Around the NHL 2025-2026

[Falco Lombardi]

Buffalo apparently didn’t value Michael Kesselring at all.

Traded him to San Jose to move up from 27 to 20.

 

[PJJJP]

Sharks get Kesselrung and the 27th for the 20th. Not a bad trade by them

 

[BlueOil]

Whatta hell is happening in Toronto?

First odd trade and now Jim Hiller as headcoach. Had to Google him.

getting back to first round exits ASAP

 

[bleedblue1223]

Not a bad move for SJ, I'm also fine not doing it. There were already some red flags with him based on how his last season in Utah ended, and then continued struggles in Buffalo.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Sharks get Kesselrung and the 27th for the 20th. Not a bad trade by them

Not a bad move for SJ, I'm also fine not doing it. There were already some red flags with him based on how his last season in Utah ended, and then continued struggles in Buffalo.

I would have seriously considered that deal for 15th OA.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I would have seriously considered that deal for 15th OA.

That would've been too much for me. Going from 15 to 27 is a large drop.

 

[STL fan in MN]

That would've been too much for me. Going from 15 to 27 is a large drop.

Yeah, I wouldn’t have done that either but I did have interest in Kesselring being our 3RD behind Parayko and Mailloux.

Kesselring clearly didn’t work out in Buffalo but he should be a solid 3rd pairing guy. And he’s big and a righty and that will always hold value.

Good move by both teams IMO. SJ gets a solid player for the bottom of their lineup in an absolute area of need and BUF dumps a guy that didn’t work out for them while moving up in the draft. Quite a bit higher hit rate at 20 than 27.

 

[Brian39]

I would have seriously considered that deal for 15th OA.

Too rich for my blood. He got forced out of the lineup completely on a Buffalo team lacking RHD. Surprising based on what I saw from him in Arizona/Utah, but even there I never saw huge upside in him. I don't ever see him becoming a 'core' guy and dropping from 15th to 27th is too rich for the limited ceiling and red flag of this year IMO.

I like the trade for San Jose though. 20 to 27 is an easier drop to swallow, they have a much larger need for NHL bodies on the back end, and they have a larger quantity of prospects in the pool already.

 

[Em etah Eh]

I would have seriously considered that deal for 15th OA.

Does Buffalo have anything else they are looking to move to get to #15? Seems odd this would happen so far ahead of draft. Maybe they are looking to get even higher in the draft and couldn’t count on doing it all the day of draft?

27 vs 20 could end up looking bad in a few years depending on who is there. Seems odd to make it without knowing whose falling to 20.

 

[Frenzy31]

Does Buffalo have anything else they are looking to move to get to #15? Seems odd this would happen so far ahead of draft. Maybe they are looking to get even higher in the draft and couldn’t count on doing it all the day of draft?

27 vs 20 could end up looking bad in a few years depending on who is there. Seems odd to make it without knowing whose falling to 20.

They move up and get cap space. They have some cap issues and a lot of money wrapped up in D, plus have to sign Tuch and other RFAs.

I am not interested in moving from 15 to 20.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Sabres now have cap space and a RHD spot open to acquire Colton, now that he's had time to think about moving to Buffalo.

I would have seriously considered that deal for 15th OA.

Absolutely not.

 

[Beninnola]

Trouba should be a Sabre I think.

Or dougie.

Somebody who is a specialist at this time. Or John Carlson but like if Parayko won’t do it why would he.

 

[SirPaste]

Leafs give Raddysh 8 years 8.5, I think that’s crazy for a 30 year old who’s only had one good season under his belt

 

[joe galiba]

Leafs give Raddysh 8 years 8.5, I think that’s crazy for a 30 year old who’s only had one good season under his belt

meet the new boss, same as the old boss

 

[Frenzy31]

Leafs give Raddysh 8 years 8.5, I think that’s crazy for a 30 year old who’s only had one good season under his belt

He was likely the most sought after UFA on the market. Yeah, lots of term and $$$ but that is the issue with UFA.

