Let the fireworks of the 2024 NHL offseason begin.

We’ve already seen a few moves such as the Pierre-Luc Dubois for Darcy Kuemper swap, Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey and Barclay Goodrow going from New York to San Jose via waivers. The next couple of weeks, highlighted by the draft, RFA qualifying decisions and free agency, should be a doozy.

Here are seven of the most interesting offseason storylines.

1. How will Steve Staios reshape the Senators?

With a new ownership group overhauling the front office and coaching staff, the Senators are entering a fresh era. They’ll be facing several key decisions this summer, too.

The first task will be to sort out the left defense logjam. Last year’s experiment of rolling three high-end left-shot defenders (Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot and Jakob Chychrun) was a disaster. Chychrun looks like the clear odd man out — he struggled defensively and there’s a time crunch to cash in on him for assets because he’ll be a free agent at the end of next season.

A Chychrun trade — if it’s a futures-based return — could give the Senators assets that can immediately be used on the trade market to address other needs. Ottawa has a massive drop-off on the right side of the blue line after Artem Zub so targeting a top-four right-handed defender, whether via trade or free agency, should be a top priority.

GM Steve Staios will also need to sort out the club’s future in net. Joonas Korpisalo performed terribly in the first season of his five-year contract and Anton Forsberg wasn’t much better on a $2.75 million cap hit. Can Ottawa get rid of one of those contracts and acquire an upgraded No. 1 goalie?

Winger Mathieu Joseph’s name has resurfaced on the trade block. He could be moved to open up further cap space.

The Senators own a lot of draft picks (two first-round selections and four fourth-rounders). Will they keep all that draft capital to replenish a thinning prospect pipeline? Or could one or two of those picks be leveraged on the trade market?

There’s a ton of intrigue around Ottawa this offseason.

2. How will the Mitch Marner drama play out?

The Leafs are in a tricky spot with Mitch Marner.

The 27-year-old right winger is an elite regular-season player but has consistently underperformed in the playoffs and is slightly overpaid on a $10.9 million cap hit. After years of playoff failures, “running it back” with the same core would be a PR nightmare for Toronto. Marner, a year away from unrestricted free agency, will likely be looking for an extension similar to William Nylander’s eight-year, $11.5 million AAV pact, which doesn’t seem sensible.

For all of those reasons, GM Brad Treliving should be exploring a Marner trade. The problem is that it’ll be very difficult and complicated for Toronto to actually “win” a Marner trade. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Marner has the power to veto any trade because of his full no-movement clause. He doesn’t need to move if he doesn’t want to — he can play out the year and walk himself to free agency.
• Even if he’s willing to waive to go to a small selection of teams, those clubs may not have the assets that the Leafs want in a trade. Remember, the fewer potential trade partners you have, the less leverage you have in trade talks.
• Marner’s next contract demands could scare some buyers off.

Despite his playoff failures, Marner is still a 95-plus-point winger with strong defensive impact. It wouldn’t be a good look to give him up for peanuts, especially when the club could have moved him last summer before his NMC kicked in. In an ideal world, the Leafs would land a young top-four defenseman or a center with top-six upside as part of a Marner return. Is that a realistic possibility with all of the aforementioned factors involved? If it isn’t, would the Leafs bring Marner back and potentially let him walk for nothing in free agency next summer?

How Treliving handles this Marner dilemma could define his tenure as Leafs GM.

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3. Will a weak UFA center market lead to free agent overpays and risky trades?

There isn’t a single 60-plus-point center hitting the UFA market this summer. Only five of them (Elias Lindholm, Chandler Stephenson, Sean Monahan, Max Domi, Jack Roslovic) scored more than 30 points last season. And Domi and Roslovic are only part-time centers because of their questionable defensive profiles.

Yet many clubs could be shopping for help down the middle. Boston and Utah don’t have first-line quality centers. Winnipeg will need a second-line center replacement if Monahan walks. The Leafs would ideally find a 2C to shift the declining John Tavares to the wing or a third-line center so David Kämpf can be pushed down to the fourth line. Nashville doesn’t have a 2C behind Ryan O’Reilly. Buffalo needs a 3C to replace Casey Mittelstadt. Vancouver could be shopping for a 3C to replace Lindholm. Los Angeles could be targeting a 3C to replace Dubois.

