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Bruins Sign Kyle Keyser To One Year Contract

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Ty Anderson of NBC Sports Boston tweeted that the Boston Bruins have signed goaltender Kyle Keyser to a one-year, two-way contract extension worth $775K at the NHL level and $90,000 while Keyser plays in the AHL. The 24-year-old was a restricted free agent after spending the bulk of last season in the AHL with the Providence Bruins. Anderson also added the team has signed forward Jakub Lauko to a two-year contract carrying a cap hit of $787.5K. It’s a partial two-way/one-way deal, breaking down as follows, per CapFriendly:

2023-24: $775K NHL salary, $200K AHL salary, $300K guaranteed salary
2024-25: $800K NHL salary

The native of Coral Springs, Florida, went undrafted after coming out of the OHL, where he played a single season with the Flint Firebirds before spending three years with the Oshawa Generals. He posted solid numbers in his last two years in Oshawa and caught the attention of the Bruins, who signed him to an entry-level contract in 2019.

Since signing his original deal, Keyser has spent the past four seasons in Providence but has shuffled back to the ECHL on several occasions. His best ECHL season came with the Jacksonville Icemen in 2020-21, where he went 9-9-2 with a 2.46 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. Last season in the AHL with Providence, Keyser posted a .900 save percentage with a 2.72 goals-against average as he went 13-6-2. He was called up to Boston at one point during the year but never dressed for an NHL game.

At 24 years old, it’s hard to call Keyser a prospect anymore, and his play hasn’t exactly warranted a call-up, particularly with how stacked the Bruins’ goaltending depth is at the NHL level. His numbers in the AHL have been pedestrian thus far, as last season, he finished 44th in AHL save percentage out of 74 goaltenders. Given his track record, it seems likely that Keyser will continue to be a depth AHL goaltender in the Bruins system.

Lauko appeared in 23 games for the Bruins, his first set of action in the NHL. Recording four goals and seven points, he didn’t look out of place and will certainly warrant additional call-ups in the coming season – if he doesn’t make the team out of camp. Most would have him penciled in for a fourth-line role ahead of other depth signings like Jayson Megna, and he’s outperformed other Bruins prospects like Oskar Steen when given NHL minutes.

Flyers Sign Defenseman Ronnie Attard

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The Philadelphia Flyers have signed defenseman Ronnie Attard to a two-year, two-way/one-way, $1.7MM contract that carries an average annual value of $850K per season. The contract structure is a bit complicated, but it signals that Attard will likely spend the 2023-24 season in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He will make a guaranteed salary of $275K while in the AHL and $775K in the NHL. For the second year of the deal, he will make $925K regardless of where he plays.

The 24-year-old Attard was drafted by the Flyers in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and spent three years in the NCAA at Western Michigan University. In 94 career games with the Broncos, Attard put up 27 goals and 45 assists.

Last year was Attard’s first season with the Flyers AHL affiliate, he posted 12 goals and 20 assists while dressing in 68 games. His numbers placed him seventh in rookie scoring for defensemen and T-10 in assists for all defensemen. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound Attard was aggressive with the puck as he racked up 158 shots, putting him second among all defensemen.

Attard has seen some time with the Flyers in the NHL netting two goals and two assists in 17 career games. He dressed in just two games last season going scoreless, which must have been a disappointment given that he put up four points in 15 games the year prior. In his first run with the Flyers in 2021-22 Attard handled himself well and had encouraging underlying numbers while being effective on the penalty kill. However, in the two games he dressed for in April of this year, Attard struggled to make much of an impact as the Flyers were badly outplayed when he was on the ice. Although they were playing with a very underwhelming lineup.

It will be interesting to see when Attard can make the jump to the NHL, he should have plenty of opportunities to impress as the Flyers embark on their first real rebuild in recent memory. Right-shot defensemen are always in demand, especially ones with Attard’s size and skating ability.

Minor Transactions: 07/05/23

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It’s another busy day for transactions across the hockey world, and while NHL moves are just starting to trickle in (such as the Montreal Canadiens signing recent top-five pick David Reinbacher to his entry-level deal) teams in minor and foreign leagues have already been hard at work completing deals to upgrade or change their rosters. As always, we’ll keep track of those moves here.

