First it was Curtis McElhinney's turn. Then it was Ron Hainsey's and Dominic Moore's. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it was Patrick Marleau's turn to join a young, talented Maple Leafs squad brimming with youthful exuberance.

Adding four veteran guys with a combined age of 143 doesn't exactly get you fired up. But maybe it should. Stabilizing veteran voices that will make the Leafs a deeper, more effective club.

First of all, Hainsey is coming off an impressive playoff performance with the Pittsburgh Penguins in which he served as a top-pairing D-man, even if it was by default. In 25 postseason games, he recorded two goals and six assists to go along with 37 hits and 44 blocked shots while playing a crucial role in Pittsburgh's Cup victory.

Hainsey will also provide some relief for the Leafs' top three defensemen in Jake Gardiner, Morgan Rielly, and Nikita Zaitsev.

All three played a ton of minutes last season, and the wear and tear of the 82-game grind was evident on the trio of blue-liners. Hainsey, who has logged a career average of just over 21 minutes of ice time per game, will lighten the load for the core rearguards while also bringing an element of leadership the club is looking for.

McElhinney and Moore continue the Leafs' trend of going with low-risk, high-reward guys that A) know their roles well, and B) have proven track records getting the job done in backup and bottom-six roles, respectively.

In 82 games last season for the Boston Bruins, Moore - a Thornhill, Ontario native - registered 11 goals and 14 assists while also winning nearly 57 percent of his faceoffs.

Meanwhile, McElhinney had a respectable season as well. In 14 games for the Leafs, the 34-year-old veteran put up a record of 6-7 while posting a 2.85 goals-against and .914 save percentage - good enough numbers from your backup, especially for $800,000.

Lastly, the addition of Marleau completes a quartet of veteran signings for Lou Lamoriello and Co. that make Toronto a much more complete team.

Sure, he's 37. And three years at an average annual value of $6.25 million seems like a lot. But when you consider the fact that Marleau is in excellent shape and rarely misses any time due to injury, and the Leafs could have just added a game-changer.

The three-time All-Star leaves San Jose with 508 goals and 574 assists.

But it's his veteran leadership that offers the greatest benefit to the inexperienced Leafs. Don't forget, despite San Jose's playoff struggles, Marleau has also been a clutch postseason performer - another characteristic Toronto sorely lacks.

In 177 career playoff games, Marleau has tallied an impressive 68 goals and 52 assists, and will surely be a factor if Toronto manages to qualify for the playoffs for a second year in a row.

They may not have been the names Leafs fans expected, but if Lamoriello's track record alone isn't enough to have you believing, just remember: sexy doesn't always equal success.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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The Washington Capitals gave themselves a little cap flexibility Sunday night, trading forward Marcus Johansson to the New Jersey Devils for a second-round pick and a third-round pick, both in 2018.

The second-round pick was originally sent to the Devils by the Florida Panthers in the Marc Savard trade, and the Toronto Maple Leafs originally gave New Jersey the third-rounder as compensation for the hiring of Lou Lamoriello, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Johansson set career highs with 24 goals and 58 points with the Capitals this past season.

He has two years left on his contract at an annual cap hit of about $4.58 million.

Washington now has about $9.2 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, but only has 14 players signed to its NHL roster, and still needs to sign restricted free agents Andre Burakovsky and goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

The Capitals found themselves with only about $4.65 million in cap space after signing Evgeny Kuznetsov to an eight-year, $62.4-million contract earlier Sunday, so a move like the Johansson trade was inevitable, and more transactions may still be necessary.

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Evgeny Kuznetsov is committing to the Washington Capitals for the long haul.

The club signed the dynamic forward to an eight-year, $62.4-million contract Sunday.

He was a restricted free agent whose $7.8-million cap hit will be on the books through 2024-25.

Kuznetsov notched 19 goals and 59 points in his fourth season in the U.S. capital, and he's two years removed from a 20-goal, 77-point campaign.

