A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. The off-season is here. Let’s go, Petey!
1. Considering superstars walking out the door for nothing, the nearest comparable to Mitch Marner waving bye to Toronto might be John Tavares saying sayonara to Long Island.
And how did that go over?
In 2018, Tavares was coming off his second-most-productive campaign (84 points) before he became the belle of the free agency ball.
Kyle Dubas got a super-talented young winger to record a mixtape that doubled as a Toronto Maple Leafs recruitment video, and it worked.
Marner — who reportedly would like to be similarly courted by his suitors — is walking for nothing after his most productive season (102 points).
To be fair, one difference is that the Leafs made the playoffs; the Islanders missed the cut in ’18.
What’s undeniable in both cases, along with the hard feelings, is the atrocious asset management.
Letting a superstar leave in his prime without any return can be crippling in a hard-cap climate. The Calgary Flames haven’t been back to the playoffs after watching Johnny Gaudreau (rest in peace) walk without compensation.
Marner underdelivered in the playoffs, sure, as did his teammates.
But from an asset-management perspective, the Leafs blew this.
(Perhaps some face can be saved with a sign-and-trade to orchestrate a max-term deal with his next team, but Marner would need to agree, and we’re not certain he’s even gunning for eight years.)
Blame can be shared here.
First-time president Brendan Shanahan and first-time GM Dubas, who doled out the rich contracts and no-move clauses, have already been fired.
And while current GM Brad Treliving was dealt a crummy hand, and tried both trading and extending Marner, perhaps he could’ve pressed harder.
It was evident more than a year ago that a divorce was the best solution.
What is worrisome with this organization is that the pattern of “own rentals” has now shortened Toronto’s window for contention.
This summer, it’s Marner — and, perhaps, Tavares — leaving for no assets. They are following a well-worn path laid by Zach Hyman, James van Riemsdyk, and Tyler Bozak.
Ryan O’Reilly’s 2023 deadline rental was preceded by no serious extension talks.
If you’ve got time, lose it.
We criticize skaters for making “hope plays,” but Toronto’s front office has been chucking hopers for years now, and bare cupboards are the proof and the cost.
You must wonder if this empty conclusion to the Marner saga is the last straw. If the free-flowing trade protection (which extends to players like Max Domi, David Kämpf and Calle Järnkrok) ends.
If management begins driving harder, smarter bargains and quits pinning itself into corners with full no-moves. (Morgan Rielly trade scuttlebutt is only that, unless Rielly himself wants to leave.)
Players are taught to live only in the moment. Executives do so at their peril.
2. The Maple Leafs were hardly blindsided by Marner’s departure.
When Treliving eagerly locked up William Nylander in 2024 to the richest contract in franchise history, the understanding was that at least one of his star right wings would be staying put.
And, at the 2025 trade deadline, he traded centre Fraser Minten instead of scoring winger Easton Cowan — to Boston, in the Brandon Carlo deal — knowing that playmaker Cowan is more likely to replace some of Marner’s production.
Cowan became the first repeat Memorial Cup leading scorer since 1972 and now stands alone as the Leafs’ most valuable trade chip.
The prospect would be more valuable if he could contribute for the Leafs on an entry-level cap hit, though.
Tough ask: Most scouts say Cowan would be better served honing his skills in the AHL next season instead.
3. As the Florida Panthers gathered at Maple & Ash, a decadent Miami steakhouse, to sabre champagne and propel their Stanley Cup celebration deep into a third straight night of sloppy good times, the players got to talking.
A theme developed.
So many of them had previously plied their craft for other NHL organizations that, for one reason or another, cut bait.
The Panthers had benefited from so many trades and buyouts, free agents and waiver grabs, that Brad Marchand wanted to thank his teammates’ former employers for making them available.
Sitting at dinner, the Conn Smythe winner of trolling began tagging team accounts with thank-yous attached to photos of the ones that got away.
He thanked the Sabres for Sam Reinhart, the Flames for Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. He thanked the Lightning for Carter Verhaeghe. And so it went on… an Instagram moral story.
