Langelier-Parent out of Syracuse, heading to England

By Jared Clinton (@JPDClinton)

After two years of professional hockey, Maxime Langelier-Parent is leaving North America for a spot in Europe.

The 26-year-old forward has signed a one-year deal with the Elite Ice Hockey League’s Nottingham Panthers. Last season, Langelier-Parent suited up for 36 games for the Syracuse Crunch, tallying two goals and seven assists.

Langelier-Parent signed his first professional deal in 2012, and made his debut in 2013, with the Syracuse Crunch. His contract was signed while Tampa Bay was affiliated with Norfolk.

The Quebec native played his college hockey at the University of McGill, where he registered 26 goals and 75 points in 105 contests.

Langelier-Parent announced the deal via his Twitter account this morning:

Thank you very much @TBLightning, @SyracuseCrunch and @FL_Everblades for the past two seasons. First class organizations !!

— maxime L-Parent (@LpMaxime) May 28, 2014

Very happy to join the @PanthersIHC organization !!

— maxime L-Parent (@LpMaxime) May 28, 2014

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Prospal declines PTO contract offer, retires instead

In less than 24 hours, Vaclav “Vinny” Prospal has gone from an unrestricted free agent, to a Utica Comets PTO, and now to retirement.

Prospal, who had been offered a professional tryout deal with the Canucks, was thought to have been on his way to Utica to join the Comets before news came that he was heading for the greener pastures of retirement.

Only 35 points shy of 800 on his career, Prospal retires last appearing for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season where he lead the team in scoring with 30 points (12-18) in 48 games. His last professional goal came against the San Jose Sharks on April 21, 2013.

(Goal at 1:30)

So, before it even began, Vinny Prospal’s time in the AHL has come to an end.

Report: Milwaukee nabs Darling from Pens

Scott Darling has reportedly signed a one-year AHL deal with the Milwaukee Admirals that will see the netminder spend time between the ECHL and AHL.

Darling, a 6-foot-6, 190 pound goalie from Lemont, Ill., spent 32 games with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers last season, and was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on a PTO to end last year.

In the ECHL last season, Darling posted a 2.80 GAA and .907 SV%. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the sixth round of the 2007 entry draft.

Deschamps stays, DiSalvatore goes

The Washington Capitals have re-signed Nicolas Deschamps to a one-year deal, while the Hershey Bears have parted ways with Jon DiSalvatore.

Deschamps, who has been somewhat of an AHL journeyman over the past four seasons, will suit up for the Bears again next season after playing 21 games in Chocolatetown last year. In those 21 appearances, Deschamps scored four goals and six assists. Acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs organization for defenceman Kevin Marshall, the 23-year-old Deschamps has appeared in 243 AHL games and has scored 41 goals and 81 assists.

DiSalvatore, who has spent the last decade in the AHL, says farewell to the league on his way to the DEL. An impact player in the AHL over his ten seasons, DiSalvatore has scored 236 goals and 323 assists over 797 games. However, no matter his production in the AHL, DiSalvatore has only suited up in six NHL games — five with St. Louis and one with Minnesota.

DiSalvatore, 32, will suit up with Germany’s EHC Munchen next year.

Will named GM of Worcester Sharks

The San Jose Sharks have appointed long-time assistant general manager Joe Will the new GM of the Worcester Sharks.

Will, who has been with the Sharks organization since the team entered the league in 1990, will continue to fill his role as assistant GM of the NHL’s Sharks on top of his new duties.

Since being named the NHL Sharks assistant GM two seasons ago, the team has had a record of 68-45-17 over 130 games, including an appearance in the Western Conference semi-finals.

From Will’s bio on the Sharks official website:

Will works closely with Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson on all daily departmental functions and his primary responsibilities include contract research and negotiations, scouting operations, fiscal planning, salary cap analysis and hockey administration. He’s the lead coordinator and planner for the
Sharks training camp scouting meetings and scouting conference calls each season.

One of his most important duties involves the tracking, analyzing and projecting of the team’s player payroll relative to the current and future National Hockey League salary cap to give the team the financial flexibility to ice a championship-caliber team each season.

 

Caps add long-time Monarch Kolomatis

After spending nearly his entire professional career with the AHL’s Manchester Monarches, David Kolomatis is going to be suiting up for the Hershey Bears.

