I go out for the first night in six months to ave a burger and a few pops.  Of course a trade is made. NEW YORK, July 29, 2021 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury announced today that the team has acquired forward Ryan Reaves from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Reaves, 34, skated in 37 games with Vegas this past season, registering one goal and four assists for five points, along with 27 penalty minutes. He led the NHL (min. 20 games played) in hits per 60 minutes of ice time in 2020-21 (23.02), and he also led the Golden Knights in hits (141) this past season. Reaves skated in 12 games during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs while helping the Golden Knights advance to the Semifinals. The 6-2, 225-pounder has skated in 686 career NHL games over parts of 11 seasons (2010-11 – 2020-21) with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Vegas, registering 49 goals and 52 assists for 101 points, along with 937 penalty minutes. Since the start of his first NHL season in 2010-11, Reaves ranks third in the NHL in hits (2,322), ranks seventh in the NHL in major penalties (75), and ranks eighth in the league in penalty minutes. He has averaged at least 20 hits per 60 minutes of ice time in each of his 11 NHL seasons, and he led the NHL in hits in back-to-back seasons in 2018-19 (305) and 2019-20 (316). Reaves has helped his team advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons, and he has skated in 84 postseason games in his NHL career. He helped Vegas advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017-18, and he also helped the Golden Knights advance to at least the third round of the playoffs in three of his four seasons with the team. Reaves was coached by current Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant for parts of three seasons with Vegas (2017-18 – 2019-20). The Winnipeg, Manitoba native was originally selected by St. Louis in the fifth round, 156th overall, of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

from the Columbus Blue Jackets, The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed defenseman Zach Werenski to a six-year, $57.5 million contract extension through the 2027-28 National Hockey League season, club General Manager and Alternate Governor Jarmo Kekalainen announced tonight. Werenski, 24, has registered 65 goals and 124 assists for 189 points with 71 penalty minutes and a +13 plus/minus rating, while averaging 22:43 in time on ice in 335 career NHL games. Since making his debut with Columbus in 2016, he ranks tied for third among NHL blueliners in goals and 19th in points. He is the club's all-time leader in goals by a defenseman, while ranking second in points and fourth in assists. "Zach Werenski has been one of the top defensemen in the National Hockey League over the past five years and we are thrilled that he will continue to be a Blue Jacket and the leader of our blueline for at least the next seven years," said Kekalainen. "As talented as Zach is and as much as he has achieved so early in his career, he is an even better person and will be a foundational player for our club as we move forward." continued

Sabres GM Kevyn Adams on Jack Eichel trade talks: "What's critically important to make sure is clear is that we're in control of this process. We have a player under contract. We don't feel any pressure. If there's a deal out there that we feel is the right thing for ... — John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) July 29, 2021

Scheduled to start at 3:55pm,. Yzerman will be discussing the free agent signings. Watch below.

from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet, When I agreed to write two sentences on every signing from UFA day in the NHL – something I’ve done numerous times in the past – I hadn’t banked on there being 63,000 signings. We got our work cut out for us here folks, so let’s dive in. We’ll start with the first registered deal, and work our way up to most recent. Brandon Montour, D, Florida Contract: Three years, $3.5 million AAV Florida made a similar bet to the one they made with Sam Bennett here. That’s that the player who excelled for them over a small post-deadline sample is indeed that player, and not the guy he had more commonly been in the years prior. Blake Coleman, RW, Calgary Contract: Six years, $4.9 million AAV When you hire Darryl Sutter to coach your team, you’re not putting him in a position to succeed if you don’t get him some players who play the brand of hockey he wants to play. This is too much money, but Coleman’s exactly what they’re looking for, so in a way it’s like smart clothes shopping – you’re better off spending more for something you’ll actually use than less for something you won’t wanna put out there. Frederik Andersen, G, Carolina Contract: Two years, $4.5 million AAV Andersen became polarizing to Leafs fans, but I’ve long been Team Freddy. He’s a big, solid, quiet, bonafide NHL starter, and while there are real signs of decline there, he’s as good a bet as any UFA goalie out there to have a good season in 2021-22. continued

Darren Helm signs 1 year, $1 million in Colorado. — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 29, 2021

St. Louis Blues press release... The St. Louis Blues have reached an agreement with free agent forward Brandon Saad on a five-year contract worth $22.5 million. Saad, 28, a veteran of 10 NHL seasons, is a former NHL All-Star and a two-time Stanley Cup Champion (2013, 2015 - Chicago). Saad was originally drafted by Chicago in the second round, No. 43 overall, of the 2011 NHL Draft. Last season, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native appeared in 44 regular-season games with the Colorado Avalanche, posting 24 points (15 goals, nine assists) and 12 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound forward is a five-time 20-goal scorer, including 2015-16, when he logged 31 and earned a selection to the NHL All-Star Game.

