highlighted by a 37-point final season during which he was an alternate captain.
- Cade Borchardt, the captain of one of college hockey’s better programs at Minnesota State, has signed with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. The 24-year-old’s production took a hit this season, going from 41 points to 20. But despite that decline in numbers, Borchardt earned the honor of captaining his team and finishes his collegiate career with a respectable 85 points in 121 games. In signing Borchardt, the Mavericks, who currently rank second in the ECHL’s Mountain Division, infuse some energetic young talent to their roster as they continue to grapple for playoff position.
- The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings have signed two players out of St. Cloud State University: Aidan Spellacy and Brendan Bushy. Spellacy, 24, is a forward who scored 12 points in 35 games this season. He’s served as an alternate captain for St. Cloud State and Robert Morris University, and he also captained his high school team, meaning he could bring some off-ice value to the Wings beyond his on-ice utility. Bushy, 24, is a six-foot-two blueliner who scored 11 points in 41 games this season playing in a top-four role.
- Former Owen Sound Attack star and OHL Champion Cameron Brace is transferring to Germany, per an announcement from his new team, the DEL’s Frankfurt Lions. The 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons in the SHL with IK Oskarshamn, scoring 52 points in 99 games there. Brace earned his shot at the SHL level after a proving himself as a professional in Denmark’s top league, where he scored 110 points in 78 games for Herning Blue Fox. Brace has fashioned himself a solid overseas professional career in the last few years, and now that career will continue in Germany.
- Longtime DEL veteran Max Renner has signed a contract for next season with the Augsburg Panthers. The 31-year-old has nearly 300 DEL games on his resume with most coming with the Straubing Tigers, save for the last two seasons spent with the Bietigheim Steelers. Renner scored nine points in 56 games last season and brings an established veteran presence to the Panthers’ defense corps.
- The ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz have signed forward Nico Feldner to a two-year contract, per a team announcement. Feldner has played the past two seasons entirely with HC Innsbruck, save for a six-game stretch with the EIHL’s Sheffield Steelers in England. Feldner scored 17 points in 43 games for Innsbruck this season and should be counted on to bolster Linz’s forward corps for the next two years as they look to return to the ICEHL’s playoffs next season.
- Matus Spodniak, a top scorer at the NCAA Division-III level with Adrian College, has signed an amateur tryout agreement with the ECHL’s Indy Fuel. The 25-year-old native of Kosice, Slovakia scored 94 points in 60 games across two seasons with Adrian College, and now the Fuel are looking to roll the dice on him to see if he can translate his game to professional hockey. This tryout will represent a significant jump in competition level for Spodniak, and he’ll have a relatively short period of time to make an impression with one of the East Coast league’s top teams.
- Spodniak’s teammate, Ty Enns, also signed an amateur tryout agreement with an ECHL club: the Toledo Walleye. Enns, 24, scored 50 points in 31 games this season and scored a total of 140 points in 106 games at the Division-III level. As mentioned with Spodniak, this jump to the ECHL will be a significant increase in difficulty for Enns, but at the very least it should be encouraging that the ECHL’s third-best team is willing to give him a tryout opportunity.
- The ECHL’s Maine Mariners are another club to dip into the pool of college free agents, signing University of Windsor forward Sean Olson. The 24-year-old scored 40 points in his 54-game career for Windsor, and standing six-foot-three 203 pounds as some size down the middle to the Mariners’ group of pivots.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Jakub Dobes
The Montreal Canadiens have announced the signing of NCAA netminder Jakub Dobes to a two-year, $925k AAV entry-level deal, set to begin next season. Dobes has also signed an AHL contract allowing him to be with the AHL’s Laval Rocket for the rest of this season.
By signing with Montreal, the 21-year-old Dobes leaves Ohio State University after just two years there. The 2020 fifth-round pick has seen his stock rise rapidly since being drafted, going from a .908 save percentage in his final season in the USHL to a .934 save percentage in his first season as a Buckeye.
