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Los Angeles Kings Sign Tyler Madden To Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have announced that they’ve signed restricted free agent center Tyler Madden to a one-year two-way contract extension. Madden is fresh off his third season in the AHL with the Ontario Reign after he was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NHL entry draft by the Vancouver Canucks. The two-way deal will see Madden earn $775K at the NHL level and $100K while he is in the AHL.

Madden was the central piece of the trade that sent forward Tyler Toffoli to the Canucks in February of 2020. Prior to that the 23-year-old native of Albany, New York spent two seasons at Northeastern University where he flourished posting 31 goals and 34 assists in 63 career NCAA games.

Since signing his entry-level contract with the Kings, Madden has spent three full seasons in the AHL where he has played 133 career games and scored 35 goals and put up 34 assists. He appeared to be well on his way to an NHL call-up in 2021-22 after he put up 31 points in 48 games but took a major step back this season offensively as he had just 33 points in 71 games. The two-way deal will give Madden an opportunity to continue his development in the AHL as he continues to work his way toward his first taste in the NHL.

At the time of the Toffoli trade, Madden was viewed as being just a few years away from the NHL and while his development has taken longer than expected he remains a terrific skater and a player with excellent vision.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Samuel Fagemo

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Daily Faceoff is reporting that the Los Angeles Kings have signed forward Samuel Fagemo to a one-year two-way contract for the 2023-24 season. The 23-year-old Fagemo was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL entry draft by the Kings after spending most of his junior career in his native Sweden. He spent the past three years with the Kings AHL affiliate the Ontario Reign and dressed in nine NHL games this past season where he posted two goals and one assist.

The two-way contract calls for an NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $100K. Fagemo is just a year away from becoming eligible for salary arbitration despite having seen limited NHL action. This past year was the second time Fagemo has been called up to the Kings and although he scored just three points it was a bigger run than his first opportunity where he went scoreless in four games.

His results in the AHL have been a different story as Fagemo has seen a decent amount of offensive success with the Reign. This past season Fagemo put up 23 goals and 9 assists in 56 games as he continued to be more of a goal-scorer than a playmaker. This has been a pattern for Fagemo as he is a natural goal-scorer with excellent wrist and slap shots. While his shooting is a strength, Fagemo hasn’t quite rounded out the other elements of his offensive game yet.  In 151 career AHL games he has 60 goals and 34 assists demonstrating his ability to put the puck in the net and an inability to find teammates with a pass.

Evening Notes: Vladar, Avalanche, Desnoyers

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David Pagnotta of the NHL Network is reporting that the Calgary Flames will likely continue to hold onto goaltender Daniel Vladar until they get an offer that forces them to make a move. Pagnotta adds that the Flames have fielded offers from several teams but have yet to get an offer that they deem as suitable.

Vladar didn’t have a particularly strong season this past year by traditional statistics or analytics. He posted a 14-6-5 record with a .894 save percentage and a 2.87 goals against average. Taking a deep dive, he also posted -8.4 goals saved above expected in just 27 games putting him well below the average. However, Calgary is dangling Vladar at a time when the goaltending market is very thin and there are several teams who would love to add a young goaltender with size to their depth charts.

The 25-year-old is signed to a very affordable two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.2MM making him a solid bet as a backup with some upside for a team looking to take some pressure off their starting goaltender.

In other evening notes:

  • The Colorado Avalanche have announced that the head coach of their AHL affiliate the Colorado Eagles will be Aaron Schneekloth. The Calgary, Alberta native has been on the Eagles staff for a decade now and led the club to two ECHL titles in 2017 and 2018 prior to the team transitioning to the AHL. Schneekloth was retained by the Eagles after moving up a league and became an assistant coach to then-head coach Greg Cronin. With Cronin now the head coach of the Anaheim Ducks it was a natural transition for Schneekloth to take the reins of the Eagles, a club he’s coached with and played on for nearly two decades.
  • Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic is reporting that Philadelphia Flyers prospect Elliot Desnoyers was injured yesterday at development camp after crashing into the boards hard during a battle drill with a teammate. Desnoyers was unable to put weight on his right leg but appears to have avoided serious injury. The 21-year-old was a fifth-round selection of the Flyers in 2020 and is coming off his first professional season in the AHL where he posted 23 goals and 21 assists in 65 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He dressed in four additional games with the Flyers but was held pointless. Desnoyers wasn’t drafted for his offense, but the Flyers have to be pleased with his development on the offensive side of the puck.