via TSN, The old adage is if you can't beat, join 'em and  is doing just that. Kevin Weekes reports the veteran winger has signed a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team that beat his Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final. Perry was also a member of the Dallas Stars team that reached the 2020 Stanley Cup Final where they, too, fell to the Lightning. Perry, 36, signed a one-year $750,000 contract with the Habs last season and tallied nine goals and 12 assists in 49 regular season games. Note, Kevin Weekes has blocked me for over a year, no idea why, so I was delayed a bit with this news.

from the Buffalo News, When most of the top free agents were signed by playoff contenders, and the game of goalie musical chairs appeared to be over, Buffalo Sabres Kevyn Adams was left standing on the sidelines with an empty net. A difficult day for the rebuilding franchise was made worse late Wednesday afternoon when Adams learned that the goalie he hoped to retain, Linus Ullmark, rejected the Sabres’ contract offer in favor of joining the Atlantic Division’s Boston Bruins. The Sabres' next steps were unclear until they found two replacements: veteran goalies Craig Anderson and Aaron Dell. Anderson, a 40-year-old with 18 years of NHL experience, and Dell, a 32-year-old who started 32 games for San Jose in 2019-20, are joining Buffalo on 1-year contracts worth $750,000. Two goalies were needed because the Sabres plan to have Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Dustin Tokarski in Rochester. There was plenty of money to spend – CapFriendly.com projects Buffalo with a league-high $31.766 million in cap space – but Adams was unable to sell top free agents on the idea of being part of a rebuild. Even Ullmark wasn’t willing to stick around unless the Sabres met his asking price. continued

9 1/2 minutes long.  

from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun, So, did Ken Holland succeed? Finally having some salary cap space to work with, on one of the most important days in Edmonton Oilers history, was he able to make his hockey club significantly better? Was he able to transform his team into a Stanley Cup contender going forward with the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl window officially now wide open? Are the Oilers now better? Yes. Absolutely. Definitely. Good enough to go for it? Maybe. Possibly. Maybe even probably. But not absolutely. And definitely not definitely. It’ll take 82 games and at least a month into the playoffs to prove it. But you have to give Holland credit. While he managed to make many Edmonton fans furious with the decision to trade an exceptionally popular player and First Nations role model, Ethan Bear, he had a pretty good day. continued

from TSN, Day 1 of Free Agent Frenzy saw the NHL’s 32 teams spend a collective $783,600,000 in total contract dollars over 161 signings. But despite the flurry of signings on Wednesday, there are still a number of notable players available on the market. Brandon Saad had 15 goals and 24 points in 44 games with the Colorado Avalanche last season, including seven goals in the playoffs. A two-time Stanley Cup champion, the 28-year-old left winger has 184 goals and 371 points in 632 career NHL games split between the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Avalanche. David Krejci, who has spent his entire 15-year NHL career with the Boston Bruins, also remains without a contract. In 51 games last season, the veteran centre recorded eight goals and 44 points, averaging 17:08 of ice time. In 962 career NHL games, Krejci has 215 goals and 730 points. He won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011. Kyle Palmieri recorded 10 goals and 21 points in 51 games last season split between the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. A first-round pick (26th overall) by the Anaheim Ducks at the 2009 NHL Draft, the 30-year-old right wing scored at least 24 goals in five straight seasons prior to 2020-21. continued

from Luke De Cock of the News & Observer, These are your Carolina Hurricanes. Get used to it. Six days after popular and affable goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was shipped out to the Detroit Red Wings, the Hurricanes on Wednesday (partially) replaced Dougie Hamilton with perhaps the least likeable player in the entire league. Even as the Hurricanes underwent what appears to be a complete makeover in goal, adding Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, among other unconfirmed moves, it was hard to get past the free-agent signing of recidivist power-play specialist Tony DeAngelo, who at 25 will be joining his fourth NHL franchise, having burned many bridges behind him. By a rough count, this is at least his fifth chance, the kind of repeated indulgence only raw talent can buy you. He’s signing a one-year deal for $1 million, the kind of contract you sign when you have nowhere else to go. The Hurricanes deliberately chose to bring into their fold a player who was suspended in junior hockey for violating the Ontario Hockey League’s harassment, abuse and diversity policy against his own teammate. A player with a history of abusing officials. A player who the New York Rangers told to go pound sand in the middle of last season after reportedly instigating a fight with a teammate. A player whose behavior has remained consistent for more than seven years. continued

