2018 Free Agency Open Thread

Happy Canada Day, y’all.

It’s July 1st, which means it’s time for Jim Benning fire money out of a cannon at some bottom six forwards. It’s also time for Don Waddell to do something hilarious in Carolina. The Oilers are cap strapped as of this moment, maybe they’ll be able to land Kyle Brodziak and a six pack. No matter what happens, NHL general managers are going to throw money around today like nobody’s business.

Plenty of action has occurred over the past week in the NHL. Signings can become official at 12 noon Eastern time. This post will be updated when signings become official.

Let’s have fun out there today.

• Winger Ilya Kovalchuk has signed a three year deal with the Kings at 6.25MM per year.
• Defenceman Mike Green has signed on for two years in Detroit at 5.375MM each
• Goaltender Eddie Lack has signed a one year deal with the New Jersey Devils at 650K
• Forward Brandon Pirri signed a one year deal with Vegas for 650K
• Defenceman Dalton Prout will be in Calgary for one year at 800K
• Forward Ryan Reaves is gonna get paid for two years at 2.775MM each. Stunningly, this might not be the worst deal of the day.
• Defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson will get two more years in Arizona at 5MM each.
• Winger James Van Riemsdyk is a Flyer again, this time it’s for seven years at 5MM each. Does Philly hand out NMCs? Just a thought..
• Centre Derek Ryan will spend the next three years in Calgary at 3.125MM each
• Forward Austin Czarnik will also spend some time in Calgary. Two years at 1.25MM each.
• Canucks GM Jim Benning is paying centre Jay Beagle 3MM for the next four years. That’s Jay Beagle, who scored 22 points in Washington last year. Four years, 3MM, for Jay Beagle. Beagle will be 33 in October. On ya, Jimbo.
• Goaltender Carter Hutton will leave St. Louis for the sunny skies of Buffalo. He’ll make 2.75MM a year for the next three.
• Goaltender Anton Khudobin will spend two years in Dallas at 2.5MM each.
• Former Oiler David Perron will rejoin the St. Louis Blues for a third tenure. He’ll make 4MM a year for the next four.
• Winger Thomas Vanek is back in Detroit for one year at 3MM
• Defenceman Jack Johnson will be in Pittsburgh for the next five years at 3.25MM a year. That’s...something.
• Sabres go for two goaltenders this offseason, they sign Scott Wedgewood for a one year deal at 650K
• Cam Ward has a one year deal with Chicago for 2.5 million. Sure.
• Paul Stastny is heading to Vegas for three years at 6.5MM a year.
• Tyler Bozak will leave Toronto for St. Louis. He’s got a three year deal at 5MM each.
• Tomas Plekanec will return to the Canadiens for one year at 2.25MM.
• Goaltender Jonathan Bernier to Detroit, 3MM a year for three years.
• Antoine Roussell will get 3MM a year for four years in Vancouver. Killing it, Jimbo.
• Roman Polak has a new deal in Dallas, one year for 1.3MM.
• Blake Comeau is not coming to Edmonton, he’s going to Dallas for three years at 2.4MM a year.
• ERIC GRYBA has a one year deal in New Jersey for 700K. Now he’s getting paid by the Oilers and the Devils. Heckuva job, Chiarelli.
• Chris Kunitz has a one year deal worth 1MM in Chicago.
• Defenceman Xavier Ouellet will spend one year with the Canadiens for 700K.
• Winger Joakim Nordstrom has a two year deal in Boston at 2MM each.
• Matthew Peca is a Montreal Canadien. The centre will average 1.3MM a year for two years.
• Winger J.T. Brown has a two year deal with the Minnensota Wild for the bargain price of 687K a year.
• Forward Josh Jooris will spend one year with Toronto at 650K
• Michael Grabner tweeted that he’s headed to Phoenix. It’s nice there this time of year.
• THE OILERS HAVE SIGNED defenceman Kevin Gravel, formerly of Los Angeles to a one year deal at 700K. Gravel, 26 has 70 NHL games combined over the past three seasons. More to come.
• Goaltender Petr Mrazek is headed to Carolina for a year at 1.5MM.
• John Tavares is not returning to the Islanders.
• THE OILERS HAVE SIGNED Kyle Brodziak to a two year deal averaging 1.15MM a year. That’s probably going to be the best the Oilers do today.
• John Tavares sure looks like he’s a Toronto Maple Leaf. It’s a 7 year deal at 11MM a year.
• Centre MIchael Chaput has a two year deal with the Canadiens at 675K a year.
• THE OILERS HAVE SIGNED Tobias Rieder to a one year deal valued at 2 million. Not bad, Chiarelli. Not bad.