NHL Free Agency 2024 Live Blog

NHL Free Agency 2024 Live Blog

There’s no day quite like July 1 on the NHL calendar. The start of the season is exciting, but only a handful of teams usually significantly deviate from preseason expectations. The Stanley Cup Final is thrilling, but most of the hockey world doesn’t have a dog in the fight. Only die-heart fans have seen more than a few highlights of the players in the NHL Draft.

But when free agency comes around, everyone can be involved. The rumors swirl at a rapid pace. And while Stanley Cups are lost more often than won on this date, we just saw Sergei Bobrovsky become the first player to win a championship after signing for at least $10 million to a new team in free agency.

The possibilities leading up to the opening bell are truly endless. Today, though, is a day for actuality. So, let’s go through the chaos together and see who’s going where.

Hurricanes Lose Skjei and Pesce

One big free agent signing is noteworthy. Two is intriguing. Three is seismic.

In that case, break out the Richter scale at Bridgestone Arena. A seven-by-seven deal with Brady Skjei takes the Predators over $100 million spent on the opening day of free agency. Nashville’s defense went from elite to solid when Mattias Ekholm departed for the Edmonton Oilers at the 2023 trade deadline. Now, Nashville again has a dynamite option on the left side behind former Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi.

Skjei took a huge step forward with the Carolina Hurricanes after they took a chance on him for a first-round pick at the 2020 trade deadline in a deal with the New York Rangers. They found another diamond in the rough in defensive dynamo Brett Pesce, a third-round pick in 2013 who has thrived in a top-four role. But he’s departing for a divisional rival, heading to the New Jersey Devils for six years to replace Marino. Carolina did re-sign Jalen Chatfield a few days ago and gave an eight-year extension to Jaccob Slavin today. But new GM Eric Tulsky has work to do, especially after losing Jake Guentzel to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Toronto Refreshes Defensive and Goaltending Depth

For now, the contentious core of the Toronto Maple Leafs remains intact. Maybe that will change soon, although with William Nylander and Auston Matthews extended and John Tavares and Mitch Marner holding no-move clauses, GM Brad Treliving’s hands are somewhat tied. But Toronto still found itself with a surprising amount of cap space heading into another critical offseason.

They used some of that on a six-year contract with Chris Tanev. That may seem outrageous for a 34-year-old who plays a physical style, but it’s likely designed to keep the cap hit at a palatable $4.5 million. Treliving is familiar with Tanev, hitting a home run with the four-year, $18 million deal that brought him to Calgary in 2021. He’ll easily be the best right-handed defender Morgan Rielly has played with in his career (apologies to Tyson Barrie, who didn’t fit in his one season with the Maple Leafs).

He’s not the only defender the team signed though, also coming to terms with Oliver Ekman-Larsson on a four-year deal carrying a $3.5 million AAV. Ekman-Larsson showed what he can do while healthy and not in a headline role in Florida.

After extending Joseph Woll for three years early in the day, Toronto completed its tandem with a two-year contract handed to Anthony Stolarz. Both goaltenders are very talented — Woll has a career .912 save percentage in 36 games and Stolarz has a .915 SV% since becoming an NHL regular in 2021-22 with the Anaheim Ducks. However, neither has reached the 30-game mark in a single season and both have concerning injury histories. Maybe that’s why Treliving also signed Matt Murray to a one-year deal. Murray was on Long Term Injured Reserve all of last season and was inconsistent in his first season in Toronto the year prior. He could fill the third goalie year that Martin Jones did admirably last year.

Bruins Fill Holes at Center, Defense

Elias Lindholm made so much sense as a trade acquisition for the Boston Bruins last year. Despite not making any additions to replace the retired Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí, the Bruins were still solid last season, as Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha were good enough down the middle in the regular season. That wasn’t the case in the playoffs, as the duo combined for just two goals and were leapfrogged on the depth chart by Morgan Geekie.