  • The AHL’s Laval Rocket have agreed to a one-year contract with 22-year-old Noah Laaouan, a two-time recipient of the QMJHL’s Kevin Lowe Trophy for Best Defensive Defenseman. Laaouan is fresh off of his first season as a professional, one he split between the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners (two games) and ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators (57 games). Laaouan’s deal is a two-way AHL/ECHL deal, meaning he’s more likely to end up with the Trois-Rivieres Lions though he’ll get a chance to compete with guys like Tobie Bisson and Miguel Tourigny for a role on Laval’s defense.
  • Longtime AHL veteran Vincent LoVerde, a two-time Calder Cup Champion and two-time AHL All-Star, has parted ways with his club from last season, the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star. The 34-year-old departs China after one season there, his first in the KHL. LoVerde has over 500 games of AHL experience and while he didn’t do much winning in Kunlun he did win an ICEHL championship with EHC Red Bull Salzburg in 2021-22. Now an unrestricted free agent, LoVerde may elect to return to North America or potentially continue his pro career elsewhere in one of Europe’s leagues.
  • Defenseman Jake Chelios, the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios and a former AHL top-four defenseman, has signed a two-year extension with the Red Star to remain in the KHL through his age-34 season. Chelios, who represents China in IIHF events and played for them at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has been with Kunlun since 2019-20 and logged 180 career games with them. Chelios was an impact player in the AHL for a few seasons with the Charlotte Checkers from 2015 to 2017, but now seems to have elected playing with the Red Star as the best option for his career moving forward.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Johan Mattsson signed a one-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, confirming his exit from his team from last season, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. The 31-year-old 2011 seventh-round pick played 35 games for Yekaterinburg last season, posting a .919 save percentage in the process. He’s got a career .917 save percentage in 60 KHL games playing in both Russia and Latvia (back when Dynamo Riga was in the KHL) and has also had success in his native Sweden. He’s won two Champions Hockey League titles, an SHL title, and been a top HockeyAllsvenskan goalie. Now, he’ll compete against incumbent Dmitry Nikolayev (.929 save percentage in 42 games last season) for starts with St. Petersburg.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners signed forward Cameron Askew to a one-year contract extension. The deal will allow Askew, 26, to play a third season in Maine, the place where Conor Garland’s former QMJHL running mate has carved out a regular role as an ECHL power forward. Askew scored a career-high 23 goals and 38 points in his first season with the Mariners, and this past season he scored 15 goals and 32 points in 17 less games. The Mariners have made the ECHL playoffs the last two seasons, and now they’ve locked up a player who helped them reach that point each year for another campaign.
  • After a difficult season saw him part ways with his club of the last two seasons, 23-year-old German winger Tim Wohlgemuth has signed a deal with the DEL’s Cologne Sharks. Despite his young age, Wohlgemuth has already racked up 233 career games in Germany’s top pro league, and been reasonably productive to boot. In 2021-22 Wohlgemuth was among the league’s top young scorers with 35 points in 52 games, though this past season his production declined to 24 points in 51 games. Now, he’ll get a chance to play for a club a little bit lower on the league’s pecking order than Mannheim, and perhaps take on a larger role as a result.
  • At just 18 years of age, Austrian defenseman Patrick Söllinger broke into a more regular role with his hometown club, the ICEHL’s Black Wings Linz. Söllinger, a six-foot-one left-shot defenseman, played in 22 games for Linz and represented Austria at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Now, he’s been rewarded with his first professional contract, and with it he will in all likelihood get a chance to become an everyday player in Linz and help them return to the ICEHL playoffs for next season.
  • Former WHL and ECHL power forward Alex Roach, a British Columbia native, is extending his pro career in Germany another season. Roach spent the last two seasons playing in the DEL with Cologne, and now he’s moving down a division to sign with EHC Freiburg of the DEL2. Although Roach has more experience at the DEL level and has even played in the Champions Hockey League, he’s got DEL2 experience as well and has scored 36 points in 81 games at that level. Freiburg has been a middling DEL2 club for a few years now and in the past has had some close calls with relegation, so with this signing, they’ll hope Roach’s experience can inch them a little bit closer to promotion to the DEL.
  • Scott Conway, the Player of the Year and leading scorer of the EIHL, the United Kingdom’s top pro hockey league, has signed with HC Dukla Trencin of the Slovakian Extraliga, per a team social media announcement. The English-Canadian forward scored 168 points in his 104-game EIHL career, taking home numerous honors for his two-year stint as the league’s top offensive player. Conway has also found success in the ECHL, NCAA, BCHL, USHL, and now has a chance to make a career for himself in a league generally considered to have a higher talent level than the EIHL in Slovakia.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Victor Mete

