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Nikolaj Ehlers Expected To Sign Today

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July 2: Ehlers’ stay on the open market isn’t expected to last more than a few more hours. He’s down to a few teams and will make his decision at some point Wednesday, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic says.

July 1: Entering today, the top free agent on the board was now-former Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers. He’s due for a big payday after teams looking to land an impact winger in the form of Mitch Marner, who’s off to Vegas in a sign-and-trade, or Brock Boeser, who’s staying in Vancouver on a seven-year deal, failed.

Many pegged Carolina as the favorite to land Ehlers entering today. They’ll certainly have more competition now with other teams looking to circle back and regroup after their day-one activities, but they still have immense spending flexibility with $19MM in cap space and no other moves to make, even after today’s pickup of K’Andre Miller.

As Ehlers likely takes another day – maybe even longer – to mull offers, the Hurricanes did confirm they’ve been in contact with Ehlers’ camp and are “waiting to see where that goes,” general manager Eric Tulsky told reporters Tuesday evening (including the team’s Walt Ruff). ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported earlier in the day that the Capitals and Lightning were also in contact with Ehlers’ camp, but nothing will be imminent until tomorrow at the soonest.

Ehlers would really need to prefer going to Tampa or Washington to make that a reality. Neither has the cap space to pay him his market value, surely over $8MM per season at this stage on a seven-year deal, and would need to make corresponding moves to make him fit in. Carolina has both a pressing need for him, a system that plays to his analytically inclined game, and the cap space to address his financial needs out of the gate.

Beyond that, his list of realistic destinations might be limited. There will be other teams like the Maple Leafs who may want to create room and add him as an impact top-line piece in the absence of Marner.

Still, Toronto – or any other Canadian team, for that matter – is likely not on Ehlers’ radar, considering his newfound ability to be picky about where he ends up thanks to how the market broke in his favor. He prefers a warmer and less intense market than Winnipeg, Frank Seravalli said on today’s coverage of free agency from B/R Open Ice.

East Notes: Primeau, Lettieri, Leonard

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Hurricanes RFA goaltender Cayden Primeau signed a one-year, league minimum deal yesterday, according to a team release.

Primeau saw his signing rights transferred from Montreal to Carolina on Monday in exchange for a 2026 seventh-round pick. The 25-year-old bounced between the NHL and AHL for his first four professional seasons coming out of Northeastern University, but won a full-time roster spot with the Habs in 2023-24, in part due to their unwillingness to expose him to waivers.

He looked good in a three-goalie rotation with Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen that year but struggled mightily as Montembeault’s full-time No. 2 to begin last season. He posted an .836 SV% and sky-high 4.70 GAA with a 2-3-1 record in seven starts and four relief appearances before being waived in December, clearing and heading to AHL Laval.

Primeau got things back on track with a .926 SV% and 2.00 GAA in 25 games with Laval. The Canes hope he can carry that momentum into 2025-26 as he serves as the No. 3 behind the returning NHL tandem of Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov, assuming he clears waivers again in the fall.

Here are a couple of other league minimum signings from yesterday:

  • The Maple Leafs brought in veteran depth center Vinni Lettieri, per PuckPedia. While a one-way deal, that’s presumably to guarantee him more compensation. They’re hoping he clears waivers and can be an impact player for AHL Toronto after they lost some important pieces like Nicholas Abruzzese and Alex Steeves yesterday. The 30-year-old spent last year with the Bruins organization, recording five points in 26 NHL games and 48 points in 46 AHL games.
  • The Red Wings announced a one-year, one-way league minimum deal for winger John Leonard yesterday. He joins their July 1 haul that also included James van Riemsdyk, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Ian Mitchell. It’s the 26-year-old’s first NHL contract in a year – he spent last season on an AHL deal with Charlotte, leading the Calder Cup runner-ups in scoring with 36 goals, 25 assists, and 61 points in 72 games.

Maple Leafs Sign Travis Boyd, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Dakota Mermis

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The Maple Leafs announced they’ve signed forward Travis Boyd to a one-year, league minimum contract, forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx to a two-year contract with a cap hit of $812,500, and re-signed defenseman Dakota Mermis to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $812,500. Toronto also confirmed the previously reported signing of Michael Pezzetta.

Boyd led the AHL’s Iowa Wild in scoring last season with a lofty 22 goals and 53 points in 63 games. He was a core piece of the lineup through the extent of the year, providing strong play on both sides of the puck and even serving as an alternate captains during home games. He also appeared in three NHL games on the year, but didn’t manage any scoring. Boys spent the last three seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, and routinely reached promising production. He scored 17 goals and 35 points in 74 games of the 2021-22 season; and 15 goals and 34 points in 82 games of the 2022-23 campaign.

