Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - NHL SQUAD SHOW: The Winners and Losers of NHL Free Agency

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Welcome to the NHL Squad Show! Today our hosts Gil Martin (Locked On Islanders), Eddie Garcia (Locked On Kings, David Morassutti (Locked On Leafs) and Seth Toupal (Locked On Wild are here to talk about the big moves of free agency so far, including the Mitch Marner saga finally coming to an end, what the heck the LA Kings are doing, and where Nikolaj Ehlers is going to end up! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in Bonus Bets if your first $5 bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The big rush on NHL free agency is come and gone. Who were the big winners? Who were the big losers? And who left you shaking your head and wondering what? We'll break it all down on this week's NHL squad. You are talking puck with the NHL Squad show, sponsored by game time. From the Oilers to the stars, Golden Knights and the Panthers, the Rangers, Avalanche, and yes, even the Maple Leafs.

The Locked-on podcast network brings together all its local experts to provide the scoops, breakdowns, and comprehensive looks at all the NHL, with plenty of trash talk to go with it. Don't miss the hard hits and glove-dropping hot takes on the Locked-on NHL Squad Show. It's time to drop the puck. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the NHL Squad. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage, and join us as we get you ready for another wild week

across the National Hockey League. We are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code Locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. We've got a great crew assembled here today.

Eddie Garcia of Lockedon, L.A. Kings, David Morrisuti of Lockedon Leifes and Seth Tuple of Lockdown Wilde joining us today. And guys, free agency on Tuesday, got off to a wild start. But before free agency, we had the big name, Mitch Marner, on the move. And surprise, surprise.

He's with the Vegas Golden Knights. David, let's start with you since you have the most insight into this. Your feelings on the move and did the Leafs get a fair return under the circumstances? Well, as you can see, the Mitch Marner jersey is now gone. so we're moving on. No. Like Nick Waugh, it's funny because like if you told any lease fan last year

that Mitch Martin was going to be leaving and you'd be getting Nick Waugh back in return, would have heard some very harsh things to say. But it's funny how many lease fans are actually okay with it. You lose your top line winger who had 100 points last year to get a third, fourth line, center. That's, that's, I don't know, we might have to look, we might have to check in on some lease fans, I'll just say. But I, I had been adamant in saying for a year that he was not

going to be coming back, did not sound like a player who wanted to stay in Toronto. And I think the team realized they weren't going to be getting him back. And a lot of people's like, well, you should have known he was going, well, at some points, he said, I would like to be a leaf. But then clearly last year of his deal he saw that you know why i'm just gonna we're just going to write it out for the year and i'm going to go to my preferred choice in some way i guess maybe they were able to convince him to salvage a little bit of face with with the lease by doing this sign and trade but also vagus was like we don't want to do seven years we want to do eight years as but as uh kelly mccrimman said you know getting that 12 million dollar versus what he said over

13 million if they did the seven-year deal because I think the total amount that Mitch wanted, they do it over seven years would have been too much for Vegas. And it's just like $12 million was too much for you anyways to fit on your cap. But there is no salary cap in Vegas, guys. The salary cap is just, it's just a concept. Vegas, as soon as I heard Vegas was interested, said he's going there. They're going to make it work because they always find a way. Yeah, that's exactly.

what I said. Vegas finds a way. They always do. And I think a lot of people probably are a bit jealous at, I understand that loyalty and Vegas don't go hand in hand. They're willing to do pretty much anything to move players out, bring players in. But they're kind of like, I don't know, the New England Patriots of hockey. They don't have any sentiment. They don't care how long you've been with the organization. You're an original member of the team. You're an original member of the team. team doesn't matter they're going to do what they're going to do to make themselves better and the fan base has to just love that i i have no idea what that's like as an la king's fan to be quite honest with you because our free agency track record is pathetic and it didn't get anybody this year as well so um i'm not surprised at all that he comes here and now uh you know i'm looking at uh mac david and dry siddle over here and marner and ikel over here and i'm like oh, that's the path for the Kings to try and move forward. And their playoff success hasn't been so great of late.

