Carolina Hurricanes‘ 4th round pick in the 2012 draft (#115 overall) defenseman Trevor Carrick(5) signs on for a 5th season to stay in the prospect system.
He’s already played 276 AHL games with affiliate Charlotte Checkers and has served as the team’s assistant captain for the past two and will assume that role again in 2018/2019.
The 6’2″ 186 lbs. blue liner posted a career high 11 goals and tied 33 assists for 44 points last campaign, while taking his shots on net total up to 167 with three game-winning tallies and a way more accountable -1 rating.
He has appeared in only 3 NHL games with no points but seems like with a decent amount of ice time could grab a few helpers as he does fairly regularly in the minors.
The 24-year old actually came more alive on the scoresheet as a pro than he did in 4 years of the OHL.
It seems like he’s still awaiting a bigger breakout and that’s likely what the parent club is banking on.
Happy Independence Day to you and your family. Thanks for reading us.
5th year right wing Scott Kosmachuk(17) takes a career high 27 assists and 42 points and 77 penalty minutes in 70 AHL games under his first minor league deal with Hartford Wolf Pack to Colorado Avalanche for a 1-year, 2-way deal.
Of all the teams he possibly could have signed with, playing in the mile high state may give him the best opportunities to skate more games in the NHL.
We think 3 assists in 8 games hints at the possibly of greater scoring or even fourth line grinder role duties could await the still young just turned 24-year old.
He’ll be in training camp soon, so we’ll see if he can find a spot or be reassigned to new affiliate Colorado Eagles.
Rochester Americans‘ 7th year left Dalton Smith(37) re-signs to skate another year in upper state New York despite posting a career low one goal and one assist in 45 AHL games last season.
Not that he’s ever been the biggest scorer, goal-getter, although he did have 11 tallies in 2014/2015 when he was with Syracuse Crunch.
The fairly big forward has taken his penalty minutes up dramatically and was involved in 8 fights in 2017/2018.
At 26-years old, he seems to be defining a new role on a team he was first with on a training camp tryout.
It seems like this may be his last go round in the minors and he will probably split overseas as he moves on.
7th year defenseman Cameron Burt(76) has moved around overseas since leaving for IK Oskarshamn of Allsvenskan in 2015/2016.
He next went on to sign with Starbulls Rosenheim of DEL2 for a year and last season skated for Braehead Clan of the EIHL.
The smallish blue liner has performed well for his teams over the last few campaigns posting 20+ assists (32 in 2017/2018) and will next head to Erste Liga agreeing to terms with 2018 league Champion MAC Budapest.
At 31-years old, it’s a wonder if the Michigan-born player will settle anywhere or continue to move around until it’s time to hang up the skates.
11th year defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk(2) has been assistant captain for his AHL club 7 times in his pro career.
He spent the last pair of seasons for Texas Stars, while under contract with parent club Dallas Stars and helped take his team to the 2018 Calder Cup Finals, but has decided to take his game overseas to EHC Red Bull Munchen of DEL as he approaches unrestricted free agency.
The small blue liner played most of 2015/2016 in the NHL with Columbus Blue Jackets (16 games) before being claimed off waivers by Colorado Avalanche (21 games).
He picked up 4 assists in his only almost complete season in the big league.
The almost 30-year old, 2015 Calder Cup Champion, player of 629 minor league games, should do exceedingly well in Germany’s top hockey and could very well stick with one squad until it’s time to hang up the skates.
Tampa Bay Lightning 7th year center J.T. Miller(10) gets a significant pay bump and extended 5-year contract to stick with the team that acquired him just before the trade deadline from draft club New York Rangers.
In 2017/2018 he posted a career high 23 goals and 34 assists for 57 points with 11 power play tallies, 5 game-winners, 143 shots on net and was over 50% on the face-off dot.
He added another 8 points (2-6) in 17 playoff games.
For his efforts, the 25-year old will earn $5.25M AAV through 2023, as he has proven himself through 360 NHL games scoring 82 goals and 108 assists with a +15 rating to show outstanding clutch scoring consistency.
Vancouver Canucks‘ 5th year defenseman Derrick Pouliot(5) maybe had a little scare he may need to find a new team after coming off a career campaign appearing in 71 NHL games scoring 3 goals and 19 assists.
His totals were good enough for 2nd in assists and points amongst blue liners.
Maybe a bit odd he was being left unqualified after a trade at the beginning of 2017/2018 by draft club Pittsburgh Penguins sent him west.
He was on a one-way deal that paid $800,000 and it may have been thought that he would either look for a longer term or head to arbitration for a substantial pay boost.
It took little time to settle, as he was re-upped a day later for an AAV of $1,1M under similar terms as the previous contract.
If the 24-year old can string together another successful season, then he may be able to negotiate a longer term at more money.