Boyd didn’t offer sharp play away from the puck at an NHL level, but his hot play was halted by injury during the 2023-24 season. Just 16 games and eight points into the season, Boyd sustained a porn pectoral muscle and was forced to end the year early. With a full, strong year in the minors this season – he could be set to slowly walk back to the third-line upside he carried through a trio of years in Arizona.

Groulx is in much of the same position – looking to climb his way back to NHL action after a productive year in the minor leagues. He scored 15 goals and 37 points in 47 games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, good for second on the team in scoring behind Alex Belzile’s 56 points. Groulx played in 45 NHL games last season – after entering the season with just 20 career games up to that point. But he wasn’t able to do much with the extended look, netting just two assists, 22 penalty minutes, and a minus-nine. The performance marked the only changes to Groulx’s NHL stat line since he recorded three points and one penalty in 18 games of the 2021-22 season.

Finishing the trio of signings will be the return of Mermis, who appeared in three games with the Maple Leafs and 32 games with the Marlies. He scored one assist at the NHL level and seven assists in the minor-leagues. Mermis has wandered across the NHL over the last three seasons, moving from the Minnesota Wild, to the Utah Mammoth, and then to Toronto. He served as an extra defender across all three clubs, and will likely return to the rotation of depth NHL minutes and routine AHL ice time on a new deal in Toronto.

PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed significantly to this article.

Maple Leafs Sign Michael Pezzetta To Two-Year Deal

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The Maple Leafs are signing winger Michael Pezzetta to a two-year contract, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports. It’s a two-year deal with a cap hit of $787,500, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic.

Strictly playing in a fourth-line role with the Montreal Canadiens, Pezzetta finishes his tenure in Quebec with 15 goals and 38 points in 200 games, averaging 8:03 of ice time per game. Without producing much in the way of offense, Pezzetta was typically used in a defensive role when on the Canadiens roster, starting 54.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone, and maintaining a 90.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Unfortunately, after spending much of the last season as a healthy scratch, there was no real point for Pezzetta to remain in Montreal. In Toronto, he’ll play a similar role, and could again be a healthy scratch on most nights. Still, after trading Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Maple Leafs have found themselves in a unique monetary position to add a host of depth players this offseason.

Over the past several years, due to the high-priced contracts for Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Marner, Toronto has typically had challenges procuring the necessary depth to last throughout the regular season. Starting with Pezzetta, the team aims to strengthen its bottom six so it does not remain a liability throughout the regular season and playoffs.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Maple Leafs Hoping To Keep Holmberg Despite Non-Tender

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  • Despite non-tendering him yesterday, the Maple Leafs have interest in retaining center Pontus Holmberg, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). He would have been owed a qualifying offer of around $866K but that would have carried arbitration rights, something Toronto didn’t want to risk.  Holmberg had 19 points in 68 games last season and will have interest on the open market while the Maple Leafs will be looking to keep their depth contracts low to increase their flexibility to upgrade other areas of the roster.

Maple Leafs Sign Matthew Knies To Six-Year Deal

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July 1: The Knies deal was officially registered today after issuing him a qualifying offer yesterday, the club announced. Because of that, he was technically an RFA for a few hours, so the deal doesn’t qualify as a true extension. With Knies’ deal on the books and the Marner sign-and-trade completed, the team enters the free agent signing period with $5.8MM in cap space to spend on one open roster spot. The deal breaks down as follows, per PuckPedia:

2025-26: $3MM salary, $6MM signing bonus
2026-27 – 2027-28: $7MM salary, $2MM SB
2028-29: $6.5MM salary, $500,000 SB
2029-30: $6.25MM salary
2030-31: $6.25MM salary, 10-team no-trade list

June 29: The Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Matthew Knies have agreed to a six-year, $46.5MM extension, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The deal comes with a $7.75MM AAV.

Knies, who is coming off a 29-goal, 58-point campaign, will remain in Toronto long-term after being selected by the Maple Leafs in the second round of the 2021 draft.

Knies was set for restricted free agency, but Toronto wrapped up the winger before he could receive any offers from additional teams. The 22-year-old showcased his abilities last season, sniping nearly 30 goals while forming one of the top lines in the league alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. With Marner likely to leave the Maple Leafs in free agency, the team made sure not to lose Knies or recently extended John Tavares.

The extension comes after Knies discussed his hope to remain in Toronto long term at his end-of-season media availability on May 20th. In part, he stated: “I love to play in this city. I think it’s a blast. I want to be here and I want to play here. That’s all that really matters to me,” he said. “I love this group and everyone in this locker room. I think there’s really a chance to win here, and I think it’s the best chance for me to win.”

