Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Wild Acquire Pat Maroon And Max Cajkovic

at CDT | by 9 Comments

The Wild have added a veteran to their forward mix as they have acquired winger Pat Maroon from Tampa Bay along with Max Cajkovic in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick.  Both teams have announced the swap.

Maroon spent the last four years with the Lightning, winning a pair of Stanley Cups along the way.  However, his production dropped considerably last season, going from 27 points to just 14.  Of course, Maroon is more known for his physical play and he still provides that in spades, chipping in with 172 hits and recording a league-high 150 penalty minutes.  He has one year left on his contract with a $1MM AAV.  As part of the trade, Tampa Bay is paying 20% of that money.

The 35-year-old has played in 729 career NHL contests over parts of a dozen NHL seasons, recording 117 goals, 171 assists, and 930 playoff minutes.  Maroon also has plenty of playoff experience, suiting up in 150 postseason contests where he has 51 points and 197 penalty minutes along with three Cup titles from 2019 through 2021.  He’ll take the place of Ryan Reaves on Minnesota’s fourth line after Reaves inked a three-year contract with Toronto on Saturday.

As for Cajkovic, the 22-year-old spent most of last season at the ECHL level, recording 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games with Orlando; he suited up in just two contests with AHL Syracuse.  His placement in the trade appears to be more for opening up a contract slot for the Lightning rather than being a key component for Minnesota.  Cajkovic has one year remaining on his entry-level deal and is almost certain to be back in the minors again next season.

With the swap, Tampa Bay frees up $800K in cap flexibility.  It’s likely that they’ll put that money toward a new deal for RFA winger Tanner Jeannot.  Per PuckPedia, they have a little under $3MM in cap room (including Brent Seabrook’s LTIR savings) with the bulk of that likely being needed to lock up their key trade deadline acquisition from last season.

Coyotes Sign John Leonard

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Jul 3, 2:52 p.m.: Arizona has made the acquisition official, but did not confirm the terms of the contract.

Jul 2, 6:10 p.m.: The Coyotes are set to add some more forward depth as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (Twitter link) that Arizona has agreed to terms with free agent winger John Leonard on a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $80K in the minors while having a guaranteed salary of $150K.

The 24-year-old was a sixth-round pick by San Jose back in 2018 and spent two years in their system before being moved to Nashville as part of the Luke Kunin trade last summer.  Last season, he spent the bulk of the year with the Preds’ affiliate in Milwaukee, putting up 17 goals and 27 assists in 67 regular season games while chipping in with an assist in six postseason contests.  However, they opted to non-tender him on Friday, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Leonard has seen NHL action in each of his three professional campaigns, including six with the Predators last season, scoring once.  All told, he has 64 career appearances at the top level, tallying five goals and 11 assists while logging an average of a little over 11 minutes per night.

Leonard is likely to start the season with Arizona’s AHL affiliate in Tucson but should be among the early candidates for a recall.  If things go well for him in 2023-24, the Coyotes can retain his rights as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent through the 2025-26 campaign.

Day One Free Agent Recap: Metropolitan Division

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The NHL’s Metropolitan Division did some shopping yesterday, with a few teams making big splashes on the free agent market. Bigger deals include the New York Islanders’ twin seven-year deals for Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall, as well as a pricey two-year pact between the Carolina Hurricanes and Dmitry Orlov.

Carolina Hurricanes

F – Michael Bunting (3-year, $13.5MM, $4.5MM AAV)

F – Jesper Fast (2-year, $4.8MM, 2.4MM AAV)

D – Dmitry Orlov (2-year, $15.5MM, $7.75MM AAV)

G – Frederik Andersen (2-year, $6.8MM, $3.4MM AAV)

G – Antti Raanta (1-year, $1.5MM)

Columbus Blue Jackets

F – Adam Fantilli (3-year entry-level contract $950k AAV)

New Jersey Devils

F – Michael McLeod (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Nathan Bastian (2-year, $2.7MM, $1.35MM AAV)

F – Kyle Criscuolo (1-year, $775k)

F – Justin Dowling (1-year, $775k)

G – Erik Kallgren (1-year, $775k)

New York Islanders

F – Pierre Engvall (7-year, $21MM, $3MM AAV)

D – Scott Mayfield (7-year, $24.5MM, $3.5MM AAV)

