Elliotte Friedman Confirms Brandon Saad Refused to Sign With Two Canadian Teams
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed today that Brandon Saad turned down multiple teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency.
Last month, the St. Louis Blues made a surprising roster move by agreeing to mutually terminate the contract of a two-time Stanley Cup champion.
That champion was 32-year-old forward Brandon Saad, who had spent the last four seasons with the Blues.
Elliotte Friedman reported today in his latest episode of 32 thoughts exactly how things went down for Brandon Saad after the move.
Apparently, Saad received a lot of interest from teams around the league before he agreed to terms with the Knights.
Friedman hinted that several teams were interested in the veteran, but he specifically listed the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Tampa Bay Lighting as teams that tried to sign him.
This is a rather interesting revelation as all of those teams could be contenders this season and yet Saad chose Vegas instead.
This would seem to imply that he thinks the Golden Knights give him a better chance of winning his third Stanley Cup than any of those other teams.
Saad has played in two games for the Golden Knights since signing with the club and already has his first goal with the team.
The veteran winger had just 7 goals and 16 points in 43 games with the Blues this season.
His deal carries a 1.5 million dollar cap hit for the remainder of the season. He will be a free agent as of July 1st, unless the Knights elect to re-sign him before that deadline.
| POLL | ||
FÉVRIER 6 | 434 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman Confirms Brandon Saad Refused to Sign With Two Canadian Teams How far do you think the Vegas Golden Knights will go in the playoffs this year? | ||
| 1st round exit | 110 | 25.3 % |
| 2nd round exit | 178 | 41 % |
| Conference finals | 102 | 23.5 % |
| Stanley Cup Finals | 44 | 10.1 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Barrett Hayton | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pontus Holmberg | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Robert Thomas | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Tage Thompson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Buchnevich | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Drew Doughty | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Zachary Werenski | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Jason Zucker | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Jakob Chychrun | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jack Hughes | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kent Johnson | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Ryan McLeod | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Owen Tippett | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leo Carlsson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 57 | 40 | 14 | 3 | 83 | |
Capitals | 56 | 37 | 11 | 8 | 82 | |
Stars | 56 | 36 | 18 | 2 | 74 | |
Golden Knights | 57 | 34 | 17 | 6 | 74 | |
Oilers | 56 | 34 | 18 | 4 | 72 | |
Wild | 57 | 34 | 19 | 4 | 72 | |
Panthers | 58 | 34 | 21 | 3 | 71 | |
Maple Leafs | 56 | 34 | 20 | 2 | 70 | |
Hurricanes | 57 | 33 | 20 | 4 | 70 | |
Avalanche | 58 | 33 | 23 | 2 | 68 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||