Offseason Guide Part 1 - AHL Free Agents (Eastern Conference)

Friday, June 3, 2016
In the AHL, the roster turnover every summer impacts teams a lot more than in the NHL. Photo: Nina Weiss/The Home News
With just four weeks until the start of hockey's free agency period, the buzz surrounding some of the game's top players is heating up. Guys like Steven Stamkos and Milan Lucic are at the epicenter of off-season hockey talk even during the Stanley Cup Finals.

But what about free agency at the American Hockey League (AHL) level?

In the first of a two-part series my AHL offseason guide takes a look at the 14 teams currently in the Eastern Conference, who's under contract next season and destined for AHL action in the fall as well as each team's impending free agents both on NHL and AHL contracts during the 2015-16 season.

Feel free to post any updates on player movement of these guys in the East either in the comments section of this story with a link to a team's press release or by simply tweeting that link at me on Twitter (@H_P_Hockey and @TonyAndrock). This will be an updated story throughout the month of June leading up to July 1st.

A team's restricted free agents (RFA) will become unrestricted free agents (UFA) if not tendered a qualifying offer by Monday June 27th at 5:00 p.m. ET, meaning they will be free to sign with any team they choose when the NHL's free agency period begins on Friday, July 1st at noon ET.

Here's a brief explanation I wrote for The Home News last month on understanding the differences between UFA's and RFA's as well as some insights to the process a team goes through to tender qualifying offers to their RFA's.

After the jump, a look at all the AHL's Eastern Conference teams. A special thanks to several of the league's daily beat reporters for helping check my team lists for accuracy.

Albany Devils (New Jersey Devils)

Under Contract
Forwards: Brandon Baddock, Blake Coleman, Carter Camper, Ben Johnson, Ryan Kujawinski, Nick Lappin, Jan Mandat (AHL), Blake Pietila and Ben Thomson
Defensemen: Yohann Auvitu, Josh Jacobs, Seth Helgeson, Andrew MacWilliam, Vojtech Mozik and Karl Stollery
Goaltenders: Ken Appleby and Scott Wedgewood
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Yann Danis, defensemen Brandon Burlon, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Raman Hrabarenka and Dan Kelly and forwards Pierre-Luc Leblond (signed one-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay Lightning), Jim O'Brien (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Colorado Avalanche), Brian O'Neill (signed 1-year deal in KHL with Jokerit with option for 2017-18) and Mike Sislo (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Colorado Avalanche).
NHL RFA: defensemen Reece Scarlett and forward Reid Boucher
AHL UFA: defensemen Joe Faust and Corbin McPherson and forwards Chris McKelvie (retired to become assistant coach at Army), Matt Lorito (signed a two-year, two-way contract with Detroit Red Wings), Max Novak, Rod Pelley
Binghamton Senators (Ottawa Senators)

Under Contract
Forwards: Casey Bailey, Mike Blunden, Vincent Dunn, Max McCormick, Chad Nehring, Nicholas Paul, Francis Perron, Tom Pyatt, Buddy Robinson, Ryan Rupert, Zack Stortini, Phil Varone
Defensemen: Cody Donaghey, Andreas Englund, Macoy Erkamps, Ben Harpur,
Michael Kostka
Goaltenders: Chris Driedger and Matt O'Connor
Impending Free Agents:
NHL UFA: defensemen Mark Fraser (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Edmonton Oilers), Michael Kostka (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa Senators), Jerome Leduc and Troy Rutkowski and forwards Jason Akeson, David Dziurzynski, Travis Ewanyk, Matt Frattin and Philip Varone (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa Senators)
NHL RFA: defensemen Frederik Claesson,  and forwards Casey Bailey (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa), Ryan Dzingel, Max McCormick (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa) and Matt Puempel
AHL UFA: goaltender Scott Greenham, defensemen Chris Carlisle, Guillaume Lepine and Nick Tuzzolino and forwards Kyle Flanagan, Danny Hobbs, Ryan Penny and Alex Wideman 
Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders)

