nhl-free-agency - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Montreal Offer-Sheeted Sebastian Aho, But Don Waddell Is Getting Off Those Jokes
An unexpected delight on the opening of NHL free agency: The Montreal Canadiens have signed Carolina Hurricanes restricted free agent forward Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet. It will be very interesting to see how this one goes down—while it feels unlikely that the Hurricanes won’t match, at the ver...
Phil Kessel's Going To Arizona After A Messy Breakup With The Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins accomplished the inevitable. After Phil Kessel rejected a trade to the Minnesota Wild, the Pens found an agreeable new team for him, all the way out in Arizona. On Saturday, Pittsburgh traded Kessel, a 2021 fourth-round pick, and prospect Dane Birks to the Coyotes for Alex Ga...
The Rangers Are Apparently Keen To Sign Artemi Panarin's Twin Brother, "Lefty" Panarin
Artemi Panarin is the hottest forward on the free agent market. The 27-year-old is such a vibrant scorer that the Blue Jackets forewent the sizable trade bounty he would have pulled in at the deadline, even knowing he was on his way out this summer, because he was so key to their playoff hopes. Mult...
The NHL Offseason Is Off To A Roaring, Boring Start
This right here is why the National Hockey League doesn’t get it. Erik Karlsson just signed a record-setting eight-year deal worth more than $11 million per year with the San Jose Sharks without any fuss or muss. Deal framed, talked about, signed. Couldn’t be easier....
Erik Karlsson's Megadeal Means The End Of Something In San Jose
Erik Karlsson’s first season in San Jose was a mixed bag. The superstar d-man put up 0.85 points per game, but he was hurt all year, and was in and out of the lineup late in the season, including in the playoffs. If the Sharks didn’t get the best display of exactly what their team looks like with hi...
Can’t Everyone Just Stop Hollering At Phil Kessel While He’s Tryin’ To Watch The Teevee?
With the long NHL offseason here and no more hockey being played at all*, a young fan’s fancy turns, of course, to trade drama. This year’s downright biblical playoffs mean lots of teams are likely to be in the mix this summer—Columbus is about to lose high-value Russians faster than Petrograd afte...
This Is What It Takes To Sign Auston Matthews
The thing about building an elite team—something the Leafs have done for the very first time in the salary-cap era—is that, very quickly, you have to figure out how to pay for it. It gets top-heavy, and you either have to get creative, or see it all fall apart. The Maple Leafs already agreed to pay ...
Goddamn, John Tortorella Is <i>Pissed</i>
I want to begin by noting that it’s pretty funny that this latest, greatest round of beef between the Blue Jackets and Penguins is all over Jack Johnson, of all players, a bottom-pairing defenseman on the wrong side of 30 and coming off his worst season as a pro. That said: Give me the beef!...
Offer Sheet Drama Might Be My Favorite Part Of The NHL Calendar
There is nothing that gets hockey people riled up quite like offer sheets. Nothing. The mere rumor of their existence is enough to send fans clogging talk radio lines, and set GMs to vowing revenge and—quite literally—challenging each other to fights. Well, we’re two days away and I am fucking psych...
Your NHL Free Agency Open Thread
I'm not going to do a full accounting of the first day of free agency (here's a tracker for that), but you deserve at least the bullet points thus far, so as to point and laugh....
"Hockeyy Insiderr," Everyone's Favorite Twitter Rumormonger, Is Probably A 17-Year-Old Kid
Perhaps you're familiar with @HockeyyInsiderr. Even with the awkward username, the mysterious Twitter account has racked up 50,000 followers* hungry for NHL rumors. Despite the fact that any sane reader can tell Hockeyy Insiderr has zero inside sources, and zero knowledge that can't be gleaned from ...
Nashville Matches Shea Weber Offer Sheet, Remains Viable NHL Franchise
When Philadelphia surprised everyone by giving Predator defenseman a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet, we were awed by Paul Holmgren's balls and savvy, and sad for Nashville fans, most of whom are actually quite devoted (there's just not enough to of them to, you know, make the team profitable.) We...