With demand for top-nine centers way higher than the UFA supply, I’ve wondered if teams will have to think outside of the box with riskier moves to address their needs. Washington’s gamble on Dubois is a perfect example.

I also wonder how egregiously these UFA centers will be overpaid. Lindholm, for example, could be eyeing $7.5-8 million per year on a long-term deal. That seems very dicey for a player who only scored 44 points in 75 games this season.

This is where buyers may have to get creative on the trade market. Will somebody pony up and pry Trevor Zegras out of Anaheim? Martin Necas was drafted as a center but has mostly played wing in his NHL career — will a club roll the dice on him as a top-six center?

Josh Norris broke out with 35 goals in 66 games in 2021-22 and proceeded to sign a massive long-term extension at a $7.95 million cap hit. He’s only played 58 games over the last two years because of multiple shoulder injuries. Will a buyer overlook these risks and pitch Ottawa on a trade?

Mikael Granlund bounced back with a 60-point season in San Jose. With one year left on his deal, will a buyer target him?

Are there any wild cards we aren’t thinking of, like when Tomas Hertl was shockingly dealt to Vegas at the deadline? It doesn’t sound like Marco Rossi, for example, is a lock to stay in Minnesota (even though he should be) despite a strong rookie season.

I’m very interested to see how the center market unfolds in both free agency and trades.

4. Could Utah Hockey Club be one of the offseason’s most aggressive buyers?

Utah Hockey Club is swimming in cap space, with around $43.5 million to play with. They have a few notable RFAs that need new deals (Sean Durzi, J.J. Moser, Barrett Hayton and Juuso Valimaki) but none of them are going to break the bank. Utah’s core with Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther among others is a solid foundation. Most importantly, their new owner Ryan Smith has deep pockets and may want the team to take a big step forward in their first season in Salt Lake City.

Utah also has a rich reserve of assets (a deep prospect pool and excess draft picks, including 10 second-rounders over the next three drafts) that could be leveraged as trade chips. They don’t have any defenders under contract for next season so that could be an area of need. They also lack a true first-line center, although Cooley has the potential to develop into one.

Put it all together, and they could theoretically be in on any big-name skater on the trade or free-agent market this summer.

5. What will the Hurricanes do with major forward and blue-line decisions?

The Carolina Hurricanes could look very different next season. They have eight forwards and four defensemen on expiring contracts, with just shy of $24 million to play with.

Up front, Jake Guentzel will be the biggest domino. He was a perfect fit for the Canes and brings the elite scoring pop that the club needs to get over the hump in the playoffs. The Hurricanes have usually been reluctant to hand expensive long-term contracts to players approaching 30 (like Dougie Hamilton and Vincent Trocheck) but Guentzel is a rare piece worth bending the rules for, similar to how they bent their own rule about not trading for rentals when they acquired him in the first place.

If Guentzel walks, will that change how Carolina handles Necas’ future? Necas, an arbitration-eligible RFA in line for a big contract, is reportedly looking for a change of scenery and is currently being shopped on the trade market. Can they afford to lose both of them?

Playmaking top-six winger Teuvo Teravainen is also a pending UFA. Re-signing RFA Seth Jarvis to a long-term deal after his breakout will be a priority as well. Further down the lineup, identity bottom-six wingers Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen are set to hit the free-agent market.

Carolina’s stellar second pair of Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce are pending UFAs, too. Can the Hurricanes let both of them walk and replace them internally? The biggest X-factor could be 22-year-old KHL star defender Alexander Nikishin.

Nikishin is an elite prospect and could immediately step into a top-four NHL role. He reportedly has one year left on his deal in the KHL. The Hurricanes are trying hard to bring him over, but don’t know yet whether that’ll happen next season or the year after. The timing of his arrival should have a significant impact on how Carolina approaches the defense this summer. Highly touted right-handed prospect Scott Morrow will be on the roster next season, too.

