Another Adirondack Phantom is headed overseas.

Forward Garrett Roe, who spent the first two seasons of his professional career in Glens Falls, has signed with EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Hockey League, the team announced Monday.

"Excited for new opportunity!! Thanks to @NHLFlyers and @PhantomsHockey for the past 2 years," Roe wrote on his Twitter page Monday morning. "Unbelievable fans but time for new chapter."

Of Adirondack's 12 unrestricted free agents, five have already signed overseas. Only one, center Rob Bordson, re-signed with the Phantoms. Center Ian Slater went to the ECHL. Five are still unsigned.

Roe was an eighth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2004, but never signed with the club. After a four-year collegiate career at St. Cloud State, he inked one-year American Hockey League deals with the Phantoms for the 2011-12 and 2012-13, netting 20 goals and 66 points in 129 games.

Roe had 26 points in 57 games last season, battling with injuries after the lockout ended. By signing in the top hockey league in Austria, the 25-year-old becomes the latest Phantom to cross the pond.

Defenseman Andreas Lilja and goaltender Scott Munroe have signed to play in Sweden, goalie Brian Boucher is headed to Switzerland and defenseman Jeff Dimmen has signed a deal to play in Asia.

The new contract comes about two weeks after Roe got married.

Updated contract statuses are below.

Player Name	2012-13 Contract Type	2013-14 Contract Status
Jason Akeson (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Brandon Alderson (W)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Mark Alt (D)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Rob Bordson (LW/C)	AHL	SIGNED - AHL
Brian Boucher (G)	NHL	SWITZERLAND
Marc-Andre Bourdon (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Tyler Brown (LW)	NHL	SIGNED
Nick Cousins (C)	NHL	SIGNED
Jeff Dimmen (D)	AHL	ASIA
Cullen Eddy (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Zack FitzGerald (LW/D)	AHL	UFA
Kyle Flanagan (C)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Erik Gustafsson (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Shane Harper (RW)	NHL	TRADED - NYI
Cal Heeter (G)	NHL	SIGNED
Ben Holmstrom (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Tyler Hostetter (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Andrew Johnston (F)	NHL	SIGNED
Blake Kessel (D)	NHL	NOW UFA
Matt Konan (D)	NHL	SIGNED
David Laliberte (LW)	AHL	UFA
Oliver Lauridsen (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Andreas Lilja (D)	NHL	SWEDEN
Brandon Manning (D)	NHL	QUALIFIED RFA
Matt Mangene (F)	NHL	SIGNED
Derek Mathers (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Tye McGinn (LW)	NHL	SIGNED
Scott Munroe (G)	AHL	SWEDEN
Marcel Noebels (LW/C)	NHL	SIGNED
Garrett Roe (C)	AHL	AUSTRIA
Jon Sim (LW/RW)	AHL	UFA
Ian Slater (LW/C)	AHL	ORLANDO - ECHL
Danny Syvret (D)	NHL	TRADED - NYR
Mitch Wahl (C)	NHL	NOW UFA
Eric Wellwood (F)	NHL	QUALIFIED RFA

Two players who spent time with the Adirondack Phantoms last season appear to have found new homes, according to postings on Twitter.

Winger Matthew Ford Tweeted that he was “(e)xcited to be on board with the” AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons, while Nicola Berger, a reporter for Swiss newspaper Neue Luzerner, wrote goalie Brian Boucher will be heading overseas and joining EV Zug in the Swiss National League A.

Both Ford and Boucher had been unrestricted free agents.

Boucher, 36, finished the year with the Phantoms after the Philadelphia Flyers acquired him in a post-lockout trade. He went 6-8-1 in 16 games for Adirondack, but the Phantoms already have three goaltenders – Yann Danis, Cal Heeter and rookie Carsen Chubak – under contract for 2013-14.

Ford, 28, struggled to score in what was supposed to be his first full season with Adirondack. He had just four goals and 13 points in 35 games before the Flyers traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets. With their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons, he posted five goals and 11 points in 18 games.

The Philadelphia Flyers re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Oliver Lauridsen to a two-year contract extension, it was announced Wednesday.

Lauridsen finished his second professional season with a 15-game call up to Philadelphia, which included his March 30 NHL debut, after playing 59 games with the Adirondack Phantoms.

The stay-at-home defenseman, a fixture on Adirondack’s penalty kill, scored one goal and assisted five others with the Phantoms. The 24-year-old had two goals and one assist with the Flyers.

The $1.2-million contract is a two-way deal in the first year, meaning Lauridsen will make less money if he plays in the AHL, and a one-way contract in the second year, according to Flyers insider Anthony SanFilippo. In that year, he will earn the same amount of money no matter where he plays.