In total, Dobes’ 35-game freshman season was a resounding success. He took home a multitude of conference honors, including winning Big 10 Goalie of the Year, All-Rookie Team, and First All-Star team honors.
His 21-12-2 record, .934 save percentage, and 2.26 goals-against-average were each major improvements from his numbers in the USHL, and provided hope for Canadiens fans that they might have something in Dobes to lead a relatively thin set of goalies in their prospect pool.
This past season, Dobes’ numbers took a step back, but remained strong overall. He posted a 21-16-3 record, a .918 save percentage, and a 2.31 goals-against-average. While it wasn’t quite as good as the elite performance he posted as a freshman, Dobes’ sophomore season reinforced his status as a legitimate NHL prospect.
With the backing of those solid numbers the kind of six-foot-five, 200-pound frame NHL teams covet in their netminders, Dobes earns his entry-level deal and a chance to play professional hockey.
With Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault entrenched in the Canadiens’ crease in the NHL and Cayden Primeau holding down the fort as Laval’s starting goalie, Dobes will likely either see time with the Canadiens’ ECHL affiliate next season or split time in the AHL in a tandem with Primeau.
After seeing his save percentage decline from .920 last season to .888 this season, veteran minor league netminder Kevin Poulin‘s spot behind Primeau is likely there for Dobes to seize, and this entry-level deal puts him in a prime position to do so.
And while Primeau is penciled in as Laval’s number-one for next season, his uneven performances this year (3.13 goals-against-average, .906 save percentage) leave the door open for Dobes to grab a greater role than expected if he can hit the ground running as a professional just like he did to start his collegiate career.
Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks Swap Prospects
The Pittsburgh Penguins have completed a trade of prospects with the Anaheim Ducks, per a team announcement. The Penguins are receiving the rights to 2020 fourth-round pick Thimo Nickl and are sending the rights to NCAA winger Judd Caulfield in return.
In Nickl, 21, the Penguins are acquiring a 21-year-old defenseman who was a 2020 fourth-round pick. In his draft year, the Austrian blueliner moved from the second team of Klagenfurter Athletiksport Club in his home country, where he had played parts of three seasons, to Quebec to play junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs.
At that point in his career, Nickl had already played 55 games in the AlpsHL, a professional league where he was competing against men. As a result, playing junior hockey in the QMJHL proved to be a less challenging task for Nickl, who ranked second among Voltigeurs blueliners in scoring with 39 points in 58 games.
After being drafted, Nickl joined the SHL’s Rogle BK’s youth system, and managed to play 15 games in Sweden’s top division with the club. Nickl was then loaned to AIK in September of 2021, a club in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, and scored 10 points in 38 games there.
In early 2022 Nickl’s move to AIK was made permanent, and this season he played a regular role for the club, scoring eight points in 47 games to go alongside 69 penalty minutes. AIK failed to make a promotion push but Nickl ultimately further established himself as a professional player.
By acquiring Nickl’s rights, the Penguins now have until June 1st, 2024 to decide whether to give Nickl an entry-level deal before his rights expire, according to CapFriendly. It’s a more extended timeframe compared to the one they had with Caulfield, who can hit the open market on August 15th.
It’s definitely possible that the Penguins had an indication from Caulfield that he would not be signing with them before that date, prompting this trade, or it’s also possible that the team simply wasn’t interested in signing Caulfield and chose to leverage the remaining months of exclusivity they had with him in order to acquire a prospect they were more interested in.
For the Ducks, this trade is similarly a potential indication that they were not interested in signing Nickl to an entry-level deal before next summer, although it could also be a sign that they are simply more interested in adding Caulfield than they were of signing Nickl.
Caulfield, 22, is a 2019 fifth-round pick who has played the last four seasons at the University of North Dakota. The big six-foot-three winger is a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program and has scored 39 points over the last two seasons.
With his rights now acquired, the Ducks will likely get to work on trying to negotiate an entry-level deal with the winger, who would likely begin his professional career developing his game in the minors.
