Category: The Future

PORTLAND, OR – Sanford, Manitoba’s Carter Sotheran began the season as a relative unknown, but the towering 17-year-old is aiming to change all that.

He was a standout in his first two starts with a Portland Winterhawks, a showing that seems certain to generate interest from NHL scouts.

The raw tools, however, have been there for sometime.

He’s big – a 6’4”, 200 pounder, and still growing – with a good motor, aggressive tendencies and plenty of scoring touch to go with his right-handed shot, a much sought-after attribute.

 

BOSTON, MA – To find John Beecher’s name on the list of leading scorers from a stacked University of Michigan hockey team last season, one needs to scroll down. Way down. From Matty Beniers (43 points) and Brendan Brisson (42) and Luke Hughes (39) to Owen Power (32), all of them fellow first-round NHL Draft picks, to where Beecher and his 15 points can be found tied for 12th.

BOSTON, MA – Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced today, May 16, that the team has signed forward Johnny Beecher to a three-year entry-level contract with an annual NHL cap hit of $925,000.

ST. PAUL, MN – Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed defenseman Simon Johansson to a two-year, entry-level contract starting with the 2022-23 season.

Johansson, 22 (6/14/99), recorded 32 points (8-24=32) including two power-play goals, a plus-6 rating, 177 shots on goal and 20 penalty minutes (PIM) in 58 games with Ilves Tampere in his first season in Finland’s Elite League. The 6-foot-2, 189-pound native of Stockholm, Sweden, became the youngest defensemen in Ilves history to score 32 points in a season. He ranked fourth on the team in assists and shots on goal and sixth in scoring. Johansson ranked T-6th among League defensemen in assists and T-8th in scoring. He collected six points (1-5=6) and 48 shots on goal in 10 playoff games, ranking T-2nd on the team in assists, third in shots on goal and T-3rd in scoring. Johansson ranked T-2nd among League defensemen in assists, third in shots on goal and T-3rd in playoff scoring.

ANAHEIM, CA – The Ducks have signed center Josh Lopina to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in the 2022-23 NHL season. Lopina will report to the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim’s primary development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL) on an amateur tryout (ATO) for the remainder of this season.