G – Ilya Sorokin (8-year, $66MM, $8.25MM AAV)

G – Semyon Varlamov (4-year, $11MM, $2.75MM)

New York Rangers

F – Blake Wheeler (1-year, $800k)

F – Nick Bonino (1-year, $800k)

F – Tyler Pitlick (1-year, $787.5k)

F – Riley Nash (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Alex Belzile (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

D – Connor Mackey (1-year, $775k)

D – Erik Gustafsson (1-year, $825k)

D – Nikolas Brouillard (1-year, $775k)

G – Jonathan Quick  (1-year, $825k)

Philadelphia Flyers

F – Garnet Hathaway (2-year, $4.75MM, $2.375MM AAV)

F – Ryan Poehling (1-year, $1.4MM)

F – Rhett Gardner (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Pittsburgh Penguins

F – Noel Acciari (3-year, $6MM, $2MM AAV)

F – Lars Eller (2-year, $4.9MM, $2.45MM AAV)

F – Joona Koppanen (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

F – Matt Nieto (2-year, $1.8MM, $900k AAV)

D – Ryan Graves (6-year, $27MM, $4.5MM AAV)

D – Ryan Shea (1-year, $775k)

G – Tristan Jarry (5-year, $26.875MM, $5.375MM AAV)

G – Alex Nedeljkovic (1-year, $1.5MM)

Washington Capitals

F – Max Pacioretty (1-year, $2MM)

F – Pierrick Dube (2-year, $1.9MM, $870k AAV)

G – Hunter Shepard (2-year, $1.55MM, $775k AAV)

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Bertuzzi

at CDT | by 33 Comments

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.

This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.

Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.

The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.

Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.

Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.

His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.

Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.

That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Jiri Patera

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Vegas Golden Knights re-sign netminder Jiri Patera to a one-year, two-way contract. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a $775k AAV, a $100k AHL salary, and a $145k total guarantee.

Patera, 24, is a member of the Golden Knights’ original draft class from 2017, when he was selected in the sixth round. The six-foot-two Czech netminder developed in the USHL before spending two seasons in the WHL with current Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon’s club, the Brandon Wheat Kings.

A First-Team All-Star in the WHL, Patera turned pro in 2020-21, splitting time with HC Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Extraliga and the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights.

Patera had a difficult start to life in Henderson but in 2021-22 he regrouped his game in the ECHL and ended the season with a .910 save percentage and 2.76 goals-against-average in the AHL.

This past season, Patera got used to a larger workload playing 31 games for Henderson. His numbers held steady despite getting a larger role in the AHL, and he even earned two starts for Vegas in the NHL, winning both with a .929 save percentage.

With this contract Patera secures his place for another season with Vegas’ AHL affiliate, and he’ll hope to earn more NHL call-ups as he makes a push to become a regular face at the game’s highest level.

Seattle Kraken Sign Kailer Yamamoto

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Seattle Kraken are returning Kailer Yamamoto to his home state. The Spokane, Washington native and former Edmonton Oiler has signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal with the NHL’s youngest franchise.

As he was bought out by the Detroit Red Wings a few days ago, Yamamoto’s signing with the Kraken means Detroit effectively traded him for Daniel Sprong, another right-winger who Seattle chose not to issue a qualifying offer.

By signing Yamamoto over Sprong, the Kraken save $500,000 (Sprong earned $2MM from the Red Wings) and receive a younger player with a less impressive recent track record but a more extensive resume of NHL success.

While Sprong’s 21 goals and 46 points this year dwarf Yamamoto’s 10 goals and 25 points, just one year ago Yamamoto had 20 goals and 41 points.

Yamamoto also flashed high offensive upside in 2019-20, when he scored 11 goals and 26 points in 27 games.

Now plugged into one of the league’s highest-scoring environments in Seattle, the Kraken will hope that Yamamoto can bring a more consistent level of offensive production, and perhaps access the upside that saw him drafted 22nd overall in 2017 on a more regular basis.

The Kraken have quite a few quality wingers slated to play ahead of him on their roster, but the depth of Seattle’s lineup will play to Yamamoto’s advantage. Assuming he can make a good impression at training camp, Yamamoto has a strong chance of playing next to other capable NHL offensive producers, and if he can find the right linemates and build some chemistry he could really pop, giving Seattle a strong return on this $1.5MM investment.