New York Islanders Sign Two NCAA Free Agents
The New York Islanders have announced the signings of two college free agents to two-year entry-level deals beginning in the 2023-24 campaign: Aidan Fulp and Travis Mitchell.
The first of these two signings, Fulp, adds a big defensive defenseman to the Islanders’ system. Six-foot-four, 215-pound right-shot defensemen don’t grow on trees, and those unreachable physical attributes alone make him an intriguing player for Islanders fans to track.
The 23-year-old, a top-four defenseman for Western Michigan, has an edge to his game and is an intimidating presence in his own zone, playing the sort of chance-killing style that many coaches have come to appreciate.
While there’s not much of an offensive game to speak of (he scored 39 points in 97 career games at Western Michigan) Fulp brings some leadership value to the table as well, having served as an alternate captain in college and as the captain of the Dubuque Fighting Saints during his time in the USHL.
He even won the Curt Hammer Award as a USHLer, an award given to the “player that distinguishes himself both on and off the ice by demonstrating outstanding performance skills, pride and determination.”
The second player the Islanders signed, Mitchell, is like Fulp a big stay-at-home defenseman. The 23-year-old Cornell University product scored 19 points in 34 games this season and earned this entry-level contract on the back of a pro-ready defensive game.
He’ll be able to hold his own in a more difficult professional setting and should be a solid addition to the Islanders’ defensive equation with their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, next season.
These two free-agent additions represent a useful injection of young talent to what is generally seen as a weak prospect pool. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked the Islanders’ farm system #27 in the NHL earlier this year, (subscription link) and that came before the Islanders dealt away top-ranked prospect Aatu Raty.
With only three blueliners in the Islanders’ top-10 prospects as ranked by Wheeler, adding these two NCAA free agents to their system is a strong, needed bit of business by GM Lou Lamoriello.
Prospect Notes: Pickering, Hildeby, Gratton
After his season came to its conclusion with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports Owen Pickering will be joining the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins for the rest of the 2022-23 season. Pickering signed an entry-level contract with the Penguins last summer, ending after the 2024-25 season.
Last season, for the Broncos, Pickering scored 33 points in 62 games, en route to being selected 21st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2022 NHL Draft. Following up on last year’s performance, Pickering will finish his junior career on the tails of a nine-goal, 36-assist performance over 61 games this season.
Unfortunately for the Penguins and Pickering, the WBS Penguins only have eight games remaining this year, and will not make the playoffs as they currently sit in last place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. As he officially joins an organization that is severely lacking in prospect depth, Pickering will have some added pressure moving forward in hopes of becoming the player the Penguins need him to be.
Other prospect notes:
- Jumping over across the pond, the Toronto Marlies announce that goaltender Dennis Hildeby will be joining the team after his season finished for Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League. Drafted 122nd overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, this will be Hildeby’s first taste of action in North America, coming off an 11-9 performance with a .918 SV% and a 2.26 GAA in the SHL.
- Mark Divver, a contributor at the NHL, reports that Tyler Gratton of Penn State University has entered the transfer portal. Already playing four seasons at Penn State, Gratton has played 123 regular season games, scoring 20 goals and 14 assists. An alternate captain for the team last season, Gratton will spend his final year in the NCAA for a team other than the Nittany Lions.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Ondrej Pavel
March 30th, 4:22 PM: Pavel will join Colorado’s AHL affiliate Colorado Eagles for the remainder of this season. The entry-level contract will be a 2-year deal, ending after the 2024-25 season. Pavel will earn a salary of $950K in the NHL, and a salary of $82.5K in the AHL.
March 30th, 4:18 PM: Shortly after signing top goal-scorer Jason Polin from the Western Michigan University Broncos, the Colorado Avalanche have dipped back into NCAA free agency, signing Ondrej Pavel from the Minnesota State Mavericks. The length and financial information of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but we will update you as that comes in.
