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NHL Notebook: Golden Knights and Maple Leafs have discussed a sign-and-trade deal for Mitch Marner
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton - USA Today
Ryley Delaney
Jun 29, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 29, 2025, 13:23 EDT
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The Vegas Golden Knights are busy.
On Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Golden Knights were engaged in trade talks regarding soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner.
While it’s not done yet, the only way Marner can get an eight-year term with a team that isn’t the Maple Leafs is through a sign-and-trade. It’s been reported by numerous sources that the Leafs are asking for Nic Hague and Nic Roy in return for Marners’ rights.
Last season, Marner scored 27 goals and 102 points in 81 games, the most points he’s had in a season. In his nine-year career, Marner has 221 goals and 741 points in 657 games, including four 90+ point seasons and two 30+ goal seasons.
Still, that’s a steep price to pay for the Knights, as both Hague and Roy have been on the Knights’ roster for a while. Last season, Roy (a right-shot centre) scored 15 goals and 31 points, making it his fourth consecutive season with 30 or more points.
Interestingly, Friedman also reported that the Knights checked in on Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson, but nothing got done. That makes sense, as the Knights’ farm system is barren and the Flames have their unprotected first-round pick in the 2026 draft.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Knights address this off-season after losing in five to the Edmonton Oilers.

Blues re-sign Joel Hofer to a two-year deal

Speaking of the Oilers, they won’t be able to get their revenge on the St. Louis Blues after they offer sheeted Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway last season. On Saturday, they signed netminder Joel Hofer to a two-year deal worth $3.4 million annually.
Selected in the fourth round of the 2018 draft, Hofer played 31 games with the Blues in 2024-25, posting a .904 save percentage and 2.64 goals against average. The season before was his best year in the NHL so far, as he had a .914 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average in 30 games.
The Blues will run a tandem of Jordan Binnington and Hofer next season.

John Gibson was traded to the Red Wings

One goalie who was traded on Saturday was John Gibson, as the Anaheim Ducks sent their long-time goalie to the Detroit Red Wings for Petr Mrázek, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
Last season was the netminder’s best season since 2018-19, as the 31-year-old had a .912 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average in 29 games played. Once considered an elite netminder, it was tough sledding for Gibson from 2019-20 until 2023-24, as he had a .900 save percentage and 3.36 goals against average in 241 games played.
With Hofer and Gibson now off the market, the goaltending market has shrunk rapidly, as Jake Allen is the best unrestricted free agent, while there aren’t a lot of trade options unless a team significantly overpays.

Interesting picks of the 2025 draft

Aside from sports and writing, my passion in life is geography. The 2025 draft had plenty of interesting picks, so let’s take a look at them.
In the first round, there were only six nations represented: Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and Czechia, mainly the six powerhouses of international hockey. The second round is where things got interesting, as Australian-born Jakob Ihs Wozniak was picked 55th by the Golden Knights, the highest a player from the Land Down Under has been picked in the NHL draft.
22 picks before that, the highest-Chinese born player was picked, as 6’6” defenceman Haoxi Wang was drafted by the San Jose Sharks. Wang is just the second player to be born in China and drafted. That was until William Belle was selected in the fifth round, or 137th overall, by the Maple Leafs.
Also in the second round, the eighth Slovenia-born player was picked 64th overall, as the Maple Leafs selected Tinus Luc Koblar. At an international level, he has represented Norway.
Moving to the third round, that’s when players born in emerging hockey nations were drafted. Belarusian netminder Arseni Radkov was selected 82nd overall by the Montréal Canadiens. German left-winger Maxim Schäfer was selected 96th overall, and Slovakian netminder Michal Pradel was selected 75th overall.
The fourth round saw another Belarusian picked, as the Utah Mammoth selected winger Yegor Borikov 110th overall. Two Germans were picked in this round: Julius Sumpf was picked 98th by the Chicago Blackhawks, and David Lewandowski was picked 117th by the Oilers. The first Swiss player was picked as well, as Elijah Neuenschwander was selected 104th by the Ducks. Denmark’s Mads Kongsbak Klyvø was selected 112th overall.
Matous Kucharcik is the highest Italian-born player picked, as the Buffalo Sabres selected him 103rd overall. Norway got some representation in the fourth round as well, as Mikkel Eriksen was selected 111th overall.
Aside from Belle, the fifth round was filled with players born in the usual nations. The last surprise came in the sixth round, as the Senators drafted Bruno Idžan with the 181st overall pick. He is the first Croatian-born player to be drafted by an NHL team.
While the decentralized draft was not fun to sit through, seeing players from obscure hockey nations being drafted is always pretty cool. Unfortunately, there was no Austrian or French representation in this draft.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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