CANTLON: CT HOCKEY OFFSEASON VOL 10 PT 1 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The last leg of the off-season began this week following the Seattle expansion and NHL Amateur drafts. Also announced were RFA offers for players on expiring Entry Level Contracts (ELC). Those signings affect the NHL’s AHL affiliates and the Hartford Wolf Pack the most.

NHL free agent signings began on Wednesday. There were nearly 200 NHL and AHL transactions between last Saturday and Wednesday. The hard cap salary structure, which is locked in for the next two years at $81.5 million post-pandemic will affect hockey operations for the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 NHL and AHL seasons.

Tim Gettinger, Ty Ronning, and goalie Adam Huska were each given qualifying offers by the New York Rangers. They will be skating at the XL Center in the fall.

The team released Brandon Crawley, the recently acquired Nick DiSimone (CT Oilers-EHL), who signed with the Calgary Flames on a $750K one way contract, Gabriel Fontaine, Patrick Newell, Darren Raddysh, and Yegor Rykov, who had already signed in Russia with Severstal Cherepovets (KHL) last month.

Raddysh, a group 6 free agent, joined his brother, Taylor, signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning on a one-year, two-way deal ($750K-NHL/$250K AHL). The pair could begin the season with the Syracuse Crunch.

EX-PACK/RANGERS SIGN

Seven ex-Wolf Pack/Rangers signed new deals.

Tony DeAngelo signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Phil Di Giuseppe signs a one-year, two-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks paying him $750K-NHL/$450K-AHL.

Michael Del Zotto cashes in on a two-year deal for $4M with the Ottawa Senators.

Dylan McIlrath goes from the Detroit Red Wings to the Washington Capitals/Hershey Bears signing a two-year, two-way deal for $750K-NHL both years and $450K/$475K in the AHL.

Former Pack captain Steven Fogarty heads from the Buffalo Sabres/Rochester Americans to the Boston/Providence Bruins on a one-way $750K deal.

MORE RANGERS/PACK RELATED DEALS

Danny O’Regan departs the Henderson Silver Knights and heads to the San Diego Gulls to reunite with old teammate Vinni Lettieri on a $750K-NHL/$450K-AHL one-year deal.

Brendan Smith signs an $800K one-way deal with Carolina, and Lias Andersson signs a one-year, one-way NHL deal by the Los Angeles Kings at $874,125.

The Rangers inked ex-Pack Filip Chytil to a new two-year deal at $4.6M.

Dryden Hunt got a two-year two-way deal from the Rangers becoming the third ex-Springfield Thunderbird inked in the last two years, joining Anthony Greco and Paul Thompson.

In addition, Jarred Tinordi, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk/Ranger, Mark Tinordi, signs with the Rangers on a one-way, two-year $850K/950K deal. The first year pays $750K-NHL/$300K-AHL and the second year at $755K. He was not given a qualifying offer by the Arizona Coyotes. Hunt played in Springfield for three-and-a-half seasons.

Greg McKegg is back with the Rangers on a one-year two-way deal at $750K and could be in Hartford. Last year, he spent most of the time in Boston but did play in Providence.

EX-SOUND TIGERS ON THE MOVE

Seven ex-Bridgeport Sound Tigers have signed deals.

Travis Harmonic re-signs with Vancouver for two years at $6 million and goalie Jaroslav Halak signed for one year at $1.5 million.

The ever-disgruntled truculent Josh Hoi-Sang is now an ex-Sound Tiger. The talented Ho-Sang, who played for two teams in Sweden last season. He skated for Örebro HK and Linköping HC (SHL) rather than play in Bridgeport after requesting a trade. He signed a PTO deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent.

Goalie Christopher Gibson moves across the Sunshine State from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Florida Panthers.

Kyle Burroughs leaves the Colorado Avalanche and signs a two-year, two-way deal with Vancouver-NHL/Abbotsford-AHL at $750K-NHL/$400K-AHL in the first year and $500K in the second year.

John Stevens Jr. signs a one-year, one-way AHL deal with Vancouver-NHL/Abbotsford-AHL for $750K, and Kevin Czuczman leaves the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to sign a one-year deal with the Minnesota Wild/Iowa ($750K-NHK/$200K-AHL).

MORE SIGNINGS

Dalton Smith, the nephew of former Hartford Whaler Keith Primeau, heads over to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) from Rochester.

Nick Bonino (Farmington/Avon Old Farms) gets two years $2.5M per year with the San Jose Sharks.

Luke Glendenning (Hotchkiss Prep) leaves Detroit and signs with the Dallas Stars for two years for $3 million.

Goalie Filip Lundberg of the NCAA national champion UMASS Minutemen (HE), who was originally drafted by Minnesota, signs a two-year two-way deal with Pittsburgh/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the new standard ELC rate of $925K-NHL/$80K-AHL. He also won WJC Gold for Sweden in 2019.

EXPANSION DRAFT

In last week’s expansion draft, Defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, the son of former Whaler Paul MacDermid, was selected by the Seattle Kraken in last week’s expansion draft, is already traded to the Colorado Avalanche.

Dominic Turgeon, the nephew of former Whaler Sylvain Turgeon, leaves Detroit and signs a one-year two-way deal with Minnesota-NHL/Iowa-AHL ($750K-NHL/$155K-AHL).

Hayden Verbeek, the nephew of former Whaler and Ranger Pat Verbeek and present assistant with Detroit, re-signs with his uncle and Grand Rapids for next season on a one-year AHL deal.

Cole Cassels, son of former Whaler Andrew Cassels, leaves Belleville for a second time, heads to Ohio to be near family. He signs a one-year AHL deal with the Cleveland Monsters.

Alex Biega (Salisbury School) leaves Detroit and heads across the river to Toronto Maple Leafs for a one-year deal at a $750K one-way deal.

A pair of former CT collegians sign one-year deals with the Carolina Hurricanes.

FINALLY…

Goalie Alex Lyon signs for $750K-NHL/$200K-AHL, and center Max Letunov (UCONN) signs for $750K-NHL/$100K-AHL.

Brogan Rafferty (Quinnipiac University) leaves Vancouver for Anaheim on a one-way $750K deal. Fellow Bobcat Matt Peca signs a one-year two-way deal with St. Louis-NHL/Springfield-AHL at $700K-NHL/$300K-AHL.

John Hayden (Yale University) moves from Arizona to Buffalo, signing a one-year one-way deal with the Sabres for $750K.

Tommy Cross (Simsbury/Westminster Prep) signs a one-year two-way deal with St. Louis-NHL/Springfield-AHL for $750K.

Brian Flynn (Pomfret School) returns from HC Ambri Piotta (Switzerland-LNA) signs a one-year two-way deal with New Jersey/Utica at $750K-NHL/$280K-AHL.

**All financial figures courtesy of capfriendly.com**

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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