To me, the Leafs are in their window and it will close with Matthews leaves (which will happen when his contract is up).

 

[WeWentBlues]

Leafs give Raddysh 8 years 8.5, I think that’s crazy for a 30 year old who’s only had one good season under his belt

Head scratcher from both teams if you ask me. Imagine if the Blues signed an expiring UFA to an 8-year extension to keep the AAV down and then traded them to Colorado and were only compensated a 5th round pick for doing so.

 

[ExJbeck]

I think we all take for granted how lucky we have been with our defensive depth in the last ten years. Times where I thought Faulk was the worst defender in the league more or less, that is until I watched Morgan Reilly try to play or even Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard in EDM. Got such a different outlook on those guys at the worlds this year. We are blessed to have had the defensive units we have, have had and are building. 8 years term is crazy for Raddysh, but their have been worse contracts for significantly worse defenders in the league.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Head scratcher from both teams if you ask me. Imagine if the Blues signed an expiring UFA to an 8-year extension to keep the AAV down and then traded them to Colorado and were only compensated a 5th round pick for doing so.

Well, that’s how a sign and trade works though…

TB was the only team that could sign him for 8 years so it had to be TB that signed him to the deal. But clearly TB doesn’t value him at that level (and they shouldn’t IMO) and they saw they were going to lose the player via free agency so they got a 5th instead of nothing.

Toronto paid a 5th to jump in line to be able to negotiate with the player before other teams could on July 1.

That said, I think this is a stupid move for Toronto. I’m happy for Raddysh he was able to pop this season but the odds of him actually living up to that contract are pretty much nil IMO.

 

[Brian39]

Head scratcher from both teams if you ask me. Imagine if the Blues signed an expiring UFA to an 8-year extension to keep the AAV down and then traded them to Colorado and were only compensated a 5th round pick for doing so.

Beyond the benefit of "something is better than the nothing we'd get if he walked to UFA," I would be pretty pleased about a division rival giving out this contract.

I'm not at all surprised that Raddysh got this contract. I was expecting $9M-$10M x 7, so this is right in line with my expectations. But I also thought that his contract was going to be a huge mistake from whoever signed it and I don't think shifting the AAV down to $8.5M by tacking on the bonus year makes it any better.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Good piece of work by TB suckering a divisional rival into an 8-year term for a 30 year old D-man that could be a one year wonder.

Wonder if this increases Parayko's value on the market with one of the top RH defensemen off the board.

 

[Brian39]

Wonder if this increases Parayko's value on the market with one of the top RH defensemen off the board.

Here are the remaining UFA RHDs who played 15+ minutes a night at 5 on 5 last year:

Jacob Trouba
Rasmus Anderson
John Carlson
Tony Deangelo
Andrew Peeke
John Klingberg
Troy Stecher
Brent Burns
Nick Jensen

Anaheim currently has 1 NHL RHD under contract (Drew Helleson) and 0 RHD RFAs

San Jose currently has 0 NHL RHD under contract and 1 RHD RFA (Kesselring)

Edmonton currently has 2 NHL RHD under contract (Bouchard and Ty Emberson) and 0 RHD RFAs

Vegas currently has 2 NHL RHD under contract (Petro and Korczak) and 0 RHD RFAs. Theodore can play on the right, but Petro should be considered LTIRetired until further notice.

I see 6 clear top 4 RHD vacancies from just these 4 Pacific teams who are all looking to improve for next year. Half the UFAs on this list comes from these 4 teams and appear unlikely to re-sign. Considering there will be another 24 teams potentially looking to sign these guys, it seems like a near-guarantee that we are going to see a couple of these teams aggressively hitting the trade market for a top 4 RHD.

If there is any truth at all to the 'might waive for a west coast team' report, that would put us in great shape to field offers. Edmonton and Vegas aren't exactly west coast, but it seems like every NHLer will waive for Vegas and Parayko is probably more willing to go to Edmonton than most since he's from there.

