{"id":820479,"date":"2026-08-21T01:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820479\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T01:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T01:24:09","slug":"minor-transactions-08-20-26-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820479\/","title":{"rendered":"Minor Transactions: 08\/20\/26 \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Ethan Hetu<\/a> |
\n at August 20, 2026 4:04 pm <\/p>\n

Although August is a relatively quiet month in the hockey calendar, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s without any kind of player movement. NHL training camps begin next month, but many leagues across Europe are already far closer to the start of their regular season. As a result, there is still quite a bit of player movement still happening around the hockey world. Here, we\u2019ll recap all the notable moves from the AHL, ECHL, and various European professional circuits.<\/p>\n

Former Dallas Stars prospect Francesco Arcuri<\/a> signed a one-year, two-way AHL contract<\/a> with the Colorado Eagles on Tuesday. Arcuri\u2019s entry-level contract with the Stars expired earlier this summer, and Dallas did not extend him a qualifying offer<\/a>, making Arcuri an unrestricted free agent. The 2021 sixth-round pick was a top scorer in the OHL who turned pro in 2023-24. Across three seasons in the Stars organization, Arcuri was unable to seize a roster spot on the club\u2019s AHL affiliate. He instead spent almost all of his time with the Stars\u2019 ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads. Arcuri scored 22 goals and 43 points in 60 games for the Steelheads last year, and will most likely be a top-six forward for Colorado\u2019s ECHL affiliate, the New Mexico Goatheads.
\nFormer NAHL MVP Jakov Novak<\/a> signed a one-year AHL contract extension<\/a> with the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Tuesday, keeping the 27-year-old winger in California after a successful debut campaign with the team. The former Ottawa Senators seventh-round draft pick signed a one-year deal with Coachella Valley last summer, and despite being a full-time ECHLer for most of his professional career, managed to earn a consistent spot on the Firebirds\u2019 AHL roster. Novak played in 37 AHL games last season, and scored 12 points. Each figure was a career-high. That performance earned him the chance to remain with the Firebirds where he\u2019ll hope to further establish himself as an AHL regular. Novak is already a point-per-game scorer in the third tier, and he won an ECHL title with the Trois-Rivieres Lions in 2025.
\n2021 Nashville Predators fourth-round pick Jack Matier<\/a> signed an ECHL contract<\/a> with the Fort Wayne Komets on Wednesday, marking his first playing destination outside the Predators organization. Matier signed an entry-level contract with Nashville in October 2021, but despite finishing his OHL career with a solid 49-point season in 2022-23, he wasn\u2019t able to develop into a legitimate NHL prospect for the Predators. Matier spent most of his time in the organization as a depth defenseman for their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, but also spent time in the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators. Matier split last season between the AHL and ECHL, scoring six points in 24 games for the Admirals and seven points in 25 games for the Gladiators.
\nBrandon Prust<\/a>, a veteran of nearly 500 NHL games, will continue his hockey career<\/a> by playing another season for the Strathroy Jets. The Jets are a men\u2019s league team in Ontario. The former NHL agitator, who is best known for his stints with the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, last played competitive hockey in the 2017-18 season. He played that season for the N\u00fcrnberg Ice Tigers in Germany\u2019s DEL, but cut his European professional career short after just one season. Now, he\u2019ll hit the ice once more, albeit not at the professional level.
\nCarolina Hurricanes prospect Zach Lansard<\/a> announced his commitment<\/a> to play NCAA hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth, starting in the 2028-29 season. The Manitoba native was drafted in the third round, No. 68 overall, by Carolina at the draft in June. He had a breakout season for the WHL\u2019s Regina Pats last year, scoring 24 goals and 56 points in 68 games. The team at Elite Prospects ranked<\/a> Lansard the 116th-best prospect in the 2026 draft, projecting him as a potential third-line scoring forward in the NHL. The Athletic\u2019s Scott Wheeler ranked<\/a> Lansard No. 84, and noted he could \u201ctake a big leap forward next year.\u201d That\u2019s certainly what the staff at Duluth (and in Carolina) will be hoping he does for two more years in the WHL before landing on campus in 2028.
\nAlex Young<\/a>, a former San Jose Sharks prospect, signed a one-year, two-way AHL contract with the Calgary Wranglers today. Young spent last season with the Gladiators in the ECHL. There, he was the team\u2019s leading scorer, potting 28 goals and 64 points across 78 combined regular season and playoff contests. Young was taken in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL draft after he scored 82 points in 53 games for the Canmore Eagles of the AJHL. He became a top scorer at Colgate University, leading the program to an ECAC title in 2022-23 with 39 points in 40 games. He was seen as a potential NHL prospect during his final season at Colgate, someone of a similar caliber to teammate Carter Gylander<\/a>, who remains in the Detroit Red Wings\u2019 system. But unlike Gylander, Young wasn\u2019t able to earn an entry-level contract as his decision to transfer to Arizona State University for his senior season proved to be an ill-advised one, as his production cratered on his new team. Now, he\u2019ll join the Wranglers organization and hope to push for an AHL roster spot after proving he can be a top scorer in the ECHL.
\n879-game KHL veteran Andrei Stas<\/a> signed a contract<\/a> with Ak Bars Kazan, officially ending his three-year stint as captain of Dinamo Minsk in his native Belarus. The 37-year-old scored 20 points in 59 games in Minsk last season, and helped lead the club to a first-round series victory over Dynamo Moscow. He\u2019ll join a Kazan team that lost in the Gagarin Cup final earlier this year and will look to earn the second KHL championship of his career.
\nThe ECHL\u2019s Kalamazoo Wings announced<\/a> the signing of 24-year-old Russian forward Konstantin Khremkin<\/a> today, bringing the forward across the Atlantic after three years of professional hockey in his native Russia. The 6\u20193\u2033, 200-pound forward was a teammate of Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov<\/a> during his time in Russia\u2019s top junior league, and has since spent most of his time in Russia\u2019s top minor league, the VHL. In 2025-26, Khremkin scored 16 goals and 36 points in 58 games for Verkhnyaya Pyshma Gornyak, proving he could be a quality top-six scorer at that level. Over the last two years, he\u2019s earned call-ups to play in eight total KHL games for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. Now, he\u2019ll try his luck in North America\u2019s minor leagues.<\/p>\n