Mason Marchment is poised to be one of the bigger names on the market when free agency opens at noon Eastern, and the early buzz already has a clear sense of where he might land.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Marchment should draw a robust market, with the San Jose Sharks viewed as a likely destination. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun also said the Montreal Canadiens have interest, though they are wary of committing to a long-term deal that could block younger players already in the system. If Montreal isn’t willing to go multi-year in some form, Marchment is unlikely to head to Quebec.
That kind of attention makes sense based on how he finished. After middling out with the Seattle Kraken, Marchment caught fire with the Columbus Blue Jackets, putting up 15 goals and 32 points in 39 games while finishing at plus-21 and averaging 17:41 of ice time per night. That pace is probably not sustainable over a full season, but Marchment still profiles as a strong middle-six option for plenty of teams.
There’s plenty more veteran movement coming, too.
LeBrun confirmed that Claude Giroux will reach the open market after negotiations with the Ottawa Senators failed to gain traction. Even as his scoring has dipped in each of his four seasons in Ottawa, Giroux still produced 14 goals and 49 points in 82 games with a plus-20 rating.
At 38, he also remains one of the league’s top faceoff men, winning 504 of 799 draws, or 63.1%, this past season. He’s leaving the door open for a return to Ottawa, but he’ll have 31 other teams to hear from this afternoon.
Patrick Kane is set to join him. After three straight one-year deals with the Detroit Red Wings, LeBrun said Kane will become an unrestricted free agent this afternoon as well.
Kane is also keeping the possibility of a return to Detroit alive, but with Dylan Larkin on the outs, he may decide the better path is finding a team that can get him back into the playoffs. He remained a productive scorer in Detroit, finishing with 16 goals and 57 points in 67 games, and he should draw interest from several teams.
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