“All those moments, all those teams making bad decisions to get rid of guys, and our team making incredible decisions to bring them all in, it all played a part in us winning the Cup,” Marchand told reporters Friday, where he was serving one-day-only Chocolate Chirp Cookie DoughTM Blizzards at a local Dairy Queen.
“So, it kinda came together last night, we were joking about it. And I like to have some fun, so I let everyone know how much I appreciated it.”
Not since the 2018 Capitals floundered in the fountains has a championship team soaked in their moment with such vigour.
4. There is a delicious savageness in how the Panthers are basking in their moment.
Matthew Tkachuk’s edgy post-win comments about the Oilers “looking to one guy” and assuring Connor McDavid will win a Cup one day, “wherever it is,” are one thing. Puffing cigars and dancing to the Oilers’ win song, “Pink Pony Club,” is another.
Grabbing a nightclub mic and taunting, “Connor McDavid who?” is next level.
Tkachuk makes Nikita Kucherov — cruising on a boat proudly wearing an “$18M OVER THE CAP” T-shirt — look humble.
You can hate me now, but I won’t stop now.
You won’t convince me that Tkachuk’s losses to McDavid in other sweaters (as a Calgary Flame in 2022 and as the face of Team USA at the 4 Nations) haven’t fueled this rivalry.
Bring on the grudges and revenge and villains.
Hockey lost some of that along the way.
5. With all the microphone time he’s enjoyed over the past three post-seasons, some Paul Maurice fatigue set in from corners outside the Florida market. (Oh, now he’s back to participating in handshakes?)
But he is the favourite coach many of the Panthers have played for.
And you can understand why when you see mic’d-up moments like this, in which Maurice throws his fourth line out for the season’s final shift, reminding them that they were integral to the run because of their performance in the Toronto series:
“He’s a very bright man, and he has a very high EQ,” GM Bill Zito says.
“Sincerely, he’s a teacher. He’s a coach. He’ll push, he’ll pull, he’ll hug. But you don’t want to disappoint him. His character is so high that, working with him, he makes you want to be better — because you don’t want to disappoint him.”
6. Good luck finding a top-six centre in free agency.
Brock Nelson, Matt Duchene, and Jonathan Toews are already spoken for.
And Sam Bennett “ain’t f—— leaving” Florida, according to Sam Bennett.
Middle-six types Pius Suter (25 goals), Mikael Granlund, and Jack Roslovic (22 goals each) are compelling complementary adds.
But provided Bennett was speaking the truth after drinking the serum, 34-year-old Tavares is the best UFA centre by a mile.
He’s trying to hammer out a deal with Toronto, and some are pointing to Duchene’s $4.5 million AAV, stretched over four seasons, as a template.
Tavares and Duchene, also 34, share an agent, Pat Brisson. Both players have zero interest in uprooting their young families.
There are key differences, though.
Duchene will earn an additional $6.56 million in 2025-26, $1.56 million in 2026-27, $1.56 million in 2027-28, and $1.56 million in 2028-29 from Nashville via buyout payments.
Also: Tavares is the more well-rounded player.
Yes, Tavares is willing to take less and get creative with salary structure to remain a Leaf.
But where is his Steven Stamkos-like line in the sand? How much of a lowball triggers a prideful pushback?
7. The sentiment around McDavid’s looming eligibility for an extension in Edmonton is strikingly similar to that of Auston Matthews’ in Toronto back in 2023: I like it here. We have a good squad. I’m going to be the new highest-paid player, but this will be completed when I’m ready. On my terms and for my chosen term.
Judd Moldaver is the agent for both.
Everyone involved is pre-emptively trying to calm the inevitable panic for when July 2 arrives and McDavid isn’t locked up.
Matthews didn’t re-sign until Aug. 23.
Leon Draisaitl didn’t re-sign until Sept. 3.
Sidney Crosby didn’t re-sign until Sept. 16.
Nathan MacKinnon didn’t re-sign until Sept. 20.
