NHL Rumor Mill – August 3, 2026
In today’s NHL Rumor Mill: we take another look at the notable players available in the UFA market, plus an update on the Red Wings search for a new general manager.
DAILY FACEOFF: Winger Patrik Laine, defenseman Logan Stanley, and winger Vladimir Tarasenko top the list of notable players still available in this summer’s unrestricted free-agent market.
Former Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: New York Islanders insider Stefen Rosner recently reported that the Isles had some interest in Laine, but only in signing him to a professional tryout offer. It was also rumored that the Los Angeles Kings were interested, but nothing seems to have come of it.
Stanley was reportedly seeking a four- or five-year contract worth an average annual value of $5 million when the market opened on July 1. It’s doubtful the 27-year-old blueliner will find anything like that now.
Tarasenko had been mentioned as a possible option for the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. Some observers wonder if he might attempt to return with the Minnesota Wild for another season.
Forward Michael Bunting and Eeli Tolvanen, goaltender Cam Talbot, and defenseman John Klingberg are also among the top 10 UFAs remaining.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There’s been little speculation linking those four players to any specific teams. Sure, there’s been the occasional suggestion that one of them might be a good fit somewhere, but nothing to suggest they’ve had any meaningful discussions with any clubs.
That doesn’t mean they won’t be signed. Bunting, Tolvanen, and Klingberg still have some value that should earn them one-year contracts with clubs seeking affordable, experienced depth. Given the need for reliable goalies around the league, Talbot might land with someone on a PTO contract.
Other notable veterans still available include forwards James van Riemsdyk, David Perron, Jonathan Drouin and Adam Henrique, defensemen Nick Blankenburg and Carson Soucy, and goaltenders Connor Ingram and James Reimer.
THE DETROIT NEWS: cited NHL analyst John Shannon, who believes the Red Wings’ search for a new general manager “may not be rectified until September.”
Shannon made the remark to Daren Millard during a recent episode of their podcast, 100% Hockey with Millard & Shannon. He also said that he was told the search for a new GM would take “a lot longer than people realize.”
The Red Wings have been searching for a new general manager since announcing on July 15 that Steve Yzerman would be moving out of that role to become a senior advisor to team owner Chris Ilitch. Yzerman is handling the day-to-day management until his replacement is found.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: So far, there’s no word regarding who the Red Wings could be pursuing as Yzerman’s replacement. They could also promote from within, with assistant GMs Kris Draper and Shawn Horcoff mentioned as possible candidates.
Yesterday we touched upon some of the so-called “better” UFAs still looking for contracts – and it’s a topic today as well – with the lack of any signings likely attributed to some (e.g. Laine) seeking too much in the way of $ and/or term and some hoping to perhaps still interest a top contender (e.g. Tarasenko). There is also the cap factor, and following is a capsule listing of that situation, grouped in 4 “tiers” ranging from those best-positioned to still offer deals, to those whose pockets are empty in that regard – or will be once they finalize hanging RFAs
1st Tier
Detroit – $19,572,054 – RFA LD Edvinson to re-sign coming off $894,167 ELC and the Larkin ($8.7 mil) continuing to muddy the waters
Seattle – $18,405,537 – Shane Wright still in the rumour mill
Vancouver – $17,814,16 – Jake DeBrusk, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson continuing to pop up in rumour mill
Calgary – $14,883,334
Philadelphia – $14,882,083 – still with RFA RW Nikita Grebenkin to re-sign, coming off ELC of $875,999
Pittsburgh – $13,677,640 – Rust, Rakell, Karlsson continue to pop up in rumour mill
Columbus – $13,495,001 – still with RFA C Fantilli to re-sign, coming off ELC of $950,000 – Marchenko and Werenski still popping up in rumour mill
2nd Tier
Carolina – $9,880,182 – still with RFA LD Nikishin to re-sign, coming off $975,000 ELC
Montreal – $9,783,924 – still with RFAs LW Zack Bolduc and RS Arber Xhekaj still to re-sign coming off ELC of $863,334 and expired $1.3 mil contract – Xhekaj still popping up in rumour mill
Anaheim – $9,073,395 – still with RFA LW Cutter Gauthier to re-sign coming off $950,000 ELC
Nashville – $7,670,444 – only deafening silence from Tennessee!
3rd Tier
Boston – $5,390,457; Buffalo – $5,123,652; Edmonton – #4,725,834; Utah – $4,534,643; Winnipeg – $4,481,668; St. Louis – $4,369,508, Ottawa – $4,195,833; New Jersey – $3,850,000; San Jose – $3,335,895; Tampa – $3,328,334; NYI – $2,934,184; L.A. – $1,775,000; Minnesota – $1,152,501; Chicago – $2,827,093 – still with RFA LD Korchinski to re-sign, coming off $918,333 ELC; NYR – $2,402,926 still with RFA RD Iorio to re-sign, coming off $814,167 ELC
4th Tier
Colorado – $404,159; Washington – $75,417; Florida – $34,286; Dallas – $1,360,333 OVER; Toronto – $2,752,382 OVER; Vegas – $8,861,182 OVER
Highly doubt Ottawa go for Tarensenko. I personally believe they are done adding as the already have 13 nhl ready forwards, 6 D not including Yakemchuk and 3 goalies. They are ready for the 2026-27 season.
Surely Tarensenko has no place on the team.
