NHL free agency kicks off with wild day of action

The Panthers knew this would be a tough day to keep their Stanley Cup-winning team intact, and they couldn’t do it. But they held on to key pieces, like forward Sam Reinhart on an eight-year deal and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov on a four-year deal.

But Florida lost Montour, Ekman-Larsson, Kevin Stenlund (Utah) and Ryan Lomberg (Calgary Flames). The Panthers replaced them by signing forwards Tomas Nosek (one year), AJ Greer (two years) and Jesper Boqvist (one year), as well as goalie Chris Driedger (one year).

The Panthers’ remaining UFAs are forwards Vladimir Tarasenko, Kyle Okposo, Nick Cousins ​​​​and Steven Lorentz.

The Boston Bruins made two big moves to stay in the Atlantic Division, signing center Elias Lindholm (seven years, $7.75 million AAV) and defenseman Nikita Zadorov (six years, $5 million AAV).

Lindholm’s signing ends a two-year search for the center by the Bruins. He’s no Patrice Bergeron, but he is Bergeron Lite, and he fills a major need at center for Boston.

Zadorov gives the Bruins more size and experience on the back end, a potential defensive partner for Charlie McAvoy, who would be Boston’s best pairing.

The Chicago Blackhawks continued to build around center Connor Bedard by isolating him with more experienced players, including three players who have won seven Stanley Cup championships between them: forwards Teuvo Teravainen (three years, $5.4 million AAV) and Pat Maroon (one year, $1.3 million AAV) and defenseman Alec Martinez (one year, $4 million AAV).

Teravainen won the Cup with the Blackhawks in 2015. Maroon has won it three times (2019, 2020, 2021) and Martinez has also won it three times (2012, 2014, 2023).

Additionally, Chicago signed forwards Tyler Bertuzzi (four years, $5.5 million AAV), Craig Smith (one year, $1 million AAV) and Joey Anderson (two years, $800,000 AAV), defenseman TJ Brodie (two years, $3.75 million AAV) and goalie Laurent Brossoit (two years, $3.3 million AAV).

The contracts are pushing the Blackhawks in the right direction. It’s a bridge too far to say they’ll make the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

The Edmonton Oilers have already done some work without a general manager, signing forwards Viktor Arvidsson (two years, $4 million AAV) and Jeff Skinner (one year, $3 million AAV) and defenceman Josh Brown (three years, $1 million AAV). They also re-signed Adam Henrique (two years, $3 million AAV), Mattias Janmark (three years, $1.45 million AAV), Corey Perry (one year, $1.4 million AAV) and Connor Brown (one year, $1 million).

The San Jose Sharks stayed in the Pacific Division and were able to add two veteran players to their rebuild: forwards Tyler Toffoli (four years, $6 million AAV) and Alexander Wennberg (two years, $5 million AAV).

Toffoli and Wennberg, along with center Barclay Goodrow, acquired via waivers from the New York Rangers last month, will help the Sharks isolate and develop top draft pick Macklin Celebrini and rookie Will Smith.

There were several other major signings that took place on this landmark Monday in the NHL, including Sean Monahan to the Columbus Blue Jackets (five years, $5.5 million AAV), Anthony Duclair to the New York Islanders (four years, financial terms unknown) and Jake DeBrusk to the Vancouver Canucks (seven years, $5.5 million AAV).

And this was just day 1 of the off-season.

What a day, indeed.