Welcome to Around the NHL, where we’ll dive into all the latest buzz from around the league and circle it back to how it could potentially impact the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 2024 NHL offseason is almost a month in and after one of the busiest opening weeks in history, things have quieted down tremendously over the past couple of weeks.

The Maple Leafs have been busy rounding out their scouting department and still have a couple of contract negotiations to wrap up with restricted free-agents Connor Dewar and Nick Robertson. Most of Toronto’s heavy lifting was completed in the first week of July and now general manager Brad Treliving looks to round out his forward group or potentially make a trade including the disgruntled Robertson.

While the Maple Leafs are close to their offseason finish line, there’s a number of teams still trying to fill and/or upgrade rosters. Here’s the very latest from around the NHL:

One of the ‘best of the rest’ is off the board. Daniel Sprong signed a one-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks worth $975,000. It’s a very affordable contract for someone who has scored 39 goals combined over the past two seasons.

Sprong spent the 2023-24 season with the Detroit Red Wings, collecting 43 points in 76 games and had to wait out the wild flurry  of signings at the beginning of July to finally land himself a new deal for next season. Sprong joins the Canucks who missed out on Jake Guentzel and several other free-agent forwards. Vancouver now adds Sprong after already locking up Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen to multi-year contracts this summer. While DeBrusk appears to be a lock for the top line, look for Sprong to battle for top-six minutes in Vancouver and should get a look on the team’s second power-play unit.

The Canucks are basically right up against the salary cap at the moment so as a potential trade partner for the Maple Leafs, it would have to be a money-in and money-out situation. One name to keep an eye on is forward Conor Garland. Garland’s in a crowded middle-six in Vancouver and with two years left on his contract at $4.9 million, Vancouver is likely open to a trade, should the right scenario present itself. That’s not very likely to be in Toronto at this point.

To kick off this past weekend, the Detroit Red Wings and restricted free-agent Joe Veleno settled on a two-year, $4.55-million deal.

The average annual value is $2.275 million — Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the signing. Veleno is coming off a 28-point season, dressing in 80 games. Over the course of his four seasons in Motown, Veleno has appeared in 232 games, scoring 30 times and recording 64 points. Veleno was originally a 2018 first-round pick and he’ll be looking to take his game to new heights next season.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has been busy this summer trying to re-tool on the fly. He brought in Cam Talbot and Jack Campbell in net, he’s re-signed Patrick Kane, signed veteran Vladimir Tarasenko and also added ex-Maple Leafs Erik Gustafsson on the back end. Yzerman swung and missed on Steven Stamkos, who of course eventually wound up in Nashville.

The Red Wings will battle the Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division next season. Should its defense core and goaltending hold up, Detroit will take huge strides, as their offense has a ton of firepower. These two teams don’t necessarily match up very well as trade partners as it’s not often you see any significant moves made between two intra-divisional rivals. However, it is worth pointing out the Red Wings now have Campbell and Justin Holl on their roster, two ex-Leafs who wouldn’t necessarily be welcomed back to Toronto with open arms.

James van Riemsdyk is arguably the most talented free-agent remaining on the open market. Of Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli’s Top 75 free agents heading into free agency, only eight remain unsigned, including JVR who spent last season scoring 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games for the Boston Bruins.

van Riemsdyk, 35 years old, appears headed for a one-year league minimum contract at some point this summer, or even perhaps a professional tryout agreement if nothing is signed by September. While his skating has always been in question, JVR can still be a big frame in front of the net, and with his soft hands, can still be a productive piece in the high-danger areas of the ice. Expect to see a new contract come across his desk at some point this summer. It is kind of surprising to see he’s still without a job.

As for a potential fit for the Maple Leafs, our very own Arun Srinivasan wrote a piece almost a week ago on how there could be something worth exploring with JVR considering the makeup of Toronto’s roster. With a potential void at left wing should Robertson be dealt, JVR could provide a veteran presence for the middle six.

Other notable free agents still without a contract for the 2024-25 season including former Leaf Tyson Barrie, Tony DeAngelo, Tyler Johnson, Kevin Labanc, Mike Hoffman and Max Pacioretty.

Speaking of Robertson, there hasn’t been much noise around his future in Toronto. A friendly reminder: earlier this month Chris Johnston of TSN reported that Robertson had no interest in signing a new contract with the Maple Leafs and had requested a trade.

Meanwhile, Treliving spoke on the matter and confirmed the Leafs value Robertson and feel he has an opportunity to be an impactful player for the team this season. From there, it’s been crickets.

There’s a few teams who make sense as potential destinations, however after losing Tyler Bertuzzi to free agency, it’s likely Treliving and company do their best to try and convince Robertson to stay, as they could use him on the second line alongside Max Domi and William Nylander.

At this point, it’s hard to say how things are going to play out. What we do know is the Leafs still have Dewar and Robertson left unsigned, meanwhile have roughly $2.4 million in projected cap space. Dewar plays a very ‘Craig Berube style’, so look for the grinding forward to battle for a bottom-six role next season. The arbitration window is from July 20 – August 4, so expect to hear some news on a new contract sometime soon.

As for Robertson, the saga continues as the one-time top prospect has been caught in a numbers game for a couple of seasons and appears to be fed up with the matter. Everyone will have to wait and see how much convincing Treliving can pull off before the start of training camp.