It’s Canada Day! One of the days that it snows in our neigbo(u)rs to the north, at least according to the “O’Canada” movie at Epcot, which states that it does nothing but snow up north 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

(No, Celine Dion is not here.)

But just like fireworks and cookouts on the Fourth of July, Canada Day has its own traditions: specifically, NHL general managers spending ridiculous sums of money to sign free agents, execute trades, sign restricted free agents to offer sheets and much more.

Welcome to Canes Country’s annual free agency bonanza. All day, we’ll be keeping you on top of all the signings around the league, although this year many of them have already been announced (thanks, discussion period!). There’s still plenty of intrigue, though. Where will Petr Mrazek end up (please Lord let it be the Hurricanes)? Is Montreal clearing the decks to offer sheet Mitch Marner? Which GM gets the Jack Johnson Award for the most immediately regrettable free agent contract?

As a friendly reminder, and we can’t say this enough so we’re putting it in gigantic letters:

LOOK FOR THE BLUE CHECK MARK

Seriously. Don’t get hoodwinked by a con artist.

We’ll keep a running tab on signings today (newest at the top). If it says REPORT: at the beginning, it means that one of the insiders has reported it but it has not been made official yet. If it says DONE DEAL:, well...you can figure it out. (PL: Pierre LeBrun, BM: Bob McKenzie, DD: Darren Dreger, FS: Frank Seravalli, EF: Elliotte Friedman, others to be added as necessary)

Below that, we’ll offer some thoughts of our own on the day’s proceedings. Nothing has been confirmed, but we do think that Don Waddell will speak at some point, and we’ll be there to cover it.

Enjoy your day, and don’t let your productivity suffer too badly! (We’ll be happy to write a doctor’s note if you need it.)

