Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Maxime Lajoie Signs With Avangard Omsk

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

July 22: Lajoie has indeed joined Avangard on a one-year contract, the team said.

July 19: Playing time in the NHL has been hard to come by in recent years for unrestricted free agent defenseman Maxime Lajoie.  As a result, it appears that he may be changing things up for next season.  Artur Khairullin of Sport-Express reports (Telegram link) that the blueliner could be signing with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

The 27-year-old made a good first impression back in 2018-19.  Not really on the NHL radar for Ottawa heading into training camp, he wound up making the team and played in 56 games with them before being sent down late in the season.  Unfortunately for him, Lajoie’s playing time at the top level has largely been sparse since then as he has managed just 21 more appearances between Ottawa, Toronto, and Carolina.

Last summer, Lajoie inked a one-year deal with Seattle worth a guaranteed $500K but after he cleared waivers in training camp, he was not brought up the rest of the way.  As a result, he spent the full season with AHL Coachella Valley and had a productive year, notching four goals and 34 assists in 70 games, putting him inside the top 20 for points by a defenseman.

That output was largely in line with his AHL production over his career.  Across four different organizations over parts of eight seasons, Lajoie has 34 goals and 160 assists in 378 games.  Notably, he qualifies as a veteran in the AHL, with teams only being able to play five of those (with more than 320 professional games) on any given night, a rule that has squeezed some capable players out of a job.

It’s unclear if that rule is hindering Lajoie now or if he’s merely looking to try something new since he has been cemented as an AHL regular but it appears he has at least one overseas option available to him now.  If he makes it known that he’s open to a move across the pond, Lajoie is someone who could command interest from other leagues as well.

Mathias Emilio Pettersen Signs With SHL’s Djurgårdens IF

at CDT | by 1 Comment

After a few productive years in the American Hockey League, forward Mathias Emilio Pettersen is taking his career back to Europe. According to a team announcement, Pettersen has signed a two-year contract with the SHL’s Djurgårdens IF.

Despite being a native of Manglerud, Norway, most of Pettersen’s playing career has come in the United States. After a few decent years in the United States Hockey League, the Calgary Flames selected Pettersen with the 167th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft. Instead of joining a Canadian junior program or returning home to Norway, Pettersen committed to the NCAA’s University of Denver, beginning play in the 2018-19 season.

He was nearly a point-per-game player with the Pioneers, scoring 19 goals and 65 points in 76 career games, with a +9 rating. Unfortunately, the University of Denver was eliminated in the Frozen Four by the University of Massachusetts during Pettersen’s freshman campaign, and the tournament was cancelled the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fortunately, the Flames believed Pettersen was ready for the next step, and he began playing for their AHL affiliate at the time, the Stockton Heat, beginning in the 2020-21 campaign. Over the next four seasons, he became a quality secondary scorer for the Heat and eventually the Calgary Wranglers, scoring 45 goals and 114 points in 203 games. Calgary eventually traded Pettersen to the Dallas Stars at the 2023-24 trade deadline for Riley Damiani.

His scoring pace noticeably decreased after he joined the Stars, which likely contributed to his move to Europe. In 82 games, all with Dallas’ AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, Pettersen scored 13 goals and 37 points with a -11 rating.

Pettersen will join an exciting team in the SHL, at the very least. The 2025-26 season will be Djurgårdens IF’s first back in the SHL after earning a promotion at the end of last season. They’ll be led by a pair of first-round picks from the 2025 NHL Draft, Anton Frondell (Chicago Blackhawks) and Victor Eklund (New York Islanders).

International Notes: Brennan, Cerny, Dello

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Former NHL defenseman T.J. Brennan has played in Europe ever since the pandemic hit in 2020. While he’s spent most of that time in Switzerland, he’s now making the jump to HK Olimpija Ljubljana, the lone Slovenian club in Austria’s ICEHL, the team announced on Facebook.

Brennan, 36, was the first pick of the second round in the 2007 draft by the Sabres. While he’s long been a high-end point producer from the blue line at the minor league and European levels, his all-around game never translated into a full-time NHL career. He only made 53 big-league appearances with the Sabres, Panthers, and Maple Leafs between the 2011-12 and 2016-17 campaigns, scoring 13 points with a -22 rating.

The New Jersey native has spent the last three seasons with Switzerland’s HC Ajoie in the National League, the country’s top flight. The team isn’t very good, fighting to stay in the league in a relegation series in two of the last three years, but Brennan still managed 63 points in 109 games for the club.