If he ends up playing more the way he did late in his Oilers tenure, this could end up a wasted $1.5MM for the Kraken, which would hurt even more if Sprong goes on to great things in Detroit. But even with that risk in mind, this is a reasonable gamble to take on a young, energetic offensive forward.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Calvin de Haan

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed defenseman Calvin de Haan, as first reported by Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds that the deal is a one-year, $775k contract. The signing has also been officially announced.

It’s a slight pay cut for de Haan, 32, who played last season on an $850k cap hit with the Carolina Hurricanes. A defenseman with nearly 600 games of NHL experience, de Haan is a former top-four rearguard who a minutes-eating defenseman for playoff teams on both the Hurricanes and New York Islanders.

Some significant injury issues sapped away much of de Haan’s foot speed, and left him a less effective two-way defenseman compared to his prime. Last season he played in 53 games and averaged a career-low 13:32 time on ice per game, though just a year before he was averaging nearly 19 minutes per night.

For a cap-strapped team like the Lightning, there are far worse options a team could have for its seventh defenseman role than de Haan. He brings experience, stability, and reliability to the role, and despite no longer being the player he once was it’s not as though he’s in his late thirties. The Lightning clearly believe he still has something to give to an NHL team, and now this one-year deal will allow de Haan to do so.

He’s got no chance of displacing Victor Hedman or Mikhail Sergachev on one of Tampa’s top two pairings, but seeing as the Lightning got hit hard by blueline injuries later in the season he’s a valuable depth player to keep around and potentially have compete with Haydn Fleury for the number-six role on head coach Jon Cooper’s defense.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Akito Hirose

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Canucks have announced a two-year contract extension for young defenseman Akito Hirose, a relatively recent signing out of college hockey. The deal carries a $787k cap hit for each year, and is a two-way deal with a $350k AHL salary in 2023-24 and a one-way deal in 2024-25.

Hirose, 24, was signed out of Minnesota State University after a successful three-year stint there. The former top defender in the BCHL scored 68 points in 104 games at the college level and stepped right into the NHL after signing from college.

Hirose got into seven contests for the Canucks and scored three points, averaging nearly 17 and a half minutes per game. He’s more of an offensive defenseman and will likely need a little bit of time in the AHL before he’s ready for full-time NHL duty.

The one-way portion of this contract is an indication that the Canucks are very much believers in Hirose’s NHL potential, and now with his contract secured he’ll head to training camp hoping to compete for an NHL roster spot or secure a premier offensive role in the AHL.

Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Justus Annunen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed AHL netminder Justus Annunen to a one-year two-way deal with a $775k cap hit and a $225k minor league salary.

Annunen, 23, took a strong step forward this past season with the Colorado Eagles, improving his save percentage from an .893 in his rookie AHL campaign to a .916 in 41 games this year.

The big six-foot-four goalie was a backup goalie for two seasons with Karpat in the Finnish Liiga before joining the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. In the AHL Annunen has acclimated himself to a far greater workload than what he received in Finland, and his form this past year is an encouraging sign for his NHL future in Colorado.

Incumbent backup netminder Pavel Francouz is 33 years old and will see his contract expire at the end of next season, so this one-year extension provides Annunen an excellent platform to make a push for an NHL number-two job in Denver.

Calgary Flames Sign Jordan Oesterle

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Jordan Oesterle to a one-year, $925k AAV deal.

With trade winds blowing heavily around the Flames’ top left-handed defenseman, Noah Hanifin, adding a capable left-hander to the organization is an important step to take to protect the team’s depth in the event Hanifin is dealt.

Oesterle is exactly that, a capable veteran defenseman who has over 300 games of NHL experience. He’s spent the last two years with the Detroit Red Wings, where he’s scored a combined 19 points in 97 games, averaging nearly 17 minutes of ice time per night along the way.

While he won’t be effective if asked to play a minutes-eating role for the Flames, he should be able to capably handle a bottom-pairing role and provide some valuable veteran competition for the Flames’ crop of up-and-coming blueliners.

While it might be a preferred scenario for a young defenseman like Jeremie Poirier to beat out Oesterle for a job, this signing gives the Flames a solid option in case one of their young defensemen disappoints and can’t earn an opening-day job.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top