On this episode, Jared and Tyler discuss the week that was around the NHL as well as the upcoming draft.

First off, the NHL awards were on Wednesday night and it was the usual awkward event. Mark Giordano walked away with his first career Norris trophy, while Nikita Kucherov seemed like he won the rest of the awards on the night. 

Fireworks started early this week as a few teams looked to relieve themselves of some of their cap issues. Winnipeg dealt Trouba to the Rangers, Pittsburgh sent Olli Maatta to the Blackhawks and San Jose traded Justin Braun to the Flyers this week ahead of the draft where we may see a bunch more trades before all is said and done. 

We also had some big pending free agents come off the board this week. Erik Karlsson signed a massive $92 million-dollar, eight year deal with San Jose and Kevin Hayes decided to stay in Philly with a seven year, 7.14 AAV. Yikes! 

Arguably the largest, most high profile RFA of the off season was also in the news this week. Mitch Marner is reportedly asking the Maple Leafs for Austin Matthews money, roughly 11.6 million per season, while the Leafs have potentially offered the super star 11 million by eight years. That is possibly not good enough for Marner however as it’s rumoured that he has declined that offer. 

Finally, the NHL Entry Draft starts on Friday which is what was expected to be the focus of this episode.  With the Jets receiving their pick back in the Trouba deal, six of seven Canadian teams are now drafting in the first round with the Leafs as the only team not stepping up to the podium. 

Thanks for tuning in, we hope you enjoy the episode.