NHL Rumor Mill – September 25, 2025
Check out the latest on the Rangers and Maple Leafs in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE ATHLETIC: Peter Baugh and Vincent Z. Mercogliano believe the New York Rangers will attempt to take a big swing in next summer’s free-agent market.
By that point, the Rangers are projected to have more salary-cap space and roster flexibility than they’ve had for some time. Several high-end stars, including Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, Vegas’ Jack Eichel, and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, could be available.
New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin (NHL Images).
That’s why they’re not in a rush to re-sign Artemi Panarin, who is UFA-eligible next July. They want to keep their options open for as long as possible to size up the market.
The Rangers could have over $20 million available after re-signing restricted free agents like Brendan Schneider and adding a couple of depth pieces and a backup goalie. They could free up more cap room by peddling Alexis Lafreniere or Vincent Trocheck.
If those potential big-name UFAs become unavailable, the Rangers could use that cap flexibility to spread it out among multiple impact players in the market.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Baugh and Mercogliano aren’t saying Lafreniere or Trocheck will be traded. They’re suggesting they could be moved if the Rangers need more cap room to sign a UFA superstar. Those players could also stay put if they play well this season.
Pursuing multiple players via free agency doesn’t guarantee success. The Rangers attempted to spend their way into Stanley Cup contention between 1997-98 and 2003-04, but missed the playoffs for seven straight years.
The Nashville Predators recently learned that lesson the hard way. They made a big splash in last year’s free-agent market, signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. Projected by some observers to be a possible Stanley Cup contender, they finished near the bottom of the standings.
LEAFS NATION: Michael Mazzei cited NHL insider Chris Johnston saying the Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer as interested in free-agent forward Jack Roslovic as they once were.
Johnston no longer considers the 28-year-old Roslovic a fit for the Leafs, citing the depth among their forward lines.
According to Johnston, Roslovic received a couple of contract offers between two and three years in length with average annual values between $3.5 million and $3.75 million. He rejected those offers in the hope that he’d receive better ones, but they never materialized. He may have to pivot toward a one-year “prove it” contract and hope to set himself up for a better payday next summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Being the best player still available in what was a thin unrestricted free-agent market didn’t pan out so well for Roslovic.
Unrestricted free agency can be lucrative for some players due to their exceptional talent or impressive body of work. However, waiting too long for better offers can backfire, leaving a player scrambling to find a contract worth much less than what they could’ve had earlier in the summer.
THE ATHLETIC: Jonas Siegel recently examined three possible paths for Maple Leafs winger Nick Robertson. The most likely is a trade.
Robertson, 24, isn’t especially thrilled to be back with the Leafs in his current situation. It’s uncertain if he’ll receive regular playing time, and Siegel argues it wouldn’t make sense for the player or the team to keep him around in that situation.
Siegel wondered if there’s a team out there willing to take on Robertson and his $1.85 million cap hit for this season, with restricted free agency and possible arbitration ahead next summer.
“If that team is out there, though, why wasn’t Robertson dealt already?”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Probably for the same reason Robertson wasn’t dealt last year around this time after requesting a trade early in the 2024 offseason: he’s not as valuable as some observers think he is.
Robertson has a decent scoring touch, and he’s worked to improve his overall game, but he hasn’t elevated his performance to the level where he’s a reliable top-six forward. And if he were a dependable scoring winger, there wouldn’t be any question about his role or his future with the Leafs.
Being that Johnston’s claim that Roslovic received a couple of contract offers is (naturally) unsubstantiated, it could be pure fabrication for all we know.
In effect, all we know for sure about Roslovic is that he’s among 9 “notable” UFAs still looking for a job with training camps and pre-season over a week in progress and upwards of 35 UFAs scrambling for jobs on P.T.O.s.
I’d say his chances of getting a deal now are about on an equal footing with the other 8: 33 y/o C Evgeny Kuznetsov; 36 y/o LW Max Pacioretty; 26 y/o LW Klim Klostin; 36 y/o RW Craig Smith; 38 y/o LD Marc-Edouard Vlasic; 33 y/o LD Jon Merrill; 28 y/o G Ilya Samsonov; and 37 y/o G James Reimer.
Jon Merrill is listed as LD but he does play both sides equally well. He’s a very good depth option with playoff experience. He has size but isn’t a physical player. I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t been picked up by anybody.
Klim Kostin is another guy who in theory should easily be able to get a PTO. He plays a physical game, showed in the past that he has hands.
Of that list and including Roslovic I think injuries have to happen. Samsonov will land and Roslovic will find a home. The balance could be done .
Robertson with any other team would not even be a footnote. Some finish yes. But that’s it.
Maccelli has to be ahead of him on the depth chart. Actually Leafs have too many forwards
Maybe. I just think Roslovic’s noted streaky tendencies and inconsistency in performance, and the fact he’d be joining his 5th team in 6 seasons, has eliminated any interest, while Kuznetsov’s suspensions and substance abuse, increasing age and dwindling offensive play make his hiring not worth the risk.
Both – and the others’ – best chance at changing minds is to get a short-term contract in Europe somewhere (if they can) and try to put up numbers there that might attract interest somewhere as the season progresses and injuries hit (as they will).
Re “Peter Baugh and Vincent Z. Mercogliano believe the New York Rangers will attempt to take a big swing in next summer’s free-agent market.”
That’s one way of saying they expect the Rangers to be just as bad this season – or worse – than last.
So, wouldn’t it be a hoot to see Panarin, Lafreniere, Trochek and others have massive turnaround seasons sufficient to vault them back into the playoffs?