Minor Transactions: 07/06/23

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The music is slowing down in this year’s game of free agent musical chairs, and fewer and fewer players remain without a seat for next season. Some top names such as Vladimir Tarasenko and Matt Dumba linger on the market, but by and large, teams have shifted towards making signings more geared to depth roles in their lineup.

Free agents of that general caliber are also the players minor-league teams and teams in foreign leagues are targeting, meaning there’s been quite a bit of player movement today across the hockey world. As always, we’ll log those transactions and provide some context to them here.

  •  Zachary Fucale, once a top goalie prospect earlier in his career, will likely play in Europe for the first time as a pro hockey player in a few months. The 28-year-old former Washington Capitals farmhand signed a two-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL. Fucale posted a .902 save percentage in 38 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears this past season and won the Calder Cup. As a two-time Spengler Cup winner, Fucale has had some success playing against European club competition, and he’ll say goodbye (for now) to North American pro hockey having appeared in four NHL games and registered a memorable shutout in his NHL debut.
  • 2018-19 AHL Defenseman of the Year and three-time AHL All-Star Zach Redmond has agreed on a mutual contract termination with his club, DEL champions EHC Red Bull Munich. The soon-to-be-35-year-old rearguard had spent the last three seasons in the Bavarian capital, leading the DEL in points by a defenseman in his first year and goals by a blueliner in his second. His seven points in 12 playoff games helped propel Munich to a DEL title over ERC Ingolstadt, and now Redmond could be eyeing a return to North American pro hockey with this contract termination.
  • The New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, announced the signings of three forwards to AHL contracts: Cole Bardreau, Jeff Kubiak, and Joey Cipollone. Bardreau, 29, scored 15 goals and 31 points in 67 AHL games last season and has been a top-nine staple in Bridgeport since 2019. Kubiak, also 29, is a defensive specialist at the AHL level who routinely features on Bridgeport’s penalty kill. He’s been with the Islanders organization since he turned pro out of Cornell University in 2017. Finally, Cipollone, 23, is a winger who won the NCAA Men’s Hockey National Championship last season with Quinnipiac University and is now set to make his pro debut.
  • Former Minnesota-Duluth captain and two-time NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champion Nick Wolff has signed a one-year contract with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, confirming his exit from the Providence Bruins after three seasons in Rhode Island. Wolff is a 26-year-old left-shot blueliner who stands six-foot-five, 223 pounds. He’s brought physicality to a reserve role with Providence so far in his pro career, and now heads out west to a revamped San Diego Gulls squad, where he could end up playing along the right side next to one of the Ducks’ high-end young defenders, such as Olen Zellweger or former Minnesota Golden Gopher Jackson LaCombe.
  • The AHL’s Utica Comets have signed rugged defenseman Colin Felix, an NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champion at UMass Amherst, to a one-year, one-way AHL contract. The 24-year-old turned pro last fall and skated in 72 games with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. He scored eight goals and 27 points and collected 139 penalty minutes, bringing physical two-way ability to the Royals’ blueline. Now, the Comets are hoping Felix can do the same for their back end, a defense that needed to replace a right-shot blueliner after the trade of Reilly Walsh to the Boston Bruins. The Comets have also signed Jeremy Brodeur, son of legendary Devils netminder Martin Brodeur, to a two-way NHL/ECHL contract, bringing him over from the EIHL where he was the starter for the Manchester Storm.
  • Alex-Olivier Voyer, a former QMJHL star with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, has signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Laval Rocket. Getting a one-way deal in the AHL is a victory for Voyer, who dropped from playing mostly in the AHL in 2021-22 to the ECHL in 2022-23. Voyer had scored only eight points in 41 games with the Providence Bruins in 21-22, but managed 23 goals and 43 points in 48 ECHL games this season, not only securing himself a spot back in North America’s second-tier pro league but also a spot in his home province.
  • Former Hobey Baker Award finalist Dylan McLaughlin has signed a contract with Vaxjo Lakers HC, the reigning champions of Sweden’s SHL. The deal is McLaughlin’s first foray into European pro hockey. The 28-year-old had a difficult 2022-23 campaign, playing just nine games total. The year before, though, McLaughlin broke out, scoring 42 points in 55 games for the Rockford IceHogs. Now McLaughlin will compete for a role in Sweden and potentially help Vaxjo secure a second consecutive title.
  • Undersized 25-year-old blueliner Joseph Duszak has climbed the pro hockey ladder since concluding an exceptional three-year NCAA career, but hasn’t yet received any NHL call-ups. He began in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers, and scored 35 points in 34 games from the blueline. He was named an ECHL All-Star and ended up earning a job in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies. Duszak excelled in Toronto, scoring 52 points in 61 games in 2021-22 and earning AHL Second-Team All-Star honors. After that strong AHL campaign, Duszak likely viewed excelling overseas as his next step towards earning NHL consideration, so he signed in the KHL with Dynamo Minsk. Duszak was exceptional in Belarus, finishing behind former Boston Bruin Ryan Spooner for the team lead in points with 45 in 68 games played. Now, he’s signed a one-year AHL contract with the Springfield Thunderbirds likey with the hope of producing well once again and finally earning an NHL shot.
  • Former Buffalo Sabres prospect Jordon Southorn, one of the top blueliners in Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga, has signed a one-year deal with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. The 33-year-old Canadian moved to Slovakia in 2018-19 mid-season, and made an instant impact with Banska Bystrica HC 05, winning a championship there. He led the Slovak league in points by a defenseman with 51 in 2019-20, and took home another league championship a few months ago with HC Kosice. Now, he’ll head to Germany to bolster the blueline of a club that only narrowly avoided relegation to the DEL2 in 2022-23.
  • Austrian national team defenseman Dominique Heinrich is returning to his hometown of Vienna after playing over 600 games at Austria’s top level of pro hockey with EHC Red Bull Salzburg. The five-foot-eight 32-year-old won a sixth title with Salzburg this past season, though he skated in a career-low 26 regular-season games. Now both Heinrich and Salzburg are moving in a different direction, as Heinrich has signed a contract with the Vienna Capitals, a rival ICEHL club. It’s a major signing for a Vienna team looking to finally push themselves across the finish line next season, as their many deep playoff runs since their 2016-17 title have ended in failure.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

