Category: Sports News

While the Carolina Hurricanes certainly made a splash on the opening day of free agency, it wasn't through the signing of a UFA. 

No, the Hurricanes' biggest move of the week came from a trade for defenseman K'Andre Miller from the New York Rangers (acquired for rookie defenseman Scott Morrow, a 2026 first and a 2026 second).

The Canes have had a couple of UFA signings, but all have been to address organizational depth rather than to improve the roster, but that's to be expected. 

The 2025 UFA class was already a pretty weak one and that was even before most players decided to go ahead and re-sign with their own teams.

Now, the only true top-six upgrade the Canes can pursue is Nikolaj Ehlers, who Carolina is reportedly the top contender for.

"We've had talks with his agent and he's taking his time to field offers," said Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky on Tuesday. "He's obviously a very popular person right now and we're waiting to see where that goes."

Top Pairing Defenseman and Beloved Teammate Brent Burns Finds New Home In ColoradoIt seems that former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns is indeed moving on to a new opportunity, as it was announced that the blueliner has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

While they're waiting on Ehlers to make a decision, the Hurricanes have fortified their depth. 

The first thing the team did was improve their goaltending depth, trading for Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau (in exchange for a 2026 seventh) and signing KHL goaltender Amir Miftakhov.

Carolina had a clear lack of depth at the goaltender position heading into this offseason with Spencer Martin opting to pursue an opportunity in the KHL and Dustin Tokarski well beyond his years.

With no other goalie prospects in the system ready for that next step either, the Canes went out and added two options with potential upside.

"Spencer [Martin's] been really good for us these past couple of years, but he was ready to move on," Tulsky said. "He had another opportunity which he wanted to pursue, so we needed a new person to bring in to be that number three. Dustin [Tokarski] was also great for us in a number four role last year, but we were looking to get a little bit younger and so we brought in two players who we think are both capable of providing that depth and also have upside to grow into more than that and help give us opportunities to keep taking steps forward in the future."

Primeau, 25, has spent time between the NHL and AHL over the last six seasons, but has had very strong AHL numbers throughout.

The 6-foot-3 netminder has a 84-44-18 record and a 0.912 save percentage in 149 AHL games, but just a 0.884 save percentage in 55 NHL appearances.

“Cayden is just 25 and coming off his best AHL season," Tulsky said. "He adds seasoned depth to our organization at the goaltending position."

Miftakhov, 25, had a 13-11-3 record with Ak Bars Kazan last season with a 0.927 save percentage.

The Russian netminder was drafted in 2020 by the Tampa Bay Lightning and spent just one season in North America before returning to Russia.

Over the last three seasons, Miftakhov has had a 0.927 save percentage, 0.930 and a 0.917.

"Amir has put together a number of solid seasons in the KHL and is ready to return to professional hockey in North America," Tulsky said. "It’s important to have goaltending depth, and we look forward to having him in our organization.”

Both netminders are signed to one-year, $775,000 deals.

Carolina also signed defenseman Mike Reilly to a one-year, $1.1 million contract for a bit more defensive depth too.

Reilly, 31, is a journeyman, left-handed defenseman who has some pretty good offensive upside to his game.

He's a veteran of 418 games across 10 seasons and with six franchises and has had 18 goals and 124 points in those games.

 "This is another player who I think should look his best for us ," Tulsky said. "He skates really well, he's effective coming down the wall in the offensive zone and pinching and has the speed to get back and to cover. He can get up all over the ice and we want players taking away time and space through the neutral zone and into the d-zone and he can do that. He has skill with the puck and the ability to transport it and make plays. I think he's going to be really effective for us."

Reilly also had heart surgery last season when testing following a concussion in November, found an undetected heart defect that the veteran had been born with.

“It was picked up through the different echocardiograms that you do for different reasons that you go through with any post-concussion situation," said at-the-time general manager Lou Lamoriello. "It's probably a blessing in disguise of what transpired. They detected this, something that you're sometimes born with but never knew."