That’s when we’d find out if management has the gonads to deal them anyway and proceed as they suggest.
George O. These guys were just thinking out loud the way we do here. Drury has had no comment on Panarin extension. I’ve been saying for awhile it makes no sense to extend him now. Writers were assuming same as me that they want to keep options open. I don’t see McDavid or Eichel hitting FA, but guys like Necas and Kaprizov? Plus some unhappy rfa’s? As far as Laf, season before last he had identical stats that Knies had last season at same ages. I don’t see him being the star player everyone expected as number 1 pick, but he’s better than he showed last year. If he does ever get moved, it’ll have to be after he raises his value. Trochek had 59 points. Not awful for a 2c, and he’s probably their best 2way center… kills penalties, best in faceoffs. He’s good friends with JT and will wear an A this year as part of leadership group. As Igor said, something broke last season.
GeorgeO The NY Rangers have one constant in their organization. The GM, head coach and his top 2 assistant coaches all came from the same place.Boston University. There s one big free agent coming out of Sin City next year that has BU roots.Yep Jack Eichel. If they can convince him to leave Vegas he could be their big free agent signing.
GeorgeO The NY Rangers have one constant in their organization. The GM, head coach and his top 2 assistant coaches all came from the same place.Boston University. There s one big free agent coming out of Sin City next year that has BU roots.Yep Jack Eichel. If they can convince him to leave Vegas he could be their big free agent signing.
Sr. I don’t see them able to discuss. I see Eichel signing with Vegas long before he gets to FA
Consistency matters, defensive ability matters, fit matters, ability matters. Saying “he’s not as valuable as some observers think he is.” is shortsighted and ignorant.
Come on now, shortsighted and ignorant. I think it’s pretty accurate. Some Leaf fans believe him to be a legit winger, I’d argue not so much. He has so many holes in his game. He’ll be lucky to make the 4th line.
Roslovic should fire his agent. There is no way as an agent his client should be on the sidelines this late. There is no kid might have his head in the clouds but it s up to his agent to get him to deal with reality.
That’s pure musing by those Ranger beat writers.
There’s zero substance to it. It seems they’d rather blather on about that vs attending Ranger pre-season games and reporting on them.
Slick62 and Jim W, I could not agree more re the Rangers.
Of all the teams that stumbled last season in comparison to the one before, theirs was easily the most eye-popping, and naturally the theories started emerging as to why it happened.
All I know is, there is too much talent on that team to just shrug them off again … and anyone doing so could be in for a shock.
In the Metropolitan I think they are better throughout than New Jersey and not that far off either Carolina or Washington.
They will be solidly back in the top 3 somewhere in that Division.
Just bringing it up again, and just for the sake of conversation but I think McDavid is moving on, in his last interview he mentioned that no term was on the table, I think he has one foot out the door already. I know someone mentioned that this was a masterclass in holding management accountable to put together a good roster but the Oilers are what they are at this point, don’t see any big trades coming.
Granted if they win the cup this year he probably resigns, but if they are bounced in the first round and another year older, is he playing for a USA based team next season?
When was the last time someone of his caliber was going into the last year of their contract with negotiations none existent? John Tavares and we all know how that ended,
Did moving teams hurt Lebron’s legacy? Maybe but he is still considered one of the greats and has 4 titles,
I think if Mcdavid leaves and signs in the US it will kill the Oilers and hurt Canadian hockey in general,
Dino, the same thing was said about the Oilers and Canadian hockey when the Gretzky trade went down in 1988. Last time I checked, Canada remains the dominant hockey power. Stars have come and gone, and Canadian hockey has done just fine. McDavid leaving Edmonton for an US team won’t hurt it.
And why do you assume he wants to go to the United States? He could be wooed by the Maple Leafs into coming to Toronto. After all, as you pointed out, it worked for John Tavares.
I was 9 years old when Wayne was traded and a life long Flames fan, that trade stung for sure seeing him move to LA, then bounce around to St. Louis and the Rangers,
I believe I read somewhere that more kids were playing baseball, soccer & basketball then hockey, not only because of the cost but the cultural shift in the country. Losing the face of the league that we all get to watch play all the time might make it harder to keep kids interested. Not saying Canada isn’t still producing top tier talent, just thinking out loud of what this might look like in 10-20 years and how Mcdavid leaving might affect younger kids,
The Maple Leafs could be option, but I don’t see their chances of winning any better than the Oilers right now, I would argue the Oilers have a better team.
Jets, Sens, Canucks, are probably out for a variety of reasons we could get into, The Flames won’t happen,
The only 2 Canadian teams I could see him maybe signing with would be Toronto or Montreal, but those are both long shots, after that it would only leave contending US based teams, no clue where he would choose at this point.
Just my opinion
Lyle,and after 1993, Canadian teams stopped winning Stanley Cups.
During the late 90s and early 2000, that was because every Canadian team except Toronto couldn’t afford to maintain winning rosters because of the low value of the Canadian dollar at the time combined with the lack of revenue sharing. That changed after the end of the season-killing lockout of 2004-05. In most cases since then, it was due to lousy management and the misguided belief that most Canadian markets lacked the patience to do a proper rebuild. There’s also the law averages here. When you have 25 American teams in a 32-team league, the seven Canadian teams face difficult odds. Still, there’s been a Canadian team in three of the last five Stanley Cup Finals, so perhaps the odds might improve with rebuilding teams like Montreal and Ottawa, an established contender like Edmonton, and a perennial playoff team like Toronto.
Winnepeg might be closer than all of them.