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The Philadelphia Flyers are signing defenseman Victor Mete, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The deal is reportedly a one-year, two-way pact with a $775k AAV, $450k AHL salary, and a $500k total guarantee.

The Flyers bolstered their defensive depth with the signing of veteran Marc Staal two days ago, and now they’ve added another veteran to their mix with this deal. Mete, 25, spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, skating in 11 NHL games and six games in the AHL.

An undersized five-foot-nine left-shot defenseman, Mete received some hype as a Montreal Canadiens prospect.

While he was immediately stapled to Shea Weber on the Canadiens’ top pairing to start his rookie season, his strong skating and transitional abilities were never built upon, and he stagnated as the Canadiens turned to other young blueliners.

He was eventually claimed on waivers by the Ottawa Senators, who then non-tendered him, leading to his signing with the Maple Leafs. Mete doesn’t offer exceptional talent on either side of the ice, but he has nearly 250 games of NHL experience and is decent in transition. While the Flyers intend on keeping lineup spots open for their young blueliners to grab in training camp, GM Daniel Briere isn’t going to simply hand NHL jobs to youngsters.

Signing a player like Mete to this contract not only provides the Flyers’ young defensemen with an experienced pro to compete against, it also gives Philadelphia some quality depth should the team decide to keep Mete with their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Mete could join second-round prospects Emil Andrae and Adam Ginning on the left side of Lehigh Valley’s defense, and he could be their most experienced blueliner besides Louie Belpedio, who is 27 and has played in over 300 games in the AHL.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Winnipeg Jets Sign Domenic DiVincentiis

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The Winnipeg Jets have signed prospect goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis to a three-year entry-level contract with an $858k AAV, per a team announcement.

DiVincentiis, 19, was a seventh-round pick of the Jets at the 2022 draft who has earned this entry-level deal on the back of an exceptional breakout 2022-23 campaign with the OHL’s North Bay Battalion. DiVincentiis went 36-9-2 with North Bay, posting a .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against-average. He also led North Bay to the OHL’s Conference Finals, posting a .926 save percentage in 20 postseason games.

His save percentage was the highest among all OHL netminders with at least 40 games played, and he led the OHL in both wins and shutouts. That highly successful campaign earned DiVincentiis a multitude of honors, including the OHL’s Goalie of the Year award, as well as a spot on the CHL’s Second All-Star Team.

As he won’t turn 20 until next March, DiVincentiis is slated for another season in the OHL with North Bay. With Connor Hellebuyck on an expiring contract, the Jets have made investments into the goalie position looking towards the future.

After drafting 2023 World Juniors Gold Medalist Thomas Milic last week, they’ve made another move: signing their most promising goalie prospect to his entry-level deal and rewarding him for an exceptional OHL campaign.

Nikita Tryamkin Signs Two-Year Contract Extension In KHL

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In February, we covered word from former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin’s agent that the hulking six-foot-eight blueliner would be receiving “tremendous interest” from NHL clubs this summer. Moreover, Tryamkin’s agent stated that his client had rejected a contract extension offer from his KHL club and after the season would shift his focus towards making a return to the NHL.

Now, it seems that won’t be happening, and that Tryamkin won’t make his NHL return until he’s 31 years old, if at all. Announced officially by the club, Tryamkin has signed a two-year contract extension with his longtime KHL employer, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

This news comes as a bit of a surprise, as since leaving the NHL Tryamkin has been a two-time KHL All-Star and one of the better defensemen in that league.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old offers extremely rare size at the position, and if he made the NHL he would instantly become one of the tallest players in the league.

