Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Newsstand

Oilers Sign Andrew Mangiapane To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Oilers have signed free agent winger Andrew Mangiapane, the team announced last night. It’s a two-year deal worth $7.2MM for a cap hit of $3.6MM.

An overage draft pick taken in the sixth round in 2016, Mangiapane lived up to his draft billing in Calgary just by making his NHL debut, let alone breaking out for a 35-goal season in 2021-22. His offensive output has been more pedestrian since, though, and following two years in the 15-goal, 40-point range, he was traded to the Capitals for a second-round pick last summer.

In 81 appearances for Washington last year, Mangiapane scored 14 goals, 14 assists, and 28 points in 13:02 of ice time per game, with an even rating and a 52.4 CF% at even strength. It was the worst offensive output of his career aside from his rookie season.

Mangiapane was mentioned within the last couple of weeks as a free agent target for the Maple Leafs and Kraken, with the former potentially looking to plug the 29-year-old on a line with Auston Matthews in Mitch Marner’s absence to see if he can rediscover his previous offensive form. Instead, he’ll get a similar chance with a longtime rival of his in Edmonton, joining an Oilers team with questions about its depth on the wings that could be answered by putting him in a top-six role with either Connor McDavid or, more likely, on a second line with Leon Draisaitl.

After signing Mangiapane, trading away Viktor Arvidsson and Evander Kane in cap dumps, and getting new deals done for Evan Bouchard and Trent Frederic in the last few days, the Oilers are close to being capped out. They have $950,834 in cap space with a roster projection of 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders, according to PuckPedia.

Image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

at CDT | by 34 Comments

5:51 p.m.: The trade is official as reported, the team announced.

4:33 p.m.: The deal will be a sign-and-trade with the Rangers, per Friedman. It will be an eight-year deal for Miller worth a total value of $60MM for $7.5MM per season. He’ll be Carolina’s highest-paid defenseman by a significant margin as a result. A 2026 first-round pick will be part of the return, per Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today. The deal is split evenly across this season and is paid entirely in base salary aside from a $2MM signing bonus up front, per PuckPedia. It also includes a 10-team no-trade clause beginning in 2027-28. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports the full return is a conditional first, the Hurricanes’ 2026 second-round pick, and right-shot defender Scott Morrow. The condition on the 2026 first is that the Rangers will receive the better of Carolina’s or Dallas’ 2026 first-rounders, and it’s top-10 protected, per PuckPedia.

4:16 p.m.: The trade has been agreed to in principle but has yet to be executed because Miller and the Hurricanes are still in talks on a new contract, per Friedman. He adds the trade was made in lieu of an offer sheet Carolina was preparing for Miller.

11:56 a.m.: The Hurricanes are acquiring the signing rights to defenseman K’Andre Miller from the Rangers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The trade return will center around draft pick compensation, per Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today.

After a season full of trade rumors, the Rangers have finally moved on from Miller and brought in Vladislav Gavrikov as his immediate replacement. Since the return package consists of draft pick compensation, this trade closely resembles the 2020 deal in which the Rangers traded defenseman Brady Skjei to the Hurricanes for a first-round pick.

Carolina will assuredly bank on the 2022-23 version of Miller, which was arguably the best season of his young career. During that campaign, Miller scored nine goals and 43 points in 79 games for the Rangers with a +12 rating, averaging nearly 22 minutes of ice time per game. Unfortunately, the Rangers only had the financial flexibility to sign Miller to a two-year bridge deal, but the belief at the time was that they would have liked to have retained him for longer.

Hindsight being 20/20, the Rangers were thankful that they didn’t sign Miller to a longer-term agreement. Since his breakout campaign in 2022-23, Miller has scored 15 goals and 57 points in 154 contests with a +5 rating. His possession and defensive metrics have also dropped, falling from a 51.5% CorsiFor% at even strength to 49.2%, and an 89.8% on-ice save percentage at even strength to an 88.7%.

Still, he has maintained a high level of physicality and continues to block over 100 shots each season. There is reason for optimism that many of his advanced metrics will improve in Carolina, considering that the team has a very deep defensive core and is one of the top possession teams in the league.