Owen, a few days ago I brought up the rumored possibility that, in order to achieve the goal of boosting the offense from the RW position, and rather than try to do that through trade, they’d move Cozens from 2nd line C to RW on the first line, which could have he line-up looking like this
1st line – Eklund – Stutzle – Cozens
2nd line – Burakovsky – Pinto – Batherson
3rd line – Zetterlund OR Foegele – Greig – Giroux
4th line – Zetterlund OR Foegele – Cousins – Amadio
But if Cozens doesn’t make that move, the 4 lines would probably be:
1st Eklund – Stutzle – Batherson
2nd Burakovsky – Cozens – Zetterlund
3rd Foegele OR Grieg – Pinto – Giroux
4th Cousins OR Grieg – Halliday – Amadio
As you can see, either way they could have at least one body too many – and perhaps two if Halliday does make it out of camp at 4th line C – with one or two of Zetterlund, Foegele, Greig or Cousins having no assigned slot. That, to me, suggests strongly that another deal is coming before or during training camp.
You might not be wrong. It does look as though they have too many options up front. Will be interesting to see what happens. Personally I think Halliday is ready for the big league and not sure Sens as constructed needed Bura or Cousins.
Great breakdown as always, George. I wonder if another factor regarding remaining UFAs is also coaching. If you’ve got a new coach coming in this season (L.A., Edmonton, and to a lesser degree NYI), maybe you don’t want to risk giving your new coach a problem child. I’d want to give my coach time to cook and establish an identity with the existing core before adding players with question marks to the mix.
I also wonder if TV contracts have changed the game a bit. 20 years ago, when the cap was still new, some small market teams struggled to get the cap floor and would often take on LTIR contracts to get cap-compliant. Looking at your Tier 1 teams, all of them are within $20M of the cap and several would probably spend more if they thought there was a player or two there that would definitely improve them.
I have very little on Horcoff besides his career as a player. Draper was a really good hockey player as well but his track record as director of amateur scouting leaves a lot to be desired to put it mildly
I share the same concern about Draper; the team’s assessment of amateur talent has been poor for the most part, and their signings/acquisitions of free agents has been abysmal. They need an organizational shift. I read something on OctopusThrower suggesting Meghan Chayka for GM, which seems like a Hail Mary and then some.
Kent, perhaps those who follow the Wings a lot closer than I can weigh in on the picks made while Draper served as Director Of Scouting. His appointment to that position came in August 2019, some several months after that year’s draft, so I picked it up from 2020 (the dreaded Covid draft) to 2026 (of course, the jury will still be out on picks from about 2023, unless they were exceptional selections … and Detroit has none in that category. So, to be fair, we can only really consider the years 2020, 2021 and 2022.
One thing for sure … he has had a fixation on goalies, taking one in every draft but that of 2022!
2020: Rd 1 #4 Lucas Raymond (F); Rd 2 #32 William Wallinder (D). #51 Theodor Niederbach (F). #55 Cross Hanas (F); Rd 3 #63 Donovan Sebrango (D), #70 Eemil Viro (D); Rd 4 #97 Sam Stange (F), #107 Jan Bednar (G); Rd 5 #132 Alex Cotton (D); Rd 6 #156 Kyle Aucoin (D); Rd 7 #187 Kienan Draper (F). #203 Chase Bradley (F)
2021: Rd 1 #6 Simon Edvinsson (D), #15 Sebastian Cossa (G); Rd 2 #36 Shai Buium (D); Rd 3 #70 Carter Mazur (F); Rd 4 #114 Redmond Savage (F); Rd 5 #134 Liam Dower-Nilsson (F), #155 Oscar Plandowski (D); Rd 6 #166 Pasquale Zito (F)
2022: Rd 1 #8 Marco Kasper (F); Rd 2 #40 Dylan James (F), #52 Dmitri Buchelnikov (F); Rd 4 #105 Anton Johansson (D), #113 Amadeus Lombardi (F), #129 Maximilian Kilpinen (F); Rd 5 #137 Tnias Mathurin (D); Rd 7 #201 Owen Mehlenbacher (F), #212 Brennan Ali (F)
2023: Rd 1 #9 Nate Danielson (F), #17 Axel Sandin-Pellikka (D); Rd 2 #41 Trey Augustine (G), #42 Andrew Gibson (D), #47 Brady Cleveland (D); Rd 3 #73 Noah Dower-Nilsson (F); Rd 4 #117 Larry Keenan (D); Rd 5 #137 Jack Phelan (D), #147 Kevin Bicker (F); Rd 6 #169 Rudy Guimond (G); R 7 #201 Emmitt Finnie (F)
2024: Rd 1 #15 Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (F); Rd 2 #47 Max Plante (F); Rd 3 #80 Ondřej Becher (F); Rd 4 #126 Landon Miller (G); Rd 5 #144 John Whipple (D); Rd 6 #176 Charlie Forslund (F); Rd 7 #203 Austin Baker (F), #208 Fisher Scott (D)
2025: Rd 1 #13 Carter Bear (F); Rd 2 #44 Eddie Genborg (F); Rd 3 #75 Michal Pradel (G); Rd 4 #109) Brent Solomon (F), #119 Michal Svrcek (F); Rd 5 #140 Nikita Tyurin (D); Rd 6 #172 Will Murphy (D); Rd 7 #204 Grayden Robertson-Palmer (F)
2026: Rd 1 #23 J.P. Hurlbert (F); Rd 2 #47 Victor Plante (F); Rd 3 #79 Michal Orsulak (G); Rd 4 #108 Adam Levac (F); Rd 5 #143 Beckham Edwards (F); Rd 6 #175 Luka Arkko (F)’ Rd 7 #196) Myles Brosnan (D)