Under Contract
Forwards: Michael Dal Colle, Tanner Fritz (AHL), Ben Holmstrom, Ross Johnston, Bracken Kearns, Kyle Schempp, Travis St. Denis (AHL) and Carter Verhaeghe
Defensemen: Kyle Burroughs, Matt Carkner (AHL), Matthew Finn, Jesse Graham, Loic Leduc, Ryan Obychowski (AHL), Adam Pelech and Devin Toews
Goaltenders: Eamon McAdam and Stephon Williams
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: defenseman Kevin Czuczman and forwards Marc-Andre Cliche, Justin Florek, Mike Halmo, Justin Vaive, Joe Whitney (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Colorado Avalanche) and James Wright
NHL RFA: goaltender Chrisopher Gibson, defensemen Scott Mayfield and forwards Kirill Petrov and Alan Quine
AHL UFA: defensemen Bryce Aneloski, Patrick Cullity, Kane Lafranchise and C.J. Ludwig and forwards Tyler Barnes (signed a one-year AHL deal with Rockford), Jared Gomes, Anthony Greco, Josh Holmstrom, Connor Jones, Colin Markison, Jesse Root (signed with HC Bolzano in Austria), Andrew Rowe and Sebastien Sylvestre 
Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers)

Under Contract

Forwards: Chris Brown, Adam Chapie, Steven Fogarty, Ryan Gropp, Michael Joly (AHL), Boo Nieves, Ahti Oksanen (AHL), Malte Stromwall and Adam Tambellini
Defensemen: Calle Andersson, Troy Donnay, Ryan Graves, Michael Paliotta, Brady Skjei and Chris Summers
Goaltenders: Brandon Halverson, Magnus Hellberg and Mackenzie Skapski 
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: defensemen Raphael Diaz (signed a multi-year contract with EV Zug in the NLA) and Samuel Noreau and forwards Luke Adam, Brian Gibbons, Michael Kantor, Matt Lindblad, Chris McCarthy, Jayson Megna (signed a one-year, one-way contract with Vancouver Canucks), Daniel Paille (signed 1-year deal in SHL with Brynas IF Gavle) and Nick Tarnasky 
NHL RFA: defensemen Mat Bodie and Tommy Hughes and forwards Marek Hrivik and Nicklas Jensen
AHL UFA: goaltender Jeff Malcolm, defensemen Kodie Curran and forwards Tyler Brown, Jack Combs, Chad Nehring (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa Senators), Shawn O'Donnell and Travis Oleksuk
Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals)

Under Contract
Forwards: Riley Barber, Travis Boyd, Chris Bourque, Paul Carey, Tim McGauley, Garrett Mitchell, Liam O'Brien, Zach Sill (re-signed two-year, two-way deal with Washington) and Christian Thomas, Chandler Stephenson, Jakub Vrana and Nathan Walker
Defensemen: Madison Bowey, Darren Dietz, Christian Djoos, Tyler Lewington, Aaron Ness and Jonas Siegenthaler
Goaltenders: Joe Cannata, Adam Carlson and Vitek Vanecek 
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltenders Dan Ellis and Justin Peters (signed a one-year, two-way deal with Arizona Coyotes), defensemen Mike Moore and Ryan Stanton (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Colorado Avalanche) and forwards Ryan Bourque, Carter Camper (signed a one-year, two-way contract with New Jersey Devils), Sean Collins and Ryan Herbert
NHL RFA: None
AHL UFA: goaltender Mark Dekanich, defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer and forwards Austin Fyten and Dustin Gazley 
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers)