The trade also carries implications for the Hurricanes’ unrestricted free agents from their defensive core. Given that the team is planning on making Alexander Nikishin a full-time defender beginning in the 2025-26 season, there is little chance that Dmitry Orlov or Brent Burns will return to Carolina. Due to the trade protection given to the team’s other defensemen, the Hurricanes are likely to move out any of their current blueliners to clear a pathway for Orlov or Burns to return.

Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

at CDT | by 9 Comments

In sorrowful news, the Detroit Red Wings announced that longtime captain and Hall of Famer, Alex Delvecchio, has passed away at the age of 93.

As one of the most legendary players of his era, Delvecchio began his career from a modest upbringing. He originally joined the Red Wings organization in the 1950-51 NHL season after an impressive run with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. He would never don another team’s uniform.

Becoming a focal point of the “Production Line” with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, Delvecchio helped the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships in 1952, 1954, and 1955. The 1955 campaign was the last time the Stanley Cup would be in Detroit until the 1996-97 NHL season.

Despite more than five decades having passed since his last game in the NHL, Delvecchio still shows up on many of the Red Wings’ all-time boards. He remains third in games played (1,550), third in goals (456), fourth in assists (825), and third in points (1,281). Before longtime captain Nicklas Lidstrom played his 1,551st game with Detroit during the 2011-12 campaign, Delvecchio had played the most games in NHL history for one team.

Retiring after the 1973-74 season, Delvecchio was quickly named to the NHL’s Hall of Fame in the 1977 class alongside Tim Horton. After concluding his playing career, he served for several years as the head coach and General Manager of Detroit before leaving hockey entirely in 1977. He was named one of the “100 Greatest NHL Players” in 2017.

It is with deep sorrow that we share of Delvecchio’s passing, and his invaluable contribution to one of the sport’s most iconic franchises. We at PHR offer our condolences to Delvecchio’s family and loved ones.

Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Sabres announced they’ve signed RFA center Ryan McLeod to a four-year, $20MM contract worth $5MM per season. McLeod carries a five-time no-trade list in 2027-28 and 2028-29, per PuckPedia.

After an impressive first year with the Sabres, Buffalo is making sure McLeod is with the team for the foreseeable future. Before joining the Sabres, McLeod set his highest point total during his final season with the Edmonton Oilers. He scored 12 goals and recorded 30 points in 81 games, finishing with a +10 rating while averaging 14:15 of ice time per game.

There was a reasonable expectation that McLeod would score at a similar pace, if not worse, after moving to a non-contending team from the Western Conference champions. It didn’t take long for McLeod to quiet the doubters.

McLeod finished his first season in Buffalo with 20 goals and 53 points in 79 games, managing a +13 rating and being one of the few bright spots on the roster. Despite being on a team with talented scorers, the former bottom-six mainstay for the Oilers tied for fifth on the team in scoring. He was the team’s most successful center in the faceoff, too, securing a 52.3% win rate.

Those faceoff wins came during important parts of the game, too. McLeod began 54.3% of his shifts in the defensive zone, meaning he could be relied upon to negate an opposing team’s scoring chance most of the time. He still has some kinks to work out in his possession and defensive game, but this contract should age well for the Sabres.

It’s also important to note how much speed McLeod brings to Buffalo’s lineup. According to NHL EDGE stats, McLeod finished in the 87th percentile of 22+ mph bursts, 96th percentile in 20-22 mph bursts, and 99th percentile in 18-20 mph bursts. Although Father Time is known for targeting speed first, McLeod will only be 30 years old by the conclusion of this contract, so Buffalo won’t have to worry about any age-related drop-off for some time.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Rangers and winger William Cuylle have agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth $3.9MM per season, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Cuylle’s deal is back-loaded to give him a $4.68MM salary and corresponding qualifying offer upon expiry in 2027, per PuckPedia, where he’ll also have salary arbitration rights

Cuylle was a second-round pick by the Rangers back in 2020, going 60th overall and certainly has outperformed his draft stock.  In 2023-24, he cracked New York’s lineup on a full-time basis and while his playing time was limited, he chipped in with 13 goals and eight assists in 81 games while also recording 248 hits.

