NHL Offseason Recap: Marner to Vegas, Big Trades, Key Moves Unveiled

The long wait is finally coming to an end. Hockey season is almost upon us. Rookie camps and training camps open this month, and for those who detach from everything to focus on soaking up the summer sun or turn attention to their favorite baseball or WNBA team, a lot has happened since the Florida Panthers captured the team's second-straight Stanley Cup by defeating the Edmonton Oilers, this time in six games.

Matthew Schaefer went No. 1 overall in an NHL Draft that featured few surprises, and the subsequent opening of NHL free agency was more of the same. It was highlighted by one big decision, Mitch Marner, but was relatively quiet aside from that. With the NHL salary cap jumping from $88 million in 2024-25 to $95.5 million in the upcoming season, an increase of $7.5 million, teams had the ability to maintain their pending free agents in ways that they haven't been able to in years prior, and, for the most part, took full advantage of the newfound flexibility. 

With free agency being a bit of a dud, trades were where most of the action happened, and there were certainly a couple of big names that have new homes for the upcoming season. 

Here's a full recap of the big moves made over the doldrums of the summer months:

Mitch Marner's Big Move to the Vegas Golden Knights

After a nine-season tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, in which he had 741 points in 657 career regular-season games, Marner is officially moving on from his hometown team. The 28-year-old, who has 13 goals and 50 assists in 70 playoff appearances in his career, is off to the Golden Knights, acquired with an eight-year, $96 million extension in a sign-and-trade for Nicolas Roy. He joins an already stacked forward group that includes established NHL stars Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl, along with last year's breakout star, Pavel Dorofeyev. The Golden Knights currently sit over $7 million clear of the salary cap, but the news that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will miss at least the entirety of the upcoming season, and potentially more, will likely take care of that overage. 

Marner was undoubtedly the biggest fish available in an otherwise underwhelming group of free agents. As previously mentioned, the class was severely weakened by players re-signing with their current teams ahead of the opening of free agency. Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett, all key pieces of the Panthers' Cup run, are all back in Sunrise on long-term deals. Brock Nelson, a big acquisition at the trade deadline last year by the Colorado Avalanche from the New York Islanders, re-signed with the Avalanche. The Maple Leafs may have lost Marner, but they re-signed John Tavares to an extremely team-friendly contract. Ivan Provorov, Patrick Kane, Trent Frederic, Kevin Bahl, Ryan Donato, the list goes on and on. So who did end up moving? 

Well, two high-end wingers did wind up making it to July 1: Nikolaj Ehlers and Brock Boeser. To keep on theme with this year's free agency, Boeser ended up re-signing with the Canucks on a seven-year, $50.75 million deal. Ehlers, however, is switching teams, going from the Winnipeg Jets to the Carolina Hurricanes with a six-year, $51 million contract. Carolina needed a boost to the top six and will get it with Ehlers, who has scored over 20 goals in all but two of his 10 NHL seasons, as long as he can remain healthy. 

Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov is also on the move, joining the New York Rangers on a seven-year, $49 million deal. He fills a hole on the left side for the Rangers after the departure of Ryan Lindgren, who signed with the Seattle Kraken in free agency, with the hope being that Gavrikov can be the long-term defense partner for star Adam Fox. Mikael Granlund decided not to re-sign with the Dallas Stars and is off to the Anaheim Ducks on a three-year, $21 million agreement. Other notable players on the move include Dmitry Orlov to the San Jose Sharks, Christian Dvorak to the Philadelphia Flyers, Pius Suter to the St. Louis Blues and Cody Ceci to the Los Angeles Kings. 

Defensemen Dominate NHL Offseason Trade Market

While free agency may have been disappointing, the trade market certainly tried to help make up for it, highlighted by some big-time defensemen switching clubs. 

Noah Dobson, a 6-foot-4 blueliner one year removed from a 70-point season, was traded on the day of the NHL Draft to the Montreal Canadiens for two first-round draft picks and forward Emil Heineman. The trade gives the Canadiens two major offensive pieces to work with on the blue line between Dobson and returning rookie sensation and Calder Trophy winner, Lane Hutson. 

Montreal also grabbed some headlines with a one-for-one trade of defense prospect Logan Mailloux for forward Zachary Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues. Bolduc, a 2021 first-round draft selection, put up 19 goals and 17 assists in his first full NHL season last year at the age of 21. After making the playoffs for the first time since being the league runner-up in the strange 2021 season, the Canadiens and GM Kent Hughes have certainly not been shy about trying to improve the team, making big, bold moves to try and go further than just getting a ticket to the dance. 

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes continued their busy offseason and cashed some of the draft capital from the blockbuster Mikko Rantanen deal to acquire defenseman K'Andre Miller from the Rangers, trading a conditional first-round pick, a second-round pick and defenseman Scott Morrow. Miller joins a stacked left side of the Carolina defense corps, also featuring shutdown star Jaccob Slavin, top prospect Alexander Nikishin and offensive threat Shayne Gostisbehere. 

In the Western Conference, the Utah Mammoth made their first major trade since relocating from Arizona, acquiring young forward JJ Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres for forward prospect Josh Doan and right-shot defenseman Michael Kesselring. Peterka scored 27 goals and added 41 assists last season and should add some much-needed scoring punch to the Mammoth top-six. 

The Ducks were probably the most active team in the league when it came to working the phones, pulling the trigger on a multitude of notable trades. First, they got Chris Kreider from the Rangers for a minimal net loss in compensation. Then, they executed a bit of a surprising move, sending the talented Trevor Zegras to the Flyers in exchange for forward Ryan Poehling, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. Zegras has one year remaining on his contract that pays him $5.75 million annually, and he'll look to revitalize his career in Philadelphia. Finally, there was a resolution to the ongoing John Gibson trade rumors; he was moved to the Detroit Red Wings for goaltender Petr Mrazek, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. Gibson will battle it out with 38-year-old Cam Talbot for the starting job in Detroit as they continue to buy time for their top goalie prospects. 

Finally, the Edmonton Oilers were able to pry Isaac Howard away from both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Michigan State University, where Howard was set to play his senior season. In a swap of late first-round draft picks, the Oilers sent forward prospect Sam O'Reilly for Howard's services and signed him to his entry-level contract. He figures to make an instant impact with Edmonton, perhaps on the wing of either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. 

While this offseason might not have been as eventful as some others, there was still some significant movement to speak of. Coming out of the flat cap era, there was bound to be an adjustment period, and that's where we seem to be now. As teams get more acquainted with the new environment, there should be more offseason drama in seasons moving forward.