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Minor Transactions: 07/21/22

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Not only are there several minor transactions to cover today but the AHL also released its full schedule for the upcoming season. Of note, the Calgary Flames affiliate–which still doesn’t have a name–is playing out of the Saddledome this year and will open things up against the new Coachella Valley Firebirds franchise. While each team prepares, there are plenty of spots to fill on rosters across the league. As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves right here.

  • The Colorado Eagles have signed Mitch Vande Sompel to a one-year AHL contract, after he became a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. The 25-year-old has played the last four seasons with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and recorded 18 points in 56 games this year.
  • The Iowa Wild have signed Tanner Kaspick and Ty Ronning, both players that failed to receive qualifying offers from their respective NHL teams this offseason. Kaspick, who had been part of the St. Louis Blues organization, scored ten points in 45 games last season. Ronning, who had been with the New York Rangers, had 39 points in 69 games.
  • Overseas, Vegas Golden Knights prospect Martins Dzierkals signed a new one-year deal in the Czech league. The Golden Knights received Dzierkal’s exclusive rights in the original Robin Lehner trade and will hold them indefinitely as he continues to play in Europe. The 25-year-old participated in the Olympics and World Championship for his country this year after putting up 30 points in 49 games for HC Plzen.
  • Former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Ian Scott has announced his retirement on Instagram, after going through multiple major injuries the last few years. The 23-year-old goaltender was the 110th pick in 2017 but managed just eight professional appearances in the years since.

This page will be updated throughout the day

NHL Announces 2022-23 Regular Season Schedule

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The news continues to break during what’s been a busy pre-draft week. The NHL has released the full 82-game schedule for the 2022-23 campaign, marking a return to normal dates and length for the first time since 2018-19.

2022-23 will see its curtains open overseas, where the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators will open the season at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czechia on October 7 and 8, 2022. The regular season will begin on the North American side of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, with a classic doubleheader. The puck will drop at Madison Square Garden for an Eastern Conference Final rematch between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, followed by a Pacific Division showdown in Southern California between the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings.

The Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony will be the following night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. The season will wrap up on April 13, 2023.

Some key events throughout the season include the 2022 Global Series in Tampere, Finland, where the Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets will play a pair of games on November 4 and 5, 2022. The 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic is slated for January 2, 2023, between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins at Fenway Park, and the 2023 NHL Stadium Series is set for February 18, 2023, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Hurricanes will host the Washington Capitals. All-Star Weekend will be February 3-4, 2023, hosted by the Florida Panthers.

Kasper Bjorkqvist Signs In Finland

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At least one pending free agent for the Pittsburgh Penguins is off the table. Kasper Bjorkqvist, who is scheduled to become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, has signed a new two-year contract with Karpat in Finland.  The Penguins will be able to retain his exclusive NHL rights by issuing him a qualifying offer this summer.

Bjorkqvist, 24, was the 61st overall pick in 2016 and made his NHL debut this season, playing in six games. He scored his first NHL goal during that short stint but was otherwise rather ineffective, registering just 12 points in 54 games at the AHL level. A member of the incredible 2016 Finnish World Junior team that took home the gold medal, he never has quite grown into his game at the professional level, at least on the North American circuit.

There is certainly hope for him in Finland, as during the 2020-21 season when the AHL was dormant due to COVID-19 restrictions, Bjorkqvist played in Finland and was named the Liiga rookie of the year after posting 26 points in 44 games. He also had an outstanding career at Providence College, which included being named captain for his final season, an extremely rare honor for European players at the NCAA level.

The Penguins will still have his rights when the contract expires but not for long. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent when he turns 27, which will be just a few days after the market opens in 2024. His time in Pittsburgh could very well be over.

