NHL free agency opens with wild day of movement

What. A. Day.

Every year we call this day, July 1, the free-agent frenzy. This year, it really was wild.

Monday was a day of change in the NHL, a day when franchise icons departed for new opportunities in different locales, when several teams beefed up their blue lines and others watched important players leave, trying like heck to replace them on the fly.

It was a day for the Nashville Predators and their fans to stick out their chests and say look at us, notice us, we're here and we're for real. It was a day for the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers to watch some fan favorites leave.

It was a day that truly signified the end of the flat-cap era in the NHL and teams spent as such, knowing the salary cap for this season is going up to $88 million from $83.5 million. It had gone up only $2 million over the previous five seasons.

More than 100 players changed teams. More than $1 billion was spent.

"Lots of players changed teams today," Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said. "We're coming off four years, five years of sort of a stagnant cap. You've seen some cap growth, you see some good players in the market, we've seen some teams get aggressive. It wasn't unexpected."

But it sure was fun.

Steven Stamkos was the biggest headliner of the day.

The Predators signed the 34-year-old forward to a four-year, $32 million contract ($8 million average annual value) after Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning could not come to an agreement on a deal that would allow him to finish his career where he started it.

Stamkos, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft to the Lightning, had spent 16 years in Tampa Bay and leaves as the Lightning's all-time leader in many of the most important statistical categories, making it an impossibly hard day for a generation of Lightning fans who have come to know No. 91 as their own, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and arguably the best player in franchise history.

He no longer is theirs.

The Lightning went in a different direction, choosing 29-year-old Jake Guentzel over Stamkos.

Guentzel signed a seven-year, $63 million contract ($9 million AAV) with the Lightning, who acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

There's no harm in that. Guentzel was the prize of this year's free-agent class and he went to Tampa Bay. That's a feather in the Lightning's cap. But they couldn't get him and Stamkos, so Nashville swooped in and got the player who had 81 points (40 goals, 41 assists) in 79 games last season.

But the Predators didn't stop at Stamkos. Far from it.

Nashville also signed forward Jonathan Marchessault to a five-year, $27.5 million contract ($5.5 million AAV), defenseman Brady Skjei to a seven-year, $49 million deal ($7 million AAV) and goalie Scott Wedgewood to a two-year, $3 million contract ($1.5 million AAV). It also re-signed Alexandre Carrier to a three-year, $11.25 million deal ($3.75 million AAV).

Marchessault had been with the Vegas Golden Knights since their inaugural season of 2017-18. He won the Stanley Cup with them in 2022-23 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is Vegas' all-time leader in games played (514), goals (192), assists (225) and points (417).

But Marchessault said he didn't think Vegas made a serious push to keep him, and when he saw Stamkos went to Nashville, he decided that was the place for him too.

Skjei left the Hurricanes to join Stamkos and Marchessault, not to mention Predators defenseman and captain Roman Josi.

Beyond all that, the Predators also signed goalie Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $61.92 million contract ($7.74 million AAV) that begins in the 2025-26 season because he still has one year remaining on his current contract.

So, yes, the Predators won the day.

But they weren't the only team that made a splash.

The New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and Seattle Kraken revamped or retooled their defense groups with some significant additions/upgrades. The Utah Hockey Club continued down its path to doing the same, one it started Saturday.

The Devils signed Brett Pesce (six years, $5.5 million AAV) and Brenden Dillon (three years, $4 million AAV) to add to a blue line that already features Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec and Jonas Siegenthaler. With Jacob Markstrom as their new goalie, the Devils should not be in the bottom third in goals against per game this season as they were last season.

Toronto acquired Chris Tanev from the Dallas Stars on Saturday and used the exclusive negotiating window to sign him to a six-year contract with a $4.5 million AAV. The Maple Leafs also signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers, to a four-year contract worth $3.5 million annually.

In addition, the Maple Leafs re-signed goalie Joseph Woll (three years, $3.66 million AAV), forward Max Domi (four years, $3.75 million AAV) and defenseman Timothy Liljegren (two years, $3 million AAV).

