The Vancouver Canucks originally drafted Madden in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft.  He spent the next two seasons in a top role at Northeastern University, where he potted 65 points across 63 games. With his eyes on a pro turn, Madden was traded to Los Angeles in a 2020 deal that sent Tyler Toffoli to Vancouver. Madden turned pro in the shortened 2020-21 AHL season and scored just five points in his first 14 career games. He grew to 31 points in 48 games the next year – but has stayed close to the 30-point mark through 71 games in each of the last two seasons. He’s on track to repeat his performance this year – with 25 points in 47 games – but a timely move to the Minnesota organization could give him the spark needed to break 35 points for the first time in his career.

In return, Los Angeles acquired full-frame defender Cecconi to fill the hole left when the Nashville Predators claimed Andreas Englund on waivers. Cecconi was in his first season with the Iowa Wild after two years with the Rochester Americans and five years with the Texas Stars. His 14 points and 41 penalty minutes in 51 games this season continue his tendency for low-scoring and hard-hitting defense through yet another move. Should the Kings face any more blue-line injuries, that style could be enough to earn Cecconi his NHL debut on a lineup that isn’t afraid to ice seven defenders.

Chicago Blackhawks

none

Colorado Avalanche

F Joel Kiviranta (one year)

Dallas Stars

D Kyle Capobianco (two years)
F Cameron Hughes (one year)
F Kole Lind (one year)

Minnesota Wild

F Travis Boyd (one year)
D Joseph Cecconi (one year)
D Cameron Crotty (one year)
F Brendan Gaunce (two years)
G Troy Grosenick (one year)
F Ben Jones (two years)
F Devin Shore (one year)
F Reese Johnson (one year)

Nashville Predators

D Nick Blankenburg (two years)
F Vinnie Hinostroza (two years)
F Jake Lucchini (two years)
G Matt Murray (one year)

St. Louis Blues

none

Utah Hockey Club

D Kevin Connauton (two years)
F Miko Matikka (three years, $870K entry-level cap hit)

Winnipeg Jets

none

Boyd found a comfortable spot among the Arizona Coyotes’ bottom six over the last three seasons, kicked off by his career-high 17 goals and 35 points in 2021-22. Boyd followed that up with 15 goals and 35 points last year, though he was held to just 16 games this year after a torn pectoral ended his season in December. Boyd still scored eight points in the outings – sticking with his recent propensity for scoring – though he remains hard to gauge. Now 30, Boyd is a bit hard to project coming off injury; likely the reason for his two-way deal. But he’ll be in a prime position to bounce back next season, among a Wild bottom six in need of an impact center.

If Boyd can’t hold onto a role, Minnesota has hedged their bets with Shore – who got demoted to the AHL after 21 games in the NHL this year. He responded well to the send-down, though, recording 25 points across 39 regular season games and 13 points in 18 playoff performances. Shore has totaled 443 NHL games across the last nine seasons, though he’s managed just 139 points – and hasn’t surpassed 15 points in a year since 2018-19. Boyd’s scoring over the last two years will give him an advantage on the depth chart, though both players will compete for a consistent role at the bottom of Minnesota’s lineup.

Minnesota also inked 27-year-old right-shot defenseman Joseph Cecconi to a two-way deal ($775K NHL/$325K AHL), per PuckPedia. He had 13 points in 58 AHL games played last season with the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ top minor-league affiliate.

The organization also announced two-way deals with forwards Brendan Gaunce, Reese Johnson, Ben Jones, defenseman Cameron Crotty, and goaltender Troy Grosenick. All eight players should open the season with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, and serve as valuable depth for Minnesota if the team succumbs to injury at any point during the 2024-25 NHL season.

The 26-year-old spent the first five and half seasons of his AHL career with the Texas Stars before coming over to the Sabres organization in a trade in December 2022. Cecconi spent the remainder of the year with Rochester Americans where he put up three goals and five assists in 41 games before posting two goals and three assists in 14 playoff games.

The Sabres saw enough from the former fifth-round pick to give him an opportunity to continue his career in North America. Cecconi has yet to play in the NHL and seems destined to spend next year in Rochester once again, particularly with Buffalo having several good defensive prospects who would be likely to get a call-up before the Youngstown, New York native.