Los Angeles Kings Sign Anze Kopitar To Two-Year Contract Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed captain Anze Kopitar to a two-year contract extension carrying a $7MM AAV. As Kopitar already has a contract through the end of next season, this deal will start with the 2024-25 campaign and will cover Kopitar’s age-37 and age-38 seasons.

The deal carries a full no-move clause, and financially Kopitar is set to be paid almost exclusively in signing bonus in year one, and entirely in base salary in year two.

Many viewed the Kings’ acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets as succession planning for when Kopitar would no longer take up the mantle as the Kings’ number-one center.

Seeing as fellow era-defining two-way center Patrice Bergeron could be calling it a career at the age of 37, it could reasonably be assumed that Kopitar, set to turn 36 years old in August, would be nearing the end of his storied career as well.

That won’t be the case, though, at least for the next three seasons.

By spending $7MM per year on two seasons of Kopitar in his late thirties, the Kings have placed a significant bet that one of their franchise’s greatest players will remain a great one even as he ages. It’s easy to see why they’ve made that bet, as Kopitar was almost every bit as brilliant at 35 years old as he was in his mid-twenties.

Kopitar scored 28 goals and 74 points in 82 games in 2022-23, and added seven points in the Kings’ six-game first-round series loss to the Edmonton Oilers. As he’s done throughout his career, Kopitar paired that offensive production with exceptional defensive play, playing the most minutes of any Los Angeles forward on the team’s penalty kill.

The two-time Selke Trophy winner might have a few more of those trophies on his resume had he not had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Bergeron, one of the greatest defensive forwards of all time, and Kopitar’s defensive game gives him a high floor in terms of the value he’s providing Los Angeles should his offense start to dry up as he gets older.

With Kopitar locked up through 2025-26 at a below-market rate compared to what he provides, the Kings have secured arguably the best set of four centers in the entire NHL. While he’s a somewhat divisive player, Dubois is certainly a great fit in a second-line center role behind Kopitar.

