Over $1B handed out on busy opening day of NHL free agency

NHL free agency opened with a rather significant bang on Monday.

With the salary cap rising just over $4 million this summer, general managers across the league were not hesitant to throw around some big deals to get their guys.

In the end, around $1.12 billion was handed out and more than 100 players switched teams on one of the most important days of the NHL’s annual calendar.

The busiest Canadian teams on the day were the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Vancouver’s big deal with a seven year contract for Jake DeBrusk that will see him earn $5.5 million per season as a top six winger for the club. The Canucks also inked Langley product Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Derek Forbort and Vincent Desharnais to deals on July 1.

Desharnais’ old team, the Oilers re-signed Adam Henrique and Corey Perry while also adding Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson to the team’s forward group. Josh Brown was signed on the back end to replace Desharnais.

Toronto bolstered its back end by signing Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, along with Ekman-Larsson’s Stanley Cup winning teammate Anthony Stolarz in the crease. The Leafs also re-signed Max Domi, Joseph Woll and Timothy Liljegren.

🖊️ We've signed defenceman Chris Tanev to a six-year contract

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 1, 2024

Other Canadian teams were relatively quiet on the free agent market, although the Ottawa Senators did trade Jakob Chychrun to the Washington Capitals for Nick Jensen and a third-round pick.

South of the border, the biggest players by far were the Nashville Predators. GM Barry Trotz picked up a trio of big-name free agents in Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei.

Losing Stamkos was a tough pill to swallow for Tampa Bay Lightning fans, but the team eased the pain by snagging this year’s top free agent prize in Jake Guentzel, who signed a seven-year, $63-million dollar deal with Tampa after the club acquired his rights on Sunday.

LOCKED IN. 🔒

We have signed forward Jake Guentzel to a seven-year contract worth an AAV of $9 million.

📝: https://t.co/LAyirt4tJw pic.twitter.com/K0AJjnmOTj

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 1, 2024

The Seattle Kraken also bolstered their lineup with additions of Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour on long-term deals.

The only newer NHL club than Seattle, Utah signed former Canuck Ian Cole to a one-year deal but the unnamed team’s big defensive acquisitions, Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, came courtesy of the trade market on Saturday.

The rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks also tossed around plenty of cash Monday, using their plethora of cap space to ink Tyler Bertuzzi, Teuvo Teravainen, Craig Smith, Alec Martinez and Laurent Brossoit to contracts.

While Vancouver added a trio of former Boston Bruins in DeBrusk, Heinen and Forbort, Boston signed two Canucks free agents to long-term deals in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.

Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have both signed with the Boston Bruins 🐻 pic.twitter.com/IQF5XMV8JT

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 1, 2024

Also of note from day one was the San Jose Sharks signing Tyler Toffoli and Alex Wennberg, the Columbus Blue Jackets signing Sean Monahan and the New York Islanders signing Anthony Duclair.

There will still be many moves to come over the coming weeks, obviously, but the NHL always quiets down for the summer after the July 1 free agent frenzy.

But in just over two months, teams will be back on the ice for training camp and the 2024-25 regular season will begin in early October.