NHL Rumor Mill – July 4, 2025
What’s the latest on Bowen Byram? What will teams do that missed out in the free-agent market? Find out in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE LATEST BOWEN BYRAM SPECULATION
TSN: cited the Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford reporting the St. Louis Blues have been trying hard to acquire Bowen Byram. He also speculated that the 24-year-old Buffalo Sabres defenseman could receive an offer sheet.
The Blues made headlines last summer by using offer sheets to successfully sign away defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers.
THE ATHLETIC: Matthew Fairburn reminded us that Byram is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. However, he’s yet to put pen to paper on a new contract with the Sabres.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram (NHL Images).
Earlier this week, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams indicated that he would match any offer sheet for Byram, pointing out they saved cap space ($12 million) to address that possibility.
If Adams decides to trade Byram, his preference is for a return that immediately helps the Sabres. Fairburn speculated that it could contain multiple players, like the recent JJ Peterka deal with the Utah Mammoth. It could also involve packaging Byram with a pick or prospect for a better player.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blues have just over $625,000 in cap space, but they can free up $6.5 million by placing Torey Krug on long-term injury reserve (LTIR). Nevertheless, that won’t be enough for an unmatchable offer sheet for Byram.
If Byram wants out of Buffalo, signing an offer sheet could backfire on him if the Sabres match. A trade seems the only way he gets moved this summer, and that’s not a certainty if Adams doesn’t get the return he wants.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR TEAMS THAT MISSED OUT ON FREE AGENCY?
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Jonathan Tovell cited TSN’s Chris Johnston speculating that teams that lost out on the best available talent in this summer’s unrestricted free-agent market (UFA) could turn to the trade market to address their roster needs.
Potential trade options include Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, or Nashville Predators winger Jonathan Marchessault.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins are open to offers for Rust and Rakell but they aren’t shopping them. The asking price will include a good young NHL player in the return.
The Stars are roughly $1.8 million over the salary cap. They can be over the cap by 10 percent during the offseason but must be cap-compliant at the start of the regular season.
Robertson surfaced in the rumor mill following the Stars’ third-straight elimination from the Western Conference Final. He’s a year away from restricted free-agent status (RFA) with arbitration rights and a year away from UFA eligibility after that.
Shedding Robertson’s $7.75 million AAV for this season would not only make them cap-compliant but also provide invaluable wiggle room for other moves during the season. Given his value to their offense, however, they could opt for a more affordable move to shed salary.
As for Marchessault, Nashville general manager Barry Trotz said there was no truth to the recent trade rumors, indicating the veteran winger will return with the Predators this season.
Tovell also mentioned the possibility of some teams targeting RFAs on other clubs with offer sheets. Possible targets include Kaapo Kakko of the Seattle Kraken, Alex Laferriere of the Los Angeles Kings, Gabriel Vilardi of the Winnipeg Jets, Marco Rossi of the Minnesota Wild and Mason McTavish of the Anaheim Ducks.
However, those players must be willing to entertain those offer sheets. If they do, their current clubs have the option to match them.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be a waste of time for clubs to target most of those players as their current teams have over $10 million in salary-cap space, more than enough to match.
It’s been observed in numerous articles that Ken Holland, thanks to some highly-questionable moves, set Detroit on a path to futility that is now approaching 9 years, and that Yzerman hasn’t yet been able to resolve going on 6 years. And after taking over in Edmonton, some of his moves have resulted in a top-heavy cap structure that could have Bowman emulating Yzerman’s frustration in attempting to correct.
Now, in Los Angeles, and in what some have pegged as THE worst UFA signings this spring, he has sunk $10,750,000 off his cap in 3 players that many are asserting as vast over-payments that won’t age well
LD Brian Dumoulin – $4 mil per for 3 years at the end of which he’ll be 36 y/o
RD Code Ceci – $4.5 mil per for 4 years at the end of which he’ll be 35 y/o
G Anton Forsberg – $2,250,000 for 2 years at the end of which he’ll be 34 y/o
Amen George. Holland rode out the coat tails of the Jim Delavano (instrumental in putting the early 80s Islanders together) and a lesser extent Scotty Bowman, success. Then Holland proceeded to sign players and even some coaches (ie Dave Lewis) on homer deals because of their loyalty to the organization. Meanwhile, giving away draft picks (1st rounder to Tampa for Quincy, which later became Vasileski) and drafting horribly, filling the pipeline with a landslide of mediocrity. Only expectations were some lucky stabs with Zetterberg (4th rd) and Datsyuk (6th rd). Yep…and some organizations are desperate, they will read his resume and sign him up.