So isn't any easier, but I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised Mitch Martin was gone to Vegas. Well, I think it shows that Vegas understands how rare it is for players like this to become available. Think about Jack Eichol when he was getting to the point that he wanted to be done in Buffalo. And obviously, he had the neck issue. which was there was some pretty substantial risk in bringing him on board. But if healthy, he represented like a pretty bona fide top end talent that you just don't find. You just don't find on the free agent market because nine times out of 10,

the teams that have that player try to retain them. And every once in a while, you have one that gets away. And if you're the team at the front of the line to grab them, that's just a huge. boost for your team. And now you add Marner in with Eichel, with Mark Stone. The funniest thing about this was all of the rumblings all offseason is if Vegas is going to be able to put Marner on their books, they're going to have to find a way to move Tomash Hurtle. They're going to have to find a way to move William Carlson to make the cap work. None of that happens. They made one trade free up some money. And obviously, Alex Petrangelo is, is dealing with some pretty substantial

health issues. So he is, I imagine, going to be put on LTIR. But they just find a way to get it done because prioritizing the top of the lineup guys is the way to do it. You can find players to come in and play third or fourth line roles at cheaper deals. We saw a lot of that this offseason. But those guys at the top of the lineup are the ones that make all the difference and they just don't come available unless you trade for them unless you draft them and develop them they just don't come around that often and just classic Vegas to strike to pounce and to to grab marner before anybody else could i think ikel was actually a pretty nice blueprint for marner um because you know that whatever you mentioned it the neck injury and then just all of the the drama surrounding him

in Buffalo where he just wants to get out of there. And so he goes to Vegas. They completely embrace him. There's nothing but positivity there. There's no real media scrutiny there to really to speak of. And Mitch Marner obviously can can see how Jack Eichol has succeeded there and gotten away from a lot of drama. And obviously no state income tax as well.

You're joining a team that's almost always in the playoffs. Pretty good situation. I mean, look at, look at how he was received. He had the, he had everyone in the office just giving him the love. And like, they, they wanted to make sure to, like, right off the hop, right? He was going to be accepted. He was going to be embraced. And in a way, I'm like, yeah, Marner is just crave.

It feels like he, that's just something he was, like, right out, like, he, like, the smile he had, the way he kind of just felt like he was, like, comfortable to be him. himself and I'm like, okay, maybe there's a little bit, you know, in Toronto where he didn't feel like he could really do that. But I'll be curious to see how much, how much different Mitch is in terms of his demeanor on the ice and off the ice in Vegas versus how he is in Toronto. Because, yeah, they talk about the reset, him having like that. Just the move will be good for him.

Be curious to see how, how long it takes for him to like, no, get, not only get, comfortable, but start to show that comfort that he has. And what about the Leafs? I mean, they do bring back John Tavares. He gives them a very big hometown discount. But between the discount you get from Tavaris and not having Marner, what does Toronto do with that cap space? They don't do anything crazy because the one thing and some teams are kind of realizing

this, just because you have the cap space, doesn't mean A, you're going to be able to spend it all and B, who are you spending it on? So I've so far have liked what the leaves have done. They didn't just say here and say, oh, we actually have money now. Let's go and spend it on everybody. They're like, no, we're going to add in a few couple things, but we're going to now use that money that we've never really had the opportunity to really use and really start to understand that it's not one player that's going to replace what Mitch

Marna does. Let's go and fill the holes in this lineup as best as we can. I think it's going to be a lot of trades versus signings. Like there were some guys that were signing for agency. I'm like, probably would have been a good idea if the least went and got that player. But there's two things. Will the player want to play in Toronto and maybe the leaves aren't going to go and outbid certain teams for guys? And B, you know, these players have to feel like that they're going to get that opportunity

in Toronto too. Like, there's opportunity in Toronto. Like, I'm doing depth charts right now. And I'm like, I do have one spot here that needs to be filled. Like, come on down, guys. But it's like, you look at the options out there. And it's like, yeah, don't, don't. You guys can stay where you are.

Because, like, it's very, like, at least have very particular needs that they do need to fill. But they can be patient. They can be a little patient. But obviously, they can't wait forever to also fill that. avoid. Going to be interesting to see how the rest of the offseason plays out in Toronto and as you mentioned how Mitch Marner adjusts to life in Vegas.

A lot of other teams active in free agency, including the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. We'll talk about some of the other teams coming up next on the NHL squad show. Today's episode is brought you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier with Monarch Money, it can, whether you're growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver's seat. It's like having your own personal CFO,

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Guys, were you surprised the Panthers were able to resign all the players they resigned and even add a little bit more to the mix? You know, I was too. I mean, you begin to wonder just there are certain GMs who just know how to work the cap. What cap? What cap? What cap we're talking about? Oh, yeah, let's give 37-year-old Brad Marchand a six-year deal. I'm sorry.

If Brad Marchand is 42 years old. Okay, no, I'll go 41 years old and still playing in the NHL. I'll eat my words. But I'm like, yeah, how do they make it work? They did, you know, trickery, right? Because I remember, no, people were complaining when the least gave Brent, Chris Tann of six years. At least Chris Tann of wasn't close. He was like 33, 34 when he signed that deal.