Business Notes: Salary Cap, 2022-23 Schedule, LTIR

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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke today from Ball Arena in Denver prior to Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, giving a pseudo-state of the league address as the offseason begins to commence. One of the most striking and important notes from his presser was about the future of the salary cap, including that league revenues hit a record $5.2 billion this year. Drawing on that and the projected revenue increase from that point, Bettman notes that normal salary cap growth should resume within two to three seasons, a much shorter timeline than the five-to-six-year plan rumored early in the season. It’s wonderful news for teams and players, as contending teams will finally begin to have more flexibility when the offseason hits, and players can begin to capitalize on their earning potential in line with inflation.

  • We have a start date for the 2022-23 NHL campaign: Wednesday, October 11. It’s finally in line with the normal routine the NHL had been acclimated to over the past years prior to COVID, and we’re expected to see a normal schedule for the first time since 2018-19. The 2022-23 schedule will be released by the league early next month.
  • Contrary to previous rumors, deputy commissioner Bill Daly doesn’t anticipate the topic of changing the NHL’s long-term injury reserve rules to come up at the next Board of Governors meeting. Noise had been made in past months about some general managers growing unsatisfied with the ability for teams to greatly exceed the normal playing roster salary cap during the playoffs. However, Daly said during the presser that he believed this year demonstrated that teams couldn’t successfully use LTIR as an intentional loophole and still have a successful enough regular season to make the playoffs.

NHL Announces Stanley Cup Final Schedule Scenarios

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With time winding down on the Eastern Conference Final and the Colorado Avalanche already punching their ticket through, the NHL is beginning to prepare for the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Today, the league announced the schedule scenarios for the penultimate series, which is dependent on whether the Eastern Conference Final goes to six or seven games.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning, who hold a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final, win Game 6 and advance tomorrow night, the Cup Final will commence on Wednesday, June 15th. If the New York Rangers force a Game 7, the series will begin Saturday, June 18. In either scenario, every Stanley Cup Final game will begin at 7:00 p.m. CT.

The Colorado Avalanche, who missed out on the Presidents’ Trophy this season by just three points, hold the home-ice advantage in both scenarios. The last possible day for the 2021-22 NHL season is Thursday, June 30, which is when Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final would occur if the Eastern Conference Final stretches to seven games.

The games are spaced evenly, and played every other day, aside from Games 1 and 2 of the six-game Eastern Conference Final scenario, where Tampa Bay and Colorado would play Game 1 on June 15 and wait until June 18 to play Game 2. In the United States, the 2022 Stanley Cup Final will be broadcast on ABC for the first time in 18 years.

Morning Notes: Copp, Spacek, Finals

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With the New York Rangers advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Winnipeg Jets are getting an improved draft pick. As CapFriendly reports, the conditional second-round pick from the Andrew Copp trade will upgrade to a 2022 first-round pick now that the Rangers have won a pair of playoff rounds. It also required Copp to play in at least 50 percent of those matches, and he has, suiting up for all 14 games so far.

While it’s never a great feeling to give up a first-round selection, the Rangers certainly aren’t complaining, given the success the team and Copp individually are experiencing. The pending free agent forward has 12 points in the postseason so far, including two in each of the deciding game sevens so far. The first 28 picks in this year’s draft are now set.

  • Speaking of Jets draft picks, Michael Spacek has signed a new two-year contract with HC Ambri-Piotta, taking his talents to Switzerland after a strong performance in Sweden this year. The 25-year-old had 46 points in 49 games while also suiting up for Czechia in both the Olympics and World Championship. Winnipeg decided not to issue Spacek a qualifying offer after the 2019-20 season with the Manitoba Moose, making him an unrestricted free agent. If he ever chose to test his hand in North America again, he could sign with any team.
  • After the Hurricanes were eliminated last night, the league revealed the full schedule for the Conference Finals, which will kick off tonight with the Edmonton Oilers visiting the Colorado Avalanche. The round will be over by June 14 at the very latest, meaning the Stanley Cup Final is set to start soon after that. Interestingly enough, should the Eastern Conference Final need it, there will be two full off days between games six and seven, meaning there’s no hockey on Monday, June 13.

