Ottawa Senators<\/a> for a package built around the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. That draft pick was only in Florida\u2019s possession by virtue of an injury-plagued campaign that saw the two-time defending champs miss the playoffs while playing the entire season without captain Aleksander Barkov, to say nothing of numerous other high-profile players who missed huge chunks of the campaign.<\/p>\nNow, the Cats add a hungry Brady Tkachuk to a team that features his brother, Matthew, and a host of other decorated vets who are healthy, rested and ready to take another run at the top prize.<\/p>\n
Certainly, Florida will have some questions to answer in the crease, where the Panthers are turning to Jacob Markstrom \u2014 a Florida draft pick 18 years ago, in 2008 \u2014\u00a0after the departure of Bobrovsky via free agency.<\/p>\n
With Brady Tkachuk in the mix, though, this top-nine forward group is terrifying.<\/p>\n
Key departures:\u00a0Brendan Gallagher, W; Joe Veleno, C\/W<\/p>\n
It feels like the most appropriate grade for the Habs would be \u201cincomplete\u201d because \u2014 despite their best efforts \u2014 they were not able to land the difference-making top-six forward they covet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a quiet off-season in Montreal in terms of new players coming to the organization, but the one big bit of business GM Kent Hughes executed did reinforce the overall strong standing of the ascendant team. That came on July 1, when Calder Trophy runner-up Ivan Demidov \u2014 on the first day he was eligible \u2014 inked an eight-year extension that carries an AAV of just over $9 million through 2034-35. With Demidov in the fold long-term, the Canadiens have essentially locked down their entire young core on contracts that can be described as very team-friendly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So while nothing earth-shattering has occurred in Montreal this summer, Demidov\u2019s new deal \u2014 and the growth potential he has in the early years of the contract \u2014 represent more steady progress for the Canadiens.<\/p>\n
If it can still manage to swing a meaningful deal for a forward to play with Demidov on the second line before training camp, Montreal will feel fantastic about the off-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key arrivals:\u00a0William Eklund, W; Andre Burakovsky, W; Samuel Ersson, G<\/p>\n
Key departures:\u00a0Brady Tkachuk, W; Lars Eller, C\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the initial shock of the Tkachuk trade wore off, it quickly gave way to a deep understanding that this was something that had to happen for Ottawa. With the benefit of hindsight, it\u2019s clear the former Sens captain wasn\u2019t long for Canada\u2019s capital and it was best to move on and bring that chapter to a close.<\/p>\n
The countermove to acquire Eklund \u2014 a 23-year-old winger with upside \u2014 from San Jose would feel a lot better if Ottawa didn\u2019t have to burn the No. 9 pick it got from Florida for Tkachuk to do it, but that\u2019s not how things played out.<\/p>\n
If Eklund makes good on his potential and jumps up from being a 55-point player to something more, the Senators should feel just fine about the move.<\/p>\n
The vibe around town would be more gloomy if local boy Claude Giroux followed Tkachuk out the door, but Giroux\u2019s decision to stay feels like both a tangible and symbolic victory for the team.<\/p>\n
If, by chance, the Sens can lock up pending-UFA Drake Batherson on an extension before the season starts, the summer will officially feel like a success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key arrivals:\u00a0John Carlson, D; Dennis Hildeby, G<\/p>\n
Key departures:\u00a0Darren Raddysh, D; Nick Paul; W; Corey Perry, W<\/p>\n
The Bolts are in a bit of a rut, having failed in four straight years to get past the first round of the playoffs. Still, the off-season was never likely to bring massive turnover \u2014 not with so many good players still locked into long-term deals \u2014 and, indeed, the story with Tampa is limited to a swap of right-shot, PP1 defencemen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raddysh had a breakout year for the Lightning with 70 points in his age-29 season, but the two sides weren\u2019t going to make it work on an eight-year deal. Instead, veteran John Carlson \u2014 the longtime Washington Capital \u2014 comes back east on a two-year pact after a brief sojourn with the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n
Even if Carlson is 36 years old, Tampa surely feels it knows what it\u2019s getting in the smart, offence-first blue-liner. The intrigue \u2014 and potential upside \u2014 comes in goal, where Hildeby was acquired from Toronto in the hopes he can spell starter Andrei Vasilevskiy more reliably than Jonas Johansson did last season. If the six-foot-seven, 24-year-old Hildeby can be a quality No. 2, Vasilevskiy \u2014 the reigning Vezina Trophy winner \u2014 might be fresher for the playoffs, where he\u2019s struggled the past couple springs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On balance, though, it\u2019s a case of \u201cdrive on\u201d in Tampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Key arrivals:\u00a0Gavin McKenna, W; Sergei Bobrovsky, G; Darren Raddysh, D; Nick Paul, W; Emil Andrae, D; Jack Roslovic, W; Colton Sissons, C; Teddy Blueger, C; Brandon Duhaime, W<\/p>\n
Key departures:\u00a0Joseph Woll, G; Brandon Carlo, D; Nick Robertson, W; Simon Benoit, D; Mattias Maccelli, W; Dennis Hildeby, G<\/p>\n
Honestly, what\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0happen in Toronto since the Leafs played Game 82? New GM John Chayka made everyone stand up and take notice when he swooped in to acquire Raddysh \u2014 one of the most coveted players set to hit a barren UFA market \u2014 from Tampa and inked him to an eight-year deal before July 1. Then, when the market did open, Toronto signed everyone on it. OK, that\u2019s a slight exaggeration \u2014 and most of the Buds\u2019 moves were for bottom-six guys \u2014 but you can\u2019t ignore adding a piece like the Hall of Fame-bound Bobrovsky, even if he\u2019s going to be 38 when the season begins.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t really credit Toronto grade-wise for winning the draft lottery, but the end result is still the Leafs putting what they hope will be a difference-making winger on the top line in the form McKenna, an 18-year-old puck wizard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A tandem of Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz has strong potential, the forward group figures to be much tougher to play against under new coach Jim Hiller and, if the Raddysh move pays off, the club has a new top-four, right-shot defenceman who can breathe new life into a wheezy power play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Maple Leafs still have questions to answer, but the organization has done all it possibly could to prop the team back up this off-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School\u2019s still out, but for NHL clubs, it\u2019s report card season.\u00a0 As we enter August, the focus starts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-843338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}