Reilly was cleared to return to the ice just two months later and the procedure isn't expected to have any additional impairment to his life or his ability to play.

Finally, the Canes brought back the well-liked Tyson Jost, a versatile forward who played in 39 games with the Hurricanes last season, on a one-year, two-way extension that will pay the forward $775,000 at the NHL level, $300,000 at the AHL and $600,000 guaranteed.

"Tyson was able to contribute to our organization in a number of different ways last year, and we’re happy to keep him here,” Tulsky said. “He’s extremely well-liked and hard-working and capable of playing a number of different roles in the lineup.”

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The Anaheim Ducks announced on the opening day of 2025 NHL free agency that they signed veteran forward Mikael Granlund to a three-year contract that carries an AAV of $7 million.

Granlund (33) is a versatile forward who can play either wing or center position, kill penalties, and create offensive looks for himself or teammates.

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Despite playing the majority of the last two seasons on the San Jose Sharks, the NHL’s back-to-back worst team in the standings, he eclipsed the 60-point mark (60 in 2023-24 and 66 in 2024-25) for the fourth and fifth times in his 13-year NHL career.

“He’s what I consider a hard worker,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said after the acquisition. “He goes to the hard areas, something that we needed more of. He’s not afraid to be a net front presence guy. He’s a guy that hangs onto pucks in the corners for more puck possessions. He’s a very smart hockey player. I would say his skating is above average.”

The Ducks didn’t have many holes in their depth chart with the addition of Chris Kreider, and even with the departure of Trevor Zegras.

They were the worst faceoff team in the NHL, winning a mere 44.6% of their draws in 2024-25, and they needed a center who could provide a positive impact on both ends of the ice.

The analytics community has been critical of the signing since it was announced, stating his defensive metrics reflect one of the poorer profiles among all NHL forwards.

That leads some to question what his role will be with the current iteration of the Ducks’ depth chart and if he’s simply an older, more expensive version of Zegras.

“That’s the beauty of this player,” Verbeek continued.”I think that he gives us a lot of options. Jole and I go through the lineup, and it’s going to give us four balanced lines. So, injuries occur, there’s a lot of things that can happen. So that’s another reason we really liked him.”

Digging into the game tape from his time with San Jose, where he was mostly deployed as a center, often between William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund or Zetterlund and Barclay Goodrow, he was given the opponent’s toughest matchups on a nightly basis. Against the Colorado Avalanche, he was matched up against Nathan MacKinnon. Against the New Jersey Devils, he was matched against Jack Hughes. Against the Vegas Golden Knights, he was matched up against Jack Eichel, so on and so forth.

In those matchups, with those linemates, and with defensemen like Cody Ceci, Jake Walman, and Henry Thrun absorbing tough matchups on the blueline along with him, it would come as no surprise to see Granlund’s underlying numbers near the bottom of the NHL. Granlund could have very well been a product of a poor defensive environment, historically one of the worst defensive environments in the NHL’s salary cap era.

However, on a shift-by-shift basis, Granlund demonstrates textbook defensive positioning, effective battle engagement, and above-average angling techniques.

In defensive zone coverage, he’s always in lanes, using his stick to disrupt, supporting pucks, and winning battles in small areas. He displays quality anticipation skills on the forecheck and in the neutral zone, providing early kills. He’s one of the best in the league when it comes to translating what makes him an impactful offensive player to the defensive side of the puck.

Granlund is a player where the eye test doesn’t match the underlying numbers. If the worst-case scenario plays out, it turns out he wasn’t a product of a poor environment, and he is a negative value on the defensive side of the puck, then a cerebral, detailed, playmaking forward with consistent 60-point potential isn’t a bad way to spend $7 million over three years in the modern environment of the NHL salary cap.

If the best-case scenario plays out, it turns out he was, in fact, a product of a poor environment, and he’s a positive value on both sides of the puck, then the Ducks got the middle-six center they needed, and he will single-handedly insulate the rest of the depth chart.