He wasn't 37 when he signed. that deal. Unbelievable. And then Aaron Eckblad, yeah, I'm okay with 6.1 million when he probably could have gone 8, 9, like with the way that the way for agency

worked, he probably would have gotten $9, 10 million if he went to the open market, which that's how you do it. You find a way to get you, you leverage these guys to say, hey, if you really want to stay, here's the number, here's the offer. Up to you.

Well, it does go to show you. Yeah, it does. go to show you and not just for the obvious for the winning, but guys are very happy playing there. We talk about the state income tax and you can take that for what it's worth. I think it, I mean, Marshan said it himself. It is a factor. It may not be the factor, but it is a factor. But just the chemistry they have there, the way that the organization obviously treats their players very well. And then you obviously put the winning on top of that. It is the destination right now in the NHL. When you see guys like Aaron Eklad taking a significant

discount. I know he got an eight year deal, but I was shocked when I saw, you know, how much money he was getting paid per year. That's, again, it speaks to how happy guys are playing there and how much they enjoy playing together and how they're treated. I talked to Armando Valiz, who does, locked on Florida Panthers and asked him what he thought. And he said, there's no way they're going to sign all three. And he thought Echblad was the guy out. He probably also didn't envision that he would sign for the contract that he signed for. But kudos to Bill Zito and the Florida Panthers for being able to, you know, completely turn that place into a destination that NHL players want to go to. And when they are there, they want to stay there.

It doesn't matter how the Bill Zito tenure ends. He is just going to point to the rings on his fingers and the Stanley Cup every time anybody asks. And there may be some that say, well, the last couple of years it got really messy because of all the cap stuff it's like who cares like just kick it down the road that's what all the good GMs do is they maximize their roster for that year they kick it down the can as much as they can all i know is the panthers have Alexander barkov Matthew kitch Sam reinhart Sam bennett carter verhegey bradmarshand Anton lundel all signed to at least 2030 good luck contending against that that's gonna this florida team unless they suffer a rash of injuries, they are going to be in the conversation every single

year. And when it comes to the trade deadline, when it comes to free agency in the off season, they're a cup contender every time. So they're going to be able to fill those bottom six spots with players that take less to go there because they want to win a cup. One thing I will say, they are $4.5 million over the cap. So unless somebody magically gets hurt and they get put on the LTIR. Like I think like a guy like Evan Rodriguez, he's gone. Like three million bucks.

He's a candidate to walk. But they got to shed that four and a half to get themselves. Obviously for the off season, you can be what, I think it's like 10% over the cap. Yeah. But you can't be over the cap once the season starts. So they got four and a half million bucks.

They're going to have to shed. So I expect Billy Zito to the ultimate. to also find a way to get something back for a player or two that's going to allow them to do even more potentially down the road. What about your L.A. Kings, Eddie, your feelings about how they handled free agency? It was interesting. I'll say that. You know, losing Vladislav Gavlovakoff for seven times seven was a pretty big surprise. I would have thought that for a team that believes it's,

and I know it may sound funny for a team that can't get out of the first round, but they believe that they are, you know, a team that's close to going on a deep run. And look, there were a lot of people, and I'll even put my hand up, that thought this past year, that was a team that could go to the Western Conference finals.

Obviously, it didn't happen. They bring in a new GM, and his idea is to just make some little tweaks. in there, get the team a little bit more experience, get him a little bit bigger. But I don't understand letting Gavakov go. If he wouldn't sign for a comparable deal in L.A., I don't obviously know the details behind that. But to me, when I saw he signed for seven times seven in New York, I'm like, why didn't

we sign him for that? I get the years. But as we've talked about with Florida, if you think you think you're a contender now or if you're going for it now, who cares of it? about year six and seven. We're, we want to, they're about now. So that was a head scratcher. And then, you know, the Cody Cici thing, I mean, is being universally laughed at by pretty much everyone around the league. I mean, four years of that guy, that doesn't make any sense. And then the Corey Perry situation is such a weird situation because I get why they did it.

And that is also, you know, hey, we're close. Let's get an agitator. Let's get a guy who performs in the playoffs. Okay. Makes sense. People in L.A. hate Corey Perry. I mean, they hate him, including me. He was so many years with the ducks and then he's with the Oilers. And the thought of him in a Kings jersey makes a lot of people throw up in their mouth. So I understand the move and why he did it. It makes hockey sense for a short-term deal. But there's so many fans that just are so, they have a bad taste in their mouth thinking about that guy playing for their team.

