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NHL Free Agency 2019: Activity tracker and open thread

Who’s ready to hand out money?

It’s Christmas in July!

The first day of free agency is here, and while the Los Angeles Kings aren’t likely to be major players — or players at all, save for perhaps veteran depth to eventually stash in Ontario — we’ll be here all day to keep tabs on what’s happening around the league.

Many of the major deals have already started leaking out — Corey Perry to Dallas, Sergei Bobrovsky to Florida, Joe Pavelski to Dallas, Artemi Panarin to whomever backs up the biggest dump truck of dollars to his house — but there’s guaranteed to be something weird pop up anyway. (Offer sheets, anyone?)

Join in our open thread in the comments below and stick around all day as we update this post with the news, big and small.

7:48 a.m.

Let’s start the day with some offer sheet speculation! Sebastian Aho, come on down:

7:55 a.m.

Joonas Donskoi, who has 10 points against the Kings in 16 career games as a Shark, is heading ever so slightly east to Colorado:

8:06 a.m.

As reported earlier in the off-season, John Stevens is heading to Dallas as an assistant coach. Best of luck to him as he gets to blend some old guard defensemen (Roman Polak, Andrej Sekera) with the new (the very exciting Miro Heiskanen).

8:30 a.m.

Fate has a funny way of making things happen, and Jimmy Vesey is finally a Buffalo Sabre after refusing to sign with them after he finished his college career.

In other news... Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello are both expected to sign with the Minnesota Wild. ... AHL Calder Cup MVP Andrew Poturalski is heading to Anaheim and could be interesting depth for them, and certainly a good pick-up for the San Diego Gulls. ... AHL regular season MVP Daniel Carr is going to the Nashville Predators. He was stuck behind a log-jam of other forwards in the Vegas organization and may actually get another shot at the NHL with the Predators.

8:48 a.m.

New York Rangers, hello:

Also, the handful of you in the Nick Shore fanclub have a new team to root for that doesn’t require you to speak Russian. He’s going to the Leafs:

9:10 a.m.

Former King Oscar Fantenberg stays out west, signing with the Vancouver Canucks. ... The Sharks lock up another one of their promising young players, giving a four year deal to Timo Meier, who nearly doubled his production as compared to the 2017-18 season.

Pittsburgh just gave a truckload of money to Brandon Tanev for some reason:

9:40 a.m.

Because the Oilers are hilarious, they signed Mike Smith.

Oilers Sign Goaltender Mike Smith To One Year Deal

Matt Duchene, as expected, signed with Nashville for seven years. ... The Blackhawks, who brought back Andrew Shaw yesterday, also signed depth forward Ryan Carpenter. ...  Valterri Filppula goes back to Detroit on a two-year deal. (Slightly concerned the Islanders do not.... actually....... have a team right now.) ... Max Lagace, previously part of the Golden Knights organization, heads to Boston to be their third goalie. ... Curtis Lazar and Andrew Hammond have both signed with Buffalo. Hammond is likely bound for the AHL as their number three goalie.

10:01 a.m.

The Panthers and Rangers make their big splashes official:

12:00 p.m.

Your girl goes to a meeting and AN OFFER SHEET BREAKS OUT. The Canadiens have tendered an offer sheet for Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, which the Hurricanes would be incredibly short-sighted to not match. The Hurricanes have a week to decide if they want to match the offer sheet.

In relevant-to-the-Kings news, Ontario Reign forward Philippe Maillet has signed with the Washington Capitals. Maillet has spent the past two seasons-and-a-bit with the Reign after finishing his college career at the University of New Brunswick and has been one of the Reign’s better players. He will most likely spend the majority of his time with the AHL’s Hershey Bears but could get a crack at the NHL in a depth role/injury call-up. Maillet’s contract with the organization was with the Reign, not the Kings, so he was not an option to call up.

In more ex-Kings news, Andy Andreoff and J. F. Berube will both join the Flyers organization. Kevin Gravel joins the Maple Leafs. Wayne Simmonds is heading to New Jersey.

Elsewhere, teams are locking up goalie depth. Calvin Pickard goes to Detroit. Curtis McElhinney goes to Tampa Bay.

12:51 p.m.

Brendan Leipsic goes to the Capitals on a cheap, short deal, which I guess puts to rest the “he probably wanted more money/term than the Kings would give him” suggestions (that even I made, so not absolving myself here).

2:50 p.m.

It’s been pretty quiet this afternoon — everyone, including the Kings, is mostly making depth signings now.

And then, this:

That is huge for Lehner, who is a legitimate NHL starting goalie and really turned his career (and his life) around this past season, but it’s also perhaps even more of an indication that the Blackhawks don’t fully believe that Corey Crawford, who has missed significant time with concussions over the past two seasons, will return to top form, or that Collin Delia is ready to take on starting duties. Crawford has one season remaining on his contract.

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