With only four picks within the first three rounds of the next three drafts, the Avalanche are looking to fill in their prospect depth through the collegiate level. The 22-year-old forward just finished his third season playing at Minnesota State, scoring a total of 18 goals and 23 assists in 94 regular season games. Most importantly, Pavel helped Minnesota State reach the 2021-22 National Championship, losing to the Denver University Pioneers.
Not only can Pavel generate a fair amount of offense, but he is also coming from a program that prides itself on its play from the defensive side of the puck. This season, Minnesota State’s goals-against average was fourth in the nation at 2.08. Coming from a team that demands solid two-way play from everyone, Pavel could become a valuable piece in Colorado’s bottom six, if not more.
Snapshots: Wisconsin, Sabres, Perunovich, Krys
The Wisconsin Badgers have announced the hiring of new head coach Mike Hastings. Most recently, Hastings had been the head coach of the Minnesota State Mavericks.
Since he took over as head coach during the 2012-13 season, Hastings led Minnesota State to eight appearances in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, topping out in a finals appearance against the eventual champion Denver University Pioneers last season. In total, Hastings will leave the state of hockey with a 299-109-25 record. In Wisconsin, he will be replacing the vacancy left by NHL veteran Tony Granato.
Since Granato took over for Wisconsin before the 2016-17 season, the team went 105-129-16, ending up in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament one time in 2021. As the Big Ten already features top teams such as the University of Michigan Wolverines and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, it appears that Wisconsin is looking to turn the corner and become a competitive team once again.
More from around hockey this afternoon:
- Bill Hoppe, a beat writer for the Buffalo Sabres, gave several updates on some key injuries to the lineup before tomorrow night’s game against the New York Rangers. As top prospect Devon Levi looks to make his NHL debut, Hoppe writes that forwards Tage Thompson and Jordan Greenway, as well as defenseman Mattias Samuelsson could all see their return to the lineup the same night. Currently, the Sabres sit five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games remaining in the regular season.
- Speaking with St.Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube today, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that St.Louis defenseman Scott Perunovich will finish his season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Blues AHL affiliate. Since being activated from LTIR on February 20th of this season, Perunovich has scored one goal and 10 assists for the Thunderbirds in 17 games.
- Contributor for the NHL, Mark Divver reports that now-former Brown University captain Luke Krys will be transferring to Providence College for the 2023-24 NCAA season. In his 92 games playing at Brown, Krys scored nine goals and 29 assists, wearing a letter in his final two seasons.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Akito Hirose
Mar. 29: The Canucks have officially signed Hirose to an entry-level contract, which will last one season. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal confirms the contract is for this season, carrying an NHL salary of $855,000, a minors salary of $82,500, and a $95,000 signing bonus. As CapFriendly notes, because it’s a one-year contract signed late in the season, it has a pro-rated cap hit of roughly $2.11MM. Hirose will report directly to Vancouver.
Mar. 26: The Vancouver Canucks are expected to land their second NCAA free agent of the day: Minnesota State defenseman Akito Hirose.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal was first to indicate mutual interest between Hirose and Vancouver, while Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman added that Hirose could join the Canucks this week. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta notes that Hirose’s expected signing with Vancouver “has been in the works” for a few weeks.
While it’s important to clarify that nothing as of yet is official and until an official contract announcement is made anything can happen, this reporting does hint at a widely-held expectation that Hirose will be signing with the Canucks.
The expected acquisition of Hirose comes just after the Canucks announced the signing of Max Sasson from Western Michigan University. With Hirose expected to join the team and Sasson plus former Northeastern University forward Aidan McDonough in the mix, these recent transactions indicate that targeting NCAA talent will be an organizational priority for this still relatively new Canucks front office.
The younger brother of Detroit Red Wings minor leaguer Taro Hirose, Akito has made a name for himself over the past few seasons. He was named BCHL defenseman of the year in 2019-20 and was his conference rookie of the year in 2020-21. Last season, he helped Minnesota State reach the NCAA National Championship game and his stellar defensive play helped contribute to netminder Dryden McKay‘s Hobey Baker Award win.