Robertson for Rust or Rackell even up would get Dallas Cap compliant. It’ll never happen, but it would help both teams .
Thought Zettetberg was a 7th rounder, 210 overall.
He was … and had nothing to do with Holland’s “expertise” – that was on the insistence of their European scout at the time.
When I look at the whole of Holland’s time in Edm it was much more good than bad. He really helped change the culture by bringing in Keith and then Perry and he built a championship caliber team. So kudos there.
Nurse is the big bobble. In fairness it did look like Nurse was finding his way to being a bonafide number 1…sadly while still being a good player he remain notable overpaid as well with nmc added on. His management on the contracts of RFAs in general was problematic in Edm as was his preference for greybeards over up n comers.
To say these things about Uncle Kenny. Give him 5 years like we did in Edmonton.
As to these signing it is to fulfill his wish and dream.
That is to make the Kings the oldest team in the NHL
and take the title from the Oilers.
Sorry going on a rant. These posts that cherry pick stuff and ignore a Hall of Fame career Holland has had is a burr in my saddle. Ya, Holland clueless. You guys would know better!
Holland did an excellent job in Edmonton. They were an organization in turmoil. They missed the playoffs the year before he got there, were already in cap trouble which tied his hands early, and 5 years later they got to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals and within a goal of taking game 7 to OT.
They were not the oldest team in the NHL when he left. They did not lose excellent young players, Broberg and Holloway, under Holland’s watch. They had space to match. That was the new team president Jeff Jackson who signed the older Arvidsson, Skinner and Perry as UFA’s and extend Henrique PRIOR to signing those guys. He didn’t make the decision to do that Jackson did, and left them exposed to offer sheets. Bowman is trying clean up Jackson’s mess, who also happens to be his boss.
When Delavano was GM Holland spent 7 years as Director of Amateur Scouting. I guess he played no role in all those picks for Detroit that led to cups? C’mon on now! He then spent 3 years as Asst GM. He was the AGM for 1 Cup and GM for 3 more. Must be an idiot!
He was lucky to get Zetterberg and Datsyuk? Who the F do you think set up Detroit’s European scouting network that gave them a huge advantage on that continent as they were in way more rinks watching way more players. Does that sound like luck to you? Odd that every other team started doing it too as they realized Detroit had that advantage?
Yzerman and Jim Nill both mentored under Holland. Seem like pretty good GM’s no? Did they ride his coat tails? Or did Holland recognize talented, quality people of character that could help the organization. You know succession planning! Well looky here, Yzerman is running the Wings.
Seriously guys, every GM makes mistakes, every person does. The guy will be in the HOF and it should be 1st ballot.
So … $10,750,000 on Dumoulin, Ceci and Forsberg are wise investments?
We’ll remain far apart on Holland’s “genius” Ray.
In a lot of ways Ray’s right, Holland’s had his successes and a few failures along the way. There’s so many things that go on behind the scenes that influence a GM’s decissions that we know absolutely nothing about. We see a GM that signs a player that doesn’t work and all the experts wonder what was he thinking, what an idiot, how does he keep his job. Yet that same player can move to another team and play great. A teams systems can make a play look good or bad, chemistry plays a bigger role than we think or realize. What goes on behind the scenes is 100% foreign to us, all of us. People seem to think they have an insight to what teams are trying to do and in a couple of cases are mind readers, they know what coaches, gms and players are thinking. My favorite is the Shanaplan, a joke to most people, but almost nobody actually knows what the plan was. In a lot of ways, Ray’s right. Holland’s employed and the rest of us are umemployed critics and as always 150% unbias
George, do I think they were wise signings? Define wise I guess. I think he did what he was tasked to do.
I’ll take a guess to what he is thinking. To determine if they are good decisions we need to understand the goal.
Goal – Which was made clear by Holland’s boss, Robitaille; try and win the Stanley Cup now. I would guess while a 37 yr Kopitar and 35 yr old Doughty can still play at a high enough level. So next 2-3 years max?
Is that the right strategy? Sure, kinda like Boston when their top guys started aging out. But Holland doesn’t decide that, he tries to execute it. IMO he has a shot at it. He does too or he wouldn’t have taken the job.
Knowing the goal, the decision on D was LD Gavrikov (29) re-signed for $7M x 7yrs.
Or RD Ceci (31) for 4 x $4.5 and LD Dumoulin (33) 3 x $4M.
