NHL News

Anaheim - Chris Stewart signed a one-year contract with the Ducks on Sunday, it was announced. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Orange County Register reported the contract is worth $1.7 million. Stewart, 27, scored 14 goals and 36 points in 81 games last season with the Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild. He was acquired by the Wild on March 2 for a second-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. After scoring three goals and 11 points in 20 games for Minnesota, Stewart was held to two assists in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games before sustaining an upper-body injury in Game 2 of the Western Conferenced Second Round against the Chicago Blackhawks. Stewart fills a need at forward after the Ducks traded Kyle Palmieri to the New Jersey Devils and Emerson Etem to the New York Rangers, and after free agent Matt Beleskey signed a five-year, $19-million contract with the Boston Bruins. Anaheim also acquired forward Carl Hagelin after sending Etem to New York. Selected by the Colorado Avalanche with the 18th pick of the 2006 NHL Draft, Stewart has 129 goals and 264 points in 463 NHL games with the Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Sabres and Wild.

Buffalo - The attention being paid to Jack Eichel, the second pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, at Sabres development camp has helped keep eyes off the second pick from the previous year, Sam Reinhart, and that could be mutually beneficial. Reinhart entered his second development camp in Buffalo last week and, opposed to how camp went in 2014, the spotlight is decidedly pointed on Eichel instead of Reinhart. Last season, Reinhart played nine games with the Sabres before he was sent back to his junior team, the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League. In his short time in Buffalo, Reinhart had one assist, two penalty minutes, and averaged 10:22 of ice time per game. In four of those games, Reinhart played less than 10 minutes.

In Kootenay, Reinhart had more success. He scored 19 goals with 65 points in 47 games. Reinhart also helped Canada win the gold medal at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto. Reinhart's skating and strength were areas the Sabres wanted to see him improve when they sent him back to junior hockey. Skating is the most basic thing players need to do, but getting it done in the best, most efficient way can take time. Though Eichel figures to again get most of the attention at training camp in September, there's pressure on Reinhart to make the Sabres and perform at a high level. With Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and David Legwand capable of playing center, the competition may force some forwards to the wing.
Reinhart had a brief time playing wing at the end of last season with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. In the final three games, Reinhart had three assists splitting time between center and wing. Reinhart, 20 in November, has played the part of a mentor for Eichel at development camp. Each player was a No. 2 draft pick. Reinhart went through everything Eichel is going through now and they're roommates during camp. It's a convenient situation for the Sabres and their past two first-round picks. If Reinhart doesn't make the Sabres out of camp, he's eligible to go to the AHL instead of back to Kootenay.
Philadelphia - Ivan Provorov believes he is ready to play in the NHL.
Provorov, 18, who the Flyers selected with the No. 7 pick at the 2015 NHL Draft, has proven in the past to be a quick learner. Born in Yaroslavl, Russia, he moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., about two hours north of Philadelphia, in 2011 when he was 14. He knew little English and almost nothing of American culture, but he adjusted quickly in his two seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League. In 2012-13, he led them to an under-16 national title.
The Cedar Rapids Rough Riders of the United States Hockey League made Provorov the fifth pick of the 2013 USHL futures draft, and in 2013-14, he had 19 points in 56 games. Last season, he jumped to the Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings, who had picked him 30th in the 2014 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
The WHL, with its hours-long bus trips through wintry Canadian prairie outposts, can be intimidating. But Provorov saw it as a challenge he was prepared to meet.
"I think I'm a complete player and I think I'll be able to adjust to the speed and physical play. It's the best junior league in the world. The schedule is so close to NHL, the travel is almost the same. I think it's just a really good league. And I think it was a pretty easy transition for me."
Provorov certainly made it look easy. His 61 points in 60 games were first among WHL rookies and fourth among defensemen, and he had 13 points in 19 WHL playoff games to help Brandon reach the WHL final. Provorov also played for Russia at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. He had one assist and a plus-2 rating as the youngest player on a team that won the silver medal.
"That helped me a lot. To play with the best players on the Russian team and the best players in the world for that age group was a good learning experience."
Fellow Flyers prospect Radel Fazleev saw Provorov's adjustment firsthand. Fazleev plays for the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL and faced Provorov four times in the regular season and in Calgary's five-game WHL semifinal loss to Brandon.
"He's a pretty smart player. He's a good playmaker. I think he's good in the offensive zone, and at the same time he's good in the defensive zone. He's both ways a great player. It's hard to play against him, so it's nice to play with him on the same team."
At development camp in early July, Provorov joined a group of prospects that included four defensemen considered the best of the Flyers' future: Samuel Morin, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg and Travis Sanheim. Provorov still managed to stand out.
"He moves very well," Flyers player development coach Kjell Samuelsson said. "Seems like he has a calmness over him. … He's coachable, he picks stuff up and he asks questions. What we want him to do he grasps fairly quick. I can see he has hockey knowledge. He looks to me like that hockey IQ is above average."
Provorov said he'll spend a few weeks this summer home in Russia visiting with friends and family while continuing his offseason training.
"I think I'm a complete player, so it's working on all aspects of my game and trying to get better in all aspects of my game."
It'll take a lot of work for Provorov, who signed his three-year, entry-level contract July 3. The Flyers have seven defensemen on NHL contracts currently on the roster, plus the prospects he's battling, including two, Gostisbehere and Hagg, who already have professional hockey experience. But it doesn't seem like any of that bothers Provorov, displaying the same kind of calmness off the ice as Samuelsson saw in him on it.
"I'll work hard this summer, and we'll see what happens."