There you have it, the 2024 draft is officially over! To revisit the Canadian’s choices, you can consult the excellent articles by my colleague Marc-Olivier Cook on the site.
Now the league is turning its attention to another high-profile event: the opening of the free-agent market.
The rumor machine is therefore running, more than ever.
Earlier in the day, Julien BriseBois made a monster transaction and another important move. He, in fact, sent Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot elsewhere. These transactions mean one thing: the GM wanted to free up money under the salary cap.
After all, he has Steven Stamkos to sign and a $3 million a year contract isn’t going to entice him to stay.
It should be noted that BriseBois has not made a new offer to Stamkos despite his new salary slack, that said. This is probably because he is keeping the money for something else.
But in the afternoon, Elliotte Friedman linked the name of Jake Guentzel to the club. According to the informant, he should be the Lightning’s number one target, starting Monday. According to several sources, the attacker wants an eight-year contract (if he can sign eight years) at eight million dollars annually. Carolina is ready to offer him such a contract, but as the days pass, the player and his agent want to test the market. And that’s completely within their rights.
In any case, Friedman raised the possibility that his rights could be traded by Monday, much like Tanev.
Speaking of Tanev, at the very end of the draft, the unrestricted free agent was traded to the Leafs. At least, his rights changed addresses. The Leafs will be able to talk to him about 42 hours before the other 30 teams. I guess the Stars abandoned the project…
We can assume that the two camps will meet very soon, because as defender Wade Arnott’s agent confirmed, they have not yet discussed. But according to Darren Dreger (Insider Trading), the chances of Tanev signing in the Queen City are great.
In addition to the former Flames and Stars player, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nikita Zadorov are also reportedly on Toronto’s radar.
Another one that is generating a lot of interest around the league is Yaroslav Askarov. The Preds goalie will be in all the rumors soon since Juuse Saros will sign for eight more years and the Russian’s future is clearly not in Nashville.
Still, Barry Trotz is in no rush to trade him, but one would have thought that a transaction could take place during the draft.
It ultimately didn’t happen, but it’s not because teams aren’t calling. According to Friedman, the CEO received several calls.
We know that Kent Hughes also received a lot of calls for his fifth pick and it is logical to wonder if Trotz was one of them. After all, Trotz wanted a top-5 pick.
The files of Martin Necas and Rutger McGroarty, https://twitter.com/wpgmurat/status/1807137628065865950are also to be watched soon.
A lot of
– It’s confirmed.
– Parfait.
– Lots of movement.
– Obviously.
– Logan Thompson had requested a trade.