There was some optimism that he could find another gear offensively heading into last season and Cuylle did just that.  In 82 games, he potted 20 goals and 25 assists, good for a share of fifth in team scoring.  He also saw his playing time jump up by nearly four minutes a game to a little over 15 minutes a night while also notching 301 hits, tied for the third-most in the NHL behind only Kiefer Sherwood (Vancouver) and Mathieu Olivier (Columbus).

Power forwards are hard to come by and coveted by many teams, making Cuylle a speculative offer sheet target, especially with the uncertainty with K’Andre Miller (who has since been traded to Carolina).  While New York created some cap space earlier this offseason with the trade of Chris Kreider to Anaheim, they went and spent that money to lock up Vladislav Gavrikov on a seven-year, $49MM contract that was one of the biggest of the day.

That meant that a long-term pact for Cuylle was out of the question.  Instead, the two sides have settled on a bridge deal that allows New York to stay cap-compliant while setting him up for a better deal two years from now.  With the Upper Limit set to jump to around $113MM by the time this deal expires, Cuylle will be well-positioned for a big raise, assuming he continues to play at the level he did last season.

With the signing and today’s other movement, the Rangers find themselves with a little over $1.4MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, with a full roster.  That gives GM Chris Drury a little wiggle room should the opportunity arrive to upgrade a depth player over the rest of the summer or, alternatively, keeping that space into next season would buy them some flexibility if injuries arise.

Josh Erickson also contributed to this post.

Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg

at CDT | by 27 Comments

3:51 p.m.: The first two seasons of Dumoulin’s contract are paid mostly via signing bonus, per PuckPedia. He also has a 10-team no-trade list throughout the deal.

1:38 p.m.: The Kings have signed defenseman Cody Ceci to a four-year contract carrying a $4.5MM cap hit and defenseman Brian Dumoulin to a three-year deal with a $4MM cap hit, the team announced. They’ve also signed goaltender Anton Forsberg to a two-year deal at $2.25MM per season to serve as Darcy Kuemper’s backup, per Frank Seravalli.

Los Angeles will lock in a bottom-pair defense in these moves, bringing in two veteran presences in Ceci and Dumoulin. Both are past their primes but still managed to fill top-end roles split between two teams this season. Ceci averaged over 21 games this season, after beginning the year as the clear top defender on a shallow San Jose Sharks club.

He recorded 15 points, 100 blocked shots, and 52 hits while playing nearly 22 minutes a night for 54 games in San Jose. That hardy performance was enough to convince the Dallas Stars to add him as playoff reassurance at the Trade Deadline, in a deal that sent a 2025 first-round pick to the Sharks in exchange for Ceci and Mikael Granlund. Ceci added nine assists in 31 games with the Stars, and played in 85 total games on the season due to the mid-year trade.

Ceci has played through 12 seasons in the NHL. Much of that has been headlined by questions around his two-way performance, but Ceci has remained a pillar of consistency each season, routinely filling top-end minutes and rivaling 25 points a season. He’s totaled 235 points, a plus-two, and an average of 21 minutes of ice time through 871 career games in the NHL.

Dumoulin’s career hasn’t spanned six different clubs like Ceci’s has, though he will be joining his fifth club in the last three years with this move. He was once the proud pillar of the Pittsburgh Penguins blue-line, routinely averaging top-four minutes and modest scoring while operating alongside or behind Kris Letang. Dumoulin’s responsible style and routine rivaling of 100 hits helped him earn a commanding role on both of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup wins. He’s been a bit less exciting in the years since his days in Pittsburgh – most recently recording 22 points, 109 blocked shots, and 74 hits between the Anaheim Ducks and New Jersey Devils this season. He continued to average over 19 minutes of ice time through this season, bringing his career-long average to just over 20 minutes across 706 career games. Dumoulin has chipped in 177 points, a plus-95, and over 1,000 blocked shots in those appearances.

