Tomasino, acquired last season from the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick, has been a streaky scorer for the Penguins. At 23, the Penguins are hoping that Tomasino can develop into a more consistent forward who projects to fill out a middle-six role with the team.
Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas noted to the press on Monday that conversations were continuing with both Tomasino and Connor Dewar's respective camps; the signings of both were announced simultaneously Tuesday afternoon.
It is unclear if Tomasino attracted interest from other clubs before signing with the Penguins. He earned a slight raise on his one-year, $825,000 contract, while Dewar took a slight pay cut on his.
The Penguins have signed Philip Tomasino and Connor Dewar to one-year contracts.
Both contracts run through the 2025.26 season, with Tomasino’s contract carrying an AAV of $1.75 million and Dewar’s contract carrying an AAV of $1.1 million.
The young forward has shown ample promise, playing alongside center Evgeni Malkin for stretches last year. He amassed 11 goals and 23 assists in 50 games for the Penguins after notching only one assist in 11 games with the Predators.
The Penguins are hoping that he fills a top-nine role and becomes a solid component in their efforts to return to contention.
After much anticipation about the Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltending situation heading into the 2025-26 season, the dam has finally broken.
On Tuesday, the Penguins traded goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick. Nedeljkovic is signed through the end of the 2025-26 season with a cap hit of $2.5 million.
Nedeljkovic, 29, spent the last two seasons as one half of the tandem with Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh. There were mixed results in both campaigns, and last season, Nedeljkovic finished the season 14-15-5 with a 3.12 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage.
With Nedeljkovic out of the picture for the Penguins, it opens the door for one of Pittsburgh's young goaltending prospects to share the workload with Jarry next season. The obvious candidate is Joel Blomqvist, who had two short NHL stints last season.
The first stint went well for Blomqvist. The second? Not so much. Overall, the rookie finished 4-9-1 with a 3.81 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.
Pittsburgh also has goaltending prospects in Sergei Murashov and Filip Larsson, both of whom figure to be in the mix for NHL playing time next season.
After the trade, the Penguins now have 28 picks in the next two drafts, including six in the first three rounds in 2026.
The San Jose Sharks have announced that they have signed John Klingberg, Adam Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev to contracts.
Kurashev, 25, signed a one-year $1.2 million deal. He had seven goals and seven assists for 24 points in 51 games last season with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was left unqualified by the Blackhawks and now joins a young Sharks team where he will be given an elevated role within their lineup.
As for Klingberg, he signed a one-year deal $4 million deal. He is a 32-year-old defenseman that can help lead the power play unit and mentor some of the younger players on the back end.
Lastly, Adam Gaudette has signed two-year deal $4 million deal that carries an AAV of $2 million per season. Last season with the Ottawa Senators he scored 19 goals and seven assists for 26 points in 81 games.
The Sharks are not in the market to add a ton of big names. They want to surround the younger players with depth players that don’t take away from the ice time of the Macklin Celebrinis and Will Smiths.
The Sharks still need to spend upwards of $20 million to reach the cap floor. With the free agent market starting to thin out, there could be a chance that GM Mike Grier looks at the trade market to add players and salary cap.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have signed forwards Travis Boyd, Michael Pezzetta, and Benoit-Olivier Groulx and re-signed defenseman Dakota Mermis.
Mermis signed a two-year contract that is worth $812,000 annually. The veteran will likely be a key member of the Toronto Marlies blueline next season.
The 31-year-old played three games for the Maple Leafs and one game for Utah HC last season, he also had seven points in 32 games for the Marlies. After an injury in training camp he was placed on waivers, claimed by Utah, and later re-claimed by Toronto.
The Alton, Ill., native has 146 points in 463 career AHL games and 13 points in 78 career NHL games. He won the 2022 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award as AHL's Man of the Year for Community Service.
Boyd signed a one-year, $775,000 contract. He will likely serve in an offensive and leadership role with the Marlies.
