Roster Roundup: London Knights News and Overseas Departures

The NHL has seen a few clubs inking extensions for their depth forwards heading into the summer, but the biggest moves may be the ones taking place in the developmental leagues — especially when it comes to the London Knights.

– The OHL Knights have confirmed that, in addition to Matthew Tkachuk (who committed to London a few weeks back), the club has signed standard player contracts with blue liner Evan Bouchard (drafted 17th overall at the 2015 OHL Priority Selection), centre Robert Thomas (drafted 26th overal at the 2015 OHL Priority selection), and Max Jones (drafted 18th overall at the 2014 OHL Priority Selection).

London will lose at least two of their top six forwards next season — captain Max Domi will head to the Arizona Coyotes following his final year of major junior, and second line bruiser Matt Rupert will follow his identical twin brother Ryan to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Depending on who drafts Mitch Marner, though — and pending his showing at Arizona’s training camp with Domi, forward Christian Dvorak could easily be out the door as well. It’s unsurprising, therefore, to see the Knights taking their second round pick this season, not just their first — despite a history of bringing on players the year after they’re selected.

Bouchard is the biggest of the trio announced this week, standing at 6 foot 1 and 172 lbs as a right hand, right shot defenseman. This last season alone, the big blue liner recorded eighteen goals and thirteen assists in only 35 contests for the Oakville Rangers Minor Midget AAA club in Oakville, Ontario. Julius Bergman has been one of London’s most high-profile defensemen in recent seasons, and Bouchard should make a nice stepping stone for the club.

Robert Thomas will likely fill the hole that an undersized but determined Max Domi is leaving behind; although the centre only stands at 5 foot 9 right now, he’s both a strong scorer and an effective skater. He should also be able to replace the faceoff specialty that was taken from the major junior club when Bo Horvat left for the Vancouver Canucks — and on his wing, he could skate in the future with none of than 2014’s first round pick, Max Jones. Jones, already standing tall at 6 foot 2 and 190 lbs, is expected to be a first round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. The Michigan native has been skating circles around the competition in the US this year — and although Jones was only a member of the USA U17 Team at the World Junior Championships this last year, a thriving Jones with the Knights (particularly if he’s provided an opportunity to mesh well with Dvorak) could get him a closer look by the U20 team this fall instead.

– The Chicago Wolves became the fourth confirmed AHL franchise to lose a player this week, though, as forward Nathan Longpre inked a deal with Lørenskog IK of the Norwegian GET-ek league.

Unlike the majority of the skaters who depart from North American pro clubs, 26 year old Longpre — who spent the bulk of last season with the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL — is heading to Norway, rather than to either the SHL, SM-liiga, Czech Extraliga, or KHL. While he was predominantly a depth forward at the AHL level, though — a former skater for Robert Morris who never quite hit the level of scoring and speed needed to be a top tier North American skater — he thrived in the lower level minors enough here in North America that he can be safely used as a comparable for a league average ECHL mainstay.

For NHL fans, this is largely unimportant. For scouts and analysts looking to learn more about the comparable talent levels between lower tier European pro clubs and North American hockey, though, he’ll serve as a perfect evaluator. With Mats Zuccarello recently followed to North America by Norweigan power forward Andreas Martinsen, though, the possibility of pulling underrated skaters from the smaller European nations may be explored more in depth by teams moving forward.

Loose Change:

– The QMJHL announced their first allowance of an exceptional status player since the Tavares Rule was created for the CHL, giving Joseph Veleno permission to be selected in the league’s entry selection on Saturday, June 6th. The 15 year old from Kirkland, Quebec is expected to skip to the top of the draft list and get selected first overall. That pick belongs to the Saint John Sea Dogs.

– With the QMJHL entry selection coming tomorrow, the league’s general managers have been making some rapid swaps of players and picks. Some of the swaps made:

The Chicoutimi Sauguenéens dealt Alexandre Ranger and this year’s third round pick to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles for this year’s first, second, and third round picks

Rimouski Oceanic swapped Anthony DeLuca for the return of their own 2017 first round pick from the Drummondville Tigers

The Moncton Wildcats dealt their first and fourth round picks for Chicoutimi’s first and third round picks

Moncton dealt Cape Breton‘s first round pick and 2016 second and third round picks to the Shawinigan Cataractes for two of this year’s second round picks and a fourth round pick.