The biggest move on the goalie market is in Florida, where the Panthers have landed Jacob Markstrom from the New Jersey Devils. The trade also sends prospect Angus Crookshank to Florida, while Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves head back to New Jersey.
With Markstrom coming in, the message from the Panthers is pretty clear: they’re shifting away from Sergei Bobrovsky and handing the net to a new No. 1.
That trade gives Florida a fresh look in goal, but it also fits into a broader pattern of change around the league. The Panthers are not just patching a hole; they’re making a move that points to the end of one chapter and the start of another.
Elsewhere, the Toronto discussion has taken on a strange life of its own. One post tried to frame Gavin McKenna’s early time with the Maple Leafs as some kind of contrast to Mitch Marner’s final season there, but that comparison misses the real difference.
McKenna is arriving at the beginning, when the city is still new and the pressure hasn’t fully arrived. Marner, by contrast, lived through the whole nine-season Toronto cycle, including the scrutiny, expectations, pressure, and the emotional grind that follows the honeymoon phase.
Toronto changes on players over time, and that’s the part worth remembering here. Early excitement is one thing. What comes after is a different story entirely.
And then there’s Edmonton, where free agency is about to open and the Oilers are still sorting out their priorities. If a Darnell Nurse trade happens, they could have about $15 million in cap space, but the needs are obvious: help in goal, on defence, and up front. The temptation will be to jump in early once Wednesday arrives, but the smarter play may be to let the first wave of spending run hot and then look for value later.
That’s the trap on July 1. Teams get aggressive, prices jump, and mid-tier players can get paid like stars. The Oilers would be better off waiting that frenzy out, the same way they approached the Jack Roslovic signing, and using patience to chase a goalie upgrade without getting boxed into an overpay.
In Other News...
Oilers May Have Found The July Fix They Desperately Need
With free agency opening, Edmonton is still looking for a middle-six forward who can bring some offense without boxing the club into another expensive mistake. The Oilers have room to work with under the cap, and Matias Maccelli fits the sort of swing they can realistically take: a 25-year-old winger with real playmaking touch and the kind of offensive profile that stands out on a roster built around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The appeal is easy to see because Edmonton has already kicked this tire before, and the need feels familiar after a few recent July 1 additions did not move the needle the way the club hoped. Maccellis track record suggests he could help right away in a top-nine role, but the real question is whether the Oilers can turn interest into a signing before another team gets there first. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Free Agency Shortlist Just Got A Lot More Intriguing
The Oilers still have some offseason housekeeping to do, and the cap math leaves them with just enough room to keep shopping. After re-signing Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, Edmonton is looking at ways to round out the roster, with a need for more forwards and a left-shot defenseman shaping the conversation around free agency.
That is where the shortlist gets interesting, because the names attached to Edmonton range from familiar veterans to more intriguing fits. The pool includes nine potential targets, among them Ilya Mikheyev, Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrik Laine, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Mason Marchment, Boone Jenner and Corey Perry, with each player carrying a projected contract value that gives the Oilers a clearer sense of what kind of move might actually fit. [Read more 🡒]
A Major Oilers Blue Liner Is Suddenly At The Center Of Trade Buzz
With free agency creeping closer, the trade market around the NHL has started to tighten around some familiar names, and Darnell Nurse has suddenly become part of that conversation. Edmontons blue line has long been built with Nurse as one of its defining pieces, so any hint that he could be on the move naturally lands with extra weight for the Oilers, especially in a period when teams are probing the market and waiting to see which talks gain traction.
Nurse is being discussed alongside other high-profile players such as Dylan Larkin, Connor Hellebuyck, Jason Robertson and Zach Werenski, a sign of how much movement could still come before the offseason fully opens. For Edmonton, the immediate question is not just whether there is real momentum, but how far those discussions can go if the situation remains fluid and the list of workable landing spots stays narrow. [Read more 🡒]