He now returns to the ICEHL, still among Europe’s better leagues, where he spent the 2021-22 season with EC Salzburg. He was named a league All-Star and won a title with Salzburg, leading the league in scoring by a defenseman with 47 points in 48 games. While he’s now four years older, he’ll look to recapture some of that success with his new Slovenian side.

A few more recent international signings of note:

  • After going undrafted this year, 2007-born defenseman Stepan Cerny is continuing his development in North America after his European team, Czechia’s Mountfield HK, announced he’s departing the club to join the USHL’s Fargo Force. Cerny won a silver medal with Czechia’s under-18 squad at last year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup and put up great numbers with Mountfield’s under-20 club, putting up a 6-27–33 scoring line in 36 regular-season games. However, the lefty clocks in at just 5’9″ and 139 lbs, making it hard to imagine him as anything more than a late-round pick. He’ll look to grow both physically and in his on-ice progression with Fargo in hopes of being selected in 2026 as an overage pick. He was selected No. 13 overall in the 2024 CHL Import Draft by the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, but he opted to remain at home for his draft year.
  • There’s more news out of Czechia: longtime AHL defenseman Tory Dello has joined Extraliga club HC Energie Karlovy Vary, the club announced over the weekend. Dello, 28, was a two-time Big 10 champion with Notre Dame and has recorded a 13-43–56 scoring line with 134 PIMs and a +37 rating in 229 AHL games since turning pro in 2020. He spent last season on a two-way deal with the Red Wings and was traded to the Devils in the league’s lone post-deadline trade, posting eight points in 39 games split between Detroit’s and New Jersey’s affiliates in Grand Rapids and Utica.

League Notes: Chinakhov, Morrow, Cooke

at CDT | by 7 Comments

While Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov only recently formally requested a trade, tensions between him and the organization have been building for some time, reports The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.

As Portzline outlines, discontent between Chinakhov and Columbus has been evident for years, noting that early in the 2023-24 season, Babaev told The Columbus Dispatch that Chinakhov, “doesn’t feel the (Blue Jackets) trust him, and he wants to leave.” Then last season, Chinakhov struggled with a back injury and later told reporters that he and the team disagreed on the best course of treatment. This ultimately led to Chinakhov traveling to Russia during the 4 Nations Face-Off break to have a procedure that wasn’t an approved treatment in North America, Portzline reports. And while Chinakhov averaged a career-high 15:43 of ice time per game last season, he became a frequent healthy scratch at the tail end of the campaign, sitting out 12 of the Jackets’ final 13 games.

This all resulted in Chinakhov and Babaev making official trade demands this week, with Chinakhov speaking to Russian outlet Sport-Express, and Babaev posting on X and speaking with The Athletic. While his back injury (and healthy scratches) led to just 30 games played last season, Chinakhov has stated this offseason that he is 100 percent healthy. In 175 career NHL games, the 24-year-old former first-round pick has recorded 34 goals and 71 points and could offer another franchise a quality depth scoring option.

Portzline adds that the Blue Jackets expect Chinakhov to report to training camp if a trade does not materialize, and Chinakhov has stated he expects to honor his contract, which comes with a $2.1MM AAV. Given Chinakhov’s stated desire for top-six minutes and the Blue Jackets’ need for scoring, Portzline notes the irony in the two sides being unable to find common ground.

In other news around the league:

  • Former first-round selection defenseman Joe Morrow has signed a one-year deal with Unia Oswiecim of the Polska Hokej Liga (PHL) in Poland, per Seth Rorabaugh of Trib Live. Morrow, 32, was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins 23rd overall in the 2011 draft. He was then traded in 2013 to the Boston Bruins in a deal that brought veteran forward Brenden Morrow (no relation) back to the Penguins. Morrow would go on to suit up in 162 career NHL games across five seasons for the Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, and Montreal Canadiens. He also appeared in 174 AHL games over his career. Following the 2019-20 season, Morrow headed overseas and has appeared in the KHL and spent the last two years in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EHIL) in the United Kingdom.
  • Former NHL forward Matt Cooke, a veteran of more than 1,000 career games, was hired as head coach and general manager of the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League, Rorabaugh reports. Vernon plays in the junior “A” league, the second-highest tier of Canada’s junior hockey. As Rorabaugh outlines, Cooke has coached at various levels since his retirement in 2015, including stints including a stint as head coach of the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers. Over 14 NHL seasons, Cooke, who was known for playing on the edge, recorded 398 points and 1,135 penalty minutes. He won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, playing a key role on the team’s third line alongside Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy.

