European Leagues/KHL Free Agents

[RAFI BOMB]

This thread is to discuss and evaluate potential free agents currently playing in any of the European leagues or the KHL. These players might be worth an NHL contract, a two-way contract or simply a PTO.

Click to read more...

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Tristan Scherwey LW/RW 5'9 187 lbs
NLA 2019-2020: 26 GP 10 G 2 A 12 PTS
Tristan Scherwey at eliteprospects.com
He took part in the Senators training camp and I thought he looked good in the preseason games. He might be worth an NHL contract.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Kyle Beach LW/RW 6'3 209 lbs
Slovakia 2019-2020: 27 GP 10 G 7 A 17 PTS
Kyle Beach at eliteprospects.com
Beach was the former #11 overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He had strong WHL stats and was once thought of as a 6'3 Darcy Tucker. He had some character issues when he has young but now that he is older hopefully he has matured past all of that. He has played in a number of leagues and has had good stats. He could be a solid 4th line pest. A two-way contract or PTO would likely be the best option.

Beach is a big winger who likes to play a physical and aggressive brand of hockey. He likes to agitate and get opponents off their game. Owns decent scoring ability around the net where he looks for rebounds or deflections.
- Erik K. Piri, EP

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Jan Kovar C 5'11 216 lbs
NLA 2019-2020: 30 GP 9 G 23 A 32 PTS
Jan Kovar at eliteprospects.com

 

[RAFI BOMB]

David Wolf LW/RW 6'3 216 lbs
DEL 2019-2020: 22 GP 8 G 8 A 16 PTS
David Wolf at eliteprospects.com

 

[RAFI BOMB]

I remember on 31 thoughts, Friedman saying that Ottawa now has a presence in Russia. IIRC it was regarding them possibly signing 23, 24, 25 year old Russians that are Top 9 players in the KHL but maybe they may finally dip their toes back into Russia for prospects. I wouldn’t mind seeing a guy developing through the MHL-VHL-KHL system in our prospect pool.

Based on your comments I thought this thread would be best to continue some of this discussion. We can chat about Russian draft eligible prospects in the NHL Draft thread and we can chat about KHL free agents here.

Here is a link to players in the KHL. It might take some sifting through to find out which KHL players have expiring contracts and which could be worth targeting.
Elite Prospects - KHL Stats 2019-2020

 

[Sens72]

Based on your comments I thought this thread would be best to continue some of this discussion. We can chat about Russian draft eligible prospects in the NHL Draft thread and we can chat about KHL free agents here.

Here is a link to players in the KHL. It might take some sifting through to find out which KHL players have expiring contracts and which could be worth targeting.
Elite Prospects - KHL Stats 2019-2020

I don’t know much about KHL players but one guy I’ve kept an eye on is Alexander Barabanov. There was buzz last summer about him potentially coming to the NHL for 2020-2021 season. His production has fallen off after a really good year last year with St. Petersburg but he’s only 25 so it might be worth the shot.


Alexander Barabanov at eliteprospects.com



He has elite edge work and is really good at spacing himself in the OZ. He’s 5’10 which may draw some concerns but he has some blazing speed.

 

[Sens72]

 

[DJB]

If we do sign the Russian guy if we return some of our UFA we could have a half decent D next year .

Chabot - Demelo
Russian pair
Boro - Rielly
Wolanin

 

[DrEasy]

If we do sign the Russian guy if we return some of our UFA we could have a half decent D next year .

Chabot - Demelo
Russian pair
Boro - Rielly
Wolanin

Zub is apparently an RD, so I imagine we'd have something like this:

Chabot - DeMelo (please please please re-sign him!)
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Reilly - Zub

 

[Masked]

Zub is apparently an RD, so I imagine we'd have something like this:

Chabot - DeMelo (please please please re-sign him!)
Wolanin - Zaitsev
Reilly - Zub

I would hope that Brannstrom would be in the lineup ahead of Reilly next season.

 

[DrEasy]

I would hope that Brannstrom would be in the lineup ahead of Reilly next season.

If they decide that he's more comfortable as a RD, his competition would be Zub or Zaitsev (and if we don't sign Zub and/or DeMelo, then there's your opening). Either way, with injuries I'm sure there will be plenty of playing time for everyone. In the odd case that everybody's healthy, it should indeed be a competition for a spot. Hopefully by next year Brannstrom will have progressed enough that leaving him in the AHL is not an option. Until then, nothing wrong with him overcooking there. He's still young (20).

