Free Agent Frenzy on July 1 continues to draw closer and TSN.ca keeps you up to date with all the latest news and rumours as the NHL off-season heats up.
Capitals load up, but cap space remains
The Washington Capitals appear to be the early winners of the off-season after adding Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues and Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres.
While adding two scoring wingers has certainly sparked speculation that Alex Ovechkin’s time with the franchise is at an end, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports the Capitals have been looking to boost their offence for quite some time.
LeBrun told Jay Onrait Wednesday that Capitals general manager Chris Patrick made a serious run at landing Nikolaj Ehlers on the free agent market before he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes last summer and tried to land Artemi Panarin on the trade market earlier this year.
Patrick traded forward Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin and 16th overall pick this year to the Blues for Kyrou and sent a third-round pick and centre David Kampf to the Sabres in the Tuch sign-and-trade. Washington still owns the 18th overall pick, which was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for John Carlson at the trade deadline.
Ovechkin’s status remains unknown, with the Capitals expecting to hear a decision from the 40-year-old some time after July 1. Set to turn 41 in September, Ovechkin is coming off another productive season, posting 32 goals and 64 points in 82 games.
The Russian left winger is coming off a five-year deal that carried a cap hit of $9.5 million. After taking on Kyrou at an $8.125 million AAV and signing Tuch to an eight-year deal at a cap hit of $10.5 million, the Capitals still have a comfortable $12.7 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, with just one roster spot to fill.
Winger Brandon Duhaime is the team’s only other pending unrestricted free agent, while forward Hendrix Lapierre is in need of a new deal as a restricted free agent.
More moves coming in St. Louis?
The Blues are flush with first-round picks after moving out Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk over the past four months.
The Blues currently have the 11th, 15th, 16th and 29th overall selections in Friday’s NHL draft and Doug Armstrong, who is transitioning from general manager to president, says the team is open for business.
He’s waiting for teams around the league to give him a call.
“It was important for us,” Armstrong told the Athletic of completing the Kyrou trade early in the draft week. “It allows the other 31 teams to digest what St. Louis is trying to accomplish and see if they can participate. If we can use some of these assets to improve our team, we will strongly consider it.
“Now if you’re one of 31 other teams, you can say, ‘OK, St. Louis has (Nos.) 11, 15, 16, 29. This is what they want to try and accomplish. Do we want a draft pick? What do we have to offer to get it?’ Instead of 12 hours, it allows them 48 hours to really dig in and see if there’s a potential match.”
All options appear to be on the table for the Blues, from making a trade for a current NHL player, to using the picks to move up in the draft or making each selection on Friday night.
“I do see a scenario where we try and serve both the amateur staff and the pro staff by picking on Friday but also adding to the team that will take the ice in September,” Armstrong said. “It could be NHL players. It could be prospects. But we’re either going to have one of two things.
“If we draft all four players (in the first round) and all 13 (picks), we’ll probably shoot up in the rankings of prospect pools around the league. If we trade for established players, people will say we’re a better team than we were because we’ve added NHL players.”
The Blues missed the playoffs for the third time in four years this season. The team came close to trading defenceman Colton Parayko ahead of the trade deadline before he declined to waive his no-move clause and also weighed interest in forward Robert Thomas and goaltender Jordan Binnington.
It’s unclear if the Blues will revisit any of those talks this summer. The team is currently flush with cap space, owning just shy of $23 million with 19 players under contract, per PuckPedia. McMichael, acquired in the Kyrou deal, is a restricted free agent along with winger Jonatan Berggren and defenceman Matthew Kessel. Forward Oskar Sundqvist and blueliner Justin Holl are currently slated to hit the open market as unrestricted free agents.
Bruins direction unclear
The Boston Bruins are looking to take another step forward this summer after returning to the playoffs, but general manager Don Sweeney isn’t closing any doors.
Sweeney, who oversaw the return to the postseason just a year after the Bruins shipped out Brad Marchand and Brandon Carlo at the 2025 trade deadline, admitted he could look to take advantage of a seller’s market this month.
“I think everything has to be on the table this time of the year,” Sweeney told reporters Wednesday. “Ultimately, our goal is to improve now and moving forward,” he said. “I think a competitive league is adding to the willingness to move – to move picks and in some of these cases, move players…It is all part of the same dynamic that we as managers have to continue to have a pulse of and be as proactive as we can.”
Sweeney pointed to possibility of opening a roster spot for a young player as a benefit to moving out a proven talent, pointing to the success of Fraser Minten, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Carlo deal.
“Sometimes that’s a half a step back for two steps forward,” Sweeney said.
The general manager’s comments come after TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun wrote in The Athletic last week that the Bruins are willing to listen on centre Pavel Zacha.
LeBrun noted that Boston’s priority is to extend Zacha, but the franchise will weigh his contract ask against the offers that come in from other teams.
“I would prefer to be proactive in that,” Sweeney said Wednesday of extending Zacha once he becomes eligible on July 1. “My goal is to extend Pav. He had a really good year; he’s an important player for us. If you asked Marco, he’d say the same thing – how important he is.”
Zacha, 29, registered 30 goals and a career-high 65 points in 78 games with the Bruins last season. He added a goal and three points in six playoff games before his team was eliminated in the first round.
The 6-foot-4 centre is entering the final season of a four-year, $19 million contract that carries a cap hit of $4.75 million.
