Introduction The restricted free agent (RFA) offer sheet market has been the NHL’s Cold War of sorts. The NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) essentially handed every general manager the nuclear codes - but GMs seldom push the button. Since the dawn of the salary cap era in 2005, only 12 offer sheets have been tendered, [...]
Phil Esposito scored 76 goals in 1970-71. Auston Matthews scored 69 in 2023-24. Chris Pronger never cracked 63 points in a season, and Erik Karlsson has beaten that number seven times. George Hainsworth once finished a full season with a goals-against average under 1.00. So, which of those was the best? You can't actually answer [...]
In honor of free agency opening this week we are going to spend a little time looking at past signings. The focus is going to be a bit more historical, just to provide some context, though we will likely return to the player movement in a future article. Players who sign free agent deals over [...]
Yesterday’s Ramblings summarized and provided thoughts on some of the big moves on the opening day of free agency, including the extensions for Bowen Byram, Nico Hischier, and Ivan Demidov, the trades of Nick Robertson, Mavrik Bourque, and Devon Levi, as well as the signings of Mason Marchment, Mats Zuccarello, and Sergei Bobrovsky. Today, we’ll [...]
The Minnesota Wild have acquired winger Blake Coleman and defenceman Olli Maatta from the Calgary Flames for defenceman Jake Middleton and a trio of draft picks (a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th rounder), per Elliotte Friedman. Coleman had 20 goals , 35 points, 152 hits, and 176 shots in 69 games last season. He [...]
It came out nearly a month ago that defenceman Darnell Nurse had asked the Edmonton Oilers for a trade. Nothing happened for a few weeks, but then he expanded the teams where he was willing to accept a trade, and the deal finally came to fruition as Ryan Rishaug initially reported that Nurse was sent [...]
Overnight, depending on where you live, Pierre LeBrun reported that the Tampa Bay Lightning signed defenceman John Carlson to a two-year contract with an $8.5M average annual value. Carlson had 60 points in 71 games last season, splitting time between the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks. He turns 37 years old in January and has [...]
Welcome back, everyone! Free Agent Frenzy has arrived, which means two things: happy Canada Day to all my friends up north, and more of course, free agent signings! If your league chat is anything like mine, you knew we were headed for a chaotic July 1st. This week, we’re focusing on the big names — [...]
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, [...]
The trade: The New York Rangers have traded center Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth for defenseman Sean Durzi, forward prospect Cole Beaudoin, and a 2027 third-round pick. The Mammoth receive: Trocheck, who finished 2025-26 with 16 goals and 53 points in 67 games, which was a slightly higher scoring pace than his 59 points [...]
