Good Morning everyone! It’s that wonderful time of the year where every hockey fan loves every move their general manager makes and laughs at how much every other GM overpays for their new players. It’s Free Agent Frenzy time!
This year’s class isn’t the greatest, but there are several serviceable players still available. With just about every team in the league having room to sign at least one or two players, there are bound to be some eyebrow-raising deals signed this afternoon. Just remember, we are in a new salary cap era where $5 million for a bottom-six forward isn’t out of line. Think more in terms of cap percentage than actual dollars and your heart rate won’t flutter quite as much.
We will be posting here throughout the day starting around 11:00 AM as the deals start trickling in (with breaks in coverage to write up all of the fantastic deals that Julien BriseBois will make). Feel free to follow along and comment (we’ll try and make sure nothing gets caught in comment jail) as the deals roll in.
Teams aren’t allowed to contact unrestricted free agents until noon today (AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA) so don’t expect any official news until after then. However, it won’t be surprising if news about some extensions or restricted free agent signings trickle out earlier.
4:00 PM – We’re calling it a day on the live updates. Feel free to keep it going in the comments. If the Bolts make any more moves, we will post separate articles.
The Crunch add another veteran on an AHL deal as they sign the Clark Bishop, the Calgary Wranglers captain from last season. Bishop, a center, had 14 goals in 72 games last season.
Lightning officially announce the Mikheyev contract.
Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Darnell Nurse is on the move to San Jose. While the final deal isn’t done, it sounds like Shakir Mukhamadulin (who was drafted by New Jersey with the pick the Lightning sent to the Devils in the Blake Coleman deal) is “part of the return” and that Edmonton will not be retaining any salary. Honestly, the fact that Edmonton is getting anything other than a mid-round draft pick is a pretty nice move on their part.
3:30 PM – It’s $4.5 million, one-year for Bjorkstrand.
Vincent Deshharnais is heading to D.C. for 4 years at $4.2 million. Honestly, the AAV’s have been okay today, but the length of the contracts have been interesting.
The Ducks fill one of the holes on their defense with Nick Jensen agreeing to a $2.25 AAV, 2-year deal. They had lost Gudas, Trouba, and probably John Carlson, so to bring in a veteran to eat up minutes with the youngsters should help out a lot.
3:00 PM – Another former Bolt is on the move.
Oliver Bjorkstrand heads to the New York Rangers. Hopefully he can find his scoring touch again in the Big Apple.
It looks like Marchment’s deal in San Jose is for five years at $6.75 million. Even in the new salary cap era it seems a little steep, but the Sharks have the room to overpay in order to bring in a veteran.
Teddy Blueger keeps his career going as he signs in Toronto for two-years at $2.5 million per season. Injuries limited him to just 35 games in Vancouver last season.
We’ve gotten to the point where the two-way and AHL depth deals are starting to trickle in. Carlson, Anders Lee, Anthony Mantha, and Michael Bunting are the top remaining free agents on The Athletic’s Big Board.
Meanwhile, at the development camp, Oleg Kulebiakin met Nikita Kucherov.
2:30 PM – We have some goalie news!
Devon Levi and a seventh-round pick are heading to Edmonton in exchange for a third-round pick. That’s not a bad bit of business for Buffalo (especially if they’re still thinking about making a move for Hellebuyck.
The Lightning aren’t done having to face Sergei Bobrovsky multiple times in a season. The future hall-of-famer didn’t get a long-term deal, but he is getting $21 million over three years from Toronto. It’s going to be interesting to see if he can bounce back from a sub-par season and finally five the Leafs a goaltender they can rely on in big games.
The Sissons deal is being reported as a two-year contract with a $4 million cap hit. That is right in line with what bottom-six forwards have been signing for over the past couple of months.
It seems that Carolina is cooling on signing John Carlson, which would leave the Lightning as the front-runner to sign the mobile right-shot defender. However, with Trouba and Rasmus Andersson off of the board, Carlson’s market might have opened up a little.
Boston makes a couple of depth signings as they bring in Connor Clifton (2 years, $2.25 million AAV) and Jordan Harris (1 year, $850,000). If anyone wants an autographed Jordan Harris card from his rookie season, we’re pretty sure we have one.
Scott Laughton continues the parade of veteran players to Los Angeles. At least there is one team that will be older than the Lightning this year.
Just watched the NHL Network breakdown of the Lightning’s moves and really like what Mikheyev brings on the penalty kill. Putting him in a rotation with Cirelli, Hagel, Guentzel, and Gourde will be really interesting.
2:00 PM – Okay we’re back. Just as a heads up, this post is sticking at the top of the blog while any player acquisitions will be posted underneath it on the main page.
What did we miss?
Oh yeah, Declan Carlile goes to Pittsburgh on a two-year deal with a $1.5 million AAV. Nice to see Carlile parlay his solid season in Tampa into a multi-year deal. Even with Darren Raddysh out of the line-up, Carlile was getting squeezed for playing time in Tampa. He should have a better shot at a roster spot with the Penguins.
Stuart Skinner signs in Winnipeg for two years at $3.75 million. Cue the “Hellebuyck is getting traded!” posts.
