Since June 16, we have seen 29 trades involving NHL players, the first trade of a top-five pick in the NHL draft since 2008, and now we are two days away from unrestricted free agency and potential offer sheets. The busiest off-season in recent memory will only get more hectic.

Here’s a quick recap if you’ve missed any of the trades involving NHL players, courtesy of PuckPedia.

June 16: Philadelphia acquired Joseph Wall and Simon Benoit from Toronto for Samuel Ersson, Emil Andrae, and a 2026 third-round pick.

June 16: Nashville acquired Ross Colton and Isak Posch from Colorado for Magnus Chrona and a third-round pick in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

June 17: San Jose acquires Michael Kesselring and the 27th pick from Buffalo for the 20th pick. Sharks signed Kesselring to a three-year, $4.5 million AAV deal yesterday.

June 19. Toronto acquired Darren Raddysh from Tampa for a 2026 fifth-round pick. It was a sign-and-trade, and Raddysh signed an eight-year deal with an $8.5m AAV.

June 21: Seattle acquired Mackie Samoskevich from Florida for the 25th pick in the draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2027.

June 21: Florida acquired Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa for the 9th and 25th picks in 2026, a second-round pick in 2027, and a first-round pick in 2029.

June 23: Calgary acquired Simon Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov from New Jersey for Etienne Morin, a second-round pick in 2026, and two first-round picks in 2027 and 2028 (potential to move to 2029).

June 23: Ottawa acquired William Eklund and prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda from San Jose for the 9th overall pick, used to select Keaton Verhoeff.

June 23: Washington acquired Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis for Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gästrin, and the 16th overall pick in 2026.

June 23: Chicago acquired Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway from Buffalo for Louis Crevier, the fourth overall pick, used to select Daxon Rudolph, and a 2026 second-round pick.

June 24: Nashville acquires Jack Drury, Chase Bradley, and a third-round pick in 2029 for Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux. Nashville signed Drury to a five-year, $4.5m AAV contract Sunday.

June 24: Washington acquired Alex Tuch from Buffalo for David Kampf and a third-round pick in 2027. It was a sign-and-trade, and Tuch got an eight-year, $10.5m AAV deal.

June 25: Florida acquired Garnet Hathaway and a sixth-round pick in 2026 from Philadelphia for a fifth-round pick in 2026 and a fourth-round pick in 2027. Philly retained 50 per cent of the final year of Hathaway’s $2.4 million contract.

June 25: Pittsburgh acquired forward Hendrix Lapierre from Washington for a third-round pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2028.

June 25: Columbus acquired Valeri Nichushkin from Colorado for a second-round pick in 2026, a third-round pick in 2027, and a fifth-round pick in 2028.

June 25: New Jersey acquired Declan Chisholm from Washington for a fourth-round pick in 2027.

June 26: Ottawa acquired Samuel Ersson from Toronto for a fifth-round pick in 2027.

June 26: Buffalo acquired Owen Zellweger from Anaheim for Anton Wahlberg and a second-round pick in 2026.

June 26: Ottawa received Andre Burakovsky from Chicago for a sixth-round pick in 2027.

June 26: New York Rangers acquired Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas for the 26th pick in 2026, a third-round pick in 2026, and a first-round pick in 2028. The Rangers then signed Dorofeyev for seven years for $11 million per year.

June 26: Boston acquired JJ Peterka from Utah for the 23rd pick in 2026 and a first-round pick in 2028.

June 26. St. Louis received Mason McTavish from Anaheim for the 15th and 29th picks in 2026.

June 26: Utah acquired Sebastian Cossa from Detroit for the 23rd overall pick in 2026.

June 27: St. Louis acquired Brandon Carlo from Toronto for a third-round pick in 2026 and a third-round pick in 2027.

June 27: Nashville acquired forward Adam Edstrom from the Rangers for Massimo Rizzo and a fifth-round pick in 2026.

June 27: Boston acquired forward Ivan Ivan from Colorado for Fabian Lysell.

June 27: Carolina acquired John Carlsson from Anaheim for Kyle Masters and a sixth-round pick in 2026.

June 29: Vancouver acquires Brendan Gallagher, with 50 per cent retained, from Montreal for future considerations.

June 29: Florida acquires the rights to Radko Gudas from Anaheim for the rights to AJ Greer. Both pending unrestricted free agents are expected to sign with their new teams.

I can’t recall a time with that many trades in a short span of time in June, and we could see more this week.

— The Oilers are still in discussions to move Darnell Nurse. At the moment, Anaheim and San Jose, who are interested, aren’t on Nurse’s trade list. Only Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston are. Nurse might change his mind and expand his list to include Anaheim or San Jose, but if he doesn’t, it restricts Stan Bowman’s ability to move him. Bowman won’t just give Nurse away. He wants a fair deal.

— Detroit GM Steve Yzerman spoke for the first time about Dylan Larkin’s trade request. “Dylan has five years remaining on his contract. My job as the manager of the Detroit Red Wings is always to do what is in the best interest of the Detroit Red Wings, and I will act accordingly to that. So, I cannot make any guarantees or did not make any guarantees that that request could or would be met.”

Detroit has missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, and Yzerman has been the GM for the past seven. Can he afford not to deal Larkin and have him return to the team unhappy? Maybe, but that is a big risk considering the pressure to make the playoffs.

— Columbus GM Don Waddell has a lot going on with reports that Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko would like to be traded. Waddell said this about Werenski, “Once that report came out in the media, I was getting calls about it. As my job as a GM, like I said, I’ll listen to anything or anybody. It doesn’t mean I have to act on it. I didn’t counter any offers or anything like that.”