Signings and Trades

• DONE DEAL: Petr Mrazek to Hurricanes, 2 years, $6.125m
• DONE DEAL: Semyon Varlamov to Islanders, 4 years
• DONE DEAL: Robin Lehner to Blackhawks, one year, $5m
• DONE DEAL: Anders Lee re-signs with Islanders, 7 years, $49m
• DONE DEAL: Calvin Pickard to Red Wings, 2 years, $1.5m
• DONE DEAL: Greg McKegg to Rangers
• OFFER SHEET: Sebastian Aho to Canadiens, five years, $42.27m
• REPORT: Tomas Jurco to Oilers, one year, $750k
• DONE DEAL: Jujhar Khaira re-signs with Oilers, two years, $2.4m
• DONE DEALS: Tomas Nosek (one year, $1m) and Brandon Pirri (two years, $1.55m) re-sign with Golden Knights
• DONE DEAL: Wayne Simmonds to Devils, one year, $5m
• REPORT: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to Avalanche, 2 years, $3.6m (EF)
• DONE DEAL: Joe Pavelski to Stars, 3 years, $21 million
• REPORT: Patrick Brown to Golden Knights, 2 years, $1.4m (DD)
• DONE DEAL: Sergei Bobrovsky to Panthers, 7 years, $70m
• REPORT: Alex Chiasson re-signs with Oilers, 2 years, $4.3m (Mark Spector)
• REPORT: Gustav Nyquist to Blue Jackets, 4 years, $22m (John Shannon/BM)
• DONE DEAL: Valtteri Filppula to Red Wings, 2 years, $6m
• DONE DEAL: Matt Duchene to Predators, 7 years, $56m (Brian Hedger)
• DONE DEAL: Andrew Hammond to Sabres, one year, $700k
• DONE DEAL: Ryan Carpenter to Blackhawks, 3 years, $3m
• DONE DEAL: Artemi Panarin to Rangers, 7 years, $81.5m (Larry Brooks)
• DONE DEAL: Keith Kinkaid to Canadiens, one year, $1.75m
• DONE DEAL: Garnet Hathaway to Capitals, 4 years, $6m (PL)
• DONE DEAL: Ryan Murray re-signs with Blue Jackets, 2 years, $9.2m (Aaron Portzline)
• REPORT: Timo Meier re-signs with Sharks, 4 years, $20m (PL)
• REPORT: Nathan Beaulieu to Jets, one year, $1m (Ren Lavoie)
• DONE DEAL: Brandon Tanev to Penguins, 6 years, $21m (DD/BM)
• REPORT: Noel Acciari to Panthers, 3 years, $5m (EF)
• REPORT: Connor Clifton signs extension with Bruins, 3 years, $3m (begins in 2020] (FS)
• DONE DEAL: Ryan Hartman to Wild, 2 years, $3.8m (Mike Russo)
• DONE DEAL: Jordie Benn to Canucks, 2 years, $4m (Iain MacIntyre)
• TRADE DONE DEAL: Rangers trade Jimmy Vesey to Sabres for 2021 3rd rounder
• REPORT: Anton Stralman to Panthers, 3 years, $16.5m (PL)
• DONE DEAL: Andrej Sekera to Stars, one year, $1.5m (BM/EF)
• REPORT: Joonas Donskoi to Avalanche, 3 years, $15.6m (Andy Strickland/Ryan Clark)
• DONE DEAL: Cam Talbot to Flames, one year, $2.75m (FS)
• DONE DEAL: Joonas Korpisalo re-signs with Blue Jackets, one year, $1.15m
• REPORT: Markus Granlund to Oilers, one year, $1.3m (Andy Strickland)
• DONE DEAL: Ron Hainsey to Senators, one year, $3.5m
• REPORT: Tyler Ennis to Senators (BM/PL)
• DONE DEAL: Tyler Myers to Canucks, 5 years, $30m (FS)
• DONE DEAL: John Forslund, Tripp Tracy and Mike Maniscalco re-sign with the Hurricanes
• DONE DEAL: Curtis McElhinney to Lightning, 2 years, $2.6m (PL)
• DONE DEAL: Jason Spezza to Maple Leafs, one year, $700k (BM)
• TRADE DONE DEAL: Maple Leafs trade Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown to Ottawa for Cody Ceci, Ben Harpur, Aaron Luchuk, 2020 3rd rounder
• DONE DEAL: Corey Perry to Stars, one year, $1.5m (FS)
• DONE DEAL: Richard Panik to Capitals, 4 years, $11m (BM)
• DONE DEAL: Brett Connolly to Panthers, 4 years, $14m (Bob Stauffer)
• DONE DEAL: Mats Zuccarello to Wild, 5 years, $30m (Mike Russo)

Live Blog

• Checkers captain Patrick Brown will call Las Vegas home for the next two years. Darren Dreger says that Brown has signed a two-year deal with the Golden Knights for $1.4 million; the first year is a two-way deal, and the second is one-way.
• A pair of Checkers on the move, as expected, per Elliotte Friedman: Andrew Poturalski is headed to the Ducks, and Josiah Didier is going to the Bruins.
• Ya know, I’m becoming more and more convinced that all this “chatter” is nothing more than an echo chamber of the various insiders amplifying each other.

• Don Waddell will indeed meet the media at 3:00 today, #asexpected.
• Here’s some great news to start your day: new contracts have been finalized with John Forslund, Tripp Tracy and Mike Maniscalco. Per a pair of sources, they’re either one-year or year-to-year (employment at-will) deals for all three. The band’s staying together! [Hurricanes]
• The Blue Jackets offered Artemi Panarin an eight-year deal worth almost $100 million last night. He turned it down, but don’t be surprised if he gets that kind of money on a 7-year deal from another team (Islanders?).
• According to PL, the Hurricanes offered Sebastian Aho 8 years at $7.5m AAV. Aho countered with 5 years at $9.5m AAV. The five year deal is a non starter for the Hurricanes, so will they bend on the money? They have to negotiate on something.