Senators Re-Sign Xavier Bourgault

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Senators have reached an agreement with one of their remaining restricted free agents as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Xavier Bourgault to a one-year, two-way deal.  The contract will pay Bourgault $775K in the NHL and $90K in the minors.

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Edmonton back in 2021, going 22nd overall after showing some offensive promise with QMJHL Shawinigan.  In his final three seasons with the Cataractes, Bourgault potted 89 goals and 97 assists in 135 games, providing some enthusiasm that he could be a cost-controlled contributor for an Oilers roster that certainly could use that.

However, Bourgault wasn’t able to produce anywhere near those numbers with AHL Bakersfield.  After a respectable rookie season in 2022-23 that saw him record 34 points in 62 games, his output dipped the following year to just eight goals and 12 assists in 55 outings.  That was enough for GM Stan Bowman to decide to make a change, dealing Bourgault to Ottawa that summer along with prospect Jake Chiasson for winger Roby Jarventie and a fourth-round pick.

Bourgault spent last season with AHL Belleville and was able to rebound a bit, notching 12 goals and 14 assists in 61 games.  While that wasn’t enough to match or surpass his rookie-season output, it was enough to earn him a qualifying offer last month.  Bourgault didn’t take it, instead foregoing a bit of a higher potential NHL salary in exchange for a slight raise in his AHL pay.

Bourgault will be waiver-eligible for the first time next season.  While a player with his type of numbers generally wouldn’t be a candidate to be claimed, his draft pedigree might be enough for a team or two to at least ponder giving him a look, assuming he doesn’t break camp with Ottawa in training camp which is the likeliest scenario.  Assuming he makes it back to Belleville, he’ll look to position himself to get his first regular season recall.

With Bourgault’s signing, Ottawa now has three remaining restricted free agents to re-sign this summer: forward Jan Jenik and defensemen Donovan Sebrango and Max Guenette.

Jets Sign Parker Ford To Two-Year Contract

at CDT | by 7 Comments

The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Parker Ford to a two-year, two-way, $1.625MM contract. The deal will carry an $812.5K salary at the NHL level. Ford entered restricted free agency this summer after spending the last three seasons on an entry-level contract.

Ford went undrafted through his years of eligibility in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Those years spanned his final year in the USHL and first two seasons at Providence College. He didn’t catch NHL attention until his upperclass seasons with the Friars, where he became known for his endless motor and strong play in the dirty areas of the ice. He looked like a true coach’s favorite, made impacts in all three zones, and worked his way to 53 points in 75 games over his junior and senior seasons.

Those marks were enough to earn Ford a three-year, entry-level contract at the end of the 2022-23 season. He joined the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for their final eight games of the regular season, and jumped to scoring with four points, only to go without any points in five postseason games. Ford found better balance in the lineup as an AHL rookie last season. He finished the year with 18 goals and 41 points in 72 games, good for sixth on the Moose in scoring. That carved him out a hardy role in Manitoba’s top-six this season – a role Ford vindicated with 14 goals and 21 points in 41 games. He also earned his NHL debut this season, and scored one goal in three games with the Jets lineup.

A two-year deal will reward Ford’s carved out role in the AHL. He’ll likely head straight back to Manitoba’s top-six next season, but could find his way into a fourth-line, NHL role after fellow Jets depth forward Mason Appleton signed with the Detroit Red Wings this summer. Ford is a hard-working, well-rounded winger who is still largely undefined at the top flight, with only a few games in his NHL career and 121 games in his AHL career.

Jets Sign Gabriel Vilardi To Six-Year Contract

at CDT | by 11 Comments

The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Gabriel Vilardi to a six-year, $45MM contract extension. The deal was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It will carry an annual cap hit of $7.5MM. As Friedman points out, Vilardi will avoid salary arbitration with the Jets with this contract. He had filed for arbitration earlier in the summer, after entering restricted-free agency with a $3.6MM qualifying offer a the start of the off-season.

PuckPedia reports that the deal carries a $3.5MM salary and a $3.5MM signing bonus for next season with a straight $7.6MM salary in each of the remaining five years.  There is no trade protection in the contract.