This season, Hirose has been a top-pairing, all-situations minutes-eater for Minnesota State. Paired with Jake Livingstone, a fellow coveted free agent, he led his program back to the NCAA tournament before they fell to St. Cloud State. He finishes his college career with a healthy 68 points in 104 games, and as Friedman notes could get his feet wet against NHL competition sooner rather than later.
College Notes: Farrell, Boston University, Minnesota, Gibson
John Buccigross of ESPN reports Sean Farrell is going to sign with the Montreal Canadiens in the next few days. The skilled left-winger was a fourth-round draft pick of the Canadiens in 2020, and could add some scoring punch to a struggling offence in the near future.
The 21 year old just wrapped up his second college season and it was an impressive showing. Though his Harvard squad bowed out rather meekly in a 8-1 drubbing at the hands of Ohio State, Farrell was phenomenal all season. He had an assist in that NCAA Regional Semi-Final, and it gave him 53 points in 34 games, a big improvement from his 28 points in 24 games in 2021-22.
Farrell is a smart player with incredible vision, who had 33 assists in 34 games this season. Add in his 20 goals and he has the second best points-per-game average in college hockey, trailing only Adam Fantilli of Michigan.
Though it is just his second actual college season, it counted as Farell’s junior campaign because the 2020-21 counted as his freshman season even though Harvard did not play due to Covid restrictions. So, Farrell could choose to return for one more season and then become a free agent in August of 2024, but it sounds like we will not get that far as Buccigross suggests the Canadiens could get his name on an entry-level contract soon.
- Also in college hockey, Boston University punched its ticket to the Frozen Four national semi-final with a 2-1 win over Cornell. Wilmer Skoog scored his 16th goal of the season to give BU a second period lead and Ethan Phillips scored the game’s winning goal in the third period on his own rebound. Dalton Bancroft scored in the final minute for Cornell, but BU was able to hold them off and advance to the Frozen Four in Tampa Bay on April 6.
- BU will face Minnesota who also advanced to the Frozen Four today. Minnesota was led by Logan Cooley, the Arizona Coyotes third overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, who had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over St. Cloud State. Jackson Lacombe, an Anaheim Ducks prospect also had a goal and an assist, as did undrafted Jaxon Nelson who sealed the game with an empty net goal.
- Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic reports one of Farrell’s teammates is close to signing as well. Goaltender Mitchell Gibson was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Draft and just saw his Harvard hockey career come to a close. The 23 year old’s final NCAA game was not flattering as he allowed seven goals before being pulled in that blowout loss, but he had a stellar college career. He finished this season with a 2.25 GAA and a .919 SV% in 27 games. He would add some youth to the Capitals goaltending pipeline as they have been relying on 27 year old goalies Zach Fucale and Hunter Shepard at the AHL level.
Robert Mastrosimone Unlikely To Sign With Detroit
Generating the production of an average forward for Boston University, forward Robert Mastrosimone turned things around upon joining the Arizona State Sun Devils. In his first career season at Arizona State, Mastrosimone scored over a point per game, putting up 42 points in 38 games. Unfortunately, for the third straight season, he was unable to help the Sun Devils reach the NCAA tournament.
Mastrosimone was drafted 54th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, hopefully, to become one of the better forwards on the next contending Red Wings’ team. However, Greg Powers, the head coach of Arizona State, relays that Mastrosimone may not be joining the Red Wings altogether.
“He’s playing the waiting game and seeing what’s going to be available as a free agent. There’s a lot of teams that are interested in him, but it doesn’t look like Detroit is going to happen. It’s just a waiting game, but he has the option to come back. It’s a good option and he’s open to it.”
If Detroit and Mastrosimone are unable to come to a contract resolution, the young prospect should nevertheless find his way onto an NHL team. Including his standalone year with Arizona State, Mastrosimone has played in 121 regular season games, scoring 32 goals and 60 assists. Mastrosimone will have one more season of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and should he play out his final season with Arizona State, he will likely be joining a new organization around this time next year.