Lindholm exploded for Calgary during the team’s excellent 2021-22 campaign, tallying 82 points and finishing second in Selke Trophy voting. But his scoring has steadily declined, from 82 to 64 to 44 last season, his lowest total since 2017-18. Perhaps he can be stronger alongside Brad Marchand and/or David Pastrňák. With a seven-year contract carrying a $7.75 million AAV, he better be.

However, the Bruins made another big move by signing Nikita Zadorov to a six-year, $30 million deal. A 14-goal 2022-23 season looks like an outlier, but Zadorov’s biggest strength is that he’s 6-foot-6, 248 pounds every time he steps on the ice. Depending on which numbers you look at, Zadorov is either overvalued for that frame or has an intriguing skillset that can be very valuable when maximized. After shopping in the bargain bin last summer, GM Don Sweeney is taking some big swings to try to get Boston back to its first Eastern Conference Final since 2019.

Seattle Adds Montour

It’s been one step forward, one step back in the brief existence of the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken went from 60 points in year one to Game 7 of the second round in year two but dropped out of the playoffs again last season. Scoring was the team’s main issue, as the Kraken finished 29th in the league with 2.61 goals per game.

They’ll add more offense from the backend by signing Brandon Montour, a top-pair piece during each of the Florida Panthers’ trips to the Stanley Cup Final. He took a slight step back scoring-wise after a career-high 73-point 2022-23. But the talent is still there and it’s worth remembering he was injured at the start of last season. He and Vince Dunn will be formidable on Seattle’s blue-line, although it may make more sense to separate the two capable scorers.

Chychurn Goes from Capital to Capital

Jakob Chychurn is going from the capital of Canada to the capital of the United States. It took the Washington Capitals just a third-round pick and Nick Jensen to acquire Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa paid a first and two seconds to bring in Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes at the 2023 trade deadline.

Chychrun was once regarded as one of the rising star defenders in the NHL after scoring 18 goals in the 56-game 2020-21 season with Arizona. He tied his career-high in points from 2020-21 last year with the Senators, albeit in a full 82-game campaign. However, he is set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Ottawa general manager Steve Staois, who did not originally acquire Chychrun, didn’t want to lose him for nothing.

This is the second trade the Capitals have made for a veteran with one year left on their deal after acquiring Andrew Mangiapane from the Flames for a second-round pick. Chris Johnston said on TSN’s Free Agency Frenzy Washington could target Matt Roy to fill the void left by Jensen on the right side.

Toffoli Heads to San Jose

The San Jose Sharks are still rebuilding, but bad teams must surround their youth with talent to keep them from drowning. We’ve seen the Chicago Blackhawks prioritize this with the acquisition of Taylor Hall last year and this year’s signing of Tyler Bertuzzi .

San Jose is doing the same now, inking Tyler Toffoli to a four-year contract with a $6 million cap hit. Toffoli is one of the league’s most reliable second-line scorers. Save for an eye-popping 73-point campaign with the Calgary Flames in 2022-23, Toffoli has scored between 44 and 58 points every season since 2014-15. He should pair nicely with Will Smith or Macklin Celebrini down the middle.

Nashville The Biggest Spenders

The Nashville Predators were surprisingly aggressive in free agency last year, signing Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn to help the team return to the playoffs this year. However, it’s been six seasons since the Predators last won a playoff series. More firepower is needed for the team to return to true contention.

Well, that’s what general manager Barry Trotz went out and got. Key pieces from three of the last four championship-winning teams, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault , are heading to Nashville. Pierre LeBrun reported that Stamkos’ contract is around $8 million per year for four years, while Marchessault will check in at years with a cap hit of approximately $5.5 million.

Although they didn’t have a lot of big names, last year’s Nashville team tied a franchise record with an average of 3.24 goals per game, which ranked 10th in the NHL. Adding Stamkos and Marchessault will give young talents such as Philip Tomasino and Luke Evangelista more help in their development. Age is a concern — Stamkos and Marchessault will be 38 years old when their deals expire. Stamkos already has shown signs of his overall game declining. But the Predators will be an exciting team in 2024-25.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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