Under Contract
Forwards: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Cole Bardreau, Greg Carey Chris Conner, Radel Fazleev, Tyrell Goulbourne, Taylor Leier, Danick Martel, Colin McDonald, Andy Miele and Steven Swavely (AHL)
Defensemen: Mark Alt, Robert Hagg, Max Lamarche (AHL), Christian Marti (signed three-year deal with ZSC Lions in Switzerland), Sam Morin, Will O'Neill, Jesper Pettersson, Travis Sanheim and Reece Willcox
Goaltenders: Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Jason LaBarbera, defenseman Davis Drewiske and forwards Brandon Alderson, Tim Brent (retired from pro hockey), Derek Mathers and Aaron Palushaj
NHL RFA: forward Petr Straka
AHL UFA: goaltenders Martin Ouellette and Connor Knapp, defensemen Adam Comrie, Mike Marcou, Nick Luukko and Logan Pyett and forwards Phil DeSimone, Kevin Goumas, Pavel Padakin (signed 1-year deal in KHL with HK Sochi), Michael Parks, Jay Rosehill, Dalton Smith and Geoff Walker (signed 1-year deal in Allsvenskan with Tingsryds AIF)
Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)

Under Contract
Forwards: Noel Acciari, Anton Blidh, Colby Cave, Austin Czarnik, Jake Debrusk, Seth Griffith, Colton Hargove, Danton Heinen, Justin Hickman, Sean Kuraly, Mark Naclerio (AHL), Zac Rinaldo and Tim Schaller
Defensemen: Linus Arenesson, Brandon Carlo, Tommy Cross, Rob O'Gara, Matt Grzelcyk and Jakub Zboril
Goaltenders: Zane McIntyre and Malcolm Subban
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Jeremy Smith (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Colorado Avalanche), defensemen Chris Breen, Tommy Cross (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Boston Bruins) and Matt Irwin (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Nashville Predators) and forwards Brandon DeFazio, Joonas Kemppainen (signed a 1-year deal with Sibir Novosibirsk in KHL), Alexander Khokhlachev (will sign 1-year deal with SKA St. Petersburg in KHL), Ben Sexton and Max Talbot (signed a 1-year deal with HC Locomotiv in KHL)
NHL RFA: defensemen Chris Casto and Colin Miller and forward Brian Ferlin
AHL UFA: goaltender Matt Ginn, defensemen Brett Bellemore, Frankie Simonelli and Ben Youds (signed a 1-year deal with Leksands IF in the SHL) and forwards Andrew Cherniwchan, Eric Neiley
Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres)

Under Contract
Forwards: Justin Bailey, Nicholas Baptiste, William Carrier, Eric Cornel, Jean Dupuy, Vaclac Karabacek, Justin Kea, Matt Lane (AHL), Cal O'Reilly, Evan Rodrigues and Cole Schneider
Defensemen: Mac Bennett, Austin Brady, Martin Brycen, Justin Falk, Taylor Fedun and Paul Geiger (AHL)
Goaltenders: Linus Ullmark
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Nathan Lieuwen and Andrey Makarov (signed with Spartak Moskva in KHL), defensemen Matt Donovan, Chad Ruhwedel (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh Penguins), Bobby Sanguinetti and Michael Sdao and forwards Jerry D'Amigo, Colin Jacobs, Alex Guptill, Jack Nevins
Eric O'Dell, Tim Schaller (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Boston Bruins) and Cole Schneider (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Buffalo Sabres)
NHL RFA: forward Daniel Catenacci
AHL UFA: defensemen Josh Chapman, Spiro Goulakos, Joey Mormina, Matt Prapavessis and Colby Robak and forwards Matt Ellis, Matt Garbowsky, Patrick Kaleta and Allan McPherson
Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida Panthers)