The 31-year-old recorded 22 goals and 53 points in 63 games with the Iowa Wild last season and went pointless in three games with the Minnesota Wild. He has 225 points in 284 career AHL games and was named to the AHL Second All-Star Team in 2017.
He had eight points in 20 games for the Maple Leafs in the 2020-21 season.
We’ve signed forwards Travis Boyd, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Michael Pezzetta, and re-signed defenceman Dakota Mermis pic.twitter.com/kq4A38VAfQ
The 26-year-old, who was a restricted free agent at the end of this season, wasn't qualified by the Maple Leafs. After a year which saw him score seven goals and 12 assists in 68 games, Toronto chose not to qualify Holmberg because he had arbitration rights.
"Well, once he gets into the market, he becomes open to everybody. And really, it wasn't necessarily a situation we didn't like the player, we did. He had arb rights," Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Tuesday afternoon.
"I think when you see players go free, sometimes people don't understand the rights that are associated with certain players. Up until 5 o'clock yesterday, if we were to qualify him, he then kicks into arbitration mode or he's attached to an arbitration filing, and that elevates the number. So we weren't able to, between us and Pontus's side, find a number that we felt fit for us.
"Now, once you get into the UFA, a lot of times that number will come down because you're not attached to the arbitration. So we like Pontus. We've had discussions and talked to each other prior to us not qualifying him, but I think it's probably a fair bet to say that he has hit the market and we'll see where it goes."
And Treliving was right. Four hours after Holmberg hit the open market, the Lightning snatched up the forward.
Holmberg's time with the Maple Leafs ended after being drafted by Toronto in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft. At the time, it was unknown what the forward would become, but as the years progressed, Holmberg played his way into a bottom-six role with Toronto.
The Lightning also signed former Toronto forward Nick Abruzzese to a one-year, two-way contract. Toronto's former fourth-round pick only played 11 NHL games with the Maple Leafs, scoring one goal and two assists in that span.
After losing Holmberg, Abruzzese, and Alex Steeves to free agency, the Maple Leafs have re-signed Dakota Mermis and signed Michael Pezzetta and Benoit-Olivier Groulx to two-year deals with an $812,500 AAV. They also added Travis Boyd on a one-year, $775,000 contract.
(Top photo of Holmberg: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
The New York Rangers have signed forward Justin Dowling to a two-year contract.
It’s a one-way deal the first year, two-way the second year. During the first season, Dowling will earn $775,000 while he’ll make $775,000 during the second season when at the NHL level and a minimum of $450,000.
Dowling has played seven seasons in the NHL for the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils.
In 152 career games, the 34-year-old center has recorded nine goals, 17 assists, and 26 points while averaging 10:37 minutes.
Dowling is coming off a season where he played 52 games for the Devils, the most throughout his NHL career.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are signing center Isac Lundeström to a two-year contract. The contract will be worth $1.3 million per season.
Lundeström has 337 NHL games under his belt, all for the Anaheim Ducks. He's scored 35 goals and totaled 84 points in his career.
One scouting report said of Lundeström, "Powerful skater... ability to carry the puck deep using good puck protection on both sides to then put dangerous pucks in front from down low."
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Connor Bedard is the most important figure in the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He is one of the NHL's brightest young stars with the potential to be a superstar in the league.
As of July 1st, he is eligible to extend his contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. This is a deal that will come with a big raise, but a well-earned one for an incredibly productive teenager.
By the middle of Bedard's first non-entry-level contract, it may be seen as a bargain based on his production. General Manager Kyle Davidson may overpay him a little bit at first to get some of his prime locked up at a fair number.
Through 150 career NHL games, Bedard has 45 goals and 83 assists for 129 points. That is one of the most productive starts to a career for a teenager in recent NHL history. The fact that he hasn't even come close to reaching his potential as a player speaks volumes.
If he can develop the intensity and 200-foot game that comes with being a top-line center, the Blackhawks will have hit a home run with the 2023 first overall pick.