Having a center like Phillip Danault, who can score 50 points on offense and routinely appear in the top ten of Selke Trophy ballots, in the third-line center role is the kind of stuff coaches dream about. Even their projected fourth-line center, the energetic Blake Lizotte, might be overqualified for that role coming off of a career-best 34-point season.

With this extension, the Kings have bet on Kopitar maintaining his brilliance into his late thirties. If that bet pays off, the Kings will have secured themselves an embarrassment of riches at one of the game’s most important positions, and built the foundation for a team that could very well contend for Stanley Cups once again.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Washington Capitals Sign Andrew Cristall

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2023 second-round pick Andrew Cristall is the first member of the Washington Capitals’ draft class to sign his entry-level contract with the team. Per an announcement from the Capitals, his three-year deal holds an average annual value of $810K at the NHL level and $82.5K in the AHL. Per PuckPedia, the deal carries a $905K cap hit, and the exact breakdown is as follows:

Year 1: $775K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus, $82.5K AHL salary
Year 2: $800K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $55K games played bonus, $82.5K AHL salary
Year 3: $855K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $82.5K AHL salary

The Capitals selected the 18-year-old 40th overall one week ago today, well below where public scouts had pegged the skilled forward to land in the draft. Listed as the fifth-ranked North American left wing and the 15th-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, Cristall was one of the highest-scoring players in the entire WHL this season, but his size, skating, and below-average defensive play knocked him out of the top 32 picks.

It’s worth noting some public boards had Cristall ranked inside the top 10 – a true testament to the ultimate upside Washington has in Cristall. Standing at 5-foot-10 and weighing 175 pounds, Cristall was a dominant force with the Kelowna Rockets last season, leading the team in goals (39), assists (56), and points (95). Among the entire WHL, Cristall’s 1.76 points-per-game rate ranked third among qualified players – trailing only first-overall pick Connor Bedard and Dallas Stars top prospect Logan Stankoven.

It also wasn’t a late rise for Cristall, who set Kelowna franchise records in 2021-22 for goals by a 16-year-old with 28, and he equaled the franchise record for points by a 16-year-old with 69. Throughout his WHL career to date, spanning 129 games with the Kelowna Rockets, Cristall has amassed an impressive 169 points.

Kelowna is where he’ll spend the 2023-24 season, as he still has quite a bit of work to do to round out his game before he’s ready for any NHL time. If he can continue to develop his skating, however, he has a high likelihood of remaining a top-six fixture for quite a while in the nation’s capital. He’s ineligible for AHL time until his age 20 season, so his contract can slide for two years if he’s not a full-time NHLer by 2025-26.

Ottawa Senators Agree To Terms With Zack MacEwen

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The Ottawa Senators have added some physicality to their bottom six, signing forward Zack MacEwen to a three-year contract worth $2.325MM. It’s a one-way deal, which carries the league-minimum average annual value of $775K.

MacEwen, 26, split his playing time between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Kings during the 2022-23 season. After being acquired by the Kings prior to the trade deadline, he recorded 10 points (four goals, six assists) and 66 penalty minutes in 56 regular-season games with both teams. He also played 6:44 in his lone playoff appearance in Game 3 of the first round against the Edmonton Oilers. He also played two games on assignment to start the season with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, recording a goal and two assists.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion gave a statement on the signing:

Zack’s a player with strong character who adds increased physicality to our lineup. He’s a hard-nosed, competitive player who’s a tenacious forechecker and who demonstrates a routine willingness to go to the hard areas.

MacEwen may be an enforcer at the NHL level, but he’s shown heaps of offensive upside in juniors and in the AHL. In his 186-game NHL career to date, he’s accumulated 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points and 245 penalty minutes.

His journey to the NHL was unconventional, going undrafted after playing in the QMJHL for the Moncton Wildcats and Gatineau Olympiques. Despite not even seeing extended QMJHL action until his age-19 season, he quickly made an offensive impact which he parlayed into an entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks in 2017. MacEwen’s professional career began with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, where he broke out for 33 points in 66 games during his rookie pro campaign before making his NHL debut in 2018-19.

MacEwen went on to spend four seasons in Vancouver before being claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers in October 2021. He was dealt to the Kings for another enforcer, Brendan Lemieux, in March.

