CANTLON: NHL FREE AGENT FRENZY OKTOBERFEST STYLE 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The end of a very busy week in pro hockey as free agency for the NHL and AHL kicks off the official start of the 2020-21 season which still has no schedule but does have a tentative start date of January 1st.

RANGERS & WOLF PACK

The Rangers signed Chris Rooney from the New Jersey Devils for two years at $700K in his first year and $800K in the second year. His uncle is former NHL’er and New Haven Nighthawk, Steve Rooney.

The Rangers re-signed defenseman Brandon Crawley, who played just nine games in Hartford and half the season in Maine, to a one-year deal. He and former head coach Keith McCambridge didn’t see eye-to-eye in his first season. This has all the earmarks of a Seattle expansion draft insurance signing.

Players who received qualifying offers were Phil Di Giuseppe, Darren Raddysh, and Gabriel Fontaine, who comes off major shoulder surgery.

Players who became Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) were captain Steve Fogarty, and J.F. Berube, and there were two Group 6 Free Agents, Vinni Lettieri, and Danny O’Regan.

In New York, former Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Micheal Haley, will be looking for a new address.

The Anaheim Ducks announced overnight Friday that they had signed Lettieri to a one-year, two-way contract paying 750K in the NHL and $425K in the AHL.

Ex-Wolf Pack/CT Whale goalie, Cam Talbot agreed to a three-year, $10.98 million deal ($3.66M per year) with the Minnesota Wild, leaving the Calgary Flames, who in turn signed now-former Vancouver Canuck, Jakub Markstrom.

The Rangers added five players bound for Hartford.

They signed a veteran goalie as they have the last several years to aid their two young goalies in Hartford (ex. Tom McCollum and Dustin Tokarski the last two years) in former UCONN Husky, Adam Huska and Tyler Wall.

Keith Kincaid is a 31-year-old, 10-year-veteran who spent four years with the Albany Devils and eight years overall in the New Jersey Devils organization. Kincaid signed a two-year, $875K one-way deal, and is an insurance policy against any major injuries in New York. Last season he started with the Montreal Canadiens and was sent to the AHL Laval Rocket. He was loaned to the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) for the stretch run before the season was postponed and eventually canceled. He played collegiately for Union College (ECACHL).

The Rangers also signed 27-year-old centerman, Colin Blackwell, of Lawrence, MA to a one-year, two-way deal paying $700K for NHL service and  $350K in the AHL. Blackwell is a four-year, AHL veteran who spent the last two years with the Milwaukee Admirals. He split last season with the Nashville Predators playing in 27 NHL games registering three goals and ten points.  In Milwaukee, his 26 game tally included 6 goals and 17 assists for 23 points. He was likely a recruit of Rangers coach, David Quinn, who looked at him when he coached at Boston University since Blackwell played at St. John’s Prep. He played four years at Harvard University (ECACHL).

The Rangers shopping spree saw them add Anthony Greco to their cart.

Greco has a great first stride and good overall speed. He’s owned the Wolf Pack the past three seasons while playing in Springfield with the Thunderbirds. He played with three AHL teams, Springfield, the Syracuse Crunch, and the San Jose Barracuda posting 11 goals in 24 games. In four years, the AHL All-Star has compiled 86 goals and 76 assists for 162 points.

The Wolf Pack also snagged another Springfield nemesis in veteran winger, Paul Thompson, who has also terrorized the Wolf Pack the last several years. Thompson and his family have settled down in West Springfield, MA. In 582 AHL games, the 31-year-old winger from Derry, NH has tallied 167 goals and put up 323 total points. He will fill the AHL veteran spot, and like Bobby Butler two years ago, will be a player who won’t reside right in Hartford and will likely be a part-time player in some ways. Thompson played collegiately at the University of New Hampshire and his cousin is former Sound Tiger and current UNH head coach, Mike Souza.

The Pack signed left-winger, Jonny Brodzinski, who had 14 goals and 30 total points for San Jose. In five seasons he has 70 goals and 68 assists in 200 games in the AHL.

NHL

Ex-Sound Tiger, Alan Quine, a UFA, is heading to the other side of the Battle of Alberta after departing the Calgary Flames and signing a one-year, one-way $750K deal with the Edmonton Oilers.

Another ex-Sound Tiger, Carter Verhaeghe, leaves the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning but stays in “The Sunshine State” after signing a two-year deal with the Florida Panthers. He’ll earn $900K in year one, and $1.1M the second year.