A couple of right-shots are off the board as Viktor Arvidsson signs (2 years, $5 million AAV) in Detroit and Jack Roslovic gets a two-year deal ($4 million AAV) in Toronto.
San Jose continues their exit from the rebuild as they sign Jacob Trouba to a 4-year, $8.25 million AAV deal. They are going to be an interesting team next season with their combination of skill and the addition of Marchment and Trouba.
It also seems the Zach Werenski trade talks are simmering down after Werenski, his agent, and Don Waddell had a conversation earlier today that cleared the air. So maybe the focus can return to the Lightning overpaying John Carlson for his defensive services.
12:50 PM – Now the deals are coming fast and furious. And we have our first new Lightning player.
Dan Milstein announces that the Lightning signed Ilya Mikheyev to a four-year deal. We’ll be back after writing that up!
Mason Marchment – San Jose, five years at $7 million per. That is…a lot.
Jaden Schwartz – Colorado, 3 years at $3.25 million. The 34-year-old left-shot forward is one year removed from a 26-goal season.
Sam Errsson – Ottawa 2 years, $2.2 million AAV. He’ll replace James Reimer as Linus Ullmark’s back-up in Ottawa. Not a bad little bit of business.
Cole Smith – Chicago, 3 years, $3 million. Chicago adds a little depth on the forward side. Smith went to the Stanley Cup Final with Vegas last season.
The Eetu Luostarinen extension in Florida is official. It’s eight years at $5 million AAV. Cool, another eight years of looking up how to spell his last name every time the Lightning and Panthers play.
Corey Perry – Los Angeles, 1 year, $1 million. The Lightning lose their first UFA as The Worm heads back to Los Angeles for another season.
Ian Cole – Chicago, 1 year, $4.75 million ($4 million base with $750,000 in possible bonuses). Umm. Cool. Good for Cole, I guess. Not sure that really moves the needle for a Blackhawks team that really needs to start focusing on winning games.
TRRRRAAAAAADDDDDE: Joonas Korpisalo to Boston for Kalle Vaisanen and a 2028 fourth-round pick. Boston clears cap space and the Rangers get a back-up to replace the retiring Jonathan Quick.
12:30 – The “seriously we just talked for 30 seconds before agreeing to this deal” signings are being reported. These have yet to be confirmed.
Erik Haula – Los Angeles (2 years, $3.5 million AAV)
Trevor van Riemsdyk to Pittsburgh – The possibility of Nothing but Siblings continues in Pittsburgh
Mats Zuccarello – Los Angeles. They are collecting some solid veterans. Likely to be a one-year deal with bouses as it would be a 35+ contract. Erik Gustafsson also seems to be on his way to the Kings. Seems they are focused on veterans on short-term deals as they try to stay competitive.
Colton Sissons – Toronto. He would have been a nice fit on the Lightning’s fourth line.
Mackie Samoskovich signs his extension in Seattle per Elliotte Friedman. Three years at $3.85 million AAV.
12:00 PM – The light has turned green. Let’s go!
Our first Lightning/Crunch announcement of the day! Jarred Tinordi is coming back to Syracuse on a one-year AHL deal. The 34-year-old defenseman had 2 goals and 4 assists in 44 games for the Crunch last season after joining them on a PTO.
In the meantime, Radko Gudas is officially a Panther for the next six seasons. He signs for $1.5 million AAV. Does he make it to year three before it’s bought out?
Dan Millstein is having a nice day. The agent announced that Dan Vladar is extending for five years at $5.5 AAV in Philadelphia while Ivan Demidov is cashing in for $9.125 AAV over 8 years.
Meanwhile, Vladar’s teammate Tyson Foerster is staying in Philadelphia as well. It’s an eight-year extension around $7 million per Elliotte Friedman. The Flyers are locking up the younger core of players. Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale will be next.
11:30 AM – Alright, we just housed a Pub Sub and are ready for the deals to start coming through. It looks like Nico Hischier is extending his contract in New Jersey to the tune of $11.7 million AAV for five seasons starting in 2027-28. Devils have their top two centers locked down for four more seasons.
Meanwhile Nick Robertson is heading to Pittsburgh for a fourth-round pick. Will Kyle Dubas unite the Robertson Brothers? The Penguins are a dark horse in the Jason Robertson sweepstakes, so who knows?
11:05 AM – It looks like the Dallas Stars have dealt one of their Restricted Free Agent forwards. Nope, not Jason Robertson. It’s Mavrik Bourque on the move to Nashville!
The Dallas Stars trade forward Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Nashville’s own 2nd round pick in 2027 and Vegas’ 3rd round pick in 2028.
— Pierre LeBrun (Bot) (@notpierrevlebrun.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 11:01 AM
That’s not a bad deal for Nashville as they pick up a young forward and a decent blueliner for a couple of draft picks. Dallas clears Lyubushkin’s $3.25 million. Does it give them enough to sign Robertson? Probably not, but it does allow them to make some other moves if they want to.
Prior to 11:00 AM:
Hey, we already have one!
Bo Byran, traded to Chicago for the fourth-overall pick signed a six-year extension with a $12.5 million AAV. That’s a lot of money! He can buy so many cheeseburgers at the Billy Goat Tavern now.