The 25-year-old joined the Capitals after spending five seasons with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL.

Washington selected him 26th overall in 2010.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs made a big splash on the free-agent market Sunday, signing veteran Patrick Marleau to a three-year deal with an annual average value of $6.25 million.

At 37 years old, the Leafs clearly feel that Marleau has a lot left in the tank. According to head coach Mike Babcock, that has a lot to do with they way the veteran can still move on the ice.

"Even if he doesn't score goals, he can skate," Babcock said, as reported by Nick Cotsonika of NHL.com. "He can play against the best people and do it right every single night." "... Have you seen him skate?"

Related: Maple Leafs sign Marleau to 3-year deal

Regardless of his age, Marleau's numbers indicate one thing: The guy can still put the puck in the back of the net.

Since entering the league in 1997, Marleau has totaled 508 goals and 574 assists in 1,493 career regular-season games - good enough for fifth on the active scoring list.

By the time the puck drops on the 2017-18 season, Marleau will be 38. But according to Babcock, that shouldn't be an issue, per Cotsonika: "I think (Toronto) will be a fountain of youth for him."

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Patrick Marleau is a Toronto Maple Leaf.

The club signed the veteran forward to a three-year, $18.75-million contract Sunday.

His cap hit will be $6.25 million, and the salary is reportedly front-loaded.

Marleau leaves the San Jose Sharks after spending nearly two decades in the Bay Area. He's the franchise's all-time leader in goals, points, and games played.

The Leafs were one of many teams initially pursuing the 37-year-old, who reportedly had an offer to return to the Sharks on a two-year deal.

Marleau has been remarkably durable throughout his career, playing every regular-season game in each of the last eight seasons and missing only 31 games in 19 seasons.

Toronto's young squad has added a wealth of experience in the last 30 hours or so, signing 36-year-old defenseman Ron Hainsey to a two-year pact Saturday.

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Carey Price was nonchalant when asked about his mammoth new contract.

"We just kind of banged one out," the star goaltender quipped to reporters Sunday, according to NHL.com's Arpon Basu.

Earlier in the day, the Canadiens signed Price to an eight-year extension worth a reported $84 million, making him the highest-paid goalie in the league and all but ensuring the 2015 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner will finish his career with the only organization he's ever known.

Related - Poll: Did the Canadiens overpay Price?

Price didn't deny the notion that he should be among the highest-paid players in the league, and he clearly wasn't ready to put on another team's sweater after spending his first 10 NHL seasons with the Canadiens.

"I thought it would be too weird, I guess," he said, according to Basu, adding that he's "obviously ecstatic" to have the opportunity to close out his career with Montreal, via The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.

The 29-year-old has one more year left on his previous deal and is now under contract until 2025-26.

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The Florida Panthers, the NHL's ninth-oldest team during the 2016-17 season, according to NHL Numbers, took a most unconventional route to get younger for 2017-18.

The Panthers elected to let go of 45-year-old Jaromir Jagr and instead chose to sign Radim Vrbata, who may be nine years Jagr's junior but still comes in at an overly ripe 36 years of age and ties captain Derek MacKenzie as the team's oldest player.

Vrbata is coming off a superior offensive season when compared to Jagr's campaign, but only by a very slim margin:

The potential reward of milking a few more points out of a slightly younger Vrbata isn't worth the risk of losing one of the league's top attendance draws for a team which ranked just 26th in the league, with an average home crowd of 14,620.

Regardless of where the Panthers play, fans of No. 68 come out in droves to support their long-haired hero and the man who ranks second to Wayne Gretzky on the league's all-time points list.

(Photo courtesy: @68isgr8/Twitter)

The risk

The decision to walk away from Jagr was not an easy one for Panthers general manager Dale Tallon. "I was torn. It’s been a tough couple of months and I can’t thank him enough for what he did for our kids, myself, and the organization; you can’t measure it," said Tallon, according to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel.

