5:14 PM ET Free-agent center Joe Thornton signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, ending a 15-year run with the San Jose Sharks. Thornton, 41, is currently skating with HC Davos in the Swiss National League in preparation of the 2020-21 NHL season. His contract with the Leafs is for $700,000.
NHL News
6:03 PM ET Associated Press EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Kings have signed No. 2 overall NHL draft pick Quinton Byfield to a three-year contract. The Kings on Friday announced the entry-level deal with Byfield, a powerful 6-foot-5 center from Ontario. The 18-year-old Byfield is likely to play another year of junior hockey
2:20 PM ET The Calgary Flames have re-signed restricted free agent Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year, $4.85 million contract, the team announced Friday. Mangiapane played in 68 games for the Flames last season, recording career highs with 17 goals and 15 assists. He added two goals and three assists in the postseason as Calgary was
10:20 AM ET The biggest lie NHL free agents tell themselves is that their team is their family. The dressing room can be a band of brothers. Lifelong friendships are forged through daily routines and long playoff runs, through wives and children bonding with others in the organization. All of this is true, and all
8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL free-agent frenzy has started to mellow out. The flat salary cap had teams scrambling to find the right fits under less-than-ideal financial conditions, leaving some free agents waiting to see if lucrative opportunities would still materialize. Here are the top 10 unrestricted free agents still on the market as
6:29 PM ET Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said he believes the 2020-21 NHL season will begin on Feb. 1, a full month after the NHL’s current “target date.” Foley told KSHP’s Vegas Hockey Hotline that he expects the season will be less than 60 games, saying it could be “48 or 56 games.”
7:15 AM ET The NHL free-agent frenzy was unprecedented this offseason — and not just because it took place when the regular season is usually scheduled to start. The new collective bargaining agreement kept the salary cap flat at $81.5 million. Otherwise, it would have plummeted, just as team revenues have during the COVID-19 pandemic.
7:00 AM ET Professional sports have a peculiar way of glorifying underdogs who win championships while being blasé about teams with all-star rosters that win. The 1980 Team USA hockey “Miracle on Ice” is folklore. Cinderella teams are more compelling than No. 1 seeds in March Madness. Unless it’s part of a dynasty, hearing an
7:30 AM ET The dust has finally settled on the 2020 NHL draft. We know the Ducks, Kings and Rangers, in particular, did really well in their selections. But what next for this class? Grading each team’s haul aside, what do the new draft picks mean for each team’s system and future? After gathering my
11:25 PM ET ESPN News Services National Women’s Hockey League founder Dani Rylan Kearney is stepping down as commissioner as part of a restructuring of the league’s governing model, the Associated Press reported. According to the AP, Rylan Kearney will remain involved as president of an ownership group that controls four of the NWHL’s six
2:57 PM ET Veteran forward Tyler Toffoli has signed a four-year deal worth $4.25 million annually with the Montreal Canadiens. Toffoli finished the 2019-20 season with the Vancouver Canucks following a February trade that ended an eight-season run with the Los Angeles Kings. In Vancouver, Toffoli had six goals and four assists in 10 games
7:35 PM ET Left winger Taylor Hall has signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres, the team announced Sunday. Hall, 28, was the most coveted unrestricted free-agent forward available this offseason, and he spent the weekend listening to pitches from at least a half-dozen teams. Choosing the Sabres is a surprising move,
12:49 PM ET Associated Press The Detroit Red Wings signed free agent center Vladislav Namestnikov to a $4 million, two-year contract on Sunday. The Red Wings announced the move on their website. A person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press the contract’s value on condition of anonymity because it wasn’t revealed
9:12 PM ET Associated Press More than a year after taking a team-friendly contract to help the San Jose Sharks, Kevin Labanc is finally cashing in. Labanc signed an $18.9 million, four-year deal Saturday that carries an annual salary-cap hit of $4,725,000. That’s a significant raise from the $1 million he made last season after
12:14 PM ET The Boston Bruins have signed winger Craig Smith to a three-year contract worth an NHL cap hit of $3.1 million, they announced Saturday. Smith, 31, scored 18 goals and recorded 31 points for the Nashville Predators last season. He has scored 20 or more goals in five of the past seven seasons.
12:45 PM ET NHL Insiders NHL free agency for 2020 is underway! For each key signing, Emily Kaplan, Chris Peters and Greg Wyshynski will be assessing the player’s fit with his new team, weighing whether the terms of the contract make sense, and serving up an overall grade. We’ll be grading the most notable offseason
7:17 AM ET ESPN staff Due to the altered schedule whereby the 2019-20 NHL season was completed quite a bit later than usual — with the Stanley Cup Playoffs lasting until Sept. 29 — free agency will begin on Oct. 9 this year, as opposed to the traditional July 1 starting point. But while the
7:00 AM ET The word that typically defines free agency in the NHL is “uncertainty.” Players with expiring contracts enter a marketplace unsure of what their next deals will look like or where they’ll next call home. But in the 2020 free-agent frenzy, that uncertainty has reached previously unseen levels for players and teams. There’s