Backing up the pair of heavily-used vets will be career-long backup goaltender Forsberg. He has spent the last three seasons serving as backup for the Ottawa Senators, after a one-season jump to the Senators’ starting role in 2021-22. He managed a .917 save percentage in 46 games during that starting season, and has since routinely rivaled a near-exact .900 save percentage while routinely appearing in 30 games. Those are quaint numbers over a multi-year span, but Forsberg has nonetheless shown he can handle a modest backup role. He’s set a .904 save percentage and 74-81-14 record in 190 career games, dating back to the 2014-15 season. While Los Angeles prepares to lockstep Ceci and Dumoulin, Forsberg will fill the backup role vacated by David Rittich.

PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed significantly to this article.

Ducks Sign Mikael Granlund To Three-Year Deal

at CDT | by 7 Comments

One of the top remaining free agents is off the board. Center Mikael Granlund has signed a three-year deal with the Ducks, the team announced. The contract carries a $7MM cap hit, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports.

Granlund will earn a nice pay raise over the $5MM cap hit he carried over the last four seasons. His last deal, a four-year contract worth $20MM, was originally signed with the Nashville Predators in July of 2021, though it ultimately carried him across tenures with four different clubs He earned the deal on the heels of scoring 13 goals and 27 points in 51 games of the shortened 2020-21 season, and quickly made it look like a value contract with 11 goals and 64 points in the 2021-22 season. He carved out a clear role platooned between Nashville’s top-line wings and second-line center roles, but was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a second-round pick ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline. Pittsburgh retained Granlund through the rest of the 2022-23 season, before including him in an August 2022 trade that sent Granlund alongside four other players, a 2024 first-round pick, and a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Erik Karlsson, two other players, and a 2026 third-round pick.

Granlund instantly took to a lead role on a young Sharks lineup, and maintained his hot scoring through the transition. He recorded 12 goals and 60 points in 69 games with San Jose last season, then returned for 45 points in 52 games at the start of this year. But with such a red-hot veteran scorer in their mix, San Jose opted to trade Granlund and defender Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars at this year’s Trade Deadline, in a deal that landed them a 2025 first-round pick (Joshua Ravensbergen) and a conditional second-round pick that wasn’t exercised. Granlund continued to produce in Dallas, with 21 points in 31 regular-season games and 10 points in 18 postseason games.

The Ducks will be landing a mobile, athletic forward with strong playmaking upside in Granlund. He likely projects into a second-line role, but could offer the team upwards of 40, 50, or even 60 assist upside with the right linemates. He could be an enticing veteran presence to play off of youngsters like Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson, or offer the visionary passing to set up fellow newcomer Chris Kreider on line two. In either mix, Granlund’s speed and passing ability offer a refreshing boost to Anaheim’s bulky lineup.

Granlund has spent a collective 13 years in the NHL, and amassed 610 points in 902 career games. To boot, he’s also averaged north of 19 minutes in ice time in three of the last four seasons. He’ll be a toolsy addition to a Ducks’ top-end that’s looking to make a postseason run — though a three-year deal will carry him through his age-36 season.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed significantly to this article.

Islanders Sign Jonathan Drouin To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The Islanders announced they’ve signed winger Jonathan Drouin to a two-year contract. The deal is worth $4MM per season, Frank Seravalli reports.

Similarly to their recruitment of winger Anthony Duclair last offseason, the Islanders have looked to the second-tier options for forwards to fix their offensive woes. In Drouin, they’ll add a silky playmaking winger into their top-six.

The former third-overall pick has played for the Colorado Avalanche for the past two years, though he struggled with injuries last season. Throughout his two-year stint, Drouin scored 30 goals and 93 points in 122 games with a +16 rating, averaging 18:11 of ice time.

Remarkably, even after ten years in the NHL, Drouin’s first season in Colorado was his best individual campaign yet. Besides him achieving a career-high 56 points during the 2023-24 campaign, Drouin averaged a 57.0% CorsiFor% at even strength during his tenure in Denver. It’s hard to imagine that he’s capable of driving his line, but the Islanders can place him next to Bo Horvat or Mathew Barzal and expect quality production.