With all of this in mind, it’ll be exciting to track how newly minted general manager Eric Tulsky tackles this offseason.

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6. What does the future hold for Saros, Ullmark and Gibson?

This year’s free-agent goalie market is awful if you’re in the market for a starter. Cam Talbot, who turns 37 in less than a month, is the only pending UFA netminder who played more than 40 games this season.

However, the trade market could be stocked with far more established talent, even after the Markstrom trade.

With Jeremy Swayman in line for a big raise as an RFA, Linus Ullmark is a strong candidate to get dealt. Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy in 2023 and has hit a .915 or higher save percentage in five straight seasons. That’s an impressive level of consistency at a position that’s so volatile these days. The 30-year-old has one year left at a reasonable $5 million cap hit.

There are two potential concerns for an interested buyer. The first is that Ullmark has control over the situation with a 16-team no-trade list. He reportedly nixed a trade to the Kings at the trade deadline. His camp could strategically identify the teams that need starters and filter out the less desirable destinations. Secondly, the Bruins have been elite defensively for most of Ullmark’s time with the franchise. We know how influential defensive environment can be for a goaltender’s performance — can Ullmark continue delivering above-average results if he’s moved to a team that doesn’t defend very well?

Juuse Saros is an elite workhorse starter even if he had a down year by his sky-high standards. He has one year left at a $5 million cap hit. Nashville has to decide whether to extend or trade Saros, especially with Yaroslav Askarov, one of hockey’s best goaltending prospects, waiting in the wings. A buyer will likely only be willing to give up a lucrative package for Saros if they’re confident they can re-sign him. That’s where it gets complicated: How many clubs would be open to giving Saros, who will be 30 by the time his next contract kicks in, a deal similar to Connor Hellebuyck’s ($8.5 million AAV for seven years)?

John Gibson’s name has been in and out of the rumor mill for a while now. Lukas Dostal, 24, had a breakout season this year, which could make the Ducks more open to shopping Gibson. He hasn’t hit a .905 save percentage or higher since the 2018-19 season, which is concerning. But the Ducks have also been one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL over the last few years — he could easily rebound in a more stable environment. The Ducks would probably be asked to retain some salary on the $6.4 million AAV he’s owed for the next three years.

Ottawa, Toronto, Los Angeles and Detroit are some of the top teams that come to mind with major goaltending needs.

7. What will Kevyn Adams and the Sabres do in a make-or-break offseason?

This is a make-or-break offseason for Sabres GM Kevyn Adams.

Buffalo has missed the playoffs in 13 straight seasons and Adams has been at the helm for four of them. The Sabres have some exciting young pieces and an elite prospect pool but it’s long overdue for the franchise to turn potential into tangible results. Adams was conservative last summer and it led to a step back this season — he can’t afford another disappointing campaign or he’ll likely pay for it with his job.

Adams’ first dilemma will be deciding whether or not to buy out Jeff Skinner. The 32-year-old winger has three years left at a $9 million cap hit. A buyout would open up a tad over $7.5 million of space this summer.

Third-line center will likely be a need after the Mittelstadt trade. On the back end, the Sabres have a lot of bodies but could use a rugged, defensively oriented type to complement the offensive skill that Rasmus Dahlin and Bowen Byram bring to the ice. They could also use an additional top-six winger, especially if Skinner gets bought out.

Adams is open to cashing in on some of his top prospects or the No. 11 pick for immediate help.

“I’ve made it clear to every single team in the league that I’m open to trading prospects if it makes our team better,” Adams said. “I’m open to trading pick 11 if it makes our team better. It just has to make sense, because these are valuable assets.”

All the signs are there for the Sabres to be big players and yet there’s still a pathway for an underwhelmingly quiet offseason. It isn’t always easy attracting top free agents to Buffalo and while you’d expect them to be aggressive in exploring the trade market, sometimes the prices don’t make sense or you simply strike out. In any case, there will be a ton of pressure on Adams to position the club to battle for a playoff spot next season.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)