Under Contract

Forwards: Chase Balisy, Graham Black, Connor Brickley, Shane Harper, Jayce Hawryluk, Steven Hodges, Dryden Hunt, Juho Lammikko, Greg McKegg (re-signed one-year, two-way NHL contract with Florida), Kyle Rau and Paul Thompson
Defensemen: Joshua Brown, Michael Downing, Linus Hultstrom, Michael Matheson, Brent Regner and MacKenzie Weegar
Goaltenders: Reto Berra, Sam Brittain, Mike McKenna and Colin Stevens
Impending Free Agents 
NHL UFA: defensemen Sena Acolatse, Cameron Guance (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh Penguins) and Dylan Olsen and forwards Rob Flick, Corban Knight, John McFarland and Brett Olson

NHL RFA: defensemen Jonathan Racine and forward Logan Shaw

AHL UFA: defenseman Matt MacKenzie and forwards Wade Megan (signed a one-year, two-way contract with St. Louis Blues), Rob Schremp (signed a 1-year deal with Langnau in NLA), Wayne Simpson, Tony Turgeon and Garrett Wilson
St. John's IceCaps (Montreal Canadiens)

Under Contract
Forwards: Daniel Audette, Tim Bozon, Connor Crisp, Jacob De La Rose, Max Friberg, Jeremy Gregoire, Charles Hudon, Artturi Lehkonen, Mark MacMillan, Michael McCarron, Martin Reway and Nikita Scherbak 
Defensemen: Josiah Didier (AHL - 1 year), Joel Hanley, Ryan Johnston, Brett Lernout, Tom Parisi, Philip Samuelsson, Dalton Thrower
Goaltenders: Zachary Fucale
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Ben Scrivens, defensemen Mac Bennett (signed a one-year AHL contract with Rochester Americans), Darren Dietz (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Washington Capitals) and Morgan Ellis (signed a one-year, two-way contract with St. Louis Blues) and forwards Michael Bournival (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay Lightning), Gabriel Dumont (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay Lightning), Bud Holloway (signed 2-year deal CSKA Moskava with in KHL) and John Scott
NHL RFA: None
AHL UFA: defensemen Travis Brown, Josiah Didier (re-signed a one-year AHL contract with St. John's IceCaps) and forwards Markus Eisenschmid, Brandon McNally, Angelo Miceli, Eric Neilson (signed a 1-year deal with the Manchester Storm in the EIHL), Alexandre Ranger and Andrew Yogan
Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Under Contract
Forwards: Michael Bournival, Cameron Darcy, Gabriel Dumont, Adam Erne, Brian Hart, Henri Ikonen, Pierre-Luc Leblond, Tye McGinn, Jeremy Morin, Matthew Peca, Brayden Point, Jonne Tammela, Tanner Richard and Joel Vermin
Defensemen: Dylan Blujus, Jake Dotchin, Slater Koekkoek, Dominik Masin, Matt Taormina, Ben Thomas, Luke Witkowski and Daniel Walcott
Goaltenders: Kristers Gudlevskis and Adam Wilcox
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: forwards Mike Angelidis, Mike Blunden (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Ottawa Senators), David Broll, Jonathan Marchessault (signed a one-year contract with Florida Panthers), Philippe Paradis, Jeff Tambellini (signed 1-year deal with Djugardens IF in the SHL)
NHL RFA: goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis (re-signed to a one-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay Lightning) and forward Yanne Gourde
AHL UFA: goaltender Nick Riopel, defensemen Charlie Dodero and forwards Ryan Martindale
Toronto Marlies (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Under Contract
Forwards: Connor Brown, Shane Conacher (AHL), T.J. Foster (AHL), Andreas Johnson, Frederik Gauthier, Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Brendan Leipsic, Tobias Lindberg, Mason Marchment, William Nylander, Colin Smith (AHL - 1 year) Nikita Soshnikov and Chase Witala (AHL)
Defensemen: Nikolas Brouillard (AHL), Justin Holl, Viktor Loov, Rinat Valiev and Nikita Zaitsev
Goaltenders: Antoine Bibeau and Kasimir Kaskisuo
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Alex Stalock (signed a one-year, two-way deal with Minnesota Wild), defenseman T.J. Brennan and Stuart Percy (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh Penguins) and forwards Mark Arcobello (signed a two-year deal with Bern in the NLA), Sam Carrick (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Chicago Blackhawks), Richard Clune, Ben Smith, Colin Smith (signed a one-year AHL contract with Toronto Marlies) and Raffi Torres 
NHL RFA: goaltender Garret Sparks, defensemen Connor Carrick,  forwards Josh Leivo and Kerby Rychel
AHL UFA: goaltender Rob Madore, defensemen Zach Bell, Taylor Doherty, Justin Holl (signed a one-year entry level contract with Toronto Maple Leafs), David Kolomatis, James Martin and Brenden Miller and forwards Eric Faille, Brett Findlay, Justin Johnson, Jack Rodewald and Patrick Watling
Utica Comets (Vancouver Canucks)