Kolomatis, who joined the Monarchs as a 20-year-old in 2009-10, had been a fixture on the clubs blue line, but is moving on to a new opportunity. In 300 games with the Monarchs — which includes his 46 playoff appearances — Kolomatis has put up great numbers, proving his status as a playmaking defenceman. Over that span with Kings affiliate, Kolomatis had 29 goals to go along with 81 assists, and brought the Kings organization great value for a fifth round pick in 2009.

In just 46 games last season, Kolomatis tied a career high with 8 goals and fell one shy of a career high in points with 28. Previously, the blueliner had put up 29 points (8-21) over a span of 76 games with the Monarchs.

Though Kolomatis has dealt with injuries over the past two seasons, he’s been coming into his own on the back end, with 54 points in 112 games over the past two seasons.

Signed to a one-year, two-way deal, Kolomatis will likely see minutes in the top-four of the Bears D.

Crunch to add Geoff Walker

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced today that they have signed forward Geoff Walker to a one-year, two-way deal.

Walker has spent the last four seasons bouncing around the AHL, spending time with the Manchester Monarchs, Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and Lake Erie Monsters. In his 226 career AHL games, Walker has scored 36 goals and registered 69 assists.

At 6’2″, 225 lbs., Walker has good size and a scoring touch that is just beginning to really develop. The 25-year-old, Charlottetown, PEI product has produced at every level to get him to this point. After breaking into the ECHL in 2008-09 with the Ontario Reign as an undrafted free agent, Walker put up 48 points (21-27) in 68 games. He would make the jump to the AHL’s Monarchs the following season, and has since been a fixture on AHL rosters around the league.

Walker adds to a list of Crunch signees, including Eric Neilson and Joey Mormina.

St. Louis signs AHL vet Keith Aucoin

Journeyman Keith Aucoin might be getting a shot in Missouri.

Aucoin, a veteran of the AHL with over 700 games player, spent last season splitting time between the Toronto Marlies and the NHL’s New York Islanders, and his performance on Long Island landed him a deal with the Blues.

The deal, which is one-way and will pay Aucoin $625,000, signals that Aucoin is going to get his first full shot at making it in the bigs.

Though his AHL tenure, Aucoin has been well over a point per game player, with 814 (233-581) points in 707 games. An alternate captain in Hershey from 2008-2012, Aucoin has always been a reliable offensive player and very rarely a liability in his own end.

It may not signal the end of Aucoin’s AHL career, but this is the next step that AHL fans have been waiting for the 34-year-old to make.

 

Montreal and Rangers swap Kristo, Thomas

Christian Thomas and Danny Kristo are going to be getting fresh starts.

Tuesday afternoon, the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers announced they had come to a deal involving a one-for-one swap of the two young forwards.

Thomas, son of former NHLer Steve Thomas, was sent to Montreal after only his first full AHL campaign. At 20, the Toronto native put together a decent year for a rookie, racking up 19 goals and 16 assists in his first pro-season.

Drafted in the second round of the 2010 draft by the Rangers, Thomas was well above average in the OHL during his four seasons with the Oshawa Generals. However, it seems as though the Rangers were either unhappy with his development or looking for something different, which is where the deal with the Habs comes in.

Kristo, 23, is a former University of North Dakota standout who is moving on before even really getting a shot with the Canadiens. Habs GM Marc Bergevin had talked about Kristo’s attitude in September of last season, and it could be a reason why the 2008 second-rounder was dealt.

Corey Pronman of Hockey Prospectus said that on-ice, the Rangers came out ahead in this deal.

From Pronman:

On pure talent Kristo is a better prospect than Christian Thomas. That’s not to say Thomas is a poor prospect as he has character, offensive ability and he could be an average to above-average pro. However Kristo is arguably a top 100 drafted prospect in hockey with significant upside even if he does carry more risk than Thomas. In a one for one deal, it’s hard to make a perfectly equal trade and one team usually comes out ahead. In my opinion it was the Rangers.

(s/t to Corey Pronman for the Bergevin tweet)

 

Arniel to leave Comets for Rangers

Arniel behind the bench of the Wolves in 2012-13.

According to Pat Leonard (@NYDNRangers), Utica Comets head coach Scott Arniel will be joining Alain Vigneault’s coaching staff in the Big Apple.

Arniel, who has experience working as Vigneault’s AHL counterpart as head coach of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose, will fill one of the assistant coach spots behind the bench for the Rangers.

It will be Arniel’s second tenure behind an NHL bench, as he had previously been the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, leading the team to a 45-60-18 record over exactly one and a half seasons. Arniel was fired from his post midway through the 2011-12 season.