Tryamkin regularly logs heavy minutes for Yekaterinburg, and while his offensive game has never been quite as high of a focus he has chipped in 110 career points in 507 KHL games. His physicality and defensive upside thanks to his size and reach have always been his calling card.

The success of the Vegas Golden Knights as well as some trends at the NHL draft suggested teams are placing increased value on blueliners with size, so it’s somewhat surprising that Tryamkin couldn’t find a sufficient NHL offer to motivate him to cross the Atlantic.

With the current state of NHL/KHL relations and the haze of general uncertainty that surrounds the availability of many Russian players, perhaps there’s more to this at play than has been currently reported. Or, it could also be as simple as NHL teams not believing Tryamkin has progressed enough since his time with Vancouver to be worth signing to a significant enough offer to convince Tryamkin to change leagues.

In any case, while some fans were hoping Tryamkin would make his return to the NHL, it appears that his return will now have to wait another two seasons if it’s going to happen at all.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Montreal Canadiens Sign David Reinbacher

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The Montreal Canadiens have signed recent fifth-overall selection David Reinbacher to a three-year entry-level contract, according to a team announcement.

CapFriendly has word on the financial details: the contract carries a $950k cap hit and a $2.117 AAV factoring in possible performance bonuses. Reinbacher has $1MM available in “type A” performance bonuses for the three years of the deal, and gets $500k in “type B” performance bonuses available to him in the final year of the contract. The deal also contains a European Assignment Clause in its first two seasons.

The Canadiens have not finalized their plan on where they’ll have Reinbacher play next season, though by signing this entry-level deal Reinbacher will now get the chance to compete for an NHL job at training camp next fall or be assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Reinbacher could also always be loaned back to the club he was drafted from, EHC Kloten, and have his entry-level deal “slide” another season just as many players have in the past, such as Moritz Seider with the Detroit Red Wings.

Laval is shaping up to be extremely well-stocked with Canadiens prospects next season, with top names such as Joshua Roy, Riley Kidney, Logan Mailloux, and more expected to see regular minutes for the team’s AHL affiliate.

There is merit to the idea that having Reinbacher log heavy minutes with that group is the best route to take for his development, as it would not only acclimate him to smaller North American ice surfaces but also allow him to build lasting relationships with his potential future teammates.

There is also merit to loaning him back to Kloten. Reinbacher had quite the season for the recently-promoted Swiss side, rapidly climbing their depth charts and moving from a bottom-pairing, number-six role near the start of the season to a top-pairing, minutes-eating role by the end of the year.

Worth noting is the fact that if Montreal does assign Reinbacher to Laval out of training camp, the European Assignment Clause in the deal likely means that the Canadiens will eventually have to loan Reinbacher back to Kloten at a certain point in the season.

It’s Reinbacher’s immense success in one of the more talented men’s leagues in Europe that got him drafted so high (along with his upside as an all-around defenseman, to be clear) so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Montreal double down on Kloten being the right environment for Reinbacher to develop in even without any time in Laval.

Regardless of what path the Canadiens ultimately choose, signing this entry-level deal was largely a formality for Montreal with Reinbacher. While the team faced heavy backlash from a small-but-vocal subset of its fanbase for passing on Russian superstar winger Matvei Michkov to draft Reinbacher, just a quick look at the latter’s game film from Kloten shows exactly why he was made such a high pick.

Reinbacher spent quite a bit of time at Canadiens development camp partnered with and playing with the team’s other top defensive prospect, Lane Hutson, and it’s easy to imagine the two complimenting each other and Reinbacher in the future serving as the long-term partner for the player he recently called “the next Cale Makar.”

But before that can happen, Reinbacher will need to continue to develop his game, and by signing this entry-level deal he’s opened up every possible option in order to do so.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

East Notes: Murray, Zadina, Zamula

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After signing both Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, the Maple Leafs now find themselves nearly $9MM over the salary cap, per CapFriendly.  Even with the LTIR allowance for Jake Muzzin, they’re still more than $3MM over that ceiling.  Accordingly, there is an expectation that they will need to move out goaltender Matt Murray.   To that end, in his latest post for NorthStar Bets, Chris Johnston notes that Toronto’s preference at this point is to try to trade Murray over using the second buyout window, a move that would open up $4MM in cap space in 2023-24 but add $2MM in dead cap charges in 2024-25.  Considering they have pricey extensions on the horizon for Auston Matthews and William Nylander, having dead cap charges on the books won’t help.

