Transaction activity around the hockey world is starting to pick up with free agency now just three weeks away. Among the activity are some minor moves; we’ll keep tabs on the NHL-related ones here.
- Rangers prospect Cooper Zech has signed a one-year with HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga, per a team announcement on Instagram. The 24-year-old defenseman split the season between AHL Rockford and two ECHL teams, getting into just 22 games in total. A pending restricted free agent, New York can retain his rights by issuing a qualifying offer later this month but given his limited success in North America thus far, they might just opt to relinquish his rights.
- Wild prospect Matvei Guskov is on the move in the KHL as Salavat Yulaev announced that they’ve acquired the center from CSKA Moscow. The 22-year-old was a fifth-round pick back in 2019 (149th overall) and is coming off a year that saw him pick up seven goals in 16 games at the second-tier VHL level while recording nine points in 37 KHL contests. As Russia doesn’t have a signed Player Transfer Agreement with the NHL, Minnesota holds Guskov’s NHL rights indefinitely.
- There was a big trade at the QMJHL draft today as Sherbrooke announced (Twitter link) that Ethan Gauthier was moved to Drummondville for a package of draft picks, including three first-round selections. Gauthier, the son of long-time NHL defenseman Denis Gauthier, had 69 points in 66 games with the Phoenix this season, a performance that could give him a shot at being picked in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft later this month.
- 2017-18 AHL MVP Phil Varone has signed a one-year deal with Dusseldorf EG of the German DEL. The 32-year-old forward is entering his third season in the European pro hockey circuit and has played in Russia, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan. This past year Varone ranked third on KHL side Spartak Moscow in scoring (behind two players who also have NHL experience in Shane Prince and Alexander Khokhlachev) with 30 points in 57 games. Varone has 415 career points in 521 career AHL games and if he’s remotely as successful in Germany as he has been in North America’s minor leagues, he’ll be a major addition to Dusseldorf for the playoff run they’ll hope to go on next season.
- 26-year-old center Dante Salituro, an ECHL All-Star in 2017-18, has signed a contract with EC Hannover Indians, a club in Germany’s third tier of pro hockey. Salituro has scored 134 points in 169 career ECHL games and was among the league’s top scorers just a few years ago. It’s been quite an adventure for him since that point, though. After scoring 61 points in 66 games for the Allen Americans in 2018-19 Salituro, a former top OHL prospect, earned a one-year contract with SaiPa in the Finnish Liiga. That deal contained a tryout period, though, and Salituro played just three games in Finland before leaving the club. He was then traded twice in the 2019-20 ECHL campaign and played for three clubs, failing at each stop to regain his All-Star form. Salituro then spent 2020-21 playing in Norway’s second division with Narvik Hockey before splitting 2021-22 between France and Slovakia. After scoring 25 points in 34 games in his debut season in Slovakia Salituro earned a one-year extension, though this past January he transferred to HC Presov. Now, he’s off to Germany to play third-division hockey with the hope of helping his club advance up the highly competitive German hockey ladder.
This post will be updated throughout the day.