Winnipeg will check a big box off of their summer list with this move. Vilardi was Winnipeg’s second-highest scoring free agent this year. The other, Nikolaj Ehlers, signed a six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 3rd. Winnipeg had more control over RFA Vilardi, who will commit to a long-term deal with the club after spending the last two seasons on a short-term, prove-it contract.

The Jets acquired Vilardi’s negotiating rights alongside Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 2023. It put the Jets in the awkward position of rewarding Vilardi for scoring 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games of Los Angeles’ 2022-23 season, after scoring 37 points in 69 career games in the prior three seasons. Winnipeg landed on a two-year, $6.88MM bridge contract.

With a new deal in place, the Jets honed in on adjusting Vilardi to the top-six, winger role that he began to take on in his latter years with the Kings, after entering the NHL as a center. Vilardi took on the role well, and scored 22 goals and 36 points in his first 47 games with the Jets. Unfortunately, those performances were spread around numerous injuries that forced Vilardi out of much of October, November, and March during the 2023-24 season.

An injury-shortened season to kick off a bridge contract swelled the pressure around Vilardi’s 2024-25 season. He entered the year not only playing for a contract, but looking to vindicate multiple seasons of promising scoring cut short by injuries. Vilardi jumped at the opportunity right out of the gates, scoring eight points in 10 games of October and 14 points in 14 games of November. His scoring carried through the extent of the season, and he finished the year with career-highs across the board – including 27 goals and 61 points in 61 games. He added four more points in nine playoff games.

Vilardi will be rewarded for a hot year with a contract in line with many high-scoring wingers entering their prime. The Utah Mammoth recently signed 23-year-old winger JJ Peterka to a five-year, $38.5MM contract; and the Toronto Maple Leafs signed 22-year-old Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5MM deal. Vilardi is older than both Peterka and Knies, but earns a richer annual salary than an older peer like Brock Boeser, who just inked a seven-year, $50.75MM contract in Vancouver.

A new, long-term deal will commit Vilardi to a major role in Winnipeg. Ehlers leaves behind a hardy, second-line role and routine power-play presence. Some of those minutes will be eaten up by summer signing Gustav Nyquist, and potentially prospects like Brad Lambert, but Vilardi could still see a boost from the 18 minutes of ice time he averaged this season. He has totaled 138 points in 181 games over the last three seasons — an 82-game pace of 33 goals and 63 points. With that scoring pace, and good health, on his side; Vilardi could be set to start his new deal with another breakout this season.

Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee-Imagn Images.

Chase Priskie Signs In Russia

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Free agent defenseman Chase Priskie is headed to Russia on a one-year deal with the KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk, per a team announcement.

Priskie, 29, heads overseas for the first time. His signing rights were dealt from the Capitals to the Wild in a draft-day trade that sent fellow rearguard Declan Chisholm to Washington, but Minnesota only had a few days to sign him before he became a UFA, and they opted not to do so.

The South Florida native only has four games of NHL experience, all with his hometown Panthers in the 2021-22 season. He did not record a point but had a plus-two rating, four shots on goal, and three hits while averaging 14:00 of time on ice.

While Priskie was a sixth-round pick by Washington in 2016, he did not sign with them after graduating from Quinnipiac in 2019 and instead signed with Florida as a free agent. He spent his first two full professional seasons in their system, primarily with AHL Syracuse and Charlotte, before splitting 2022-23 between the AHL Rochester and San Diego while under contract with the Sabres and Ducks.

He returned to the team that drafted him in free agency two years ago, where the 6’0″ righty has since served as a high-end offensive rearguard for the AHL’s Hershey Bears. He was particularly impactful in their run to the 2024 Calder Cup, leading AHL defensemen in playoff assists in 12 and tying for the league lead in points with 14 in 20 games.

Last season, Priskie scored a career-high 12 goals and 35 points in 61 games for Hershey, but the Caps were more interested in letting some younger prospects like Ryan Chesley and Vincent Iorio have more of a role on the farm in 2025-26. As such, he moves on to a Sibir squad that also recently added former NHL netminder Louis Domingue.

Ducks Sign Drew Helleson To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Ducks have signed restricted free agent defenseman Drew Helleson to a two-year contract, the team announced. The deal is worth $2.2MM with a cap hit of $1.1MM, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Helleson had previously elected salary arbitration, but he avoided a hearing with today’s settlement. Anaheim’s other arbitration case this offseason, No.1 goaltender Lukas Dostal, settled yesterday with a five-year, $32.5MM contract as a result.