He provides a much more affordable replacement at the bottom of Ottawa’s lineup for Austin Watson, who remains an unrestricted free agent after making $1.5MM per year over his three seasons with the Senators. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

Prospect Notes: Korchinski, Dvorsky, Reinbacher

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The Chicago Blackhawks are quickly assembling one of the more tantalizing prospect pools in the league, at least in terms of upside. While much of the discussion is around their expected generational talent in Connor Bedard, don’t gloss over last year’s seventh-overall pick – defenseman Kevin Korchinski, who NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis says the organization faces a short-term decision on in regards to his playing future.

The 19-year-old defenseman had an incredible campaign with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, tallying 73 points in 54 games during the 2022-23 season en route to a WHL championship and Memorial Cup berth. But due to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement, he’s not yet eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs next year, leaving him with two options: the NHL or a return to juniors, where he has very little left to prove. Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson doesn’t have a crystal ball into what the organization may decide, telling Roumeliotis, “we’re confident he’s going to be here. When? We don’t want to put a label on that right now.”

It seems the most likely scenario is, at the very least, a nine-game trial for Korchinski out of training camp before determining whether or not to burn the first year of his entry-level contract, which could slide to 2024-25 if he plays less than 10 NHL games this season.

Some more notes on a pair of top-ten picks:

  • Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland confirms that 2023 tenth overall selection Dalibor Dvorsky will return to Sweden for 2023-24, honoring the first season of a two-year commitment he signed with SHL club IK Oskarshamn earlier this summer. Dvorsky is technically eligible for AHL play this season under the NHL’s transfer agreement with Swedish leagues, given he was a first-round pick, but he (and the Blues) believe a year of experience against the top level of Swedish competition is the right choice for his development. Dvorsky did play pro hockey in Sweden last year, but it was with second-division club AIK – part of the HockeyAllsvenskan league, not the SHL.
  • Montreal Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov sat down with The Athletic’s Arpon Basu, commenting on the organizational philosophy that led them to select defenseman David Reinbacher at fifth overall – a pick contested by some who believe the team should’ve taken a swing on Matvei Michkov, who fell to seventh overall. Emphasizing Reinbacher’s solid pro play and well-rounded analytical profile, Bobrov did have an interesting comment regarding concerns about the team’s lack of scoring: “So I would push back against the notion that we have no scoring. We have very young players who always scored, and they’re getting better every month. And then, you know, how many 40-goal scorers did Vegas have this year? You start looking at the playoffs, right? The playoffs.” Scoring by committee isn’t a new philosophy for the Habs, who haven’t had a player hit the 80-point plateau since Alex Kovalev in 2008.

Martin Kaut Signs Two-Year Deal In Czechia

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San Jose Sharks prospect Martin Kaut has signed a two-year deal with Czech Extraliga club HC Dynamo Pardubice, per a team announcement. The 2018 first-round pick will now head overseas with hopes of revitalizing his pro career.

Kaut’s posted solid offensive totals during his time in the minors, but it’s failed to translate to much of any NHL opportunity over the past five years. Originally a selection of the Colorado Avalanche, he found himself headed to San Jose via trade this season in a prospect-for-prospect swap that included defenseman Ryan Merkley headed the other way.

He’d appeared in regular-season games for Colorado (and later San Jose) in each of the past four seasons, joining their AHL affiliate (the Colorado Eagles) immediately after being drafted in 2018. He’s totaled 50 goals and 113 points across 192 games in five AHL seasons, and he had a strong finish to the season with the San Jose Barracuda with three goals and 14 points in 19 games.

Despite also recording five points in nine NHL games with the Sharks, easily his best NHL showing, Kaut believes extended playing time back overseas is the best option for his continued development. It won’t be his first time playing for Pardubice, though – he was loaned there in 2020 with the NHL season delayed due to the COVID pandemic, and he recorded nine goals and 16 points in 38 games there during his draft year, 2017-18.

A physically inclined passer who’s proficient on the man advantage, Kaut recorded just six points in 47 games with the Avs before they decided to cut ties. He’s surely destined for a top-nine role with his Czech team and has much more upward mobility there than in the NHL, although the merits of European pro hockey versus North American minor hockey remain a contested debate.

San Jose issued Kaut a qualifying offer last month, meaning that if he does wish to return to the NHL in the summer of 2025, it’ll be with the Sharks – unless they trade his rights somewhere else.

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