The Lauridsen signing came one day after the Flyers announced they re-signed fellow restricted free agent defenseman Erik Gustafsson to a one-year, one-way contract.

Gustafsson, who had 22 points in 39 games with the Phantoms last season, will earn $1 million regardless of where he plays.

The numbers suggest Gustafsson, 24, probably won’t be back in Glens Falls this year. A portion of his salary would count against Philadelphia’s NHL salary cap, even if he was in the AHL.

Gustafsson is also no longer exempt from waivers, which means any other NHL team would have the chance to claim his contract before he got sent to the minor leagues.

Lauridsen is still not subject to waivers, since he turned pro one year later than Gustafsson, which makes him more likely to return to Glens Falls this season.

Eric Wellwood and Brandon Manning are Philadelphia's other two restricted free agents. They have been given qualifying offers, an indicator the Flyers want them back, but have yet to sign new contracts.

Here's an updated look at Adirondack's contract statuses:

Player Name	2012-13 Contract Type	2013-14 Contract Status
Jason Akeson (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Brandon Alderson (W)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Mark Alt (D)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Rob Bordson (LW/C)	AHL	SIGNED - AHL
Brian Boucher (G)	NHL	UFA
Marc-Andre Bourdon (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Tyler Brown (LW)	NHL	SIGNED
Nick Cousins (C)	NHL	SIGNED
Jeff Dimmen (D)	AHL	SIGNED - ASIA
Cullen Eddy (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Zack FitzGerald (LW/D)	AHL	UFA
Kyle Flanagan (C)	ATO	SIGNED - NHL
Erik Gustafsson (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Shane Harper (RW)	NHL	TRADED - NYI
Cal Heeter (G)	NHL	SIGNED
Ben Holmstrom (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Tyler Hostetter (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Andrew Johnston (F)	NHL	SIGNED
Blake Kessel (D)	NHL	NOW UFA
Matt Konan (D)	NHL	SIGNED
David Laliberte (LW)	AHL	UFA
Oliver Lauridsen (D)	NHL	SIGNED
Andreas Lilja (D)	NHL	SIGNED - SWEDEN
Brandon Manning (D)	NHL	QUALIFIED RFA
Matt Mangene (F)	NHL	SIGNED
Derek Mathers (RW)	NHL	SIGNED
Tye McGinn (LW)	NHL	SIGNED
Scott Munroe (G)	AHL	SIGNED - SWEDEN
Marcel Noebels (LW/C)	NHL	SIGNED
Garrett Roe (C)	AHL	UFA
Jon Sim (LW/RW)	AHL	UFA
Ian Slater (LW/C)	AHL	ORLANDO - ECHL
Danny Syvret (D)	NHL	TRADED - NYR
Mitch Wahl (C)	NHL	NOW UFA
Eric Wellwood (F)	NHL	QUALIFIED RFA

Center Ian Slater, who played 32 games for the Adirondack Phantoms last season as a rookie out of Western Michigan University, has signed an ECHL contract with the Orlando Solar Bears. Orlando announced the deal Monday.

Slater, a 25-year-old Florida native, recorded one assist and 73 penalty minutes with the Phantoms, who used him primarily on the fourth line. He also netted 7-3-10 and 77 penalty minutes in 31 ECHL games with Trenton.

Signing the contract does not necessarily guarantee Slater, who was an unrestricted free agent, will spend the season in Orlando. He is hopeful he might still secure an AHL or NHL contract before the season begins.

Minor-league contracts generally have out clauses, which allow contracted players to join higher-level professional teams if one should offer them a contract.

In a telephone interview Monday evening, Slater discussed the chance of playing in his home state.

"It’s definitely the first time in a long time if I am there," he said. "Getting the opportunity to play in Florida in front of family, in kind of my old stomping ground, would be a nice opportunity. Obviously I’d love to be at the next level as long as possible and compete at the highest level, but at the same time you have to be able to play and you have to put yourself in the best situation to be successful."

Signing an ECHL contract rather than an AHL contract has some benefits. Players who play well could get called up on a try-out basis to any AHL team, rather than just the one they signed with.

Phantoms center Rob Bordson, for example, signed an ECHL contract with the Trenton Titans in 2011-12 after he was traded to Los Angeles and became an free agent. Bordson got an eight-game call-up to the Rochester Americans before signing an AHL deal with the Phantoms later that season.

Last season, Jeff Dimmen had signed an ECHL contract with the Florida Everblades before he was invited to Adirondack's training camp. After an impressive showing, he signed with the Phantoms.