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Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

A couple of days ago a Rangers fan posted a notice on X/Twitter accompanied by a photo of Russian offensive ace Maxim Shabanov.

"Are we getting him next?" was the text message. It was clear to the Blueshirts' loyalist that Shabanov would look good on Seventh Avenue.

Well, the fact of the matter is that Shabanov will look good, but skating for the New York

Islanders who signed him – and not the Rangers.

We all know that the New York-New York rivalry dates back to 1972, when the Islanders were born, but it's taking on a new form this summer. And for a good reason since  both clubs are desperate to rebuild. 

The race to sign Shabanov is Exhibit A.

"These two teams are battling each other," says The Old Scout, "because they both missed the playoffs and don't want to do it again. At the least, they want a Wild Card berth."

Both teams are set in goal but the Rangers admittedly are fortifying their blue line corps. K'Andre Miller had become  defensive debit so GM Chris Drury signed the veteran Slava Gavrikov.

The Islanders lost Mike Reilly – also, like Miller, to Carolina – and might replace him with their number one Draft pick Matthew Schaefer. But that's only a "might."

"Rushing Schaefer to the NHL right from Junior hockey could be a mistake," adds The Old Scout, "but if the kid has the goods then he might work as a longshot gamble."

What To Make Of The Rangers' Free Agent Frenzy Performance There's a new day dawning for the Blueshirts and its official flying object is The Bluebird of Happiness. 

The Islanders missed the playoffs – one point behind the Rangers – in the Wildcard race. Now both New York clubs have two more months to lift themselves to playoff calibre for the 2025-26 campaign.

And wouldn't it be something if both made it. Even better; if both made it and faced each other in the 2026 playoffs!

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't yet made any big splashes in this summer's UFA pool. Their most notable move was signing former Montreal Canadiens checking-line forward Michael Pezzetta to a two-year deal. 

Meanwhile, their most notable trade was the sign-and-trade deal that sent right winger Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights on June 30 for Nicolas Roy.

Jonas Siegel of The Athletic believes Marner's departure leaves the Leafs in need of a top-six forward. He suggested they add either a right winger to skate alongside Auston Matthews or John Tavares, or a center who could push Tavares to the wing or centering the third line.

This year's thin free-agent market is tapped out of prime scoring talent.  Sportsnet's Luke Fox thinks GM Brad Treliving will turn to the trade market for a bona fide top-six forward. 

The Hockey News’ David Alter observed that the Maple Leafs have over $4.9 million in cap space for this season. He suggested Treliving could weaponize that space later this summer, targeting cap-strapped teams to acquire a player the Leafs need. 

Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun shares that opinion. He felt Treliving could draw on his glut of affordable bottom-six forwards for trade chips. 

That could include Nick Robertson, an RFA with arbitration rights. The 23-year-old left winger created a stir last summer when he requested a trade, only to sign a one-year deal a week before training camp opened last September.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens have been active in the off-season trade market. Less than a week after their bombshell acquisition of defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders last Friday, they shipped blueliner Logan Mailloux to the St. Louis Blues for middle-six forward Zack Bolduc. 

Both moves received positive reviews, but failed to address their pressing need for a second-line center.  They must also cope with the departures of veteran forwards Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak.

Arpon Basu of The Athletic believes Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is willing to look within the organization to address that issue in the short term. Sportsnet's Eric Engels thinks their best option would be to try Kirby Dach in the second-line center role.

Engels acknowledged that the oft-injured Dach struggled last season before undergoing knee surgery. However, he didn't have wingers like Bolduc and Ivan Demidov as potential linemates. 

Following the acquisition of Dobson, there was speculation that Mike Matheson might be used as a trade chip for a second-line center or winger. The 31-year-old puck-moving defenseman is a year away from UFA eligibility, but Hughes told reporters he's not moving him, citing the big minutes he played last season.

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