Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the craziest Free Agent Frenzy in NHL history, but the sheer volume of signings and trades certainly had heads spinning as the day wore on.
In past years, the 12pm(ET) opening of Free Agency was met with almost immediate breaking news regarding big deals for top names. However, this year, with The League focused on cracking down on any tampering, 12pm(ET) came and went without much fuss. But, it’s still July 1st, so even though there was a crackdown on tampering and many top names had already signed extensions (or been traded) in the weeks leading up to the opening of the market, there was still enough going on to make it a busy day.
So, without any further ado, here are the notable moves made by each of the local NHL teams.
DEVILS
Re-signed backup goalie Jake Allen to a five-year/$9M ($1.8M AAV) deal.
Signed right-wing Connor Brown to a four-year/$12M ($3M AAV) deal.
Signed right-wing Evgenii Dadonov to a one-year/$1M deal.
New Jersey getting a 20-goal scorer in Dadonov for a scant million dollars is a terrific get. If he simply repeats last year’s 20-goal, 20-assist season, it’ll be a home run for the Devils, who will likely slot him in their top six.
Brown is a decent bottom-six engine-type of player. I’m not a huge fan of giving fourth-line types a $3M AAV, but he’s the rare one who could be worth it, at least for the first two years of the contract.
Getting Allen to return as their backup netminder is huge and the $1.8M AAV is a steal. The five-year term is rough, but sometimes you have to give a little to get a lot and that’s what the Devils did with Allen.
ISLANDERS
Re-signed defenseman Tony DeAngelo to a one-year/$1.75M deal.
Signed defenseman Ethan Bear to a one-year/$775,000 deal.
Signed goalie David Rittich to a one-year/$1M deal.
Signed left-wing Jonathan Drouin to a two-year/$8M ($4M AAV) deal.
Re-signed right-wing Simon Holmstrom to a two-year/$7.25M ($3.625M AAV) deal.
New GM Mathieu Darche continues to remake the Isles’ roster in his image.
Bringing back DeAngelo will help replace some of Noah Dobson’s power-play production. Rittich is a smart signing in case Semyon Varlamov isn’t ready at the start of the season, or if he goes down at any point during it. Drouin could be an interesting move. At first glance, this feels like what the Isles tried to do with Anthony Duclair last year.
That didn’t work out, but maybe Drouin will offset that with a strong year. And getting Holmstrom to sign a bridge deal gives the team extra time to decide if it wants to commit to him long-term or not.
RANGERS
Signed defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-year/$49M ($7M AAV) deal.
Re-signed left-wing Will Cuylle to a two-year/$7.8M ($3.9M AAV) deal.
Executed a sign-and-trade with Carolina, sending defenseman K’Andre Miller to the Hurricanes on a new eight-year/$60M ($7.5M AAV) deal and received a conditional 2026 first-round draft pick, a 2026 second rounder and defenseman Scott Morrow.
Getting Cuylle signed is arguably the most important thing GM Chris Drury had to do. And while the $3.9M AAV is below market value, the two-year term isn’t great. At best, it’s a temporary fix. If Cuylle continues to grow into a true power forward, then, when this current deal is done, he’s going to get PAID! Essentially, New York cost itself the chance to keep him at a team-friendly number for the long term.
Signing Gavrikov will improve the team’s defense, but it will hurt their offense as he’s not exactly a strong puck mover or somebody who can join the rush. Also, giving a seven-year deal to an already 29-year-old physical type of defenseman is not exactly the smartest move, but it should be at least a couple of years before that becomes a concern.
Trading away Miller is an indictment of the Rangers’ developmental system. They had a strong, tall, superb athlete, playing 22 to 23 minutes per night against other teams’ top lines, who has shown flashes of being an excellent puck mover and somebody who can contribute solid offense and gave up on him. They got worried about his defensive lapses. But they fail to consider that the whole team had defensive lapses under the previous coaching staff.
Sending Miller to Carolina is going to be a godsend for him and the odds of him making the Rangers regret this deal are quite high.
Now, just for the fun of it, here are some notable moves from across The League.
In one of the biggest surprises of the day, Brock Boeser decided to stay with the Canucks on a new seven-year/$50.75M ($7.25M AAV) deal. Many believed the two sides were headed for a divorce after the last couple of years had strained their relationship, but there’s nothing like $50.75M to reconcile their differences.
Carolina convinced Logan Stankoven to sign an eight-year deal worth $48M ($6M AAV) and lock himself into their immediate and long-term plans.
The Canucks, feeling the pressure of the nearly non-existent goalie market, handed Thatcher Demko a huge three-year/$25.5M ($8.5M AAV) contract to remain their netminder.
Of course, the big one that happened was actually a June 30th deal as the Toronto Maple Leafs executed a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights to send Mitch Marner’s rights to Sin City in exchange for Nicolas Roy. With the trade, Marner received a shiny new eight-year/$96M ($12M AAV) contract, thus ending his somewhat tumultuous Maple Leafs’ career.
While plenty of other smaller deals were done on Tuesday, that’s a pretty solid list of the most impactful ones. Now onto the next part of the hockey offseason – the (mostly) peace and quiet of summer.
