The San Jose Sharks re-signed forward Tomas Hertl to a four-year contract Monday, the team announced. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Tomas took a big step forward last season, both on and off the ice, and we feel that he is just starting to hit his prime," Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said.
"He has the ability to be a dominant player in this League and proved during the playoffs that he can take over any given game with his combination of skill and strength. His capability to play both center and the wing gives our team some flexibility, and he has one of the most infectious personalities in our dressing room. We're excited he made this commitment to our organization."
Hertl is coming off a season in which he produced a career-high 22 goals to go along with 24 assists. He also led the Sharks in game-winning goals with five, and paced the club in faceoff wins with 587.
In 10 playoff contests for San Jose last season, Hertl registered six goals and three assists. The Czech native was selected by the Sharks in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft, 17th overall.
The unrestricted free-agent forward has signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks, the team announced Monday. The first one-way contract of Gibbons' career is worth $1 million, reports Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.
In 2017-18, he recorded 12 goals and 14 assists in 59 regular-season games. He leaves the New Jersey Devils organization after two campaigns.
The 30-year-old Boston College alumnus has also dressed for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets over a 125-game NHL career. In total, Gibbons has posted 17 goals and 31 assists.
The San Jose Sharks signed veteran centerman Joe Thornton, who turned 39 on Monday, to a one-year contract, the club announced. It's worth $5 million and includes a no-trade clause, reports The Athletic's Kevin Kurz.
Thornton's 2017-18 season was cut short by a knee injury, but he still managed to produce a respectable 36 points (13 goals, 23 assists) in 47 games. The future Hall of Famer has 1427 points in 1493 career regular-season contests split between the Sharks and the Boston Bruins.
A year ago to the day, Thornton inked a similar one-year contract worth $8 million.
On Monday, Voynov had his petition for the dismissal to the Los Angeles County Superior Court granted, Strang reported. The 28-year-old didn't appear in court, according to Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times.
The Kings terminated his contract shortly after the arrest, though the right-handed blue-liner has since played in the KHL for SKA St. Petersburg and internationally at the world championships and 2018 Olympics for Russia.
Multiple NHL teams are said to be interested in signing Voynov if NHL officials allow the two-time Stanley Cup champion to re-enter the league.
On Monday, Voynov had his petition for the dismissal to the Los Angeles County Superior Court granted, Strang reported. The 28-year-old didn't appear in court, according to Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times.
The Kings terminated his contract shortly after the arrest, though the right-handed blue-liner has since played in the KHL for SKA St. Petersburg and internationally at the world championships and 2018 Olympics for Russia.
Multiple NHL teams are said to be interested in signing Voynov if NHL officials allow the two-time Stanley Cup champion to re-enter the league.
The Leafs are the sudden championship favorites, according to odds released by OddsShark. (Before St. Louis Blues fans get the pitchforks out, these were posted Sunday afternoon, before the Ryan O'Reilly trade.)
Martin has two years remaining on his contract at $2.5 million per. He was paid a $1.5-million signing bonus by the Maple Leafs on Sunday, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston, reducing the amount of actual money he'd cost a team that acquired him.
After suiting up in all 82 games through his first season in Toronto in 2016-17, Martin's role seriously diminished last season. Mainly a healthy scratch for the second half of the schedule and into the playoffs, the 29-year-old appeared in just 50 contests, registering three goals and nine assists in under eight minutes per night.
TORONTO - The most famous hockey-related list in recent memory shrunk by two-thirds as the weekend neared. The wheels were in motion.
John Tavares, the brightest free-agent star of the NHL's salary-cap era, paced back and forth on his Toronto-area pool deck. His mind raced. He poured over the pros and cons of signing a long-term contract with one of the remaining suitors: the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders.
The Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and San Jose Sharks - all of whom had pitched Tavares earlier in the week at his agency's Los Angeles headquarters - were old news, out, and, as the 27-year-old detailed Sunday, the list was narrowed down to "where I'm from" and "where I've been for a long time."
"My heart was tearing apart trying to figure out what I wanted to do," Tavares said at his introductory press conference.
In the end, with the hockey world in the palm of his hand, the ultra-loyal Tavares opted for what "felt right." His inner calculus spat out Toronto sometime mid-to-late Saturday afternoon.
His camp informed the Leafs not long after, and the two sides began discussing the particulars of a long-term contract. Outlined in the chart below, thanks to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the signing bonus-heavy deal came to fruition in the wee hours of Sunday.
"I just had this feeling that this was the right fit for me, the right thing to do," said Tavares, stoic as always while his seven-year, $77-million agreement captivated Leafs Nation on Canada Day.
YEAR
SALARY
BONUS
AAV
2018-19
$650K
$15.25M
$11M
2019-20
$910K
$14.99M
$11M
2020-21
$910K
$11.09M
$11M
2021-22
$910K
$8.44M
$11M
2022-23
$910K
$7.04M
$11M
2023-24
$910K
$7.04M
$11M
2024-25
$910K
$7.04M
$11M
Hockey's modest version of LeBron James' infamous Decision in 2010, capped by a bombshell announcement on Tavares' Twitter account, centered around three factors, according to the player, Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, and Toronto president Brendan Shanahan.