NHL Announces Conference Final Schedule Scenarios

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After one-half of the conference finalists have been set, the NHL has released the potential schedule matrix for the 2022 Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

No matter what, the Eastern Conference Final will start June 1, whether it be in Raleigh or Manhattan. The Tampa Bay Lightning will be the visitor after sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers in the Second Round. The Lightning actually finished with the same point total as the New York Rangers (110), but surrender the tiebreaker, so it’s impossible for them to start the series at home. They would also start on the road against the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Eastern Conference Final will be televised on ESPN in the United States.

For the Western Conference, the schedule depends on the result of tonight’s Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. If Colorado is victorious tonight, the series will start on May 31st in Denver. If it goes to a Game 7, the Edmonton Oilers will travel to either Denver or St. Louis for Game 1 on June 2. In the United States, the Western Conference Final will be on TNT.

The last possible day for Conference Final action is June 15, with a potential Western Conference Final Game 7 between the Oilers and either the Avalanche or Blues.

Morning Notes: Start Times, Audette, Gretsky

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The NHL has officially announced start times for each of the game fives, including Thursday night’s Carolina-New York and Edmonton-Calgary matchups. Those will go at 7:00 pm ET and 9:30 pm ET respectively, as Calgary and New York try to even their series. The Tampa Bay Lightning meanwhile have a chance to finish things off tonight on the second half of a back-to-back against the Florida Panthers.

More from around the hockey world:

  • KHL club Vityaz Podolsk has announced the signing of former AHL star Daniel Audette, a surprising move given the exodus of foreign players from the league since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Audette played part of last season with the club but ended his year with 18 games for Orebro HK in the SHL. He’ll now go back to the KHL for next season, where he has already proven he can be a difference-maker. In 45 games last season, the 26-year-old forward scored 17 goals and 39 points, continuing his trend of posting strong offensive numbers at every stop. Originally selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2014 draft, he never did play a game in the NHL.
  • “Gretsky Signs In KHL” could have been a headline today, as Amur Khabarovsk announced the signing of Vyacheslav Gretsky to a tryout contract. The 25-year-old forward is obviously of no relation to the Gretzky that North American fans are more familiar with (Brent, that is), but did experience a breakout campaign in Belarus last season. The 6’5″ forward had 19 goals and 35 points in 53 games, earning him another chance to play in the KHL.

West Notes: Second Round Schedule, Blues, Glendening

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Even with so many Game 7s on the calendar this weekend, we’re starting to receive some clarity on the upcoming Second Round schedule. NHL.com writer Lou Korac reports that it “sounds like” the Second Round matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues will start Tuesday, May 17.

With that said, there’s a strong potential we could see an off day with no games on Monday. The only series that could begin on Monday without a team playing back-to-back is the matchups between the Florida Panthers and the winner of tonight’s Game 7 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning. With the league strictly using an alternating schedule of games during the First Round, it’s not outlandish to say that it’s either two games or no games on Monday night.

IIHF Withdraws 2023 World Championship From Russia

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The IIHF has imposed another sanction on the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, this time removing the 2023 World Championship from St. Petersburg. The event will be held at a different location, one that will be confirmed next month at the IIHF Annual Congress in Finland, during the final week of this year’s tournament.

In a press release, they explained:

The decision to relocate the event was taken primarily out of concern for the safety and well-being of all participating players, officials, media, and fans. As was the case with Council’s earlier decision to withdraw the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship that was to be held in Omsk and Novosibirsk, Russia, the Council expressed significant concerns over the safe freedom of movement of players and officials to, from, and within Russia.

The IIHF has now imposed several negative measures on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, including the removal of the Russian and Belarusian teams from several international tournaments altogether. The 2023 World Juniors had already been withdrawn from the country.

Originally scheduled for St. Petersberg from May 5-21, the 2023 event will now have a new home. As Gord Miller of TSN tweets, the city had built a new rink that was meant to be the “centerpiece” of the 2023 championship.

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