Same applies with a bit more urgency to Jaros (23) and Lajoie (22) too... Too much depth would be a good problem to have.

 

[Sens72]

One guy I’ve kept an eye on because he plays on the same team as Lassi Thomson is Eemeli Suomi.

Eemeli Suomi at eliteprospects.com


He currently has 44 points in 43 games with Ilves. Like Barabanov, he is a speedster with some great edge work, and he’s also 5’10.

Suomi signed a 2 year extension with Ilves in 2018 meaning he is set to become a free agent this spring/summer, although I’m pretty sure Liiga contracts hold NHL-out clauses anyway. He turns 25 in December.

 

[DJB]

Carl Hagelin? ^^^

 

[RAFI BOMB]

One guy I’ve kept an eye on because he plays on the same team as Lassi Thomson is Eemeli Suomi.

Eemeli Suomi at eliteprospects.com


He currently has 44 points in 43 games with Ilves. Like Barabanov, he is a speedster with some great edge work, and he’s also 5’10.

Suomi signed a 2 year extension with Ilves in 2018 meaning he is set to become a free agent this spring/summer, although I’m pretty sure Liiga contracts hold NHL-out clauses anyway. He turns 25 in December.

Do you know why he wasn't drafted? In his 2nd year of draft eligibility he had the following stats in Jr A SM Liga 48 GP 19 G 60 A 79 PTS. Was he just really tiny when he was draft eligible or why was he passed over?

Also I found a few highlights of his. He looks good.

 

[Sens72]

Johannes Kinnvall is an interesting player who has been tearing it up with HV71 in the SHL. He’s a 5’10 defenseman who is leading his team in points. He is also the top U26 scorer (points) in the entire SHL and he’s doing that as a defenseman.

He’s bit of a late bloomer, only playing in the J18 Elit league in his draft year season and 38 points is the highest point total he’s had throughout his entire pro and junior career. Elite prospects has his contract set to expire this year and I haven’t found anything on him signing an extension with HV71. He’s probably another guy like Alsing where he signs a two-year deal and he’s loaned back to Sweden. He was a (prospect) camp invite with Calgary last year.

Johannes Kinnvall at eliteprospects.com

He’s a mobile defenseman and that loves to move into the slot to make a play.

 

[18Hossa]

Pius Suter (Attended Sens Dev Camp in 2017) has an NHL out clause in his contract this summer.
He led the NLA in points this year with 53(30 goals, 23 assists) in 50 games.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

you where Zub at?

 

[Ice-Tray]

Just came in here to ask about Zub

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Andrei Kuzmenko LW/RW 5'11 203 lbs
KHL 2019-2020: 49 GP 14 G 19 A 33 PTS
Andrei Kuzmenko at eliteprospects.com

 

[RAFI BOMB]

 

[Sens72]

 

[Hinterland]

Was wird aus dem NHL-Traum von SCB-Star Scherwey? - Blick

Scherwey says he's yet to hear from the Sens after receiving praise from Smith for his performance in last years camp. The agreement between NHL and NLA could come just one year too late for Scherwey if he doesn't get another chance this year. Could have made it last season I guess since the Sens signed Sabourin after Scherwey was forced to leave due to his contract situation.

 

[Bileur]

Kyle Beach LW/RW 6'3 209 lbs
Slovakia 2019-2020: 27 GP 10 G 7 A 17 PTS
Kyle Beach at eliteprospects.com
Beach was the former #11 overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He had strong WHL stats and was once thought of as a 6'3 Darcy Tucker. He had some character issues when he has young but now that he is older hopefully he has matured past all of that. He has played in a number of leagues and has had good stats. He could be a solid 4th line pest. A two-way contract or PTO would likely be the best option.

There’s one guy I was 100% wrong on at the draft. So disappointed we didn’t get him. The guy we ultimately got was pretty good though.

 

[Bileur]

Pius Suter (Attended Sens Dev Camp in 2017) has an NHL out clause in his contract this summer.
He led the NLA in points this year with 53(30 goals, 23 assists) in 50 games.

I liked his game at sens camp. Looked very smart and a hard worker defensively. Size is a bit of a concern but I’d give him a chance. We traded away a key PK piece last year, can’t hurt to add a wildcard to the mix.