The Sabres will be a team to keep an eye on in the coming days as they don’t have any major unrestricted free agents and they have roughly $14.5MM in cap space available.

Laaksonen, 23, was a third-round pick of the Sabres at the 2017 draft, getting selected 89th overall. He spent three full seasons as a regular defenseman for Ilves Tampere in the Finnish Liiga, before splitting 2020-21 between the Lahti Pelicans and the Rochester Americans.

In Rochester Laaksonen started off very well, scoring 17 points in his first 28 games. In his first full season, which was last year, he had a healthy 34 points in 71 games, good for second-most among Rochester defensemen. He scored those points, though, in somewhat of a sheltered role, and this season Laaksonen has just two points in ten games played.

Close to the end of last season, it seemed the cracks were starting to show in Laaksonen’s standing in Rochester. In a story covering the blueliner’s situation from last spring, the Times Herald’s Bill Hoppe noted that the Americans were sending a “not-so-subtle” message to Laaksonen that he needed to make his game more balanced in order to remain in their plans.

Despite his solid production, Laaksonen sat out the first eight games of the Americans’ Calder Cup playoff run, and after a particularly painful 6-5 triple-overtime loss to the Laval Rocket, Americans coach Seth Appert had the following to say about Laaksonen’s game:

His defensive game has to continue to improve, his commitment to defending and playing with the physical style. He’s never going to be a physical defenseman, but in North America, you have to physically engage to defend.

Those comments indicate that Laaksonen was heading into this year on thin ice in Rochester, and after 23 games (he played in just ten of them) it seems that the team decided Laaksonen needed a change of scenery.

He’ll head to the AHL’s Texas Stars in return for Cecconi, a 25-year-old native of Youngstown, New York, which is just over 30 miles away from Buffalo.

Cecconi was a fifth-round choice of the Stars at the 2015 draft. He had a four-year collegiate career at the University of Michigan before he made the leap to the pro game. For the past four years, Cecconi has been a regular contributor in Texas, mostly in a bottom-pairing capacity.

In his comments on Laaksonen, Appert noted a need to “physically engage” in order to survive on a North American blueline. In acquiring Cecconi, Sabres management has provided their AHL bench boss with a defenseman who is far better suited to play the sort of violent, physical game that the AHL can be known for. Cecconi stands six-foot-three, 215 pounds, and registered 52 penalty minutes last year.

In addition to his physical strengths, Cecconi plays on the second unit of Texas’ AHL-best penalty kill, which is running at an 88.2% rate. By trading for him, not only has Rochester gotten the more physical defenseman they seem to have desired, but they also have attempted to address their weak penalty kill, which is currently killing penalties at just a 70.6% rate.

While this is a deal that is unlikely to be of major consequence to both the Stars and the Sabres, it should make a meaningful difference for both clubs’ AHL affiliates as well as the involved players.

2:23 pm: The Dallas Stars aren’t going to lose Joseph Cecconi to Group VI unrestricted free agency after all. The young defenseman has signed a new one-year, two-way contract with the club to keep him in Texas.

Cecconi, 25, has yet to make it to the NHL after signing out of the University of Michigan in 2019, spending the last three seasons exclusively at the minor league level. The one-time defense partner to Quinn Hughes had a strong season for the Texas Stars, recording a career-high 16 points in 65 games. Because of his lack of opportunity with Dallas, he would have qualified to hit the market early, though that certainly wouldn’t have guaranteed him a better situation.

In fact, it’s not like the Stars are loaded with right-handed defensemen ahead of him. There may actually be some opportunity for a player like Cecconi to see NHL minutes in the case of injuries next season, especially given his size and physicality.

He will also now be subject to waivers should the team decide to send him to the minor leagues, at least giving him a chance to land on an NHL roster somewhere else if the need arises.

• Oskar Back
• Riley Damiani
• Ty Dellandrea
• Rhett Gardner
• Fredrik Karlstrom
• Tanner Kero
• Riley Tufte
• Joseph Cecconi
• Alexander Petrovic
• Jerad Rosburg
• Ryan Shea

Perhaps most interesting among them are Back and Karlstrom, a pair of third-round picks that are just dipping their toes into the North American professional waters. Both players came over from the SHL this season and made an impact for Texas, scoring 25 and 29 points respectively. Each one is a big, rangy forward with experience at center ice. Karlstrom ended up playing three games for Dallas this season, but is also more than two years older than Back, who only turned 22 a few months ago.

