Ahead of free agency on Friday, TSN.ca keeps you up to date with all the latest rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.

8:11pm et - Tampa Bay Lightning announce that they have qualified eight players: Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak, Ross Colton, Mathieu Joseph, Dominik Masin, Mikhail Sergachev, Ben Thomas, and Alex Volkov.

The Lightning have not tendered qualifying offers to Devante Stephens, Carter Verhaeghe, and Dennis Yan.

5:00pm et - Flames qualify four, Jankowski to become UFA

The Calgary Flames have qualified Andrew Mangiapane, Oliver Kylington, Glenn Gawdin, and Tyler Parsons.

Mark Jankowski, Andrew Nielsen and Nick Schneider were not qualified and will become free agents.

5:00pm et - Vancouver Canucks extend qualifying offers to seven players.

Justin Bailey, Guillaume Brisebois, Jalen Chatfield, Adam Gaudette, Jake Kielly, Tyler Motte, Jake Virtanen

 

The club has elected not to give defenceman Troy Stecher a qualifying offer.

5:00pm et - Leafs do not extend qualifying offers to Frederik Gauthier, Jeremy Bracco, Evan Rodrigues or Max Veronneau.

 

2:04pm et - Oilers qualify Bear, Lagesson; Benning, Athanasiou among eight not qualified

The Edmonton Oilers tendered qualifying offers to only two of 10 restricted free agent's ahead of Wednesday afternoon's 5pm et deadline.

The team qualified defencemen Ethan Bear and William Lagesson and let eight others become unrestricted free agents.

Among those not qualified were defenceman Matt Benning and forward Andreas Athanasiou.

Benning, 26, appeared in 43 games for the Oilers last season, averaging 13:14 minutes a night. He scored once and added seven assists.

Athanasiou, 26, was acquired at the trade deadline from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Sam Gagner and a pair of second-round picks. In a combined 55 games with both teams, he scored 11 goals and added 15 assists. Only one goal and one assist came in his nine games with the Oilers.

Logan Day, Cameron Hebig, Ryan Kuffner (who was acquired with Athanasiou), Ryan Mantha, Angus Redmond and Noalan Vesey also became unrestricted free agents.

12:03pm et - Sharks, Sabres exchange picks

One of those pick-for-pick trades that everybody loves so much!

The San Jose Sharks acquire a fourth-round pick (No. 100 overall) for moving down four picks in the second round, sending No. 34 overall to the Buffalo Sabres for their No. 38.

11:35am et - The Ottawa Senators got their goalie.

The Senators have acquired goaltender Matt Murray from the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 52nd overall pick in this year's draft and forward Jonathan Gruden.

The 26-year-old had a .899 save percentage and 2.87 GAA in 38 appearances with the Penguins last season. In three playoff games, Murray recorded a .914 save percentage and 2.50 GAA as Pittsburgh was eliminated in the playoff qualifying round by the Montreal Canadiens.

Murray backstopped the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. He was a third-round pick (83rd overall) by Pittsburgh at the 2012 NHL Draft and made the NHL All-Rookie Team in 2017.

Murray is a restricted free agent and is coming off a three-year, $11.25 million contract with an AAV of $3.75 million.

In 199 career NHL games, Murray has a .914 save percentage and a 2.67 GAA.

The second-round pick acquired by the Penguins was one of four picks the Senators held in the round.

Gruden, a fourth-round pick of the Senators in 2018, had 30 goals and 66 points in 59 games with the London Knights this past season,

 

11:30am et - Day 2 of the NHL Draft underway with the second round.

Follow every pick throughout the day here.
 

11:15am et - The Dallas Stars qualified restricted free agents Radek Faksa, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz and Joel L'Esperance.

Goaltender Landon Bow and wingers Tony Calderone and Josh Melnick were not qualified and will hit the open market on Friday.

 

10:46am et - Max Domi will change his number once again with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Domi, who wore No. 13 with the Montreal Canadiens, will wear No. 16 in Columbus, returning to the number he wore for the first three seasons of his career with the Arizona Coyotes.

 

10:34am et - The New Jersey Devils issued qualifying offers Mackenzie Blackwood, Joey Anderson, Jesper Bratt, Nick Merkley and Colton White.

Forward John Hayden and defenceman Mirco Mueller were not issued tenders and will become unrestricted free agents on Friday.

 

10:13am et - Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports the Ottawa Senators have held talks with multiple teams on goaltenders, including Matt Murray,Darcy Kuemper, Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins.

Garrioch notes the Senators have four second-round picks in today's draft, and could use them as trade fodder in their pursuit of a netminder.

 

10:06am et - The Tampa Bay Lightning have extended forwards Mitchell Stephens and Gemel Smith.

Stephens' contract is a two-year, one-way deal worth an average annual value of $735,000, while Smith signed a one-year, two-way contract.

 

9:26am et - The Winnipeg Jets extended D Dylan DeMelo on a four-year, $12 million contract, keeping him from hitting the open market on Friday.

 

Hitting the Market?

Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland said Tuesday he had not yet issued qualifying offers to winger Andreas Athanasiou or defenceman Matthew Benning and did not expect to before Wednesday's 5pm et deadline.

If the pending restricted free agents are not qualified, they will become unrestricted free agents on Friday.

Athanasiou, 26, was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline this year from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Sam Gagner and two second-round picks. He had one goal and two points in nine games upon joining the Oilers, bringing his season totals to 11 goals and 26 points in 55 games with the two teams. He was without a point in four games during the Return to Play. He carried a $3 million cap hit last season.

Benning had one goals and eight points in 43 games with the Oilers this past season, adding one assist in four games in the Edmonton bubble. The 26-year-old has appeared in 248 games with the Oilers over the past four seasons. He is coming off a two-year, $3.8 million contract signed with the Oilers in 2018.

According to CapFriendly, the Oilers have $8.77 million in cap space this off-season with 18 players under contract.

 

 

On the Move?

Craig Custance of The Athletic reports Tyler Toffoli is likely to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday with the Vancouver Canucks unable to reach an extension with the winger.

Acquired at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Kings, Toffoli had six goals and 10 points in 10 games upon joining the Canucks. He was limited to seven games in the Return to Play, posting two goals and four points. 

The 28-year-old, who finished the season with 24 goals and 44 points in 68 games, said last month that his desire was to re-sign with his new team.

"I want to stay in Vancouver and that's my number one priority as of right now," Toffoli said. "It's definitely an exciting time to be in Vancouver and it's definitely something that people want to be a part of now."

The Canucks have $13.47 million in cap space this off-season with Jake Virtanen, Tyler Motte and Troy Stecher due new deals as restricted free agents.

"Their situation is that they don’t have any money to pay him,” an NHL source told Custance of the team's outlook on Toffoli.

 

Short Stay

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas confirmed Tuesday night that the team would not be issuing a qualifying offer to newly acquired winger Evan Rodrigues.

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Rodrigues, who was acquired by the Maple Leafs in August from the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of their return for winger Kasperi Kapanen, was due a $2 million qualifying offer to retain his rights.

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun adds that Rodrigues’ agent Peter Fish said the door has been left open for the winger to sign with the team after testing the market.

The 27-year-old started last season with the Buffalo Sabres, posting five goals and nine points in 38 games before being traded to the Penguins. He added one goal in seven games with Pittsburgh. Undrafted to begin his NHL career, Rodrigues has 27 goals and 72 points in 199 games. 

Dubas said Tuesday night that the teams plans for free agency could shift as more players hit the open market after going unqualified by their teams on Wednesday. He also did not rule out making a move as the draft continues.