The Laval Rocket have signed forward Nikita Jevpalovs, defenseman Ryan Culkin and forward Alex Belzile to one-year AHL contracts and defenseman Maxim Lamarche to a two-year AHL contract.
Jevpalovs, 23, spent the 2017-18 season in the KHL after two years in the San Jose Sharks organization. In 2016-17, he recorded 13 goals and eight assists for 21 points with a plus-13 rating in 65 AHL games with the San Jose Barracuda.
Jevpalovs skated in 125 AHL games with San Jose from 2015-17, totaling 18 goals and 17 assists for 35 points.
Culkin, a Montreal native, has played 83 career AHL games with Stockton and Adirondack, totaling two goals and 18 assists for 20 points.
A 2012 draft pick by Calgary, Culkin spent the 2017-18 season in the ECHL with Fort Wayne.
Belzile, 26, notched 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points in 61 AHL games with the San Antonio Rampage in 2017-18, his sixth pro season and first full campaign in the AHL.
Belzile has totaled 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points in 145 career AHL games with San Antonio and Hamilton.
Lamarche, a 25-year-old native of Laval, collected two goals and five assists for seven points, along with a plus-21 rating, in 50 AHL games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2017-18.
Lamarche also had one goal and two assists in 13 postseason games, scoring the series-clinching overtime goal in Lehigh Valley’s first-round victory over Providence.
Lamarche has spent the last five seasons in the Phantoms organization, totaling seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points in 124 games with Lehigh Valley/Adirondack.