Meanwhile, Wyatt Johnston, a player that you might expect to be with this group if possible, continues his OHL playoff series this week. The 18-year-old forward had 124 points in 68 games this season for the Windsor Spitfires and has added another 17 in nine postseason appearances.

Buffalo Sabres (via team Tweet):

F Brandon Biro (to Rochester, AHL)
D Casey Fitzgerald (to Rochester, AHL)

Calgary Flames (via The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian):

F Walker Duehr (to Stockton, AHL)
F Byron Froese (to Stockton, AHL)
F Justin Kirkland (to Stockton, AHL)
D Connor Mackey (to Stockton, AHL)
G Adam Werner (to Stockton, AHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (via team release):

D Joey Keane (to Chicago, AHL)
G Alex Lyon (to Chicago, AHL)
F Ryan Suzuki (to Chicago, AHL)

Chicago Blackhawks (via NBC Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis):

F Alexander Nylander (to Rockford, AHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (via team release):

D Gavin Bayreuther (to Cleveland, AHL)
*D Gabriel Carlsson (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Justin Danforth (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Liam Foudy (to Cleveland, AHL)
*D Mikko Lehtonen (to Cleveland, AHL)
*F Kevin Stenlund (to Cleveland, AHL)
G Daniil Tarasov (to Cleveland, AHL)

Dallas Stars (via team release):

D Dawson Barteaux (to Texas, AHL)
F Mavrik Bourque (to Shawinigan, QMJHL)
D Joseph Cecconi (to Texas, AHL)
F Tye Felhaber (to Texas, AHL)
D Thomas Harley (to Texas, AHL)
F Jordan Kawaguchi (to Texas, AHL)
D Ryan Shea (to Texas, AHL)
F Riley Tufte (to Texas, AHL)

Detroit Red Wings (via team Tweet):

G Calvin Pickard (to Grand Rapids, AHL)

Edmonton Oilers (via team release):

G Stuart Skinner (to Bakersfield, AHL)

Nashville Predators (via team Tweet):

F Egor Afanasyev (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Jeremy Davies (to Milwaukee, AHL)

New Jersey Devils (via The Athletic’s Corey Masisak):

F Jesper Boqvist (to Utica, AHL)
*F Frederik Gauthier (to Utica, AHL)
G Akira Schmid (to Utica, AHL)

Ottawa Senators (via team Tweet):

G Filip Gustavsson (to Belleville, AHL)

San Jose Sharks (via team Tweet):

F Dylan Gambrell (to San Jose, AHL)

St. Louis Blues (via The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford):

F Logan Brown (to Springfield, AHL)
F Mackenzie MacEachern (to Springfield, AHL)

Vancouver Canucks (via team release):

*F Justin Bailey (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*D Madison Bowey (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*F Phillip Di Giuseppe (to Abbotsford, AHL)
*D Travis Hamonic (to Abbotsford, AHL)

Washington Capitals (via team Tweet):

*G Zach Fucale (to Hershey, AHL)
*F Garrett Pilon (to Hershey, AHL)

Winnipeg Jets (via team release):

F David Gustafsson (to Manitoba, AHL)
*D Nelson Nogier (to Manitoba, AHL)
*F Dominic Toninato (to Manitoba, AHL)

* – Player must clear waivers prior to assignment

Cecconi, 24, was originally a fifth-round pick of the Stars in 2015, but quickly rose up the prospect charts with his performances at the World Juniors and the University of Michigan. He was part of the U.S. team that won gold in 2017, and developed a little bit of an offensive game to go along with his defensive acumen. The 6’4″ defenseman played 37 games with the Texas Stars last season, recording eight points, and is likely headed back to the minor leagues for 2021-22.

In fact, with other minor league signings like Alexander Petrovic and Andreas Borgman in the fold, the chances Cecconi plays meaningful minutes in the NHL this year seem low. With that in mind, he’s a lock to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer, given he hasn’t played even a single game with Dallas to this point.