The Maple Leafs will get a second buyout window if an arbitration-eligible player files for arbitration.  That would be RFA Ilya Samsonov so expect him to be one of many players filing for arbitration by Thursday’s deadline.  But that’s Plan B for them.  For now, GM Brad Treliving will be shopping around to see who’s willing to take on that contract and just how much it will cost in an incentive to do so.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • When Detroit waived Filip Zadina yesterday, the move came as a surprise. However, GM Steve Yzerman told reporters including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that the youngster had requested a trade a couple of weeks prior to the draft.  Clearly, that didn’t materialize and after he cleared today, it’s back to the drawing board on that front.  Zadina has two years left on a contract that carries a $1.825MM AAV and it appears that the Red Wings will need to pay some of that down or take a similar contract back if they want to move him.  Alternatively, the fact he cleared now suggests they could waive him in training camp, saving $1.15MM in cap room in the process for any time that he’s in the minors.
  • Flyers prospect Yegor Zamula is on the move…in the KHL, that is as Torpedo announced that they’ve acquired his KHL rights from SKA St. Petersburg. The 23-year-old split last season between Philadelphia and AHL Lehigh Valley.  With the Flyers, Zamula had four assists in 14 games while logging a little over 13 minutes per night.  However, he was more productive with the Phantoms, notching 19 points in 44 contests.  Zamula is already under contract for the upcoming season on a one-way deal worth the NHL minimum.  Coyotes unsigned prospect Ilya Fedotov was also part of the four-player swap.

West Notes: Bouchard, Stars, Cooley

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The Oilers are expected to have to sign Evan Bouchard to a short-term bridge contract to fit him within their cap structure.  On the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that the deal might fall within the $3.5MM to $4MM range.  For comparison, Colorado’s Bowen Byram inked a two-year bridge deal with a $3.85MM AAV and Bouchard has more than twice as many games played as points as Byram.  The 23-year-old is coming off his second straight regular season of at least 40 points and led all NHL blueliners in playoff scoring with 17 points in just 12 contests.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Stars haven’t given up on pursuing outside help defensively via the trade route, relays Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (subscription link). However, they are prepared to enter next season with what they have now with the hopes that Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist can take a step forward in their development to help bolster the depth of their unit.  Dallas has been quiet with their back end this summer with their only NHL-related moves being the trade of Colin Miller to New Jersey, the signing of Gavin Bayreuther, and the re-signing of Joel Hanley.
  • Coyotes prospect Logan Cooley told Jenna Ortiz of the Arizona Republic that he’s not putting a timeline on when he turns pro. The 19-year-old was the third-overall pick last year and had a standout first season at Minnesota, putting up 60 points in 39 games to finish second in NCAA scoring while also averaging two points per game at the World Juniors.  As it is, some feel that Cooley doesn’t have much left to prove at that level so while he’s not willing to put a firm expectation in place for when he turns pro, it certainly feels like that should be happening when his college season comes to an end either next March or April.

Canadiens Re-Sign Mitchell Stephens

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With the arbitration deadline fast approaching, Montreal has taken care of one of their arbitration-eligible players as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed Mitchell Stephens to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $300K in the AHL with a total guarantee of $385K, a $10K raise on the guaranteed part of his contract last season.

The 26-year-old signed with Montreal last summer after being non-tendered by the Red Wings.  However, after spending all of 2021-22 in the NHL, Stephens passed through waivers unclaimed in training camp and was assigned to AHL Laval where he spent the entire season.  Last year, he played in 68 games with the Rocket, collecting 20 goals and 21 assists.

Stephens has a total of 72 career NHL games under his belt between Detroit and Tampa Bay, picking up three goals and ten assists.  With the Canadiens having somewhat of a forward surplus already, it seems likely that Stephens will be back on waivers in training camp and will look to play his way into a recall during the season.  While Montreal retained his rights by issuing a qualifying offer last week, this is Stephens’ final season of eligibility; he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

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