Waddell added this about Kevin Weekes’ report about Marchenko not wanting to re-sign when his current deal (two years) is over. “It’s my 22nd year as a GM, and I’ve had lots of players that have asked for movement, but they keep it private and don’t make it public. I’m not sure it’s in everyone’s best interest to make all of this stuff public, but it’s why you guys have your jobs – to ask me these questions, and I try to give you the best answers I can.”

— Waddell won’t give either player away for picks or prospects. Both have two years remaining on their deals. I understand why GMs don’t want a new trend with players asking for trades with multiple years remaining on their deals and only giving a small list of teams they will go to.

— Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff confirmed he is evaluating offers for goalie Connor Hellebuyck. “Everybody is talking about ways to improve their team or different things like that. Certainly, as an organization we’re going to listen. Everyone saw Helly’s press conference at the end of the year. He was passionate. Certainly, in our exit meetings we had some frank conversations as well, but, again, what happens in those meetings certainly stays private.”

Cheveldayoff’s biggest challenge is that historically goalies don’t generate huge returns in trades. He can’t lose his franchise goalie for little. It is very difficult to win or even break even when you are trading away the best player in the deal, but it can happen, and when he does move Hellebuyck, he needs a return that can help keep Winnipeg competitive.

— I was a bit surprised to see Vegas move Dorofeyev. He was the youngest of their top players. He turns 26 in October, while Mark Stone is 34, Tomas Hertl will be 33 in November, William Karlsson is 33, Ivan Barbashev turns 31 in December, Jack Eichel turns 30 in October, and Mitch Marner is 28. Dorofeyev led the Golden Knights with 72 goals over the past two seasons, and he scored 12 playoff goals this past season. He’s a pure scorer with a lethal shot. I know Vegas is tight to the cap, but I thought they’d move out some older players to make room for Dorofeyev. It is hard to question Kelly McCrimmon, based on his track record of icing a competitive team every season, but this is one move I’m interested to see play out in the future. During the first round of the playoffs, Ken Boehlke reported on my radio show that Vegas and Rasmus Andersson had a deal in place, but it wouldn’t be announced until July 1. Did Vegas essentially choose Andersson over Dorofeyev?

— We will have to adjust to new salaries of players. It won’t just be top-end players getting significant increases. Brett Kulak got a five-year deal at $4.5 million AAV. Good for him. He was a unrestricted free agent four years ago and signed for four years at $2.75 million at age 28. Now, at age 32, he signed for $4.5 million. St. Albert product Zack Ostapchuk just signed a four-year, $2.35 AAV deal. He had seven points in 59 games with San Jose last year. They like his size and toughness, but that’s a great contract for him.

— Anaheim: They only have Jackson Lacombe, Drew Helleson, and Tristan Luneau signed. Pavel Mintyukov and Tyson Hinds are restricted free agents. They need some experience on the backend, and their interest in Nurse makes a lot of sense. Will they re-sign Jacob Trouba, who played with Lacombe in their top pair? If not, the free agent market is pretty thin.

Also, Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier are both restricted free agents and need contracts. The Ducks have a lot of cap space, and unless someone makes a crazy offer sheet, they would likely match it.

They traded Carlson’s rights to Carolina when it became clear he wasn’t going to stay. Their best unrestricted free agent options include Mario Ferraro, Ryan Shea, Nick Jensen, Jamie Oleksiak, Carson Soucy, and Jeremy Lauzon.

— Mason Marchment. He will garner a lot of interest in a shallow unrestricted free agent pool. He’s unique in that he’s a skilled pest. I won’t be surprised if someone gives him $6m over five years.

— Sergei Bobrovsky. He wants a longer-term deal, but will a team give him more than four years? Both of Florida’s goalies, Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov, could test the market. Would Florida sign Stuart Skinner or trade for Jordan Binnington if they can’t retain their current goalies?

— Who will be the Oilers goalie alongside Tristan Jarry? Connor Ingram is interested in returning, but as always, money is a factor. The Oilers currently have $7.415 million in cap space that includes 11 forwards (McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, RNH, Dickinson, Frederic, Podkolzin, Janmark, Samanski, Howard, and Savoie), six D-men (Bouchard, Nurse, Walman, Ekholm, Murphy, and Emberson), and Jarry in goal. Colton Dach and Spencer Stastney are both restricted free agents. I could see Dach signing a multi-year deal, while Stastney signs a one-year deal. I’m not sold he is a lock on the roster. There isn’t one element of his game that stands out.

So currently they have 18 players signed and $7.15 million to spend. They need a goalie, one defencemen, and at least one forward other than Dach. The Nurse trade will bring back an NHL player. Edmonton would like a scoring winger. If Tarasov makes it to free agency, the Oilers will have interest.

— The Oilers have qualified Dach, Stastney, Roby Jarventie (already signed in Europe, but the Oilers retain his NHL rights), and Owen Michael. They didn’t qualify Josh Bloom and Matvey Petrov. No surprises.

Here are the thresholds for offer sheets for the 2026/27 season:

— Teams currently without a first-round pick next year and unable to make an offer over $4,776 million include Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Vegas. Colorado, Florida, Dallas, and the Rangers don’t have their 2028 first-round pick, so they couldn’t do an offer above $9,551,332.

Teams currently without a second-round pick for 2027: Buffalo, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, NY Rangers, San Jose, St. Louis, and Vegas.

Teams without a third: Anaheim, Boston, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New Jersey, San Jose, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.

It’s important to know if you are trying to predict potential restricted free agent offer sheets.