On Tuesday, after Day 2 of Development Camp wrapped up, Davidson spoke to the media, and Bedard's next contract was a topic of conversation. He talked about extensions with not only Bedard, but also other players who are a year away from being a restricted free agent.
"We have had some conversations with a couple of those players," Davidson said. "Nothing imminent. I think the new salary cap marketplace is going to stall some of that. It is going to make some of these a little more drawn out than maybe they would have been in the past on a more flat cap."
Part of developing good young players is having to pay them when their time comes. Bedard and his teammates are no exception.
When talking about Bedard specifically, Davidson confirmed that he is in contact with the player and his camp.
"We are talking," Davidson said. "I think that's an indicator of an openness to discuss. I think he made his thoughts very clear at the end of the season and then subsequently in interviews about (how) he's committed to Chicago and wants to be here long term. We obviously want him long term, so there is mutual agreement there."
If the Blackhawks are going to take a step in the rebuild at any point in the next handful of years, it will have to be with Connor Bedard leading the way. The coaches know that, management knows that, and the rest of the league knows that.
"If we're able to get something done, that would be fantastic," Davidson said. "If we don't, I think it's probably more so out of the uncertainty around how the league and the system is going to be growing or impacted moving forward than anything player/team related."
It isn't a contract that is going to get done quickly, but the early stages of it are underway.
The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Sammy Blais to a one-year contract worth $775,000, per TSN's Chris Johnston.
Blais recorded 40 points in 51 regular season games with the Abbotsford Canucks before a tremendous playoff performance where he had 19 points and 77 penalty minutes in 23 games to help the Canucks win the Calder Cup.
The 29-year-old last played in the NHL in 2023-24 and notched seven points in 53 games with the St. Louis Blues.
The Montmagny, Que., native has 71 points in 257 career NHL games and 145 points in 199 career AHL games. He will fight for a bottom-six role with the Canadiens and can be relied upon to produce offense with Laval if he ends up in the AHL next season.
Blais has a winning track record, he was a member of the 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. He also recorded eight points in 10 games, including two goals in the gold medal game, to help Canada win the gold at the 2023 World Championship.
The chance to acquire a 20-30-goal scorer for a depth defenseman is the kind of deal a good GM is going to make seven days a week.
And it's exactly the trade Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes made on Canada Day when he acquired winger and Trois-Rivieres native Zach Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues for defenseman Logan Mailloux.
It's not that it was a bad trade for St. Louis – Mailloux has all the markings of a solid NHL defenseman – as it was a great trade for the Canadiens, acquiring a potential top-six forward for a guy who didn't really fit into their long-term plans because of the logjam on the Habs' blueline. And, if anyone recalls the circumstances under which Mailloux was taken 31st in 2021, you'll also know this closes a rather sordid chapter for them.
It's another sign that the rebuilding phase is over in Montreal and that this team has – and should have – designs on making noise in the Eastern Conference. Now that they've made the playoffs and meekly bowed out in the first round, next on the docket is being competitive in Round 1 and possibly even winning it. Then you continue the process until you're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, meaning you're a threat to advance to the conference final every year.
So far, the Canadiens have made moves that suggest they're on that path. Watch today's video column for more.
On Tuesday - Day One of unrestricted free agency - the Penguins re-signed forward Connor Dewar to a one-year deal, first reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The contract carries an average annual value of $1.1 million.
Dewar, 26, was acquired by the Penguins at last season's trade deadline - along with defenseman Conor Timmins, who was traded to Buffalo Friday during the 2025 NHL Draft - from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fifth-round pick. Despite registering only three points on the season prior to joining Pittsburgh, Dewar put up four goals and seven points in 17 games with the Penguins.
He figures to be part of Pittsburgh's bottom-six next season, as he proved effective in that role and on the penalty kill. Dewar is just two years off of putting together a 10-goal, 14-point campaign with the Minnesota Wild.