First, the Leafs' indisputably strong roster. Second, the organization's pledge that his family would find comfort under the Toronto glare. Third, the opportunity and challenge of leading his hometown team to glory.
"We worked really hard on our presentation," Shanahan told theScore of the Leafs' pitch in L.A. "We were very clear in who the communicator was and that was Kyle, and we felt we told our story and put our best foot forward. Regardless of what happened, I think there was a quiet confidence around here, that we had done our best, and we were hopeful that he'd choose us."
Fittingly, the Leafs' home rink has a new name. On Sunday, the Air Canada Centre became Scotiabank Arena. The so-called Shanaplan, which started in earnest inside the ACC in April 2014, has entered a new stratosphere.
It's an imperfect comparison, sure, but it's difficult to pump the brakes on the best-case scenario when Auston Matthews, who turns just 21 this fall, is already arguably a top-10 center, and Tavares, a top-10 center for the better part of the past decade, is finally in a position to skate alongside another difference-maker.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock laid out his plans to Tavares in L.A. Stressing that it's the offseason and nothing is set in stone, he revealed Sunday that he has Tavares teaming up with Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman this fall.
Patrick Marleau, Babcock added, will join the dynamic duo of William Nylander and Matthews to complete the top six. With considerable depth, the Leafs' forward group evolved Sunday from very good to great.
LW
C
RW
Patrick Marleau
Auston Matthews
William Nylander
Zach Hyman
John Tavares
Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson
Nazem Kadri
Kasperi Kapanen/Connor Brown
Josh Leivo/Carl Grundstrom
Par Lindholm
Brown/Kapanen
On paper, placing Marner on Tavares' wing is a foolproof plan. The former is a tremendous playmaker (who can also finish) and the latter is a 12.9 percent career shooter (who can also thread the needle). Expect more tap-ins, one-timers, and breakaways in No. 91's near future.
"His speed, his ability to control the play, control games at times, his ability to move the puck and create time and space with his feet," Tavares said, rhyming off Marner's alluring qualities. "It's extremely impressive ... when you're on the ice, you know he's around the puck, he's on top of the puck and he wants it."
Exiting the forward fold via free agency are three longtime Leafs. Goal-scoring winger James van Riemsdyk is returning to Philadelphia, third-line centre Tyler Bozak is St. Louis bound, and sparkplug Leo Komarov is off to Dallas. Tavares will slide into Van Riemsdyk's net-front position on the Leafs' first power-play unit, according to Babcock.
Similar to Van Riemsdyk, the Mississauga native is creative around the goalmouth. He has averaged north of three power-play minutes per game over his nine-year career, making a second home in the crease area, and, in 2017-18, bagged 12 of his 37 goals on the PP.
Along with elite skill, vision, finishing ability, durability, and three-zone attentiveness, Babcock believes the newest Leaf brings veteran clout. It's no coincidence Tavares' seat in the locker room neighbors the stalls for both Marner, 21, and Nylander, 22.
"John being older, and John going through the hard knocks of the National Hockey League already - no different than Patrick Marleau when he arrived (last offseason from the Sharks) - the impact he's going to have on our young people is going to be immense," Babcock said.
What now for the league?
The Maple Leafs' odds to win the Stanley Cup vastly improved Sunday. That's a fact. But, in reality, the Tavares signing doesn't guarantee a single thing.
The NHL, of course, has a salary cap, which means the Leafs must be savvy spenders moving forward. Nylander (up now), Matthews (up in 2019), Marner (2019), and blue-liner Jake Gardiner (2019) need contract extensions, while the right side of their defense is ordinary at best.
What's more, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins stand in the doorway. The Atlantic Division is top-heavy, and neither of those teams lost a player of significance through free agency.
Tavares and Steven Stamkos (Getty Images)
Past the Atlantic side of the bracket are Crosby and the Penguins, and Alex Ovechkin and the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. Both will be Eastern Conference heavyweights until further notice. It isn't Toronto and another team; it's Toronto and four others.
The West is harder to handicap, yet it features a group of projected Cup contenders in the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, and Vegas Golden Knights, and the three reloading California teams. Winnipeg, in particular, is primed for a string of deep playoff runs and on a similar trajectory to the Leafs.
A comprehensive league assessment would be premature right now. It's July. The dust must settle on free agency and the rumor mill (hello, Erik Karlsson). Until then, though, Leafs fans can dream big. The power has shifted.
Tavares, who slept in a Leafs-themed bed growing up, talked Sunday about what it would mean to end the decades-long Cup drought.
"It's hard to put that into words, right?" he said.
"People have been waiting for it for a long time. People are hungry for it. The passion for the game, the passion for the Maple Leafs, is unprecedented."
Neal was one of the biggest names on the free-agent market, but he went through the first day of the signing period without finding a suitor.
After three seasons with the Nashville Predators, he was chosen by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft and went on to record 25 goals and 19 assists in 71 games. The 30-year-old is one of the top snipers in the league, eclipsing the 20-goal plateau in each of his 10 NHL seasons.
Neal would be the latest signing in a busy offseason for Flames general manager Brad Treliving, as the club brought in Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm in a trade for defenseman Dougie Hamilton, and bolstered its offensive options by signing Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik on Sunday.
