It’s definitely not a typical hockey off-season in 2020 but one thing that has remained pretty much the same is the free-agent market. Each year on 1 May, contracts expire and teams go out in search of talent to stock their rosters for the upcoming season. We’ve already seen some interesting players find homes on Champions Hockey League teams for the 2020/21 season. In a couple of cases, players are returning to former teams.
It seems that the Frölunda Indians are always on top of things. For every prospect that moves on to greener pastures, there’s another one to take his place and they bring in a good mix of veterans from abroad to complement their existing talent pool. This year, the four-time CHL champs bring in defenceman Stefan Elliott. The 29-year-old Canadian has NHL experience with four different teams, a bronze medal from the 2018 Winter Olympics and is just coming off a season in the KHL with Dinamo Minsk.
Other Swedish teams are keeping pace by adding players with CHL experience. Rögle Ängelholm are new to the CHL but they’ve got a goalie who isn’t – Johan Gustafsson, a three-time winner with Frölunda who played last season for Adler Mannheim. As well, Skellefteå AIK have added Canadian centre Tyler Morley from Tappara Tampere and Luleå Hockey have added defenceman Eddie Larsson – formerly of the Växjö Lakers – and Linköping HC and left-winger Linus Klasen from HC Lugano.
Färjestad Karlstad have gone back to their talent source across the Norwegian border for goaltender Henrik Haukeland – who played in the CHL two years ago for TPS Turku – and have also added a couple of players from Sweden’s bronze-medal winning World Junior team – goalie Jesper Eliasson and defenceman Adam Ginning.
Staying up north in Finland, despite losing Morley, Tappara enter their seventh consecutive CHL campaign with some key additions. They welcome back former captain Jukka Peltola, who was with the team for their first four CHL campaigns before spending the past two seasons in the KHL, and former goaltender Dominik Hrachovina, who played in the CHL last season for Ambrì-Piotta and then in Liberec. They also added Czech defenceman Michal Moravčík from HC Pilsen. Across town, Ilves Tampere have added another player who has tasted success with Frölunda – young centre Joni Ikonen was a 17-year-old member of the title-winning team of 2016/17 and has since played three seasons with KalPa Kuopio.
Elsewhere in the land of a thousand lakes, Lukko Rauma have added size and scoring up front with huge 24-year-old Slovak forward Pavol Skalický, a former KHLer who is just coming off a breakout season with BK Mladá Boleslav in the Czech Extraliga. Joining the always-dangerous Kärpät Oulu is Aleksi Mustonen, formerly of Ilves and Färjestad and a member of last season's Lahti Pelicans CHL team.
In Germany, Red Bull Munich aim to remain one of Europe’s elite by adding veteran American defenceman Zach Richmond. For the 2015 World Championship bronze-medalist, this will be his first season in Europe after a career that has seen NHL stops with the Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres. Meanwhile, Eisbären Berlin have also added an experienced defenceman in Norwegian international Stefan Espeland, who has previously been part of CHL campaigns for Vålerenga Oslo in 2014/15 and Lørenskog IK in 2016/17.
Of Czech teams, the most active team is Sparta Prague, the 2016/17 finalists who are making a return to the CHL. It looks like they’ll have a familiar name in goal in the form of former NHLer Michal Neuvirth, who is returning to his home country after barely playing the past two seasons due to injuries. They’ve also added forward Roman Horák, another former NHLer who spent several SHL seasons and one CHL campaign with the Växjö Lakers. Bílí Tygři Liberec have added goaltender Petr Kváča from Oceláři Třinec and Croatian-born defenceman Mislav Rosandić, a former KHLer who played in last year’s CHL Final with Mountfield HK.
Not to be outdone, Polish club GKS Tychy are intent on showing that they aim to compete with the big boys. They’ve added Czech defenceman Ladislav Havlík, who was with Dynamo Pardubice for two CHL campaigns, and forward Patryk Wronka, a veteran of the Polish national team who played for the Belfast Giants last season.
Those are just some of the more interesting players that have signed with CHL teams so far, but there are still a lot of good ones out there and plenty of CHL teams with roster spots to fill for the 2020/21 season. What players are going to end up on what teams? Stay tuned …