Maple Leafs re-sign Tavares, Oilers keep Frederic around long term and NHL trades get rolling

One of hockey's most well-respected, well-rounded veterans gave his hometown team a hometown discount, a couple of younger players signed the longest contracts still available to them and trade dominos began falling Friday around the NHL.

John Tavares re-signed for four more years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, getting $17.55 million. He'll count $4.39 million against the salary cap through the 2028-29 season after that number was $11 million annually on his previous deal.

Tavares, a point-a-game player last season at age 34, grew up in the area and never saw himself leaving.

“Even though I obviously left some money out there, I’ve done pretty well, I’m still doing pretty well and I get to play for an amazing club in a great city — a place where I’m from and a team that’s got a real opportunity to win,” Tavares said on a video call with reporters. “I wanted to make it work and find a way to make a deal that was very good for both sides.”

Fellow center Brock Nelson, who is 11 months younger, got $7.5 million a year over the next three seasons to stay with Colorado after the Avalanche acquired him at the trade deadline from the New York Islanders.

“We would all agree there was going to be an opportunity for John to make a lot more money elsewhere, and his focus was staying here,” Toronto general manager Brad Treliving said. “His work and his commitment and his desire, it sort of steered the process on this negotiation, so full marks and full credit to John.”

The team that eliminated the Leafs from the playoffs on the way to winning the second of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, the Florida Panthers re-signed Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million.

After re-signing Nelson earlier in the month, Colorado traded a pair of forwards on Friday, sending Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus for the 77th pick in this year's draft, a conditional second-rounder in 2027 and prospect Gavin Brindley. The Blue Jackets improved their depth up front after missing out on getting defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders.

“Charlie is an experienced, two-way player that adds size and versatility to our group, while Miles is one of the fastest skaters in the NHL who provides great energy and physicality,” GM Don Waddell said. “Beyond being outstanding players, both are high-character people who will fit in perfectly with our group and what we are building here in Columbus.”

Dobson went instead in a sign-and-trade to the Montreal Canadiens for the 16th and 17th picks in the draft Friday night and forward Emil Heineman. Dobson got $76 million over eight years, a cap hit of $9.5 million, a deal he called a “no-brainer.”

“It’s the best hockey market in the world,” Dobson said. “The fans are incredible. I love playing at the Bell Centre. And then just also the group of players they have already and the talent they have on the team and what they’ve been building, I’m just super excited to join that group and add to it and excited what we can do down the road here in the future.”

Across Canada, the Edmonton Oilers finalized an eight-year, $30.8 million. contract with big winger Trent Frederic, who they got at the trade deadline from Boston.

After returning from injury, Frederic had three points and skated 11 minutes a game on Edmonton's second consecutive run to final. GM Stan Bowman with this contract is betting on more production from Frederic, who turned 27 in February, a few weeks before the trade.

“Every year I’ve improved, and I’ll continue to do that,” said Frederic, who will count $3.85 million against the cap over the length of his new deal. “I think my best hockey is yet to come.”

Bowman cleared cap space for Frederic and what's expected to be a big-money contract for defenseman Evan Bouchard. Plus, Leon Draisaitl's $112 million deal goes into effect next season.

On the horizon for Edmonton is an extension for three-time MVP Connor McDavid, which cannot be signed until July 1. Negotiations for that deal are expected to take some time this summer.

While McDavid is expected to stay with the team that drafted him first overall in 2015, the player taken fourth a decade ago is almost certainly moving on, with Mitch Marner poised to leave Toronto and sign elsewhere next week as an unrestricted free agent.

“It’s difficult when you possibly could lose a player like Mitchy and what he brings, but you’ve got to move forward,” Tavares said. “Obviously, if he does end up leaving, it’s a very difficult player and person to replace and what he brings to the team on and off the ice.”

In other moves, Buffalo re-signed pending RFA forward Jack Quinn to a two-year contract worth $6.75 million and Detroit re-upped defenseman William Lagesson for two years at the league minimum of $775,000 for each of the next two seasons at the NHL level.

Quinn has 97 points in 178 games since being picked eighth in the 2020 draft.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE- Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares (91) skates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An independent counsel on Tuesday demanded a death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

Removed from office last April, Yoon faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.

Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team requested the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon to death, according to the court.

The Seoul court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February. Experts say the court likely will sentence him to life in prison. South Korea hasn't executed anyone since 1997.

Yoon was scheduled to make remarks at Tuesday's hearing. He has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. He called the opposition-controlled parliament “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”

Yoon’s decree, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the assembly and enter election offices. That evoked traumatic memories of dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed rulers used martial law and other emergency decrees to station soldiers and armored vehicles in public places to suppress pro-democracy protests.

On the night of Yoon's martial law declaration, thousands of people rushed to the National Assembly to object to the decree and demand his resignation in dramatic scenes. Enough lawmakers, including even those in Yoon’s ruling party, managed to enter an assembly hall to vote down the decree.

Observers described Yoon’s action as political suicide. Parliament impeached him and sent the case to the Constitutional Court, which ruled to dismiss him as president.

It was a spectacular downfall for Yoon, a former star prosecutor who won South Korea’s presidency in 2022, a year after entering politics.

Lee Jae Myung, a former Democratic Party leader who led Yoon's impeachment bid, became president by winning a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to delve into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

There had been speculation that Yoon resorted to martial law to protect his wife, Kim Keon Hee, from potential corruption investigations. But in wrapping up a six-month investigation last month, independent counsel Cho’s team concluded that Yoon plotted for over a year to impose martial law to eliminate his political rivals and monopolize power.

Yoon’s decree and ensuing power vacuum plunged South Korea into political turmoil, halted the country’s high-level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets.

Yoon’s earlier vows to fight attempts to impeach and arrest him deepened the country’s political divide. In January last year, he became the country’s first sitting president to be detained.

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside of Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

FILE - Then South Korea's ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol who is facing charges of orchestrating a rebellion when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, Pool, File)