Morning Coffee: The biggest winners and losers from Free Agent Frenzy

I hope you enjoyed blowing out the candles for Canada.

It was a trip down memory lane for yours truly with the last-minute purchase of some Burning Schoolhouses.

In case you missed it, FanDuel surprised us with a little something special that made Canada Day even better for anybody who bet on both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Toronto Maple Leafs in their Mitch Marner Next Team market.

While this specific market was for Marner’s next team, FanDuel indicated on their app that the winner would be the team that Marner signed his next contract with.

Since he ended up in Las Vegas after a sign-and-trade with Toronto, the Maple Leafs were technically the winner in that specific market.

However, the fact that Marner’s next team was the Golden Knights led to FanDuel’s decision to pay out both Vegas and Toronto as the winners.

With the Marner sign-and-trade in the books and several notable pending unrestricted free agents inked to new deals before July 1st, there weren’t many fireworks until after dark.

Still, the TSN Hockey crew delivered another fantastic edition of Free Agent Frenzy, which ended on a high note with a very special moment for a hockey legend.

As for the deals that got done, the impact they had was reflected in some of the NHL futures market moves that we saw at FanDuel over the past 24 to 72 hours.

Let’s recap the biggest winners and losers based on those numbers from FanDuel.

This is Morning Coffee for Wednesday July 2nd, 2025.

Recapping The Biggest Winners and Losers From Free Agent Frenzy

Let’s start with the biggest winners.

Florida Panthers

Can anybody stop the Cats? The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers are the favourite to win it all again in 2026 after bringing back Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, and Tomas Nosek with offseason deals. Florida solidified its roster and kept key talent from entering a thin free agent pool where they would have had an opportunity to sign with another contender. The Panthers odds to complete a historic three-peat have already been cut from +750 to +700 as the favourite to win it all again in 2026 at FanDuel.

Vegas Golden Knights

How much better is Vegas with Mitch Marner? Well, the Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup has already been cut from +1200 to +850 at FanDuel this summer. Only Florida has shorter odds this morning. Marner is still in his prime at 28-years-old and he’s coming off a 102-point season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. While he certainly makes the Vegas roster better, I’m not convinced the Golden Knights are significantly more likely to contend for the Stanley Cup following the addition of Marner. After all, what did he do in Toronto to convince me otherwise?

Montreal Canadiens

How high is the Canadiens ceiling? Montreal opened at 100-to-1 to win the Stanley Cup and is already down to 60-to-1 at FanDuel this morning. In Tuesday’s column, I recommended the Habs at +156 to make the playoffs as a FanDuel Best Bet. That number has dropped to +144 this morning. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Noah Dobson, Ivan Demidov, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Jayden Struble, David Reinbacher, and the newest addition Zack Bolduc are all 25-years-old or younger. Habs fans have a lot to be excited about moving forward.

As for the teams trending in the wrong direction… 

Los Angeles Kings

What’s next in LA? The Kings had over $20 million in salary cap space, but they lost Vladislav Gavrikov and came away from the first day of free agency with Corey Perry, Joel Armia, Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, and Anton Forsberg. It isn’t often that a team adds five veterans and its odds to win the Stanley Cup lengthen. However, that is the case for Los Angeles, which climbed from +1900 to +2100 to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel. The Kings are still a heavy favourite to make the playoffs at -290, a top 10 choice to win the Stanley Cup, and they still have the cap space to add to their roster. However, coming off another disappointing postseason exit, the early returns this offseason have LA trending down in futures markets.

Nashville Predators

Will the Predators bounce back in 205-26? Nashville was considered a playoff contender entering last season, with shorter odds to make the postseason than teams like the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. Things didn’t play out as expected, and the Predators ended up with the third-worst record in the Western Conference ahead of only the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks. While they landed a potential stud in fifth overall pick Brady Martin and traded for both Colton Sissons and Nicolas Hague, those moves combined with the addition of Nick Perbix weren’t enough to bolster their playoff odds. Nashville to make the playoffs ticked up from +194 to +198 at FanDuel. Meanwhile, the Predators’ Stanley Cup odds climbed from 85-to-1 to 100-to-1. There’s been a lot of talk about this team wanting to win now. It’s hard to envision a path to the postseason in the West.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Where do the Penguins go from here? It seems like everybody wants to know what’s next for Sidney Crosby, who is 37 years old and has two years remaining on his current contract. Pittsburgh has upwards of $20 million in salary cap space, but their offseason additions have been limited to Philip Tomasino, Connor Dewar, Parker Wotherspoon, Alex Nedeljkovic, and draft picks. The Penguins were never going to be considered a Stanley Cup contender for 2025-26, but the fact that their odds have lengthened from 280-to-1 to 340-to-1 this summer reflects the sentiment surrounding the franchise. Could Crosby or Evgeni Malkin be moved eventually? Maybe not, but it’s worth highlighting that even with both on their roster the Penguins have longer odds to win it all than any teams other than the Blackhawks and Sharks. Who would have thought that could ever even be possible for a team with Crosby and Malkin?