Jason Gregor is back with another offseason edition of The DFO Rundown and today, he was joined by Michael Russo of The Athletic. He’s spent the last number of years covering the Minnesota Wild but has been working in hockey for a lot longer than that. The guys started the pod off by talking a little bit about Russo’s career and how he ended up in ‘The State of Hockey’.

From there, they got into the current situation with the Kirill Kaprizov and the Wild. He’s eligible for an extension and there’s no doubt that the Wild would love to lock him up, but is he open to a max-term contract? Russo gave some insight into that before getting to another contract situation that GM Bill Guerin is currently dealing with in Marco Rossi, who is an RFA.

They then talked about how certain offseason moves could change the balance of power in the Central Division. There are some serious question marks around teams like the Jets and Avalanche meanwhile the Stars are going to get a full year out of Mikko Rantanen, which could change things.

The Utah Mammoth are also quickly becoming everyones favourite underdog. GM Bill Armstrong had himself a very busy summer, but did he do enough to make them a playoff team?

They also talked about Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators chances of bouncing back after a miserable season.

Tyler then popped in for Fill in the Blank, where he asked the guys about who will start Game 1 for the Edmonton Oilers, Mitch Marner’s ceiling in Vegas, and if they think there could be any surprise teams who get to 100-points.

3:50 - Kaprizov & a short-term deal

9:50 - Will Marco Rossi in Minnesota?

15:05 - The Central offseason

20:25 - Everyone loves Utah

24:05 - Can the Hawks take a step?

28:40 - Can the Preds rebound?

33:10 - Fill in the Blank

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Today on the DFO Rundown, Jason Gregor was joined by Jeff Marek from The Sheet to recap everything we’ve seen over the last 72 hours in the NHL.

There were some big contracts handed out as the free agency window opened and usually, this is the time of the year where big mistakes are made. The guys started today’s podcast by talking about one team that they think really improved themselves this summer: the Montreal Canadiens.

Are they good enough to be a team that wins playoff rounds next year? They discussed it.

From there, they talked about the moves that the Anaheim Ducks made so far this summer. They brought in some veterans in Chris Krieder and Mikael Granlund and while they moved on from Trevor Zegras, it’s easy to see a path to the Ducks improving.

They then talked about the Mitch Marner saga and him officially becoming a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. Should Vegas be considered the favourites in the West? They also touched on the way the Maple Leafs handled the situation and the Florida Panthers finding a way to keep all their free agents around.

Tyler then popped in for Buy or Sell where he asked about the Ken Holland’s moves with the Kings, the bottom-five teams in the league and the remaining free agents on the board.

They wrapped up the show by talking about James Reimer and some of the names still out on the market, the impact some of the new Head Coaches around the league could have and the state of the Dallas Stars after the hiring of Glen Gulutzan.

1:10 - How much better are the Habs?

8:30 - Are the Ducks good enough?

15:40 - Marner & the Golden Knights

23:00 - The Leafs rebound

27:30 - Bennett & the Panthers

33:10 - Buy or Sell

50:00 - The new coaches

52:00 - Stars hire Gulutzan

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The DFO Rundown is back and with draft weekend in the rear view mirror and free agency opening up tomorrow, there was no shortage of talking points for Jason Gregor. He began the show by going through a little bit of what we saw over the last 72 hours in the league from the Islanders picking first overall to some of the big extensions that were signed.

Jason was then joined by guest co-host Chris Pronger. The Hall of Fame defenseman talked about the end of his career when he was trying to overcome an eye injury and life after hockey, including his stint with the Florida Panthers organization.

The guys then got into free agency. Teams finally have some money to spend and that could result in some pretty shocking contracts. They talked about what smart teams will do with their money and they also talked about some of the big free agents on the board, like Mitch Marner, who is rumoured to be heading to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Jason also got Chris’ take on this years crop of free agent defensemen. Provorov, Ekblad, and Gavrikov are all coming from very different situations but teams are always hungry for defensemen this time of year. Could one of those three get a bigger contract than we think? Pronger also talked about how going to a different system could expose some flaws in their games.

Tyler then popped in for a new edition of Fill in the Blank where he asked the guys about who could increase their Stanley Cup odds the most in the next week, the New York Islanders big weekend and they shared their favourite under the radar free agent options.

1:00 - Draft weekend recap

13:50 - Chris Pronger on life after hockey

26:10 - Best on Best hockey

22:50 - Mitch Marner’s future

39:55 - Free Agent Defensemen

41:00 - Fill in the Blank

50:00 - Under the radar options

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You can get involved with all the NHL futures action over on bet365 by using the promo code NATION at bet365.com

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