The pivot from Jagr to Vrbata unnecessarily jeopardizes the progression and puts at risk the relationship between the team's two brightest stars and the aforementioned "kids." Mostly playing with Jagr, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov ranked 40th and 27th among all qualified NHL skaters, respectively, in points per game over the past two years. Jagr ranked 73rd, and Vrbata ranked 161st while playing with inferior linemates for the lowly Arizona Coyotes.

Tallon tried to convey his rationale, adding: "It’s time our core young guys take over this team and that was our thought process as well.”

While Huberdeau and Barkov may well be ready to lead the Panthers on their own, they've reached that point due in part to Jagr's leadership and tutelage. They may improve with a (slightly) better player in Vrbata alongside them, but the move puts at risk the elite level of play at which they were already capable of when playing with Jagr.

The reward?

"Juice" in the above tweet refers to forward Jussi Jokinen, who was placed on waivers and subsequently bought out by the Panthers on Friday, June 30. However, at 36 years old, Vrbata doesn't seem to mesh with the desired emphasis on team speed, either.

While Tallon claimed money was not an issue, Jagr earned a base salary of $4 million which ballooned to $5.5 million with performance bonuses last season. Vrbata was brought in on a one-year contract worth a maximum of $3.75 million and a cap hit of $2.5 million.

Furthermore, the numbers over the last six seasons - which is the span since Jagr's return to the NHL - favor the man who is now a free agent:

Vrbata is the better goal-scorer of the two nowadays, but Jagr's durability and playmaking have allowed him to remain in the league's upper class of offensive players. He ranks 52nd among all players in points over the past two seasons. Vrbata ranks 153rd.

However, it's Jagr's largely unnoticed defensive play which the Panthers may end up missing the most:

The defensive discrepancy is nothing new, as Vrbata owns a career Corsi For percentage of 50.6 and Jagr has operated at a possession rate of 55.2. The differences were more exaggerated last season, with Vrbata having a CF% of 46.8 and Jagr's being 55.4. Jagr also averaged much more ice time than Vrbata both over the past six seasons and in 2016-17.

Many will point to Jagr having played for better teams than Vrbata, who has toiled away with the Phoeniex/Arizona Coyotes, and the 2014-15 and 2015-16 Vancouver Canucks, but the argument was dealt a blow last season when Jagr was left to carry a depleted Panthers roster.

While Florida had a better roster and a better team season than the Coyotes in 2016-17 (81 points vs. 70), they lost 15 more man games to injury than the 'Yotes, largely due to the 51 and 21 games lost by Huberdeau and Barkov, respectively.

Jagr is taking the snub from the Panthers in stride, but it's almost a certainty the league-wide fan favorite will be courted by many NHL general managers over the summer.

Having played for eight teams over his legendary NHL career, the two-time Stanley Cup champion may be a little more accepting of his freedom than most players would be in this situation.

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Ryan Miller may be taking his talents to Orange County, but he will always have strong Canadian roots. That's because Miller's two-year-old son, Bodhi, is a Vancouver native.

On Saturday, Miller was signed by the Anaheim Ducks to a two-year contract, and instead of thanking Vancouver and its fans himself, Miller let Bodhi do the honors.

Related: Ducks add veteran Ryan Miller to crease

The 36-year-old netminder leaves Van City after 3 tough years with the Canucks. Despite the team's struggles, Miller still managed to post respectable numbers.

Over 150 regular-season games, Miller notched a record of 64-68-18 to go along with a 2.69 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.

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Carey Price is arguably the best goalie on the planet, and on Sunday, the Montreal Canadiens made sure he was paid as such.

Habs general manager Marc Bergevin inked his franchise netminder to an eight-year deal worth a reported $84-million at an annual average value of $10.5 million, making Price the highest-paid goalie in the NHL.

Quite simply, is he worth it?

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