I think Raddysh being taken off the market absolutely helps us.

Verbeek appears to be willing to back himself into a corner by letting all of Trouba, Carlson, and Gudas go rather than giving them a painful extension. He might not be wrong, but I don't see how he can possibly enter July 1st without a single top 4 RHD on the roster. Really interested to see what he does in the next couple weeks.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Here are the remaining UFA RHDs who played 15+ minutes a night at 5 on 5 last year:

Jacob Trouba
Rasmus Anderson
John Carlson
Tony Deangelo
Andrew Peeke
John Klingberg
Troy Stecher
Brent Burns
Nick Jensen

Anaheim currently has 1 NHL RHD under contract (Drew Helleson) and 0 RHD RFAs

San Jose currently has 0 NHL RHD under contract and 1 RHD RFA (Kesselring)

Edmonton currently has 2 NHL RHD under contract (Bouchard and Ty Emberson) and 0 RHD RFAs

Vegas currently has 2 NHL RHD under contract (Petro and Korczak) and 0 RHD RFAs. Theodore can play on the right, but Petro should be considered LTIRetired until further notice.

I see 6 clear top 4 RHD vacancies from just these 4 Pacific teams who are all looking to improve for next year. Half the UFAs on this list comes from these 4 teams and appear unlikely to re-sign. Considering there will be another 24 teams potentially looking to sign these guys, it seems like a near-guarantee that we are going to see a couple of these teams aggressively hitting the trade market for a top 4 RHD.

If there is any truth at all to the 'might waive for a west coast team' report, that would put us in great shape to field offers. Edmonton and Vegas aren't exactly west coast, but it seems like every NHLer will waive for Vegas and Parayko is probably more willing to go to Edmonton than most since he's from there.

I think Raddysh being taken off the market absolutely helps us.

Verbeek appears to be willing to back himself into a corner by letting all of Trouba, Carlson, and Gudas go rather than giving them a painful extension. He might not be wrong, but I don't see how he can possibly enter July 1st without a single top 4 RHD on the roster. Really interested to see what he does in the next couple weeks.

Verbeek is operating like he already has a deal in place for a RHD.

 

[Ranksu]

Leafs give Raddysh 8 years 8.5, I think that’s crazy for a 30 year old who’s only had one good season under his belt

They think they get stellar pp guy to blueline. He produced 50%-50% points on 5on5 vs PP.

Gives me Faulk vibes. Blues thinked Faulk would fill Pietro hole and rest is history.

 

[Em etah Eh]

Beyond the benefit of "something is better than the nothing we'd get if he walked to UFA," I would be pretty pleased about a division rival giving out this contract.

I'm not at all surprised that Raddysh got this contract. I was expecting $9M-$10M x 7, so this is right in line with my expectations. But I also thought that his contract was going to be a huge mistake from whoever signed it and I don't think shifting the AAV down to $8.5M by tacking on the bonus year makes it any better.

And GMs probably aren’t as petty as me but the other added bonus is the leafs do get better which makes the Boston and Flyers picks worse. How much WAR does Raddysh actually bring? I have no idea, but it should make them a better squad in the next two years. And if I’m Tampa I’m not worried about the Leafs being any real threat to my playoff chances the next two years despite the trade making them better on paper.

It’s fun to think about as an armchair GM but I doubt these guys are taking it to that level of pettiness haha.

 

[ezcreepin]

Also listening to SDPN, you have to think also from a fan perspective - Who was the best RHD they had prior to the Raddysh extension? Even when they had a good regular season team in the mid-late 2010's, early 2020's, I think Raddysh is easily their best offensive defenseman since Rielly had his 72 & 68 point seasons. I couldn't tell you if Raddysh is a better defender than Mo, but it's been 20ish years since they had a right hander do that sort of thing. Blues have been lucky (despite our groaning) to have had Petro, Parayko, and Faulk within a 10-15 year period. Ironically, we've been starved for a strong left side defenseman who can move the puck well.