9th year right wing Dmitrij Jaskin(23) ended up leaving North American pro hockey at the beginning of the current session and it has quite possibly become one of the best decisions he’s made.
The big 6’2″ 216 lbs. forward is 2nd in KHL scoring with a career high 22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points in 48 games for UHC Dynamo Moskva.
The 26-year old will likely be eyeing a multi-year contract to stay where he is and keep scoring big numbers.
Nashville Predators‘ 8th year defenseman Jarred Tinordi(24) has played his way into the big league lineup after a 2nd strong showing as team captain for affiliate Milwaukee Admirals.
In 6 NHL games, his first since 2016/2017 with Arizona Coyotes, he doesn’t have any points but has been playing strong against opponents, dishing out plenty of hits, blocking shots and even got into a scrap.
The 27-year old was given a two-year extension as he was finishing up a successful first season in the system scoring a new career high 8 goals and 22 points in 75 AHL games, so still has time to prove he is ready to play at the highest level.
Hartford Wolf Pack 11th year goalie Tom McCollum(30) was reassigned from affiliate Maine Mariners of the ECHL, his first visit to the league since 2016/2017, to Florida Everblades, where he really caught fire in 3 games posting a 1.65 GAA and .938 SV%.
Recently recalled to the AHL, he continued to hold down the fort, oddly going 0-1-1 with a 1.17 GAA and .950 SV%
The fairly large-sized net minder has been under big league contracts since being a 1st round pick in 2008 but has only played 3 NHL games.
He had one terrible outing in 2010/2011 but got another shot from Detroit Red Wings, both in relief a few years later and posted a .091 GAA and .960 SV%, while getting a 1st win but was dispatched to the minors for his final term in Michigan.
It seems like the 30-year old will next look elsewhere, overseas, for a new contract.
New Jersey Devils‘ 5th round pick in the 2017 draft (#129 overall) Swiss-born 4th year net minder Gilles Senn(31) has already found his way between the pipes for the big club and didn’t exactly have a bad showing in a pair of appearances.
The towering 6’5″ 202 lbs. goalie has been decently consistent with affiliate Binghamton Devils posting a 7-5-2 record with a 3.06 GA and .891 SV% in 15 AHL games on what’s been the definition of a hot and cold club.
He comes over having played three full seasons for HC Davos of NLA, where he definitely started to hone his craft.
The 23-year old is considered a rookie in North America and still has another year in his entry level contract, so easily may compete for that top job, which appears to be somewhat vacant.
Ottawa Senators‘ 4th round pick in the 2017 draft (#121 overall) 2nd year right wing Drake Batherson(19) gets another crack at the big league after starting on the opening night roster but being reassigned directly afterwards to affiliate Belleville Senators, where he went to work scoring 13 goals and 28 assists for a team leading 41 points in only 33 AHL games with a +20 rating.
The 6’3″ 206 lbs. forward has a good amount of shots on net in his 5 games since returning with an assist and a 1st NHL goal for 2019/2020.
As a rookie he tallied 3 goals and 6 assists in 20 games and led the minor league club in scoring with 62 points.
In his two seasons of junior hockey he was basically a point-per-game guy but in the playoffs of his final campaign had the most assists (20) and points (33) in the 2017 QMJHL playoffs as assistant captain with Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
The 21-year old is still in only the second year of his entry level deal and will very likely keep pushing his game until he arrives at the big league full-time.
New York Islanders‘ 4th round pick in the 2016 draft (#120 overall) 4th year Finnish-born left wing Otto Koivula(21) has earned a 2nd recall in the 2nd season of his 3 year entry level deal as he continues to light the lamp for affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers with 6 goals and 10 assists in 25 AHL games.
The sizable 6’4″ 219 lbs. forward had a team 2nd 21 goals and 46 points as a rookie.
In 6 NHL games in his first appearance in the big league he had no points but managed a couple of shots, 7 hits, 3 shot blocks, 2 takeaways, 2 giveaways and 2 penalty minutes, which may not be a lot but he was 5-0-1 when he was in the lineup.
He played all of his junior hockey at home, then joined Liiga as a teenager scoring roughly the same 30 points for Ilves in two years before leaving.
He’s still only 21-years old, so young enough to develop but probably won’t grow any bigger.
Undrafted 2nd year right wing Dylan Vander Esch(45) was loaned up to Newfoundland Growlers just after the first month mark of the new session as he was enjoying some extra strong scoring 4 goals and 5 assists in 7 SPHL for Fayettesville Marksmen.
The 6’1″ 190 lbs. forward played his entire rookie campaign with Greenville Swamp Rabbits getting 11 goals and 4 assists with a bit of a dismal -14 rating and was signed over the summer by Utah Grizzlies but released, so returned to a league he joined Macon Mayem after four years at SUNY-Potsdam, where he potted a healthy 10+ tallies each season.
He was a point-per-game player out of the gate, which maybe came as little surprise.
In 14 ECHL games he has two goals and 4 assists with a +4 rating to let the folks up north know this 25-year old San Jose, CA product is looking to stick around.
Montreal Canadiens‘ 1st round pick in the 2017 draft (#25 overall) rookie center Ryan Poehling(25) first showed up in one very impressive end of the season 3-goal NHL debut after completing his 3rd campaign at St. Cloud State University and signing a three-year entry level deal to turn pro.
He definitely saw an escalation in point production in his final pair of college campaigns scoring a high 14 goals as a 2nd year player and 23 assists for a pair of 31 point seasons.
The 6’2″ 204 lbs. power forward was reassigned to start his first year with affiliate Laval Rocket but recalled within the first month for a four game appearance, then returned after another month in the minors and is trying not to look back.
In 26 AHL games he had 5 goals and 7 assists before heading up.
The 21-year old is in the 2nd year of his three year entry level deal but it kind of wouldn’t be a surprise to see him shopped to see if he could fair better under a different system.
Undrafted 7th year defenseman Chris Casto(3) finds his new deal as the new season begins, inking for 2019/2020 with Grizzlys Wolfsburg of DEL, his first hockey outside North America.
The 6’1″ 205 lbs. blue liner takes 349 AHL games of experience with him.
He signed his first minor league contract in 2018/2019 with Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The former 4-year Boston Bruins‘ prospect and University Of Minnesota-Duluth d-man, now 27-years old will likely do well in Germany’s top league using his size to push back any offensive threats.
9th year defenseman Matt MacKenzie(5) takes a decent first season overseas with HC Bolzano Foxes of EBEL to a new adventure in DEL2 for EC Bad Tolz.
Under contract for the last pair of seasons before he left to Springfield Thunderbirds, he split time with them and ECHL affiliate Florida Everblades, mostly exploding on the score sheet when he went down.
Seems like if the 28-year old can have a strong showing in Germany’s tier 2 league, he’ll be looked at to move up to DEL or move on next campaign.
