After extending a crop of players within the organization, the Vancouver Canucks have signed some free agents to short-term deals. Around 2:00 pm PT today, the team announced that they have signed forward Mackenzie MacEachern to a two-way, two-year contract. MacEachern spent the past two seasons with the St. Louis Blues organization. 

MacEachern, a forward, was drafted 67th overall by the Blues in 2012. He played in three seasons with Michigan State University, scoring 33 goals and 35 assists in 108 games played with the team. From there, he spent two seasons with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, before making his NHL debut for the Blues on January 10, 2019. In his first NHL season, he tallied three goals and two assists in 29 games played, and was part of the St. Louis team that won the Stanley Cup against the Boston Bruins. 

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MacEachern proceeded to spend the next three seasons with St. Louis, playing 51 games in the 2019–20 season and slotting into the lineup for five of their postseason matches. He had eight goals and six assists in 86 games with the Blues before signing with the Carolina Hurricanes in free agency in 2023. While he didn’t play a regular season game for the Hurricanes, he did take part in eight of the team’s playoff games, scoring a goal and an assist. 

In another short stint with the Blues in the 2024-25 season, MacEachern had 12 goals and 20 assists in 40 games with their AHL affiliate, the Springfiled Thunderbirds. 

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The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed right winger Philip Tomasino on Tuesday.

Tomasino, acquired last season from the Nashville Predators for a fourth-round pick, has been a streaky scorer for the Penguins. At 23, the Penguins are hoping that Tomasino can develop into a more consistent forward who projects to fill out a middle-six role with the team.

Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas noted to the press on Monday that conversations were continuing with both Tomasino and Connor Dewar's respective camps; the signings of both were announced simultaneously Tuesday afternoon.

It is unclear if Tomasino attracted interest from other clubs before signing with the Penguins. He earned a slight raise on his one-year, $825,000 contract, while Dewar took a slight pay cut on his. 

The Penguins have signed Philip Tomasino and Connor Dewar to one-year contracts.

Both contracts run through the 2025.26 season, with Tomasino’s contract carrying an AAV of $1.75 million and Dewar’s contract carrying an AAV of $1.1 million.

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— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 1, 2025

The young forward has shown ample promise, playing alongside center Evgeni Malkin for stretches last year. He amassed 11 goals and 23 assists in 50 games for the Penguins after notching only one assist in 11 games with the Predators.

The Penguins are hoping that he fills a top-nine role and becomes a solid component in their efforts to return to contention.

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Feature image credit:  Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

After much anticipation about the Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltending situation heading into the 2025-26 season, the dam has finally broken. 

On Tuesday, the Penguins traded goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick. Nedeljkovic is signed through the end of the 2025-26 season with a cap hit of $2.5 million.

Nedeljkovic, 29, spent the last two seasons as one half of the tandem with Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh. There were mixed results in both campaigns, and last season, Nedeljkovic finished the season 14-15-5 with a 3.12 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage.

 With Nedeljkovic out of the picture for the Penguins, it opens the door for one of Pittsburgh's young goaltending prospects to share the workload with Jarry next season. The obvious candidate is Joel Blomqvist, who had two short NHL stints last season. 

The first stint went well for Blomqvist. The second? Not so much. Overall, the rookie finished 4-9-1 with a 3.81 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.

Pittsburgh also has goaltending prospects in Sergei Murashov and Filip Larsson, both of whom figure to be in the mix for NHL playing time next season.

After the trade, the Penguins now have 28 picks in the next two drafts, including six in the first three rounds in 2026.

Penguins Re-sign Forward Connor Dewar To One-Year ContractAfter non-qualifying

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Feature image credit: Timothy T. Ludwig - Imagn Images

The San Jose Sharks have announced that they have signed John Klingberg, Adam Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev to contracts.

Kurashev, 25, signed a one-year $1.2 million deal. He had seven goals and seven assists for 24 points in 51 games last season with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was left unqualified by the Blackhawks and now joins a young Sharks team where he will be given an elevated role within their lineup.

As for Klingberg, he signed a one-year deal $4 million deal. He is a 32-year-old defenseman that can help lead the power play unit and mentor some of the younger players on the back end.

Lastly, Adam Gaudette has signed two-year deal $4 million deal that carries an AAV of $2 million per season. Last season with the Ottawa Senators he scored 19 goals and seven assists for 26 points in 81 games. 

The Sharks are not in the market to add a ton of big names. They want to surround the younger players with depth players that don’t take away from the ice time of the Macklin Celebrinis and Will Smiths.

The Sharks still need to spend upwards of $20 million to reach the cap floor. With the free agent market starting to thin out, there could be a chance that GM Mike Grier looks at the trade market to add players and salary cap.

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Sharks Not Expected To Offer Long-Term Deals In Free AgencyAccording to San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier, they aren't expected to be handing out any long-term contracts this free agency.

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Pontus Holmberg is moving on from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Holmberg agreed to a two-year contract with the Lightning worth $3.1 million. The annual average value of the deal would be $1.55 million. Holmberg exits the Maple Leafs organization after three seasons with the club.

The 26-year-old, who was a restricted free agent at the end of this season, wasn't qualified by the Maple Leafs. After a year which saw him score seven goals and 12 assists in 68 games, Toronto chose not to qualify Holmberg because he had arbitration rights.

"Well, once he gets into the market, he becomes open to everybody. And really, it wasn't necessarily a situation we didn't like the player, we did. He had arb rights," Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Tuesday afternoon.

"I think when you see players go free, sometimes people don't understand the rights that are associated with certain players. Up until 5 o'clock yesterday, if we were to qualify him, he then kicks into arbitration mode or he's attached to an arbitration filing, and that elevates the number. So we weren't able to, between us and Pontus's side, find a number that we felt fit for us.

"Now, once you get into the UFA, a lot of times that number will come down because you're not attached to the arbitration. So we like Pontus. We've had discussions and talked to each other prior to us not qualifying him, but I think it's probably a fair bet to say that he has hit the market and we'll see where it goes."

Why Matthew Knies 'Wanted To Go Long-Term' On Six-Year Extension With The Maple LeafsToronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies was never interested in signing an offer sheet.

And Treliving was right. Four hours after Holmberg hit the open market, the Lightning snatched up the forward.

Holmberg's time with the Maple Leafs ended after being drafted by Toronto in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft. At the time, it was unknown what the forward would become, but as the years progressed, Holmberg played his way into a bottom-six role with Toronto.

In 159 games with the Maple Leafs, Holmberg scored 19 goals and 30 assists for 49 points.

The Lightning also signed former Toronto forward Nick Abruzzese to a one-year, two-way contract. Toronto's former fourth-round pick only played 11 NHL games with the Maple Leafs, scoring one goal and two assists in that span.

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After losing Holmberg, Abruzzese, and Alex Steeves to free agency, the Maple Leafs have re-signed Dakota Mermis and signed Michael Pezzetta and Benoit-Olivier Groulx to two-year deals with an $812,500 AAV. They also added Travis Boyd on a one-year, $775,000 contract.

(Top photo of Holmberg: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)

The New York Rangers have signed forward Justin Dowling to a two-year contract. 

It’s a one-way deal the first year, two-way the second year. During the first season, Dowling will earn $775,000 while he’ll make $775,000 during the second season when at the NHL level and a minimum of $450,000. 

Dowling has played seven seasons in the NHL for the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils.

In 152 career games, the 34-year-old center has recorded nine goals, 17 assists, and 26 points while averaging 10:37 minutes. 

Dowling is coming off a season where he played 52 games for the Devils, the most throughout his NHL career.