2024-25 AHL league leading goal scorer Matej Blumel has signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Boston Bruins, per TSN's Darren Dreger. The contract is worth $875,000.
Blumel captured the Willie Marshall Award as the league's goal leader after recording 39 goals and 72 points in 67 games with the Texas Stars.
The 25-year-old has 70 goals over the last two seasons, he was an AHL All-Star in 2024 and was named to the AHL First All-Star Team in 2025.
The Tabor, Cze., native has two goals in 13 career NHL games, all with the Dallas Stars. He has 89 goals and 178 points in 197 career regular season AHL games and 26 points in 27 career AHL playoff games.
The New York Islanders made three official signings on the first day of NHL free agency.
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo re-signed on a one-year deal worth $1.75 million annually after proving to be a strong player in Patrick Roy's system.
Mathieu Darche:"We wanted to get Tony DeAngelo done. Tony, you saw it last year, he played really well when he came here. He can run a power play, so we're excited to bring him back at a number that makes sense for us and the term that makes sense for us."
Goaltender David Rittich isn't coming in to serve as the backup to Ilya Sorokin -- that job still belongs to Semyon Varlamov -- but he provides a nice insurance policy at $1 million for one year.
Mathieu Darche:"We just wanted to get more depth at goalie [...] You saw last year, the goalies this team used. So you never have enough goalies. [Varlamov's] rehab is going well, but we still have to prepare in case something happens, right? So David is a veteran around the NHL. He is a is a very capable NHL goalie, so we're excited to have him and increase our depth in net."
The last official signing of the day was forward Jonathan Drouin, who will be playing a top-six role for the Islanders and helping out tremendously on the power play. He comes in on a two-year deal at $4 million annually.
Mathieu Darche: "We wanted to bring in a bit of talent up front, especially to help the power play. And that's what Jonathan Drouin is going to do. Like he's an elite power-play player. He can bring some offense. He'll play in our top six. And he's a veteran guy too, without committing to too much term. It's a two-year contract for Drouin. So he fits a need we had, and obviously, we want to improve the power play from last year. He's definitely a very good power-play player, and our new coach, Ray Bennett, had him in Colorado last year, so he actually knows his strength, also how to use him on the power play."
Darche also shared that he's confident he wil get his restricted free agents done, with one signing very close.
Defenseman Mike Reilly and forward Hudson Fasching, his remaing two unrestricted free agents, will not be back.
Darche also added that his goal was to bolster his depth without locking players to long-term deals. He'll also be signing some two-way deals -- that's Ethan Bear and Matthew Highmore.
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The Bruins were one of the league’s worst offensive teams last season. They ranked 21st in goals scored, 29th in power-play percentage, 31st in high-danger chances and 29th in shots on net at even strength. They had the fourth-worst power play. Only two players who finished the season on the roster — David Pastrnak and Geekie — scored more than 17 goals.
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And yet, despite a severe lack of scoring depth and high-end talent, the Bruins decided to acquire several bottom-six forwards Tuesday with little offensive upside. Depth is nice to have, but the Bruins need true difference-makers to get back to the playoffs. And even if the free agent class lacked difference-makers, that doesn’t mean you have to spend money on mediocre (or worse) players.
“At times last year, even when we had our (full) group, we were an easy out. I just can’t stand for that. So we are going to re-establish that,” Sweeney told reporters Tuesday at a press conference.
The Bruins don’t need a lot more toughness. They went into last season as the second-tallest and heaviest team in the league. It didn’t go well. They even ranked third in both fighting majors and hits last season.
Being hard to play against is great. The Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are very difficult to play against. But the Panthers also can score a ton of goals — 4.09 goals per game in the 2025 playoffs, for example.
The Bruins’ problem last season — as noted in the table above — was that they couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net on a consistent basis.
Boston’s first move Tuesday was trading for Edmonton Oilers left wing Viktor Arvidsson. The 32-year-old veteran is coming off a down season with the Oilers in which he scored 15 goals in 67 games. But he does have five 20-goal seasons in his career, and his contract has only one more year remaining with a $4 million cap hit.