So it was a very, very polarizing offseason for the LA Kings. What even makes more, like, okay, you lose Gavrakov to the Rangers. But the Rangers were like, okay, we're going to bring Gavrokov and we're going to let Keonjah Miller walk. Why aren't the Kings along? Like, if they need a defenseman, would have been a perfect salvage. We'll say, hey, we lost Gavikov, but here's Keon Jemil. Like, I think they could have probably pulled off a similar trade to what Carolina did to get him. Like, that's the part to me.

It's like, okay, you lose, you lose, you lose Garikov, but you have so much cabspace available. you could have made a big push for another defenseman. Maybe it's just L.A. I thought, I think L.A. would be a great destination for some guys. And maybe they're just, they banked on getting a certain, and this is maybe where, you know,

Ken Holland got into a little bit of trouble, say, okay, if we like Yavkarak, we got a bunch of options we can get. And none of them, I guess none of the top ones wanted to go to L.A. because it felt like those other guys were more secondary options. Yeah, he decided to get,

older, which is an interesting move. And Keontra Miller was talked about. We talked about that option if Gavrikov were to walk and making a trade for him. I don't, and I don't know if they even looked into that. We talked about maybe going after Bill Byron as well in Buffalo, you know, getting younger and having guys that can actually be maybe not an upgrade, but be somewhat on a, on a similar level. And you can have them for years to come, you know, a guy, I mean, Brian Dumlin, he played well in the playoffs for New Jersey, but, you know, he's, uh, he's not a spring chicken anymore, you know, and, and, you know, he'd be a great, probably third pairing guy, kind of like Joel Edmondson is now, but on the second pairing, that's stuff. And then, you know,

so, um, yeah, it was not a great offseason for the Kings. There's no doubt about that. All right. We've got a lot more to cover here on the squad, a little more free agency and including one big fish who's still out there. We'll talk about that next. One question I got to ask, is there any other team out there that the way they handled free agency just left you guys scratching your heads? I want to know about Seth's team.

What's going on with the wild? It feels like they're waiting. They made that trade for terrorists like to get Teresanko's right. Are they just kind of concerned about the Capricsov situation? I think that's part of it, certainly. And Bill Garon and his latest update said, you know, they're still working on the Capri's off situation, but he's not really, he's not really worried about that spiraling out of control, especially with the new CBA stuff. The Wild will be able to offer eight years and nobody else, if this goes to next off season, is going to be able to offer any more than six.

So they have a clear advantage in that situation. But, you know, the interesting one is we have just heard Bill Garron talk about flexibility all offseason. And we knew that this was going to be the off season where there was money to spend. But the Wild have positioned themselves all off season to, it almost feels like make a huge splash at the trade deadline. There have been a lot of GMs that just are not really willing to move players off the roster right now. We learned a lot of that with the Marco Rossi situation playing out the way that it has, where the most common return that teams have offered has been draft picks. That doesn't really help the Minnesota Wild right now,

although I still maintain that if you pull in the picks, you can flip them as part of a bigger deal. So I wasn't super put off by draft picks being the return, but now we got Bill Garan saying that if anyone tries to offer sheet Rossi, the wild they're going to match. So it seems as though the big offseason questions were going to be what happens with Marco Rossi. It looks like he's staying.

And what does the number look like for Carrel Caprizoff? And beyond that, a couple of minor moves, Teresenko is just feels like kind of a placeholder in that top six. Nico Sturm was, I like Nico Sturm. So I was glad to see him return. But it just feels like the wild were kind of positioning themselves to have a large amount of cap space at the trade deadline, which they will have, barring injuries. And just waiting to see who falls out of it. They keep getting linked to the Buffalo Sabres.

Maybe this is the season that if they fall out of it and Tage Thompson says, I got to tap out, that they just put all the chips in the middle of the table and they say, we're going to go get this guy. there is one big fish still out there. Nikolai Eelers yet to sign as of the time that we're recording this. Your thoughts about who might be in the running for Eelers and where he might be the best fit. Well, can we talk just to start about what the Jets have done to fill that spot in the lineup? Because any time you can go and get Gustav Nyquist, you just have to do it. And having seen him play the final 20 plus games of the season with the wild and being off sides on the game or the series changing goal,

if the wild score that goal, it feels like they win that game and they maybe have enough to beat the Golden Knights in that series. But stick your leg out like six inches and you're on sides. We couldn't do it. And the wild lose again. And he does not have a lot left from what I was able to see. And so bringing him in to fill to fill the spot of a very productive player could bite the jets to say the least. Yeah, like there was all this excitement that they got Jonathan Taves, you know, hometown guy comes, comes in. It's going to help them put them over the edge.

