July 1 is always a day focused on big NHL contracts, but it’s also the first opportunity for teams to sign AHL free agents, and the Laval Rocket did that on Monday.
Seven players signed with the team: forwards Jakov Novak, Vincent Arseneau and Laurent Dauphin and defenders Joshua Jacobs, Vincent Sévigny, and Tyler Wotherspoon signed one-year, one-way AHL contracts. Goaltender Hunter Jones signed a two-way contract.
The most familiar name on that list is Dauphin. The 29-year-old spent parts of three seasons in the Canadiens organization after being acquired in a trade for Michael McCarron. He spent the 2023-24 season in Switzerland, scoring 16 goals and 22 assists in 44 games for HC Ambri-Piotta.
Arseneau, 32, played last year with the Providence Bruins of the AHL. He is 6’2″, 216lbs, and has played 256 AHL games over 11 seasons. He has 40 career goals and 18 assists. Last season he had six goals and three assists in 44 games and added two goals and an assist in three playoff games.
Jacobs, 28, is 6’2″, 220lbs and a right-shot defender. He spent last year with Springfield in the AHL but did not play a game. He had four goals and six assists in 43 games with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL during the 2022-2023 season.
Sévigny, 23, is a 6’3″, 194 lbs left-shot defenceman, and had one goal and four assists in 33 games last season with the Bridgeport Islanders in the AHL. He won a Memorial Cup as well.
Wotherspoon, 31, is a 6’2″, 207 lbs left-shot defenceman, and had four goals and 18 assists in 65 games last season with the Utica Comets in the AHL. He provides the team with a ton of experience, including 30 NHL games and 616 AHL games over his career.
Jones is 23. The 6’5’’, 209 lbs goaltender, had a 3.61 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in 18 games last season with the Iowa Heartlanders in the ECHL. He was selected in the second round (59th overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. He is likely headed to the ECHL’s Trois-Rivières Lions.
Earlier in the day, the team announced they signed forward Jakov Novak to a one-year, one-way AHL contract. Novak spent last year with the Lions. He was the team’s rookie of the year, scoring 30 goals and 26 assists in 66 games. The 25-year-old is 6’3, 203lbs and added six goals and one assist in seven playoff games.
