The bulk of NHL free agency is over and all the biggest names on the market are off the board. As teams and fans look back on what was a wild free agency, it is time to look at who some of the winners of this offseason were in free agency.
Harman Dayal of The Athletic put out a list of the top 10 best free agent signings of NHL free agency. At the top of the list is none other than new Vegas Golden Knight Mitch Marner, who signed an eight-year $96 million dollar deal in a sign-and-trade between Vegas and the Maple Leafs.
“The Golden Knights, on the other hand, emerged victorious with Mitch Marner, the offseason’s biggest prize,” Dayal said. “Marner is a perennial 95-100 point player with excellent defensive ability. He’s a bona fide two-way superstar, coming off a season where he finished fifth in league scoring. He’s exactly the kind of offensive game-breaker Vegas needed to spice up its top six.”
Marner’s arrival in Vegas now makes the Golden Knights not just a contender in the West, but a contender to win its second Stanley Cup in four seasons. Marner also brings plenty of playoff experience with him. In his time in Toronto, he helped his team make the playoffs in every season since 2016.
What makes the deal for Vegas even better is that his contract is cheaper than it was in Toronto. Marner’s new deal now takes up 12.5 percent of the salary cap, while it took up 13.4 percent of Toronto’s.
