Yesterday was a busy day across the league, even if there weren't many big free agents available. Let's go through some of them.

To start us off, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded winger Nick Robertson to Pittsburgh for a fourth-round pick. Over the last three years, he's scored 1.09 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, a rate similar to names like Jordan Kyrou and Brandon Hagel. His issue in Toronto was he was never going to be a top forward due to their Core Four being around for so long. That he scored so well in a depth role bodes well, but the Penguins have a slew of talented veterans, plus promising young forwards like Ben Kindel and Rutger McGroarty. Robertson's situation may not improve all that much, though we have to see what the team does with the roster this offseason.

*

The Nashville Predators acquired winger Mavrik Bourque from Dallas for a second- and third-round pick. After a great season in the AHL in 2023-24, he finally had a productive NHL season in 2025-26 with 20 goals and 41 points. It should be mentioned that this is not a young forward in the traditional sense – he turns 25 years old in January – but he won't cross the 200-game threshold until the middle of next season.

When it comes to power-play potential, the Predators have Ryan O'Reilly, Steven Stamkos, and Filip Forsberg as top-unit locks. That leaves one spot for the likes of Jonathan Marchessault, Luke Evangelista, and Bourque. They also have young guys like Brady Martin and Matthew Wood they're hoping can take another step. Bourque can be a 20/20 guy again, but it's hard to see much more than that unless he can sustain a top PP role, which seems unlikely.

*

There were three big extensions we'll touch on quickly.

Bowen Byram signed a six-year extension at $12.5M per season. This extension doesn't kick in until the 2026-27 season, but even if the cap rises to ~$113M as it's expected, that is 11% of the cap. Judging by other players who had a similar cap hit in the first season of their extension (using PuckPedia's Dashboard), that kind of money is not just a top-pair guy, but a perennial top-10 defenceman like Cale Makar, Roman Josi, and Evan Bouchard. Safe to say he'll be a name to avoid in salary cap formats.

Nico Hischier signed a five-year extension worth a little under $12M a season. He was set to hit free agency after the 2026-27 season but he'll be around through his early 30s. Again using an upper-limit of about $113M next season, Hischier will cost around 10% of the cap, which would put him around a top-30 forward. In salary cap leagues, he might be worth it if the league counts face-off wins – he has over 200 more FOWs across the last two seasons than the next-closest player – but in leagues without FOWs, that's probably a pass.

The last extension was Ivan Demidov re-upping with the Montreal Canadiens for eight years at $9.1M per season. Like Byram, that won't kick in until the 2027-28 season, so fantasy managers will have time to wait. That said, if his ascension continues, that number is around 8% of the cap, or Matthew Knies/Gabriel Vilardi money. Assuming that ascension, he should be very much worth it in cap formats, though multi-cat formats with hits and blocks require a bit more analysis.

*

With all the significant trades this offseason, and all the long-term extensions signed during the season, there was a lack of top free agents available this year. It doesn't mean there weren't significant additions from a fantasy perspective, so let's dig into those.

Mats Zuccarello

To read Ian's take on the Zuccarello trade, just click here.

In a Ramblings a couple weeks ago, I wrote about Mats Zuccarello and how his biggest strength – and this shouldn't be much of a surprise – was his playmaking. Even at his age (39 years old in September), he can still dish the puck extremely well, and that's something the Los Angeles Kings sorely needed. Using tracking data from All Three Zones, here is how Kings forwards fared in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25 by assists on scoring chances, assists off the rush and cycle, as well as high-danger passes:

The Kings were passable-to-good in these areas in 2024-25 but below average across the board in 2025-26, sometimes falling into 'outright bad' territory. This is still a lineup with plenty of holes, but Zuccarello should be able to maintain, or elevate, the scoring of guys like Quinton Byfield, Alex Laferriere, and Adrian Kempe.

Mason Marchment

For my money, the best free agent forward left when July 1^st rolled around was Marchment. To read what Puneet had to say about the deal, check this out.  

As is the case with any Sharks forward, at least for right now, there are two states in which they exist: skating with Macklin Celebrini, or skating without him. While I have belief in the future upside of Michael Misa and Will Smith, and veterans like Alex Wennberg and Tyler Toffoli both bring valuable skills, Celebrini might be one of the five best offensive forwards in the league right now. The gap between him and anyone else on the Sharks' roster is large. So, how productive Marchment is will be directly related to how much time he gets next to Celebrini, and that's very much a toss-up.

