The Hershey Bears have had a lot of roster turnover over the last year, and that continued on Tuesday.
Calder Cup champion defenseman, Nicky Leivermann, asked for and was granted his release from the team so that he could pursue an opportunity overseas. The Eden Prairie, MN native suffered an injury during the preseason and only played in three games, recording two assists.
The Bears currently sit fifth in the Atlantic Division standings with an 18-14-4-1 record — good for 41 standings points.
“Leivo was a huge part of that 2024 Calder Cup jumping into the lineup in the Finals the way he did,” Zack Fisch, the voice of the Bears, wrote on X. “Bears have a lot of d-men this year, and his injury in preseason made it tough to get into the lineup once he was back. Nicky is a great person, wishing him nothing but the best!”
Leivermann played parts of three seasons with the Bears. His career year came in 2024-25 where he recorded 16 points (3g, 13a) in 37 AHL games. His biggest moment with the team came during the 2024 Calder Cup Finals, when he stepped in due to injuries and wobbly play on the backend. An unsung hero, he played three solid games to help steady the team enough to become back-to-back champions.
Tuesday night, Bears head coach Derek King gave jerseys to seven defensemen during their game against the Hartford Wolf Pack, dressing Jon McDonald, Ryan Chesley, Corey Schueneman, Cam Allen, David Gucciardi, Louie Belpedio, and Leon Muggli. The team is currently playing without Aaron Ness due to injury. Allen was later injured in the game against the Wolf Pack and did not return.
Shortly after the Bears’ announcement in the morning, the SHL’s Färjestad BK announced they signed the 27-year-old rearguard for the rest of the season.
“I am looking forward to coming to Färjestad,” Leivermann said in a press release and translated via Google Translate. “I have only heard good things about the city, the club, and everything around so I am looking forward to it very much.
“Luke Philp and I played together last season, and when this started to become relevant, we have talked a lot. It is also his first season in Europe so I have been fed with information. He loves it and has sold Färjestad in a very good way. Looking forward to meeting my new teammates.”
Leivermann is expected to join the Swedish team this week. Conversations with the team had been going on “for some time” according to Rickard Wallin, the team’s general manager.
With the transaction, Leivermann becomes the fourth player to leave Hershey’s roster this season either by a mutual contract termination or midseason trade.
Capitals offseason signing Sheldon Rempal had his contract terminated in late October so that he could return to the KHL to play with Salavat Yulaev. The Capitals responded by adding veteran forward Brett Leason to the mix four days later. The next week, defenseman Calle Rosen, also an unrestricted free agent signing by the Capitals over the summer, was dealt to the St. Louis Blues for Corey Schueneman. In late November, the Bears sent AHL offseason signing Luke Toporowski to the Colorado Eagles for Garrett Pyke.
Further impacting the team’s roster, the Bears lost rookie forward Eriks Mateiko for the season due to a torn Achilles, Vincent Iorio to a waiver claim, and Ethen Frank to an early season callup. The team has also seen various important players spend time in Washington including Ivan Miroshnichenko, Bogdan Trineyev, and Leason. Assistant coach Patrick Wellar was also promoted to the Capitals, taking over for the fired Mitch Love.
RMNB spoke with the Bears’ vice president of hockey operations, Bryan Helmer, in December about the turnover, specifically Rempal’s exit, offering insight into the team’s attitude toward situations like Leivermann’s.
“So for me, if you don’t want to be in Hershey, and you have an opportunity to go over to the KHL and make a ton of money, and it’s kind of a game changer, I’m not going to hold anyone back,” Helmer said. “Obviously, Remps is a tough loss. He’s a veteran guy. He’s put up numbers in the past. But I wasn’t going to hold a guy back like that if he just didn’t want to be here. It was just one of those things that I would never do because obviously, then, if I force him to stay here, it’s not a good look. I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked out. So, yeah, we let him go.
“Obviously, we’ve got young guys that at the time were playing well, so we’re like, ‘Okay, maybe we should be all right with him going.’ And then it gives us an opportunity to bring in a guy like Brett Leason. And that’s one good thing about Washington in our relationship: they believe that we should have six veterans around Hershey just because, again, they’re going to show these young guys how to be pros. They’re going to be those guys that bring it every game, and usually, the young guys are the wheels of the bus. They’re the ones that usually drive, right? Washington feels the same as I do. If a guy doesn’t want to be here and he can sign over there and make a ton of money, good for him. If I were a player and I had an opportunity like that, I wouldn’t expect that a team would hold me back either.”
Since last season, the Bears let many of their veterans from their Calder Cup championship teams walk as they transitioned to a younger team. Notable names like Riley Sutter, Jake Massie, Alex Limoges, Mike Vecchione,
Pierrick Dubé, Hunter Shepard, Mike Sgarbossa, Chase Priskie, Hardy Häman Aktell, and Dmitry Osipov all moved on.
Other players from last year’s club that found new challenges include Ethan Bear, Luke Philp, and Brad Hunt.