All 3 D above are signed for too much, for a bit too long. UFA’s, so not surprising to anyone is it?
So 2 guys who have both had playoff success for $8.5M or 1 guy who really hasn’t for $7M?
Ceci was the only proven playoff vet RD on the UFA market. Only decent RD IMO period. He has played in the top 4 in 3 of last 4 conference finals, and 1 SCF. Say what you want about him, but he’s good enough to do that.
Dumoulin is on the back 9 but is a proven defender who played a significant defensive role helping win 2 cups. He’s still big and reliable, but will likely regress.
Forsberg is 2 years at $1.25. Thin goalie market. I would have preferred Vladar, but he will get a shot to start in Philly IMO and is getting $3.35M, so not an option. I would guess teams like Edmonton wanted Vladar too.
So needed some D and overpaid for it which was expected. Got a backup tender they needed at a reasonable price and didn’t overpay Gavrikov.
The goal is to win now. So Holland got the guys who were available. 2 proven D and an average backup G. Will they win the cup? Probably not, but will give it another go. He should still have some space after getting his top RFA signed. TDL as well.
So back to his critics – what would you have done on July 1, with LA, in that UFA market, that would have been better than that? Stand pat?
Heh. Yogi – Ray – I guess that’s part of what makes the game so great … the endless differences of opinion on the abilities – or lack thereof – of players, coaches and GMs.
My doubts about Holland began with the growing mess under his watch of the Red Wings, and those were admittedly tempered when the Oilers made the playoffs 5 times under his guidance, including a Conference title and the Cup finals 2 seasons back … and came so tantalizingly close.
Then, almost out of the blue, came the “mutual” decision not to have his contract extended, with no explanation as to why? If nothing else, the timing – when you look at how close they were to their first Stanley Cup in 34 years – did not present a good look.
A lot of early speculation was that he had decided to retire … only to latch onto the L.A. job this past May when Blake was canned. That then led to some speculating that the decision wasn’t “mutual” but rather a firing dressed up a bit for public consumption.
We’ll likely never know for sure one way or another – but as a (very) distant observer I began to pay a bit more attention to the Kings roster moves, and was more than a bit shocked when he signed those 3 to those deals.
Dumoulin, in the span of 3 years, has gone from being a mainstay in Pittsburgh to Anaheim, then to New Jersey and now L.A., while Ceci, over 7 years, from Ottawa to Pittsburgh, to San Jose, to Dallas and now L.A.
The fact they both kept getting jobs is certainly an indication that they have been seen as still able to function at a decent level … but signing them to those amounts and for terms that will take them well into their late 30s is also not a good look.
Now watch, LOL. They will contribute significantly in the new season … and if that happens I will eat crow in these pages.
But I just don’t see it happening that way, and if it doesn’t watch the finger-pointing begin again.
George, the Staois situation the year prior might have played a role in Katz’s decision to move on and bring in Jackson. But that’s just a rumor and me guessing.
Not saying Staois personally had anything to do with it. I think Katz was upset to lose Staois who was mentoring as AGM under Holland and the future guy. Staois was getting attention from OTT, and rightly so, and Katz wanted him to stay and Holland to step aside for his final year, and stay on as an “advisor” with Staois getting the GM job. Which is what someone like Staois would obviously want. In Edmonton or somewhere else.
Holland probably didn’t want to do that and knew the Oil were getting close and wanted to finish the job.
Again, just rumors but the fact that Holland took the LA job made me think that maybe there was something to it and that he didn’t want to retire.
Now that is interesting. Maybe one of those involved will write his memoirs some day. and the truth will out.
See now George, I don’t disagree with your asessment of Ceci, Korpi and Drumm. What I was pointing to was that, while we may not agree or understand their reasoning, mybe we just don’t have all the facts. Katz could’ve just fired Holland and given the job to Staios. It’s not like Katz is a hands off owner
If the rumor is true Yogi, and big if, I don’t think Staois would stick around in that situation where the owner fires his boss (Holland) to give him the job, when his boss is doing a good job. Plus Staois knew the family that purchased the Sens and that job was attractive as well.
Again, if true, I don’t think Staois is the kind of guy who would participate in a game of thrones type thing and this was just Katz being Katz. My guess is he likes and respects Holland.
And ya, Katz has got involved in the past; the Yakupov pick. Lyle’s cousin reported that one locally, so reliable.
Or he was planning on being retired and didn’t like it so got back in the game. Who knows, wouldn’t be the first guy.