The American-born Knies has scored 44 goals and 94 points in 161 games for Toronto. Knies also showcased a strong performance during the playoffs last season, posting five goals and seven points in 13 games.

The extension leaves the Leafs with just north of $13.5MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. Now that Knies is signed, GM Brad Treliving can turn his focus to other pending RFAs, including Nicholas Robertson and Pontus Holmberg, before setting his sights on unrestricted free agency.

Golden Knights Acquire, Extend Mitch Marner

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Tuesday: Both sides have officially announced the one-for-one swap.

Monday, 6:45 p.m.: PuckPedia has shared the financial breakdown of Marner’s new deal with Vegas:

  • Year 1: $4MM salary, $11MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 2: $4MM salary, $10MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 3: $4MM salary, $9.75MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 4: $4MM salary, $7.25MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 5: $5MM salary, $6MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 6: $5MM salary, $6MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 7: $5MM salary, $5MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 8: $5MM salary, $5MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause

4:07 p.m.: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Vegas Golden Knights have acquired forward Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Shortly thereafter, Friedman shared that Marner is expected to sign an eight-year, $96MM deal ($12MM AAV) with the Golden Knights. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Nicolas Roy is the only player headed to the Maple Leafs in the reported deal, making it a one-for-one swap.

Arguably the league’s top available free agent since Artemi Panarin in 2019, the Golden Knights have assured that Marner won’t even reach unrestricted free agency. Marner will join a star-studded roster in Nevada that already includes Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore.

Unlike his situation in Toronto, Marner also joins a team that’s entrenched in winning. Without question, the most successful expansion team in NHL history, the Golden Knights have qualified for the postseason in seven out of their eight seasons, reaching three Western Conference Finals, two Stanley Cup Finals, and winning one Stanley Cup.

After the money is squared away, the Golden Knights should have approximately $2MM remaining in salary cap space. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is set to miss the entire 2025-26 season, potentially longer, providing Vegas with an added $8.8 million in flexibility. Coupled with Roy’s $3MM salary, the Golden Knights had plenty of flexibility to bring in Marner on a long-term contract.

In Marner, Vegas will add one of the league’s premier playmakers to its already high-end offense. Since debuting for the Maple Leafs in the 2016-17 season, Marner has scored 221 goals and 741 points in 657 games, averaging 20:03 of ice time per night. Aside from his offensive capabilities, Marner is exceptional on the defensive puck, earning a +128 rating with a career 52.7% CorsiFor% at even strength and a 90.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

By re-signing Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith over the past two days, and adding Marner this afternoon, the Golden Knights have completely addressed their need for quality wingers before unrestricted free agency has even opened. Furthermore, with $2MM remaining in salary cap space, Vegas has some flexibility to add toward the bottom of their lineup, or to shore up their defensive core with cheaper deals.

Marner’s addition reaffirms the adage of the ’rich becoming richer’. The Golden Knights finished the 2024-25 campaign with the fifth-best goals scored average (3.34), third-best goals against average (2.61), second-best powerplay (28.34%), 13th-best shooting percentage (11.0%), ninth-best CorsiFor% (51.8%), and 11th-best in high-danger scoring chances (51.9%). Interestingly enough, despite being known for his offensive talents, Marner may help Vegas the most on the penalty kill, as they finished this past season ranked 26th with a 75.74% kill rate.

In terms of the salary cap, this deal is only likely to improve for the Golden Knights. Marner will earn 12.57% of Vegas’ available salary cap next year while watching that percentage drop to 10.57% in only two years. Considering that they’ll need a new contract for Eichel after next season, Vegas should be in good shape to retain both for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, Marner does carry some baggage when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Like the Maple Leafs, the Golden Knights are firmly within their competitive window and have been competing for the Stanley Cup since becoming a team less than a decade ago. Although he won’t deal with a similar media landscape in Vegas, Marner will have similar expectations regarding his postseason performances.

In fairness to Marner, he’s been a quality postseason player, just not to his standard. During his time in Toronto, Marner scored 13 goals and 63 points in 70 playoff games, achieving a +9 rating. Although this would be viewed as quality production for most players, it’s a 0.22 drop-off in point-per-game average compared to his regular-season output. Now cemented in Vegas for the prime years of his career, Marner will only have so many more chances to correct the version of himself as a player when hockey becomes as important as it ever can.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs have done well by turning nothing into something. The likelihood of Marner staying in Toronto has been known for several weeks, and the Maple Leafs have made sure to get another asset in return rather than lose him for nothing. Unlike Marner, the player they’re acquiring from the Golden Knights has considerable postseason experience.