Arvidsson potentially could be a second-line player, but he’s really a third-liner. Overall, though, it’s not a horrible addition, and the cost to get him — a 2027 fifth-round draft pick — was minimal.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the rest of the day got progressively worse.
Jeannot scored 24 goals with the Predators in 2021-22. It’s the only time he has ever scored 10-plus goals in a season. He has scored only 20 goals over the last three seasons combined. His scoring total last season with the Kings was just 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 67 games. Jeannot doesn’t score many goals and he doesn’t create scoring chances for teammates.
Tanner Jeannot, signed 5x$3.4M by BOS, is a physical low-event depth winger who does practically nothing with the puck and punishes opposing players who try to do things with it. #NHLBruinspic.twitter.com/YWKsvs03Zs
Jeannot is a physical forward. He has the sixth-most hits of any player over the last four years. He fights, too. But giving a bottom-six player with limited offensive potential a five-year deal and a $3.4 million cap hit is just baffling. And he’s not likely to contribute to the power play or penalty kill, either.
If the Bruins valued tough, physical players in their bottom-six, why not just keep Trent Frederic or Justin Brazeau? Boston dealt both of them before the trade deadline in March. Brazeau signed a cheap two-year, $3 million deal with the Penguins on Tuesday.
The Bruins also added bottom-six forwards Sean Kuraly, Michael Eyssimont and Matej Blumel on Tuesday. Blumel scored 39 goals in 67 games with the AHL’s Texas Stars last season. He’s well worth a gamble on a one-year, $875,000 deal. Eyssimont is a pain to play against and shoots the puck a ton. Kuraly was a fan favorite in Boston before departing as a free agent in 2021.
These are solid depth players, but none of them should be expected to make much of an impact offensively.
They also aren’t likely to be major upgrades over the young players and prospects already in the Bruins organization. The real problem with signing a bunch of veteran bottom-six forwards is that they can block the development path of younger, more talented players. How many minutes is Matt Poitras going to get now? What about Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov? How does Fraser Minten fit into the team’s plans?
The Bruins have Marat Khusnutdinov, John Beecher, Mark Kastelic, Arvidsson, Poitras, Minten, Jeannot, Kuraly, Eyssimont, Blumel, Merkulov and Lysell vying for six spots between the third and fourth lines. Even if someone like Arvidsson plays in the top-six, that’s still way too many bottom-six players. Are the Bruins going to waive someone? Will we see a trade or two?
For many years, the Bruins have prioritized veteran, low-scoring, physical bottom-six forwards over giving younger players enough minutes to prove themselves. And based on Tuesday’s moves, it looks like we’ll see more of the same next season.
Acquiring elite offensive talent needed to be the Bruins’ top objective this offseason. You can’t win in the playoffs with only one high-end forward. Outside of Pastrnak, none of Boston’s forwards are going to strike fear into opposing defensemen. If you look at the four teams that reached the conference finals — Oilers, Panthers, Stars, Hurricanes — all of them had at least two elite offensive players. The Oilers, Panthers and Stars have three or four apiece.
Most of the players the Bruins signed Tuesday aren’t afraid to shoot the puck. And for a team that ranked in the bottom third of several shot metrics last season, it made sense to find players who will increase the team’s volume of shots.
That said, you also need players who can finish, and the Bruins have very few of those guys.
We’re still in the early stages of the offseason. Sweeney could make a few trades in the coming weeks and months to add a bonafide top-six forward.
But right now, it’s hard to figure out the Bruins’ plan up front. If no significant additions are made before Opening Night in October, the Bruins had better hope starting goalie Jeremy Swayman has a bounce-back season. Boston is not currently built to win high-scoring games.
“I do believe when you put the full group together, what they’re capable of doing, we’ll score enough if we play the right way, and we’ll defend a hell of a lot better, and I expect our goaltending to be significantly better,” Sweeney said.
