The Detroit Red Wings missed the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the thinnest of margins after tying with the Washington Capitals in points, but falling five games shy of Washington’s regulation wins. It was splitting hairs, and while Washington went on to be unceremoniously swept by the New York Rangers, it was nonetheless encouraging to see Detroit mixed up with playoff hopefuls. The Red Wings are currently riding an eight-year playoff drought, set on trusting that the long-term outlook of general manager Steve Yzerman (creatively dubbed the ‘Yzerplan’) will return them to their previous glory. But one summer of high turnover removed from its first 90-point season in nine years, Detroit still doesn’t jump off the page as a playoff favorite.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Toronto was one of the teams showing interest in unrestricted free agent winger Max Pacioretty. Evidently, they’re not the only Atlantic Division squad that has some interest in the veteran as Arthur Staple of The Athletic adds that the Red Wings are believed to be interested in adding the veteran as well.

With training camps now less than three weeks away, it’s expected that there will be an uptick in PTO activity over the coming days as players look to catch on somewhere. The Bruins are getting involved in the tryout market as the team announced that they’ve signed veteran forward Tyler Johnson to a tryout agreement.

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

Earlier this week, a report from The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta indicated that the Hurricanes and RFA winger Seth Jarvis were nearing an agreement on a long-term contract. That is the case, as the team announced that the two sides have reached an eight-year, $63.2M contract. GM Eric Tulsky released the following statement:

We are now three weeks away from training camp opening up in the NHL with preseason games coming quickly after. We recently checked in on several free-agent players looking for new homes shortly before preseason action and we’ll now pivot to notable restricted free agents still looking to re-up with their current clubs.

The New Jersey Devils will be waiting on bated breath over the next 48 hours to get a clearer picture of the injury sustained by defenseman Simon Nemec in the Olympic qualifier event earlier Friday between Slovakia and Hungary. Beat reporter James Nichols quickly reported that the prognosis was good as Team Slovakia’s doctor does not believe anything is broken or dislocated but more tests will be run Saturday.

Most players selected in the first round of the 2024 draft have signed their entry-level contracts, but very few will suit up for their NHL clubs or AHL affiliates in the fall. Here’s a look at where all 32 of this year’s first-round talents project to spend their time in their post-draft season.

Blue Jackets winger Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau, passed away on Thursday, the team has confirmed in a statement. They were struck by an accused drunk driver while biking near their New Jersey home, police confirmed to Jeff Goldman of NJ Advance Media. They were 31 and 29 years old.

Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis is one of the more prominent restricted free agents with camps just a few weeks away from opening up. However, it appears that might not be the case for much longer as The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reported earlier this week in an NHL Tonight appearance that the two sides are getting close to a max-term eight-year deal.

The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that forward Jesper Fast will miss the entirety of the 2024-25 season after undergoing neck surgery. Fast suffered the injury in Carolina’s final game of the regular season and missed out on the entirety of the postseason as a result. The injury capped off his season at 19 points in 73 games — the fewest that Fast has scored in a full season since his rookie year in 2014-15.

The Nashville Predators were doomed for a goalie logjam the moment they selected Yaroslav Askarov in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. That’s since come to fruition, with Askarov outgrowing his box and demanding a trade to the San Jose Sharks, following Nashville’s long-term signing of starter Juuse Saros.

Cousins, 31, is a 10-year NHL veteran and reached UFA status this summer after completing a two-year, $2.2M deal he signed with the Panthers in 2022. He played in 33 of Florida’s 45 playoff games over the last two years as it captured the Eastern Conference championship in 2023 before winning the Stanley Cup this year for the first time in franchise history. This was Cousins’ fifth go-around on the UFA market, going unqualified three times earlier in his career.

The Maple Leafs have hired NHL veteran Steve Sullivan as an assistant coach for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, per a team announcement. Sullivan, 50, already has a bit of a front-office track record. Soon after finishing his playing career in 2013, Sullivan joined the Coyotes as a development coach. By 2016, he’d been named their director of player development, and one year later, he was promoted to assistant general manager.

It’s been pretty quiet on the UFA market for weeks now. All the names from our list of top 50 UFAs are signed and have been for quite some time. We’re starting to see names settle for professional tryout agreements, with Sammy Blais (Canucks), Tanner Pearson (Golden Knights) and Jakub Vrána (Capitals) some of the notable names to ink early PTOs. The last UFA signing was depth netminder Magnus Hellberg to the Stars over two weeks ago.

The Detroit Red Wings have reportedly signed forward Austin Watson to a professional tryout (as per Watson’s agency WD Sports & Entertainment). This will be the second fall in a row that Watson has to enter training camp on a PTO after the 32-year-old turned last year’s PTO into a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth $776,665.

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender, Laurent Brossoit, is confirmed to be out most of if not all of training camp as the team announced he is set to miss five to seven weeks while recovering from meniscus surgery Tuesday. The team recently signed Brossoit to a two-year, $6.6M contract on the opening day of free agency this summer.

Toronto Maple Leafs winger Nicholas Robertson is still pushing for a move before the season starts, even despite the chance at a growing role in the lineup, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston shared on the latest "First Up" podcast with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo. Robertson has been in trade talks since early February, but it doesn’t seem any discussions have made it far down the line.

On Tuesday, the Hurricanes announced their roster for this year’s regional rookie camp, the 2024 NHL Rookie Showcase hosted by the Predators. Seven of their 22 players weren’t previously in the organization. They will attend via professional tryout agreements, some of which may last to training camp or end after the showcase.

It doesn’t appear that the Maple Leafs will be signing defenseman Jani Hakanpaa after all. After nearly two months without registering his reported two-year, $3M agreement, TSN’s Chris Johnston said on "First Up 1050" on Tuesday that “the writing doesn’t appear to be too encouraging” on the Leafs getting Hakanpaa to ink a deal.