Over the last four years, Roy has become a valuable third-line center in Vegas. He can play all three forward positions and can move up and down the lineup, making him an extremely versatile forward.

Since becoming a full-time player for the Golden Knights in the 2021-22 season, Roy has scored 57 goals and 141 points in 284 games with a +26 rating, averaging 15:48 of ice time per game. His playoff scoring has declined, with five goals and 15 points in 40 games, but he contributed to the Golden Knights’  Stanley Cup victory in 2023. He should help create a stalwart third line in Toronto next to Max Domi and Scott Laughton.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Ehlers Holds Some Appeal For Maple Leafs

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  • Even after adding Matias Maccelli earlier today, the Maple Leafs will likely want to make an addition on the wing. To that end, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic noted in an appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link) that winger Nikolaj Ehlers “holds some appeal” for Toronto.  The 29-year-old is the number two player on our Top 50 UFA list and the top available with Mitch Marner on his way to Vegas in a move that’s expected to be made official soon.  Ehlers has scored at least 20 goals in eight of the last nine seasons and had 63 points in 69 games in 2024-25.

Maple Leafs Sign Steven Lorentz To Three-Year Extension

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The Maple Leafs announced they’ve kept forward Steven Lorentz away from the open market on a three-year, $4.05MM contract. He’ll carry a $1.35MM cap hit through the 2027-28 campaign.

The move represents a nice raise for the 29-year-old who spent this past season on a one-year contract worth the league minimum of $775K.  That came on the heels of an underwhelming year with Florida where Lorentz managed just one goal and two assists in 38 games during the regular season although he did see action in 16 playoff contests that year.

Things went better for Lorentz with his hometown team, however.  He got into 80 games with Toronto and collected eight goals and 11 assists, enough to tie his career high in points with 19 while blowing past his previous benchmark in hits with 199.  He also saw some secondary action on the penalty kill, resulting in his average ice time jumping up past the 10-minute mark per game.  Lorentz was a regular in the lineup for the Maple Leafs in the playoffs, notching a pair of assists and a little over three hits per game.

Clearly earning the trust of head coach Craig Berube, Lorentz has established himself as a trustworthy fourth liner in Toronto’s lineup and has earned himself some desired stability which was enough to keep him away from testing the open market on Tuesday.

PHR’s Brian La Rose also contributed to this article.

Maple Leafs Acquire Matias Maccelli From Mammoth

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The Maple Leafs have acquired winger Matias Maccelli from the Mammoth in exchange for their 2027 third-round pick, both teams announced. The pick will upgrade to Toronto’s 2029 second-rounder if Maccelli records at least 51 points in 2025-26 and the Leafs make the playoffs.

The change of scenery comes after a disastrous campaign for Maccelli, one of the few Utah players who took a measurable step back after the players moved there from Arizona. He was reportedly shopped around at the trade deadline, but no move came to fruition. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Maccelli did submit an official trade request to Utah GM Bill Armstrong during the season.

It’s likely a worthwhile bet on Toronto’s part on Maccelli’s ceiling. He was a fourth-round pick by the Coyotes back in 2019, but immediately popped as a strong point producer in his native Finland and in the AHL. He forced his way into a full-time role with Arizona in 2022 and was a legitimate top-six piece for the Coyotes in their last two years of existence, finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting back in 2022-23 on the back of an 11-goal, 49-point showing in 64 games. He continued to hover around that pace in 2023-24, playing in all 82 games for the Yotes and finishing third on the team with 57 points.

Amid increased competition from younger, higher-profile names like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, Maccelli’s production and ice time tumbled in Utah. He ended up spending a good part of the latter half of the year in the press box and had just eight goals and 18 points in 55 games on the year. That came with a career-low -13 rating and 13:44 average time on ice as well.

The Leafs hope Maccelli can see increased production, presumably as their second-line left wing alongside John Tavares and William Nylander, a position that was a bit of a revolving door throughout the 2024-25 campaign. He should, theoretically, fit in quite well as the primary playmaker on that line beside two incredibly skilled goal-scorers. Toronto’s focus will now turn toward finding a Mitch Marner substitute in free agency for their top line alongside Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews. After acquiring Maccelli, who’s signed through next season at a $3.425MM cap hit and will be an RFA upon expiry, they still have $10.1MM in space, per PuckPedia.

Utah doesn’t really need to make a corresponding move to replace Maccelli, who spent a good portion of the season out of the lineup anyway. They come out well here, too, for getting a potential second-rounder after the poor showing Maccelli had in 2024-25. They now have $18.4MM in cap space for next season with Jack McBain as their only notable RFA, per PuckPedia.

Darren Dreger of TSN was first to report the trade.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

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