Slater, who underwent hip surgery shortly after the 2012-13 season ended, said he had not yet heard from the Phantoms regarding a new contract offer. He still has to go back and get cleared by the team's medical staff, he said. But he is still welcome to receiving offers from any AHL or NHL team.

"Obviously I’d love to be in Adirondack," Slater said in the brief telephone interview. "But you have to keep your options open and explore your possibilities."

Slater is not the first Phantoms player to sign with another team this summer.

Dimmen signed a contract with a team in Asia, while Scott Munroe signed with a team in Sweden.

At this point, Slater said he is still waiting to determine exactly what his possibilities are.

"You want to give yourself the best opportunity to be successful and prolong your career as long as you can," he said.

Kris Newbury (CT Whale / Chris Rutsch)

By MICHAEL CIGNOLI
mcignoli@saratogian.com
Twitter.com/MCSaratogian

GLENS FALLS – In his three-plus seasons in the New York Rangers organization, Kris Newbury
established himself as one of the premier scoring threats in the entire American Hockey League.

He put up a point per game after New York acquired him at the 2010 trade deadline, then went on to become one of just two players to hit 60 or more points in each of the next three AHL seasons.

Now that he’s been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers organization, though, Newbury is looking to establish himself as something else. He wants to prove that he’s a National Hockey League player.

Acquired last week by the Flyers in the trade that sent former Adirondack Phantoms defenseman Danny Syvret to New York, the center wants to earn a spot on Philadelphia’s NHL roster this fall.

“I’m training really hard right now,” Newbury, 31, said in a telephone interview Monday. “Looking forward for the season to start. The summers are shorter as you go along here. I was able to play in a couple games in the playoffs with the Rangers. I think that helped my confidence a lot. I’m just looking to bring energy, show my skills and bring a tough style of play in training camp.”

Newbury has done that quite often over the past three AHL seasons.

In 222 AHL games since joining the Rangers organization, the scrappy forward amassed 66 goals and 205 points – slightly less than half of his AHL career totals – along with 457 penalty minutes.

But the more he produced in New York’s system, the less NHL time he got.

Newbury had an 11-game call-up during his first full campaign with the Rangers, 2010-11, but saw that dip to seven games the following season and just six games last year. Meanwhile, others who played the same position as him – but produced far fewer points – got much lengthier NHL looks.

“That’s why I was a little frustrated here,” Newbury said. “I was putting up decent numbers in the American League and didn’t feel like I was getting the shot that I deserved. I think change is good at this point. I go in with a fresh, clean slate into Philadelphia. I’m really looking forward to it.”

A possible explanation for Newbury’s lack of prolonged NHL stints with the Rangers can be found in the stark differences between his AHL and NHL numbers, a microcosm of his career at large.

For all of the offense he produced with the Rangers’ affiliate – first the Hartford Wolf Pack, then the rebranded Connecticut Whale – he had just two assists in his 24 NHL games with New York.

In his career, he has scored 439 points in 599 AHL games, but just nine points in 72 NHL games.

Part of that is because he generally plays a very different role when he gets called up to the NHL. In the AHL, he’ll get top-line minutes and power play time. In the NHL, he’s a fourth-line grinder.

A much larger part of the equation comes down to confidence.

Newbury said he felt more comfortable playing in the AHL, which helped his statistics markedly.

“I definitely play with a lot of confidence,” he said. “It’s weird to me that I still go up – when I’m up in the NHL – and get pretty nervous. I think if I can block that out, I’ll have a better shot, obviously. Down in the American League, I play with a ton of confidence, for some reason. That helps me show my skill. I’ve had some great teammates along the way, so that helps out a lot.”

The three Stanley Cup playoff games in which he appeared last season – including some in which he was inserted into the line-up for 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards – was a huge boon for his confidence. But he still entered the offseason expecting a change of scenery.

That finally arrived a week ago, when the Rangers dealt him to the Flyers. He’ll spend the final year of a two-year contract in an organization whose rough-and-tumble reputation precedes it.

“I think it suits my game, which is great,” Newbury said in the telephone interview. “Rough, tough style of play. Hopefully (I can) bring that energy into training camp and earn myself a job.”

If he doesn’t, he’ll probably be placed on waivers. If he clears, he’ll likely be sent to Adirondack.

Newbury (28) fights Tye McGinn (AP)

Newbury did not know much about his new teammates, but said he had a couple of run-ins with former Phantoms agitator Zac Rinaldo. He also fought Tye McGinn in an NHL game in January.

