The NHL's off-season is upon us and teams are already re-shaping their rosters for the 2016-17 season. Keep up to date on the latest trade/free agent news, speculation and rumours from around the league.

 

Backup Plans

With the big fish off the market ahead of free agency in Steven Stamkos, teams that were targeting the Lightning centre now have to focus on their backup plans.

Mark Zwolinski of the Toronto Star looks at a number of players the Maple Leafs could target on Friday, including a number of wingers and some defencemen.

Zwolinski mentions Kyle Okposo, Troy Brouwer, and Jiri Hudler up front and Dan Hamhuis and Kris Russell on the back end as players the Leafs could look to sign.

Meanwhile in Detroit, the Red Wings are suffering the same fate as the Leafs in the Stamkos sweepstakes and could be targeting a lot of the same players a day from now.

Ansar Khan on MLive.com lists a number of potential targets the Red Wings could be looking at and two of the same names appear in Okposo and Brouwer.

Khan also reports Frans Nielsen, David Backes, Loui Eriksson, Andrew Ladd, and Mikkel Boedker are among the group of the free agents the Red Wings are focused on.

 

Not so fast

On Wednesday, Joe Haggerty of CSN New England reported the Boston Bruins could be preparing a massive offer sheet for Winnipeg Jets restricted free agent Jacob Trouba.

Not so fast, Haggerty reports on Thursday.

The Bruins may be getting cold feet on the Trouba offer sheet for a number of reasons, according to Haggerty, including the high price it would cost should Trouba sign – four first round draft picks – and the resentment from all other 29 general managers the Bruins would face for poaching an RFA.

 

Minor Details

Should the Bruins pull the trigger on a Trouba offer sheet, things might change, but for now it appears the top four along the blue line for the Winnipeg Jets is set.

With that in mind, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun reports the Jets could be looking for a third pairing defenceman.

Some of the names Wiebe throws out as potential targets include Patrick Wiercioch, Klas Dahlbeck, Stuart Percy, Brandon Gormley, and Justin Falk.

 

Return Targets

The Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup under the current regime in 2010. Now it looks like they may be looking to get the band back together.

Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune lists a number of players the Blackhawks could be targeting in free agency, including a number of familiar faces.

Among the targets, former Blackhawks Brian Campbell, Andrew Ladd, and Kris Versteeg.

 

Adding a Piece

The Minnesota Wild could be a team to watch in free agency as well.

Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reports the team could be looking for an add like Okposo in free agency, or an add on the trade market like New York Rangers centre Derek Stepan.