And then Eelers is like, yeah, no, guys, I'm not, I'm not. I don't think I'm now there's a chance he can still go back I'm not I don't think the door is fully closed there but I do think it's mostly shut like apparently he's not really into the bright lights of Winnipeg and I'm like we're talking about Winnipeg here right so like if you're a team that wants to go and get Nick Eilers think do you have you have a lot of attention on your team it might not work out for you as I think if you like Nick Eilers he he might go to a team I'm man there's like how about yeah I was gonna say how about Carolina they're just gonna throw like they got a sign guys

they have they have money just they're like take our money we have it like and I think I think it would be a good situation for him personally like he wouldn't have to be the guy there

and you know he's it's I don't know like Eilers I thought he would have signed by I guess full speed today I don't know what, as we're recording this is Wednesday, he was supposed to sign. I don't know what the holdup is there.

I'm certain that maybe there's a team that he thought was going to offer them something, didn't end up actually doing it. Like somebody kept bringing up Washington to me. I don't know if he's like if Washington has what it takes to get that done unless they make some moves on the blue line to move somebody. But yeah, it's very interesting. It's like he's the biggest free agent left. And yet he doesn't want to act like he's the biggest free agent left either.

It's weird. The fact that he didn't sign by the fact that he is still kind of holding it up in the air, allow me to recklessly speculate that maybe he's hoping that Winnipeg is willing to match the highest offer out there for him. And he is just waiting for them to kind of get their ducks in a row that, again, I've nothing to go off of with that, but I always feel like in situations like this, if a player waits to make a decision, they are kind of unofficially saying, hey, are you guys willing to maybe add a couple mill? And then we can get this done. And Winnipeg has the space to do it. But

Winnipeg is also a team that doesn't really like to spend to the cap all the time, which I don't understand why not. They, like, they have like over, I think right now we're looking at, uh, cap wages. They have over $17 million in cap space. But I'm sure there's also a line that they want to draw because Kyle Connor is also due up at the end of next, you know, he's on

his last year. So I'm wondering if they're sort of thinking Cole Perfetti is going to need new deal. Like they're thinking about the future, I think, there. And they're like, well, we like Eilers, but how much do we love them? And I think that's also maybe part of it too. Yeah. And then if we give Eilers,

you know, nine million, then we've got to give Connor nine million and and all the same year had to give Kyle Connor more than nine million I think he's going to be one in the 10 10 11 mark he might even he might want the the rantingan deal from them well speaking of rantan and carolina missed out on that they supposedly were in on marner or at least one of the finalists obviously that didn't happen so they still have a chance to try and get that sort of marquee guy that they've been coveting for a while this is the last chance to get anybody for this year. We'll see if they, if they land.

To me, that's the spot for him. Is there a reason? It seems that players just don't want to go to Carolina? I've heard, I've heard some people say like, yes, they don't, they got money to spend. The fan base is starting to get there again, but the ownership, there's not a lot of love for that owner.

He's not, he doesn't like to spend a lot of money. He's spending money on players, but it's the other things. It's the training facility. these. It's how players are taken care of. That speaks volumes. So two players. Like they say, oh, once we get ranting in, we'll try to convince it to stay.

Well, you convinced that he needed to be traded again. So I think, like, to me, those sort of things when they happen, it makes players think twice. Is that actually a place I want to go if they can't keep a Miko rantan in? And they offered them the money. This was not because they weren't. willing to sign Ranting in. There's,

it's just one of those things where they got to get these guys in the building when they're younger. Like, like what they did with Stan Coven and say, here you go. Here's your, here's your deal, which a great deal for,

in my opinion for Carolina for what Stan Coven had done. For getting him locked in like that. But yeah, again, it's just one of those things where I feel like there's a reputation in Carolina, maybe similar to getting to like that Buffalo territory. While Carolina,

good. At least they got that going for them. There's just other things, you know, that just aren't playing to their, you know, giving them that really good. I want to stay here vibe. All right. Gentlemen, thank you so much.

It was a pleasure talking puck with you tonight. I want to thank everyone for making the squad show your first listen today for your second listen. Check out the Locked-on NHL podcast. There is no off-season. We're bringing you the daily league-wide. stories that matter most with the local coverage you love from Locked On. You could find Locked On NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Gilmartin on behalf of Seth Tuple, David

Marisuti and Eddie Garcia. Thank you so much for watching this episode of the NHL Squad Show.