Under Contract
Forwards: Carter Bancks (2-year AHL), Cole Cassels, Michael Chaput, Brendan Gaunce, Wacey Hamilton (2-year AHL), Joseph LaBate, Yan-Pavel LaPlante, Jayson Megna, Borna Rendulic and Mackenzie Stewart
Defensemen: Anton Cederholm, Evan McEneny, Jordan Subban, Ashton Saunter and Troy Stecher
Goaltenders: Richard Bachman, Thatcher Demko and Michael Garteig
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: goaltender Joe Cannata (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Washington Capitals), defenseman Taylor Fedun (signed a one-year, two-way contract with Buffalo Sabres) and forwards Ludwig Blomstrand (signed 2-year deal in Sweden with Almtuna IS), Alex Friesen (signed a one-year, two-way contract with St. Louis Blues), T.J. Hensick (signed a one-year AHL contract with Ontario Reign), Blair Jones and Ronalds Kenins
NHL RFA: defenseman Andrey Pedan and forwards Alexandre Grenier and Michael Zalewski
AHL UFA: defensemen Travis Ehrhardt, Jon Landry, John Negrin and David Shields and forwards Darren Archibald, Milos Bubela, Kellen Jones, Brandon Marino (signed 1-year deal in Slovakia with HC Nove Zamky), Mike Periera and Curtis Valk
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Under Contract
Forwards: Josh Archibald, Teddy Blueger, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Jake Guentzel, Christian Hilbrich (signed 1-year AHL deal) Tom Kostopoulos (re-signed a 1-year AHL deal), Kevin Porter (re-signed a 1-year, 2-way NHL deal), Carter Rowney, Dominik Simon, Daniel Sprong and Oskar Sundqvist  
Defensemen: Lukas Bengtsson, Tim Erixon (re-signed a 1-year, 2-way NHL deal), Cameron Gaunce, Reid McNeill, Steve Oleksy, Stuart Percy, Ethan Prow, Chad Ruhwedel and Michael Webster (signed 1-year AHL deal)
Goaltenders: Tristan Jarry and Sean Maguire
Impending Free Agents
NHL UFA: defensemen Nicklas Andersen (signed 1-year deal with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in KHL), James Melindy, Steve Oleksy (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh Penguins), Will O’Neill (signed a two-year, two-way contract with Philadelphia Flyers) and Harrison Ruopp and forwards Tyler Biggs, Dan O'Donaghue, Dustin Jeffrey (signed 1-year deal with Lausanne in NLA), Kael Mouillierat, Matthias Plachta (signed with Adler Mannheim in DEL), Tom Sestito (re-signed a one-year, two-way contract with Pittsburgh Penguins) and Anton Zlobin (signed a tryout with Dynamo Moskva in KHL)
NHL RFA: forward,Dominik Uher (signed 1-year deal wih HC Sparta Praha in Czech) and 
AHL UFA: goaltender Casey DeSmith, defensemen Barry Goers, Ryan Parent and Clark Seymour and forwards Sahir Gill, , Adam Krause, Ty Loney, John McCarron and Patrick McGrath

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