Fantasy Hockey: Brady Tkachuk Heads South, Leo Carlsson Deal, Goalie Trades And More Offseason Moves To Note

The NHL's offseason is over, and training camps are just about ready to begin. It's a perfect time to highlight some of the league's biggest transactions that have gone down since the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in mid-June.

Biggest NHL Offseason Trades and Free Agent Moves

Brady Tkachuk Joins Brother in Florida

Siblings playing together seems to be all the rage these days. There have been non-stop talk regarding Quinn Hughes potentially joining Jack and Luke in New Jersey one day. In this case, Brady joined Matthew in Florida after the Senators forked over three first-round picks and a second-round selection to get the deal done. Brady Tkachuk is obviously going to make the Panthers a better team. He'll add physicality to their lineup. It's worth noting that Brady has played 72 or fewer games in each of the past two years. I expect his 82-game pace scoring numbers to dip somewhat relative to what we've seen from him in the past simply because of how many talented players the Panthers have, but he's still an early-round option in all fantasy formats.

Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet Saga

The Flyers signed Carlsson to a ridiculous five-year, $90 million offer sheet in July. The Ducks eventually matched the deal, keeping the Swede in California for the foreseeable future. The contract made Carlsson the highest-paid player in the league for a few weeks before he was passed by both Sharks C Macklin Celebrini and Avalanche D Cale Makar.

NHL Goalie Carousel

Both the Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs have Stanley Cup aspirations, even if the former is far more likely to reach them than the latter. Both will have new starting goalies this season, with Sergei Bobrovsky going from Florida to Toronto and Jacob Markstrom joining the Panthers via trade from the Devils. Both goalies looked borderline finished last season at 36 years old, and I'm not optimistic either is the answer their respective teams are seeking this late in their careers.

Rangers Rebound Predictions

The Rangers finished with the third-worst record in the NHL last season. Their defense was in complete shambles. They responded by acquiring an entirely new second pair (Marcus Pettersson from Vancouver, Sean Durzi from Utah), in addition to trading for Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas, a 25-year-old who has scored 72 goals combined over the past two seasons. I think New York will be better than anticipated given the additions and will push for a playoff spot.

Costly NHL Defense Contracts

Bowen Byram has never posted more than 42 points in a single season. That didn't stop the Blackhawks from acquiring Byram from Buffalo before inking him to a six-year, $75 million contract. Darren Raddysh took over as Tampa's No. 1 rearguard a season ago and racked up 22 goals and 70 points in 73 games. He got eight years and $68 million from Toronto in a sign-and-trade. Raddysh will be expected to have a similar year, while Byram will be expected to do so for the first time in his career.

Washington Capitals Reload

Washington regressed in a major way last season, which was to be expected given how good it was two years ago. That said, it wasn't a lost season by any means because the club was able to work youngsters Cole Hutson and Ilya Protas into the lineup late in the year. These additions appeared to reinvigorate Alex Ovechkin, who elected to return for another season. The Caps added both Jordan Kyrou (trade with St. Louis) and Alex Tuch (free agency) this summer, and just like that, they clearly look like the favorite for the No. 2 spot in the Metropolitan Division behind Carolina.

Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin and Unresolved NHL Trade Rumors

This is a big one, and in this case, it's a pair of moves that are yet to be made at the time of this writing. Both Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg and Dylan Larkin in Detroit have requested trades. There was a similar report regarding Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski earlier in the offseason, although he walked it back after meeting with management. What do all these players (plus Brady Tkachuk) have in common? They were all members of the United States Olympic team that won gold in Milan. The Larkin deal is tough because Detroit needs something back that can help them now. He will also apparently waive his no-trade clause for a few teams. Hellebuyck appears to be more open to considering more options.

Flames Roll Dice on Nemec

The Flames are probably the least-talented team in the NHL. When your roster is as weak as theirs, every move you make is going to be overanalyzed because the margin for error is nil. Calgary acquired Simon Nemec from the Devils in June for a prospect, a second-round pick and two first-round picks. They then handed him a five-year, $36.25 million extension. Nemec had 26 points in 68 games last season, while posting a career-high 10.9 percent shooting percentage. He won't turn 23 years of age until next February, so youth is on Nemec's side, but the Flames are paying for production we are yet to see. They better hope they're right.

The Sunny Mehta Era begins in Jersey

New Devils GM Sunny Mehta is off to a hot start. I just touched on the Nemec trade. He managed to sign Anthony Mantha to a two-year, $9.5 million contract a full two weeks after free agency opened on July 1. It's a ridiculous value for a guy who posted 33 goals and 64 points in 81 games last season. Mehta's best move of all may have been an early September trade for Nashville's Luke Evangelista, a trade that came out of seemingly nowhere and brought in a 24-year-old with elite underlying offensive metrics. New Jersey is in good hands moving forward.