The Montreal Canadiens landed the forward they had been hunting for all offseason, Adam Fantilli’s next deal is still sitting on the table, and the Vegas Golden Knights locked up their captain for two more years.
Chris Kreider is headed to Montreal after his contract was terminated, and he wasted no time putting pen to paper. He signed a one-year deal worth $2.15 million, with another $3 million in potential bonuses.
For a player whose name had been circling around the Canadiens for weeks, the fit became obvious once the Ducks moved on from his contract. The only real question was whether the American-born winger would be willing to cross the border for a Canadian market. That answer came quickly.
There is still some online baggage tied to the 2014 collision with Carey Price, but that incident is nearly 13 years old now, and none of the current Canadiens were part of it. On top of that, Kreider already has familiar faces in the organization.
General manager Jeff Gorton was in charge with the New York Rangers for much of Kreider’s run there, and head coach Martin St. Louis was once his teammate.
From a pure hockey standpoint, Montreal is getting a proven scorer. Kreider brings a 50-point profile with 30-goal upside, and that only adds more bite to a lineup that already looks dangerous.
In Columbus, the work is not done yet. Adam Fantilli and the Blue Jackets are still trying to finish a new contract, and the sides are close enough that the conversation is now stretching into the final days before training camp.
The early expectation was a five-year deal around $13 million annually, but that number appears to have climbed after recent extensions for Leo Carlsson, Connor Bedard, and Macklin Celebrini.
The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig reported, “Unless there is a sudden change and significant progress made, sounds like #CBJ and Adam Fantilli won’t be completed this weekend.”
He also noted that the team still believes a deal will be in place before Wednesday, when training camp opens.
Fantilli, the third-overall pick in 2023, already has 30 goals and finished just short of 60 points last season. That production is part of why the price keeps rising. Columbus has also had a rocky offseason already, with the Zach Werenski trade saga and Kirill Marchenko telling management he won’t be signing an extension.
That is why Fantilli’s contract matters beyond the player himself. The Blue Jackets need to show the rest of the room they are moving in the right direction and trying to push toward the playoffs.
Out in Vegas, the Golden Knights made another key move by re-signing Mark Stone to a two-year extension. The deal pays him $9 million until he is 37.
Cap pressure is nothing new for Vegas, but it did not stop them from keeping their captain in place. Stone has been with the team since 2018-19 and has worn the “C” for most of that stretch.
Health has always been the big issue with Stone. He has spent significant time on long-term injured reserve, most notably because of back injuries, and his highest games played total in eight seasons with the club is 66, which came in 2024-25.
Even with the cap picture tightening and a playoff cap on the horizon, the Golden Knights clearly viewed this as an easy decision. They also have more business ahead, with William Karlsson among the players eligible for an extension. Alex Pietrangelo’s cap will come off the books next offseason, and after moving Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers, they should be in good shape moving forward.
Vegas has had plenty of turnover, but the expectation remains the same: this is still a team built to be a force.
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Fantillis side is believed to be aiming for a contract in the range of the deals signed by Leo Carlsson and Connor Bedard, two players drafted ahead of him in 2023, which only raises the stakes for Columbus. The Blue Jackets would prefer to get this done before camp opens, and a resolution still appears likely at some point, but the gap between where the team wants to land and where Fantilli's camp sees his value has kept the process from moving quickly. [Read more 🡒]