That depends Ray, if Katz says Holland is a goner anyways, I think he would’ve taken. One point not brought up is that Ottawa had to get Edomonton’s permission to talk to Staios. If I remember correctly Staios was still under contract
Those first two are overpay and to long, but I don’t see the problem with the Forsberg signing. He is a more than capable backup and it’s only 2 years
Just hope that nothing happens to Kuemper resulting in Forsberg starting for long stretches. Used sparingly behind a durable # 1 he can be very effective. But he can be frustratingly inconsistent if thrust into prolonged action.
Couldn’t agree more! Ken Holland had a good run in Detroit. The game has passed him buy. Notgood signing imo.
Happy 4th of July to all!
Happy 4th!
I believe today is the trade anniversary of Boston trading Tyler Seguin to Dallas for Louie Erickson.There were other pieces but those 2 were the headliners. Didn t work out very well for Boston as Seguin has 1 more year left on his deal. If Ericsson resurfaces let us know .
Blues really don’t need Byram . Jiracek and Mailloux are waiting in the wings. I don’t think they want to give up Snugerroud and Dvorsky in a trade .
Why did Holland leave Edm?
I thought he was retiring .
Jackson should have been fired . All 3 of those premature signings are gone. Holloway and Broberg a bright future on another team. Rookie mistake
Sam O’Reilly will help alleviate some of that sting
I don’t think Byram said he wants out of BUF. But the way they have treated him? I’d want out.
Who says Byram would like a trade out of Buffalo?
If the Sabres were to trade Byram, then they would need a scoring top six forward. Thirty-one teams may have difficulty fulfilling that need for the Sabres.
Byram has played well for the Sabres. He has earned an extension. It could be possible to see a four year, $20 million ($5 million AAV) deal similar to McLeod, possibly slightly more.
I want to loop back to July 01 news that I, and seemingly others, overlooked.
Bob McKenzie may not be known to our American friends but he is the one sports writer/tv commentator that has dominated hockey coverage in Canada for decades.
I cannot remember a time when Bob was not covering the world junior tournament, or draft day, or now free agent frenzy. 48 years in the business, he was the first, and retires the ultimate, hockey insider.
Happy trails, Bobby margarita.
Another McKenzie (Ken – no relation to Bob) also started the tabloid publication – The Hockey News – that was the go-to print for all details related to the game for decades.
He was the recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall Of Fame in 1997 for recognition of his contributions to hockey journalism and was inducted into both the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
A surname that brought lots to the game we love. Have a long and happy retirement, Bob.
George don’t forget Doug McKenzie, get a beer eh! What’ old time hockey without a beer
Yeah, that hoser has become legend.
Yes LJ and George, and Bob McKenzie was the editor and chief of The Hockey News for 9 years starting in 1982. I don’t know if they started the prospect rankings and profiles, but it was the first time I had ever read one. Bought one every year until they went online.
Everybody respected Bobby Mac and he never burned his sources. Likely why he was first and accurate so often.
I wonder if he will get into the Hall?
I’d be shocked if he didn’t.
What would Matthews fetch in a trade? I think this is the perfect time to close this window and restock on the fly and be ready when the Florida window starts to close in a couple of years.
I just don’t see the leafs being able to upgrade this year based on the assets they have available.
@ Jeff
Matthews has been hurt , undisclosed
He will make up for Marners absence this coming year hopefully with a productive season
@George – whomever !!
I keep hearing rumours about Toronto , connected to centre man rumours , which I don’t understand
This Roy addition should be more than fine from Vegas
Unless they are thinking about Tavares on the wing ! ???
I think Florida has revolutionized the wheel , as per the type of lineup wins cups
IMO , it would have been interesting if Stolarz didnt go down ..
Toronto had Florida on the ropes , should of won game 3 as well
All we can do is hope , as George puts it – The GM gets it RIGHT ?!?!?
There is a lot on here about Holland and Ceci/Dumoulin. As a Kings fan, I am not sold on what was done with a huge amount of cap space. He was supposedly “big game hunting” all of these signings are anything but “big game”. They are big bodies which was a problem for the Kings D over the last couple of years. Spending the $??? Kopitar comes off next year, most likely. Doughty has 2 years left and that contract comes off. Both will always be personal favorites of mine. But that Doughty contract was 3 years or so too long.
Oh, and the reason I started posting in the first place… Laferriere is not offer sheet eligible.
MEdwards, please pop in more often … we need more fan insight/opinion from the other side of the continent on the Kings, Kraken, Mammoth