Free Agent Frenzy: Canucks Add Their Forward, Vancouver Native Sticks with Oilers

The Vancouver Canucks made it official and signed forward Andrey Kuzmenko to a one-year entry level deal on Wednesday. The coveted Russian winger agreed to come to the organization after meeting with a number of NHL clubs back in mid-June.

As for ‘free agent frenzy’, the Canucks haven’t pulled any triggers yet, but free agents are flying in and out of NHL doors as we speak. We start by focusing on the NHL’s and Vancouver Canucks Pacific Division.

Oilers Ink

Vancouver native, controversial NHL power forward Evander Kane re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday evening for four years at $5.125-million per season.

I’m back. pic.twitter.com/aBAw0dQlNL

— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) July 13, 2022

The Oilers followed that up on Wednesday morning by signing former Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell to a five-year deal worth a total of $25-million. Not too confident that he’s the solution for the Oilers reaching their Stanley Cup dreams, in this humble writer’s opinion.

The Carousel

First it was coaches, now it’s the goalies. To fill Campbell’s and Petr Mrazek’s slots, Toronto first traded for Matt Murray from Ottawa and now Wednesday morning signed Ilya Samsonov to a one-year deal. “Sammy” leaves the Washington Capitals.

Hab-land

Once again, the Montreal Canadiens are being linked to Quebec native and Winnipeg Jets centre Pierre-Luc Dubois. This time however, the reports and NHL trade rumours seem to have more legs as NHL free agency descends upon us.

Crossing the PA Turnpike

After stating that he would test NHL Free Agency for the first time in his career, Pittsburgh Penguins centre Evgeni Malkin decided to re-up with the Penguins on a four-year, $24.4 million contract late Tuesday night.

In an effort to clear salary cap space for NHL Free Agency and likely bring Johnny Gaudreau home, the Philadelphia Flyers bought out the contract of Oskar Lindblom. The rather unpopular move gained them $3.3 million in cap space.

Many more contracts have been signed around the NHL just in the time I started writing this entry.

— We’ll keep track of the ongoing madness from Vancouver Canucks Development Camp. Enjoy the day.