Lastly, another former Bridgeport player, goalie, Christopher Gibson, signs a one-year, two-way deal paying $700K in the NHL and $250K in the AHL with Tampa Bay/Syracuse.

Adam Erne (North Branford) signs with the Detroit Red Wings on a one-year extension for $1 million.

John Hayden (Greenwich/Brunswick School/Yale University) signs a one-year $750K one-way deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

Kevin Shattenkirk (Greenwich/Brunswick School) departs the Lightning and signs a three-year deal at $3.9M per year with the Anaheim Ducks.

Goalie Jon Gillies (Salisbury Prep) signed a one-year, one-way deal $700K deal with the St. Louis Blues after five years in the Calgary organization. He could play in Springfield when the AHL season starts.

ECHL

The Double AA level ECHL announced that their season will commence on December 11th in a unique split-season format. The 72-game schedule will run until June 6th.

The Atlanta Gladiators are suspending operations for a year. Read about that HERE

PLAYER MOVEMENT

Defenseman prospect, Tarmo Reunanen, who is still under contract for this year. He was loaned to TUTO (Finland Division-1) and is ticketed to be in Hartford this year. He was loaned to Lukko Rauma (Finland-FEL) last year because there was no roster space for him.

The Sound Tigers’ Otto Koivula heads from Bridgeport to HIFK Helsinki (Finland-FEL) on a loan.

Antti Suomela of San Jose (AHL-NHL) signs a one-year, two-way deal with the Sharks. He’ll receive $700K for play in the NHL and $350K in the AHL. He was then is loaned to HIFK Helsinki (Finland-FEL).

The AHL tersely announced that Sound Tigers forward, Kieffer Bellow, had violated the league’s performance-enhancing drug protocols.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers player Kieffer Bellows has violated the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

All applicable discipline has been issued and satisfied, and there are no current or further limitations or restrictions on his ability to play.

Ex-Wolf Pack, Nik Latta, who has a deal with EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL) when the season begins, is loaned to EC Weiden (Germany Division-3) so he can play some games with his brother, Louis, and play for his father Ken, the EV Weiden Blue Devils head coach. The two players are nephews to former New Haven Nighthawk, Dave Latta.

Sam Anas, a Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) graduate, departs Iowa as a UFA and signs a two-year, two-way deal with the St. Louis Blues paying $700K in the first year in the NHL and $300K in the AHL. He’ll see a $50K increase at each in year two. If he does not make it in St. Louis, he will play in Springfield.

The New York Islanders re-signed RFA Sebastian Aho to a two-year deal.

The Detroit Red Wings’ top prospect, Moritz Seider, loaned their 19-year-old top prospect, a German defenseman, to the Mannheim Eagles in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Germany’s top-tier men’s league.

COLLEGES

Darren Brady of R.I.T. (AHA) signs with the Idaho Steelheads (ECHL).

Hockey East has 35 players that have signed North American pro deals, tops in the country. The other conference totals are NCHC has 30, the WCHA has 27, the Big 10 has 26, the ECACHL has 25, the AHA 21, and Division I independent Arizona State has four.

Kristian Blumenschein of Colorado College (NCHC) has signed with EC Kassel (Germany DEL-2) making 79 Division I and III that have signed in Europe.

171 total players have signed pro deals in North America. 301 total players in Division I and III have signed deals in North America and Europe.

The Big Ten announced Tuesday that the 2020-21 hockey season will begin as soon as November 13, 2020, and will feature a 24-game conference schedule, plus an additional four games per school against Arizona State hosted at Big Ten venues.

The 2020-21 schedule will conclude March 18-20, 2021, with the Big Ten tournament which will be returning to the one-weekend, single-elimination format that was used during the first four years of the conference. It will feature all the seven conference teams – Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin. The tournament will consist of six games with three games on Thursday, two games on Friday; and the championship game on Saturday.

Arizona State will not be eligible for the conference tournament, but the move allowed the Sun Devils to keep their NCAA-D1 status by playing in a conference while providing enough games for their players. The team lost several games because of COVID related travel issues.

Rivier University, a Catholic College in Nashua, NH, announced it will add men’s and women’s Division III hockey in the fall of 2021. The team nickname is the Raiders and will play at the Conway Arena in downtown Nashua. The university will launch a national search for head coaches this month. The school intends to apply for membership for an ACHA club level first and will transition to NCAA Division III status in 2022 in a yet to be determined conference.