If the puck drops and McDavid is still an impending free agent, you have permission to freak out.
Until then, breathe. Hit a tennis ball. Rent a kayak. Improve your skills on the grill.
8. For good reason, free agency’s focus in South Florida is focused on Marchand, Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad — each being one of the most coveted pending UFAs at his position.
But Nate Schmidt had an incredible playoff run, putting up 12 points in a third-pair role and earning a significant raise from the $800,000 he agreed to after getting bought out by Winnipeg.
Does Schmidt want to re-sign in Sunrise?
“Yeah, it’s fantastic. I love it,” Schmidt says. “This feeling itself is amazing. Being a part of this group is another story, right? You just don’t know how you’re gonna fit in, right? Like, you come in, and this group just brings you right in from the beginning. I couldn’t be more blessed and happy with the way it worked out.”
Like the others, Schmidt could go elsewhere for top dollar and cash out like Oliver Ekman-Larsson before him. To stay in his happy place, he’ll need to take a discount.
Otherwise, Bill Zito can simply point to Schmidt as one of his growing list of latest reclamation projects in a pitch for the next discarded pro to take less and win more.
9. After the buzzer sounded on the Panthers’ championship, and before Lord Stanley made his appearance, I noticed Schmidt and Tomas Nosek seek each other out in the emotional slop of launched gloves and raised fists.
They shared a tight hug and some excited words.
The two veterans had endured 22 seasons combined; the closest either had been to a title was in 2018, losing to Schmidt’s former Capitals 4-1 in the final as Golden Knights teammates.
After Florida lost Game 1 to the Oilers, in part because of Nosek’s puck-over-glass penalty in overtime, Schmidt pulled the centreman aside.
“Listen, man, it’s not gonna be the end,” Schmidt told Nosek. “You know, we went up Game 1 last time we were here and then got beat four in a row. I don’t think that’s gonna be the case this time around.”
Nosek still bore the weight of his mistake… until the comeback was complete in Game 6.
Embracing Schmidt when it was all over, Nosek said: “I didn’t believe you at the time. But I believe you now.”
10. Devilish thought: Looking to shake up his crease, Stan Bowman should offer-sheet the Blues’ young, stud backup Joel Hofer — who is blocked for a No. 1 role by Jordan Binnington.
Offer Hofer, say, $4.6 million, and it would only cost a second-round pick in compensation. A late second-rounder, too (63rd overall).
Dare Doug Armstrong to match.
The catch here would be acquiring that original second-rounder from Utah first. (May we interest the Mammoth in Evander Kane?)
Yes, pulling such a move off would be tricky, but with the UFA goalie market so thin, GMs should be thinking creatively.
This would make for back-to-back revenge sheets.
Montreal’s 2019 offer sheet of Sebastian Aho prompted a retaliatory — and successful, if overaggressive — offer sheet for Jesperi Kotkaniemi in 2021.
11. So, the MVP of the entire NHL, Connor Hellebuyck, isn’t a lock for Team USA at the Olympics?
12. A player on the 2024 Panthers was struggling hard. He wasn’t having any fun.
Sam Reinhart, sensing that something was off with his teammate, empathized and spoke to Maurice about the situation.
“I’ve been through that. I’ve been through that time when you’re working as hard as you can, but you’re driving to the rink and you don’t really have any hope that it’s going to get better,” Reinhart told his coach.
Maurice has witnessed the spiral, the trap, with several NHLers.
“You get locked into a belief of what’s going to happen next — because that’s what’s happened for the last two and a half months. You can’t score. You’re playing in a role maybe that you don’t agree with, right? You get moved down the lineup because your play is not there,” Maurice explains.
“And that’s your expectation: Nothing’s going to change.”
Well, things changed this season for Schmidt and Marchand and Seth Jones and A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek.
Just as things changed for Reinhart and O’Reilly and Jack Eichel in years past.
Nothing stays the same.
The seeds of redemption stories could already be planted in San Jose and Chicago, Buffalo and Philadelphia, Vancouver and New York.
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