The Columbus Blue Jackets may have a big decision coming on Adam Fantilli, and the contract chatter around the RFA has already started to take shape.
Mark Scheig laid out three possible ranges for Fantilli after Connor Bedard signed his five-year, $15 million deal: three years at $12 million per, five years at $13 million per, or eight years at $15 million per.
Out in Detroit, the Red Wings are about to open a general manager search, and CEO Chris Ilitch said the team will look at both internal and external options. That search comes with a few important items already on the desk: the Dylan Larkin situation still needs to be handled, defenseman Simon Edvinsson is an RFA, and Alex DeBrincat is heading into the final year of his contract and is eligible for an extension.
Ansar Khan of MLive listed seven names to watch for the job. They are Kevyn Adams, now a Boston Bruins senior advisor after taking that role just last week; Tyler Dellow, the Carolina Hurricanes assistant GM who has spent two years there handling data analysis, salary cap and CBA work; Kris Draper, who has been the Red Wings assistant GM for the past four seasons; Evan Gold, the Bruins assistant GM of 11 years who is leaving the organization as of August 1st; Shawn Horcoff, another Red Wings assistant GM who has also been heading Grand Rapids in the AHL; Ryan Martin, the New York Rangers associate GM who spent 16 years with Detroit before moving on, including 11 years as an assistant GM; and Scott White, Jim Nill’s right-hand man with the Dallas Stars, who has also interviewed for GM openings with the Maple Leafs, Canucks, and Predators.
Elsewhere on the free-agent board, Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff took a look at the top remaining NHL free agents and some bubble players. His list of the top names still available includes Patrick Kane at No.
11, Patrik Laine at No. 14, Logan Stanley at No.
19, Vladimir Tarasenko at No. 24, Michael Bunting at No.
25, Eeli Tolvanen at No. 26, Cam Talbot at No.
33, John Klingberg at No. 34, Nick Blankenburg at No.
37, James van Riemsdyk at No. 43, Connor Ingram at No. 47, and David Perron at No.
The bubble group also includes Jonathan Drouin, Adam Henrique, Carson Soucy, and James Reimer.
In Other News...
Bruins Still Have One Unsettled Problem Hanging Over This Roster
The NHL offseason has stayed relatively quiet, but the calendar is about to turn more active as arbitration cases get underway and teams start looking for late-summer fixes. For the Bruins, the biggest lingering issue is on the blue line, where they have more NHL-caliber defensemen than they can realistically fit into a nightly lineup, leaving the front office with a potential roster squeeze to manage.
Boston does have a little breathing room for now, and that may keep any decision from becoming immediate. Still, the surplus is hard to ignore, especially with other clubs around the league continuing to chase additions and the arbitration window set to keep the market moving, so the Bruins may not be done sorting out their defense corps just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Face A Tough Casey Mittelstadt Decision Sooner Than Expected
Casey Mittelstadt arrived with the kind of versatility Boston could use, and his first full look in a Bruins sweater mostly reinforced that idea. The forward spent much of last season on the wing, gave the club solid middle-six value and fit as a useful piece in a lineup that often needed players who could slide around without complaint. He is now heading into the final year of his three-year deal, which puts his future squarely on the Bruins radar sooner than they probably would have liked.
The real question is less about whether Mittelstadt can help and more about what role the Bruins see for him once this season is over. His next contract will be tied to how he performs, how the team fares and how quickly younger options continue to emerge, especially in a system where center depth is becoming a bigger part of the long view. Boston has some decisions to make, and Mittelstadts place in that picture may depend on how crowded the path gets behind him. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Prospect Watch Comes Down To One Familiar Sweeney Question
The Bruins prospect pipeline is still being measured through the lens of Don Sweeneys draft record, and it is a familiar exercise for a franchise that has spent years trying to balance immediate contention with future depth. Since Sweeney became general manager, Boston has made 72 selections, and Brandon Carlo remains the most prominent NHL success story from that group, a reminder that the path from draft day to a real role in Boston can be long and uneven.
That is why the under-23 names without a full NHL season keep drawing attention, especially the ones developing overseas. Matvei Kotkov, Liam Pettersson and Yuri Ivanov all fit the profile of long-term projects rather than quick fixes, with each player at a different stage of proving he can eventually matter to the Bruins. The challenge for Boston is less about identifying talent than figuring out which of these faraway bets can actually close the gap between prospect status and NHL readiness. [Read more 🡒]