The 24-year-old quietly emerged as a full-time option on the Ducks’ blue line last season, particularly late in the year. He started the year with AHL San Diego but remained on the roster for the rest of the season after a November recall, making 56 appearances and recording a 4-9–13 scoring line with a +6 rating.

That last stat is noteworthy, considering the Ducks had a -8 goal differential at 5-on-5 and a -44 goal differential overall. That number led all rookie defensemen, but advanced metrics don’t back it up. Helleson’s 43.1% shot attempt share was subpar, even on a weak possession team in Anaheim, and he didn’t see challenging deployment.

Nonetheless, the 2019 second-round pick has now established his floor as a No. 6/7 option in the NHL and will continue to serve in that capacity for the Ducks for the next two seasons. While initially drafted by the Avalanche, Anaheim acquired his signing rights in 2022 as part of the Josh Manson trade. He turned pro months later after finishing his junior year at Boston College.

Helleson always projected as a shutdown defenseman at the NHL level. The results were there for him as he averaged 16:21 per game last year with 73 blocks and 99 hits, but his possession play needs to improve for him to flourish as a quality stay-at-home piece with penalty-killing upside. Perhaps a system change under incoming head coach Joel Quenneville can help accomplish that feat.

The Minnesota native will be 26 years old upon expiry, keeping him under Anaheim’s control as an RFA in 2027. Whatever his next contract is, it will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent.

The Ducks still have $21.4MM in cap space for 2025-26 with a projected roster size of 21, according to PuckPedia. They still have two notable unsigned RFAs, forwards Sam Colangelo and Mason McTavish, neither of whom was eligible for arbitration.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Flames Re-Sign Rory Kerins, Yan Kuznetsov, Jeremie Poirier

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Flames re-signed a trio of restricted free agents today, announcing new deals for forward Rory Kerins and defensemen Yan Kuznetsov and Jeremie Poirier. Kerins’ deal is a one-year, two-way pact paying him $775K in the NHL and $100K in the AHL with a $125K guarantee, per PuckPedia. Poirier also landed a one-year, two-way deal with the same breakdown as Kerins but no guarantee.

As for Kuznetsov, he lands a two-year contract that converts from a two-way structure in 2025-26 to a one-way in 2026-27. He’ll make the league minimum NHL salary in both seasons of $775K and $850K, respectively, for a cap hit of $812.5K. He’ll earn a $125K AHL salary this season with a $150K guarantee.

Kerins, 23, made his NHL debut in a five-game call-up in January. He was extremely productive in his small sample, recording four assists and a plus-three rating while averaging 12:14 per game.

Calgary selected the 5’10” center in the sixth round in 2020, and he’s since forced his way up the depth chart as a potentially high-ceiling offensive option. Whether he’s worked out enough of a niche to unseat veteran Dryden Hunt for one of their extra forward spots on their opening night roster remains to be seen. Still, he should be in contention for a job after his strong initial showing in the NHL in combination with his 33 goals and 61 points in 63 games for the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers last season.

Kuznetsov lands a bit more of a commitment with a signal that the Flames expect him to be an NHL contributor for the 2026-27 season. Calgary selected the 6’4″ Russian lefty in the second round in 2020, but the stay-at-home rearguard only has one NHL game to his name. He skated 11:58 of ice time in a game against the Senators on Jan. 9, 2024, recording a block and a minus-one rating with two shots on goal.

The 23-year-old is coming off a career year in the minors, though. He played all 72 games for the Wranglers and recorded 21 points along with a +21 rating, the highest on the team by a significant margin. Giving him a two-year deal risks walking him to Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2027 if he doesn’t reach 80 NHL career games by then.

Poirier, also 23 and a member of Calgary’s 2020 draft class (a third-rounder), is the only member of the group without NHL experience. The 6’1″ lefty has spent the last three seasons with the Wranglers as their top-scoring defenseman but missed significant time in 2023-24 due to injury.

Back healthy last season, Poirier rebounded with 42 points in 71 games, a career high. There remain some significant defensive gaps in his game that limit his recall potential, which he’ll need to make significant strides on in 2025-26 to work toward an NHL future.

Calgary has 42 of 50 contract slots filled for the season, with forward Connor Zary as their lone unsigned RFA.

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

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top