If they have any hopes of contending during the 2025-26 season, New York desperately needed to add more offense. They faced financial constraints due to the number of restricted free agents they needed to sign. Drouin gives them the best of both worlds, offering quality secondary scoring production while leaving enough room for the Islanders to have enough space to re-up their remaining RFAs.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Mammoth Sign Nate Schmidt, Brandon Tanev To Three-Year Deals

at CDT | by 11 Comments

The Mammoth have signed winger Brandon Tanev to a three-year, $7.5MM contract worth $2.5MM per season, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The team also announced they’ve signed defenseman Nate Schmidt to a three-year contract worth $3.5MM per season.

Just like last offseason, Utah is quickly solidifying its defensive core and strengthening the bottom six of its forward group. Impressively, Schmidt parlayed a one-year league minimum agreement with the Florida Panthers into a three-year contract with the Mammoth.

There’s reason to believe he’s earned that deal. Schmidt scored five goals and 19 points in 80 games for the Panthers last year with a +4 rating, while averaging 16:32 of ice time per game. His possession quality skyrocketed to a 57.4% CorsiFor% at even strength, and he’ll come to Salt Lake City as a Stanley Cup champion.

Unfortunately, Schmidt’s signing could spell the end for Juuso Välimäki’s time in Utah. After scoring four goals and 34 points in 78 games for the Arizona Coyotes in 2022-23, Välimäki’s output dropped to two goals and five points in 43 games with Utah last season. According to PuckPedia, the Mammoth now has nine defensemen signed to one-way contracts for the 2025-26 season. This supports the idea that Välimäki could be buried or traded to another organization.

Meanwhile, the Mammoth have also added Tanev, who was one of the better bottom-six options on the market this summer. He’s been a quality physical winger for the last several years, scoring 33 goals and 73 points in 227 games between the Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets, with 506 hits.

He has an element to his game that the Mammoth desperately need if they hope to make a statement next season. Utah only had five players deliver more than 100 hits last season, and one of them, Nick Bjugstad, already departed the team earlier today. Now, with Tanev in hand, the Mammoth could put together one of the game’s most physical lines by placing Tanev next to center Jack McBain.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Blue Jackets Re-Sign Ivan Provorov To Seven-Year Deal

at CDT | by 17 Comments

July 1: Columbus has confirmed Provorov’s extension.

June 30: The Blue Jackets are keeping defenseman Ivan Provorov away from unrestricted free agency, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. It’s a seven-year deal worth $8.5MM per season for a total value of $59.5MM, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic.

In what has immediately set the market for other top-four defenseman in this free agency period, the Blue Jackets have given their minute-eating Russian defenseman a $1.75MM raise. Without knowing the full scope of the trade protection, if there is any, Provorov immediately becomes the team’s second-highest-paid defenseman, and will become an unrestricted free agent for his age-36 season after the 2031-32 campaign.

There are good reasons to believe that this contract will prove beneficial for both the player and the team over time. Although he’s in no danger of receiving a majority of the Norris Trophy votes, Provorov has been a remarkably consistent defenseman upon entering the league, dating back to his time with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Since his debut in the 2016-17 season, Provorov has scored 77 goals and 282 points in 696 career games with a -28 rating while averaging 23:46 of ice time per night. His career output averages out to 9 goals and 33 points with a -3 rating over 82 games. This past season with the Blue Jackets, Provorov scored seven goals and accumulated 33 points, matching his career averages.

He has consistently maintained a similar level in his advanced metrics as well. Throughout his nine-year career, Provorov has managed a 48.7% CorsiFor% at even strength and a 90.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Unfortunately, this contract is bound to have ramifications in one of two ways. If the Blue Jackets are content with having Zach Werenski and Provorov as their top-two options on the left side of their blue line, that will push youngster Denton Mateychuk to a bottom-pairing role. Given his performances from this past season, Mateychuk has already earned an opportunity in Columbus’ top-four.

If they’d like to keep the combination of Werenski and freshly signed Dante Fabbro, while creating a second-pairing of Mateychuk and Provorov, the Blue Jackets will inevitably have to put Damon Severson and Erik Gudbranson, making one of the most expensive third-pairings in the league. Still, there’s time for Columbus to move one or both pricey blueliners. At any rate, by retaining Provorov and Fabbro on multi-year deals, the Blue Jackets have put themselves in a position to thin out their defensive core.

Photo courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top