Both first-round picks are top-10 protected.<\/p>\n
Nemec, 22, is the main piece in the deal, dealt just shy of four years after he was drafted second overall by the Devils in the 2022 draft. He\u2019s appeared in 155 NHL games thus far in his career, scoring 16 goals and 49 points. Nemec<\/a> is coming off his entry-level contract, and is slated to become a restricted free agent on July 1.<\/p>\n All three of the Flames\u2019 picks dealt in the trade were previously acquired by the team. The first-round picks were acquired in separate deals for defenceman Rasmus Andersson and centre Nazem Kadri, while the second-round pick was acquired from the Utah Mammoth in the MacKenzie Weegar trade.<\/p>\n Sens snag Eklund from SharksRoughly 48 hours after trading captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, the Senators dealt the ninth-overall pick<\/a> acquired in that deal to the San Jose Sharks. In return, Steve Staios\u2019 Sens picked up Swedish winger William Eklund, and prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda.Eklund<\/a>, 23, is entering the first year of a three-year contract paying him $5.6 million annually, and is coming off a 15-goal, 55-point season in which he played 78 games. Drafted by the Sharks seventh overall in the 2021 draft, Eklund has appeared in 252 NHL games, scoring 50 goals and 163 points.Kyrou lands in the American capital<\/p>\n In return, the re-tooling Blues picked up the 16th overall selection in Friday\u2019s draft, centre Connor McMichael, and centre prospect Milton G\u00e4strin.<\/p>\n Kyrou, 28, has spent his entire career with the Blues after being drafted 35th overall in the 2016 draft, scoring 168 goals and 378 points in 488 games. This season, he saw a significant dip in offensive production, totaling just 18 goals, 28 assists, and 46 points \u2014 his lowest marks in each category since the 2020-21 season.<\/p>\n McMichael, 25, had spent his entire career up to this point with the Capitals since being selected 25th overall in the 2019 draft. He\u2019s totaled 67 goals and 154 points in 315 games, racking up 14 goals and 46 points in 78 games this season.<\/p>\n Kyrou<\/a> has four years left on a deal paying him $8.125 million per year, while McMichael<\/a> is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.Sabres get No. 4 pick from Blackhawks for ByramBowen Byram is on the move once again<\/a>, as the Buffalo Sabres dealt him alongside depth winger Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks, bringing back the fourth overall selection in Friday\u2019s draft as the main piece.They also acquired a 2026 second-round pick, 45th overall, and defenceman Louis Crevier<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Blackhawks will mark Byram\u2019s third NHL team, after being drafted fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2019. Byram, 25, played 146 games in Denver before being sent to the Sabres for Casey Mittelstadt in March 2024.<\/p>\n Byram<\/a> has broken out offensively with 21 goals and 89 points in 182 games in Buffalo, but was looking for a contract extension too rich for the Sabres\u2019 blood. He has one year left on a deal paying him $6.25 million.Greenway<\/a>, 29, has one year left on a deal paying him $4 million, and scored just one goal and six points in 40 games last year. The veteran of 475 NHL games has scored 56 goals and 165 points between the Sabres and the Minnesota Wild.Zach Laing is Oilersnation\u2019s managing editor and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.PRESENTED BY THE DAILY FACEOFF FREE AGENCY SPECIAL![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DFO-FreeAgency2026_ArticleInsert_727x404.png\")
<\/a>Daily Faceoff is your Free Agency Headquarters! Big moves. Breaking news. Instant analysis. Daily Faceoff is bringing the team together July 1st for a live Free Agency Special featuring Jeff Marek, Tyler Yaremchuk, Carter Hutton, and Dave Pagnotta. Tune in at noon ET on the Daily Faceoff YouTube Channel<\/a> and socials for full coverage as the NHL landscape changes with the PuckPedia-powered signing tracker keeping you up to date on every deal as it happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After all, there were a slew of stories to come out of one of the most fascinating press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-757733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}