The Capitals acquired Jakob Chychrun in a trade with the Ottawa Senators, sending Nick Jensen and a draft pick in return, and then they signed Matt Roy to a six-year contract that has a $5.75 million AAV.

Seattle signed one of the top defenseman on the market, inking Brandon Montour to a seven-year, $50 million contract ($7.14 million AAV) one week after he won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.

The Kraken also signed center Chandler Stephenson, formerly of the Golden Knights, to a seven-year, $43.75 million contract ($6.25 million AAV). Clearly missing the playoffs last season didn't sit well, so the Kraken signed players who played big roles on each of the past two Stanley Cup championship teams.

Utah added defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino through trades on Saturday, and then signed Ian Cole to a one-year contract Monday. The financial terms were not disclosed. Utah also re-signed RFA defenseman Sean Durzi to a four-year contract.

The Panthers knew this would be a hard day to keep their Stanley Cup-winning team intact, and they couldn't do it. But they kept some important pieces, signing forward Sam Reinhart to an eight-year contract and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to a four-year deal.

But Florida lost Montour, Ekman-Larsson, Kevin Stenlund (Utah) and Ryan Lomberg (Calgary Flames). The Panthers replaced them by signing forwards Tomas Nosek (one year), A.J. Greer (two years) and Jesper Boqvist (one year), as well as goalie Chris Driedger (one year) .

The Panthers' remaining UFAs are forwards Vladimir Tarasenko, Kyle Okposo, Nick Cousins and Steven Lorentz.

The Boston Bruins made two major moves to keep pace in the Atlantic Division, signing center Elias Lindholm (seven years, $7.75 million AAV) and defenseman Nikita Zadorov (six years, $5 million AAV).

Lindholm's signing ended a two-year pursuit of the center by the Bruins. He's not Patrice Bergeron, but he's Bergeron Lite, and he fills a major need at center for Boston.

Zadorov gives the Bruins more size and experience on the back end, a potential defense partner for Charlie McAvoy. That would be Boston's top pair.

The Chicago Blackhawks continued to build around center Connor Bedard by insulating him with more experienced players, including three players who have won a combined seven Stanley Cup championships in forwards Teuvo Teravainen (three years, $5.4 million AAV) and Pat Maroon (one year, $1.3 million AAV), and defenseman Alec Martinez (one year, $4 million AAV).

Teravainen won the Cup with the Blackhawks in 2015. Maroon won it three times (2019, 2020, 2021) and Martinez also won it three times (2012, 2014, 2023).

In addition, Chicago signed forwards Tyler Bertuzzi (four years, $5.5 million AAV), Craig Smith (one year, $1 million AAV) and Joey Anderson (two years, $800,000 AAV), defenseman T.J. Brodie (two years, $3.75 million AAV), and goalie Laurent Brossoit (two years, $3.3 million AAV).

The signings push the Blackhawks in the right direction. It's a stretch to say it will push them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

The Edmonton Oilers did some work even without a general manager, signing forwards Viktor Arvidsson (two years, $4 million AAV) and Jeff Skinner (one year, $3 million AAV), and defenseman Josh Brown (three years, $1 million AAV), while also re-signing Adam Henrique (two years, $3 million AAV), Mattias Janmark (three years, $1.45 million AAV) Corey Perry (one year, $1.4 million AAV) and Connor Brown (one year, $1 million).

Staying in the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks got two veteran players to buy into their rebuild, signing forwards Tyler Toffoli (four years, $6 million AAV) and Alexander Wennberg (two years, $5 million AAV).

Toffoli and Wennberg, along with center Barclay Goodrow, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers last month, will help the Sharks insulate and develop top-pick Macklin Celebrini and rookie Will Smith.

There were some other big moves on this big Monday in the NHL, including Sean Monahan to the Columbus Blue Jackets (five years, $5.5 million AAV), Anthony Duclair to the New York Islanders (four years, financial terms undisclosed) and Jake DeBrusk to the Vancouver Canucks (seven years, $5.5 million AAV).

And this was just Day 1 of the offseason.

What a day, indeed.