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Until the issue is resolved, until Drury essentially chooses between extending Zibanejad and trading for Eichel, the 2021-22 Rangers are just a fuzzy picture. It all flows from there. Yes, Pavel Buchnevich was dealt away. Yes, management is addressing the grind deficiency and size-and-strength shortage by signing Barclay Goodrow, Patrik Nemeth, Sammy Blais and Jarred Tinordi. Beyond that, we’re told that Drury was investigating signing Boston smashmouth purveyor Nick Ritchie as the day evolved. But with all that, Drury’s first summer in charge can be distilled to his call on Eichel. Supposed suitors are dropping out, just like the Sabres annually do in the playoff chase. Vegas might be in the mix after clearing out $7 million of space by unceremoniously shipping Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago but the longer this plays out, the more it seems that Drury is negotiating against himself.' more

from Michael Traikos of the National Post, While the Tampa Bay Lightning won back-to-back championships with four-time Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy as their unquestioned starter, the line between elite No. 1 goalie and flavour-of-the-month has never been so blurred — or so confusing. Maybe that is why so many teams are now treating the position as though it is the NHL’s version of a bullpen. It’s all about quantity — not quality — these days, with teams preferring tandems and riding the hot hand for all it’s worth, before discarding it once it goes cold. And so, Mrazek replaces Frederik Andersen as the Leafs’ 1B on a three-year deal where he and Campbell will presumably share the net. In a division that includes Vasilevskiy, Montreal’s Carey Price and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, you’d be hard-pressed to say that the Leafs have improved their chances of getting out of the first round. “It never felt for us like we had a tandem,” Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said of Campbell and Andersen, who evenly split the net last season. “It was just whoever was healthy was playing. Mrazek has done (a tandem) in Carolina, but also carried the ball as a starter. We think they will push each other.” At the same time, Dubas admitted that it’s not like the Leafs had the cap space to go “big-game hunting” for a big-name goalie. Even they did, why would they waste the money on a position where you don’t necessarily get what you pay for. read on

from Sean Keeler of the Denver Post, Say it ain’t so, Super Joe. Hey, a healthy Darcy Kuemper in the crease is worth taking a flier on. But is he worth taking a flying leap? Trading a first-round pick, a conditional third-round pick and 22-year-old defenseman Conor Timmins for a 31-year-old goaltender who’s made more than 29 regular-season starts just once since 2014? That’s not a win-now move. That’s a win-or-else move. As in, “Or else the fans start lighting torches.” Weren’t the Rockies the ones who were supposed to get weird this week? Did the Avalanche hire Jeff Bridich as a consultant? Did Colorado general manager Joe Sakic, the most respected team-builder in town, just get … Sakic-ed? Say it ain’t so, Super Joe. There’s a fine line between aggressive and desperate. The Kuemper deal, at first blush, somehow managed to combine both in one fell swoop. Necessary, yes. But did it have to be so painful? “Listen, I have all the faith in the world in Joe and C-Mac (assistant general manager Chris MacFarland),” Avalanche captain and winger Gabe Landeskog said early Wednesday, the morning after returning on an eight-year, $56 million deal, “and the team that they’ve obviously built and continue to build.” For Avs fans, though, that faith is about to be tested. continued

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit Red Wings added a trusted veteran and a promising late bloomer to their lineup on the opening day of free agency. Forward Sam Gagner’s one-year extension clocked in before the NHL's so-called "silly season" began, continuing a relationship that began at the 2019-20 trade deadline. After his acquisition from Edmonton, he became a leader in the locker room and a calming, versatile presence on the ice. Later, in the afternoon, forward Pius Suter was signed for two years and a total of $6.5 million. A former juniors teammate of Tyler Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri, Suter didn’t reach the NHL full-time until he was 24, posting 27 points in 55 games last season. The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t tend the 5-feet-11, 176-pound Swiss native a qualifying offer, but there was a fit for him with the Wings, who are desperate to improve their offense. Suter, a former Swiss League MVP who turned 25 in May, is expected to battle for a spot in the Wings' top six. Suter scored 14 goals last season, with five coming against the Wings. His first three of the season one game, Jan. 24 in a 6-2 Blackhawks win over the Wings in Chicago. After scoring 11 goals in Chicago's first 35 games, he only had three in their final 21. Suter wasn’t immediately available to media Wednesday. Gagner, who turns 32 in August, has shown how he can impact a rebuilding team. “I think when you’re going through something like that as an organization, you need veteran players that can help lead the way, but you need to be able to play,” Gagner said. “I think I still have a lot of game left. I kind of found myself in a new role last year that I really enjoyed — being able to play on the penalty kill and the power play, kind of anywhere in the lineup, in different positions, is something that I would consider an asset. “I’m looking forward to getting back there and helping the team grow in any way I can. We have a really good group, a great group of guys. I think we’re closer than people would expect. We’re a better team than people would expect.” continued ($$$)

via TSN, There was no shortage of content to talk about on the opening day of free agency as general managers across the NHL went wild with spending to lure UFAs to their team. The TSN Hockey panel breaks down the biggest moves of the day, which was headlined by Dougie Hamilton's massive deal in New Jersey. Watch at TSN.