“That’s what I play,” Newbury said in the telephone interview. “I play rough and tough. If I need to stick up for a teammate, I’ll do it. Sometimes you have to fight those guys to show your teammates that you care and that you have their back. That’s just part of the business. Once the game’s over, you can go out and have a beer. Talk about what happened to whoever it is.”

One thing that might hinder Newbury’s chances of sticking with the Flyers is the team’s depth at forward. They already have 10 players on one-way NHL contracts, plus locks Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier, and 2012 first-rounder Scott Laughton also has a shot at making the NHL roster.

He ran into a similar logjam in the Rangers system.

Last season, for example, the team signed four potential bottom-six NHL forwards in free agency. Three wound up sticking in the NHL, while Newbury and another were sent back to the minors.

“When you see that as a player and you’re looking to make the hockey club, obviously it’s disappointing,” Newbury said in the telephone interview. “But I think I could have had better training camps when I was there. I don’t feel that I earned myself a (NHL) job at those camps.”

This fall, however, he’s hoping things are different.

“I think if I come to camp, play my heart out and show the organization what I can do, I’ll have a good shot,” Newbury said.

When the Philadelphia Flyers acquired goaltender Yann Danis via free agency and center Kris Newbury via trade last week, they did so to shore up their organizational depth at those two positions.

But organizational depth can be pretty expensive.

CapGeek keeps a list of the highest American Hockey League salaries here, and Danis and Newbury are both right near the top of the board. Danis actually ranks No. 2 at the time of this writing -- his $325,000 trails only sniper Andrew Gordon -- and Newbury is tied for third with a $300,000 salary.

Phantoms captain Ben Holmstrom is a little further down the list. He ranks No. 8 at $285,000.

If none of those three play a single National Hockey League game this season, Ed Snider will write them all checks for $910,000. The total cost may even wind up being a little bit higher, since there's a good chance one or two of them might get called up as injury replacements. It might top $1 million.

To be fair, the Flyers didn't sign Newbury to that contract. He signed a two-year contract with the Rangers last summer, but they traded him to the Flyers for Danny Syvret. However, the Flyers signed Syvret to a pretty similar contract, one that paid him $275,000 in the AHL last year and this year too.

One thing that immediately comes to mind is the fact that the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement eliminated re-entry waivers, so the old de facto AHL salary cap of $105,000 no longer exists. Before, players who earned above that total had to clear re-entry waivers to be called up to the NHL. Some players accepted less money so they would be exempt from re-entry waivers, hoping it would improve their chances of a call-up to the NHL. Since they don't have to worry about that anymore, they can demand more AHL money. And right now, teams are giving that money to them.

As Jonathan Bombulie of The (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Citizens Voice notes, there are 14 other players who are set to make at least $250,000 on the AHL portion of their two-way contracts this season.

Holmstrom, for example, made $105,000 last season. He got a $180,000 raise. That's significant. I think it's not unreasonable to expect other free agents to start seeing more money on their AHL deals.

One other Phantoms item of note: I spoke to Newbury on the phone this afternoon. He said he's looking to make the Flyers out of training camp. Look for his comments on the blog later today.

Touched on this in the live blog (entering hour four and still going strong), but the Philadelphia Flyers made a big splash in the AHL free agency scene by signing goalie Yann Danis to a one-year contract.

This is unquestionably one of the biggest Phantoms signings the Flyers have made since the team moved to Glens Falls. He's a veteran goaltender who will be entering his 10th professional season and is one year removed from a career season in which he won the AHL's outstanding goaltender award.

One of the sticking points from this deal is that Danis is a veteran who has got some legitimate playoff experience under his belt. He has backstopped the Oklahoma City Barons to the Western Conference Finals in each of the past two seasons, including to within a win of the Calder Cup Finals last year. We had him ranked on the big board as the No. 2 AHL goalie available this summer.

There is not a lot of playoff experience on the Adirondack roster, which will inevitably happen when you return a bunch of players from a team that hasn't made the playoffs since moving to Glens Falls. But this signing -- plus the trade for top-line AHL forward Kris Newbury -- sends a pretty strong message that the Flyers are serious about icing a winning team in the minor leagues this season.

You've now got a center who has scored 60 points in three straight seasons and a pretty good AHL goaltender who could fill in at the NHL level if there was an injury. They didn't have either of those last season. The team started to turn a corner from their old development philosophy by adding some veteran forwards in Jon Sim and David Laliberte, but that wasn't until halfway through the season.

If Newbury and Danis both clear waivers, they'll have two established AHL veterans on the roster from Day One. Plus a lot of returning players from a team that started to play well down the stretch.