When I wrote about Marchment a couple weeks ago, the big takeaway was his versatility on offence. He can create both off the rush and off the cycle, he can fire his own scoring chances or set up teammates for theirs. That kind of dual-threat nature is not something a lot of wingers possess, and that, along with the fact that he's 6'5 and likes to play a physical game, indicates to me that he'll get a crack next to Celebrini to start the year. I think the top-6 looks something like this:

Marchment – Celebrini – Smith

Sherwood-Misa-Toffoli

Then you have Wennberg on the third line in a checking role with the likes of Collin Graf and Ty Dellandrea. A lot will depend on Misa's ability to contribute in a middle-6 role, but I think that's how things line up.

Over the last three seasons, Marchment has averaged 25 goals and 32 assists every 82 games, doing so while managing just 11 power-play points per 82 in that span. If he can get some top power-play time, and ends up next to Celebrini both at 5-on-5 and on the PP, he can genuinely reach the 30-goal, 40-assist plateaus. It all depends on how they use him, but he has the skills and the opportunity to really level up his fantasy value. If he doesn't get that spot, he can absolutely help elevate Misa's fantasy value.

Sergei Bobrovsky

After trading Joseph Woll and letting Samuel Ersson go to Ottawa, the Leafs had to go find a second goalie to pair with Anthony Stolarz, and they landed on Bobrovsky. Dobber himself shared his fantasy thoughts on the deal here.

To me, the Leafs should undoubtedly be a better team in 2026-27 because Darren Raddysh and Emil Andrae are big upgrades on Brandon Carlo and Simon Benoit. If the blue line stays healthy, and Auston Matthews stays healthy, this should be a team that at least competes for a playoff spot. That matters to Bobrovsky.

What also matters is Goalie Bob's skills. No matter the metrics we look at, he's declined each of the last two seasons, and while the injuries Florida had last season were part of it, goalies have good seasons on bad teams all of the time  – Igor Shesterkin, Dustin Wolf, and Spencer Knight all had good-to-great years on bad teams in 2025-26. That Bobrovsky fell off a cliff and turns 38 years old in September is concerning. When goalies truly start their age-related decline, things can go south in a hurry (Marc-André Fleury just went through this before he retired). There is a chance that Bobrovsky plays poorly right from the jump just because of his age, and also a chance that happens just because that can happen to any goalie regardless of age. It is a big risk.

On top of that, provided Anthony Stolarz stays healthy – and that's a big "if" – they probably want to keep Bob as rested as possible for a potential playoff run. I wouldn't rely on Bob for more than 50 games if I was a fantasy manager, and be prepared for him to start 40-50 games rather than 50-60.

This could work out very well for the Leafs if the team improves and Bob can get spelled off for two out of every five games, but there is a lot of risk here. I'm sure he'll be a target of late-round fantasy goalie drafters, but I might be inclined to wait even later and draft Stolarz.

Devon Levi

Dobber also had thoughts on the Levi acquisition here.

All I'll say is this. For now, the Edmonton Oilers have two goalies: Levi and Tristan Jarry. The latter showed his… let's call it unreliability… last season. This is still a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, and whatever we think of Mike Babcock, my guess is the Oilers will be a better defensive team in 2026-27 than they were in 2025-26. If I'm a fantasy manager looking for a late-round goalie, Levi is a name I have circled. Maybe he falls flat on his face, but this was one of the most highly-touted goalie prospects in the world a few years ago and it's not as if he's been bad in the AHL. In fact, over the last three years, he has the same AHL save percentage as Jet Greaves (.914) and higher than Brandon Bussi (.910). The former is now the starting goalie in Columbus and the latter just won a Stanely Cup. As far as potential fantasy value goes, Levi to the Oilers might be the most impactful addition any team made on July 1^st.

*Update: Thursday night, Frederik Andersen signed with the Oilers, so it’ll be interesting to see what Edmonton does here. Levi would need to clear waivers to be sent to the AHL, so it seems as if they’re running with a three-goalie setup to start the season. That helps nobody, fantasy-wise, and I would still rather make a cheaper bet on Levi in fantasy drafts than a more expensive one on either Jarry or Andersen.