from Rory Boylen of Sportsnet,

The biggest names on this year’s market almost all went on Day 1 as well. Artemi Panarin signed to a somewhat surprising destination, while Sergei Bobrovsky may be the player who most singlehandedly changes the fortunes of the team that acquired him. The Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators came together for a trade ⁠— and then Toronto made an even bigger one with Colorado. And the goalie carousel was in full motion, with Semyon Varlamov (Islanders) and Robin Lehner (Blackhawks) also landing in new destinations, and Petr Mrazek staying put in Carolina.

It was wild, but it went by fast. Here are your winners and losers from the first day of NHL free agency.

WINNERS

NEW YORK RANGERS
Notable acquisitions: Artemi Panarin

Have to give at least a hat tip to the team that netted the biggest UFA fish. It was just 18 months ago the Rangers sent a letter to their fans, bracing them for a sell-off trade deadline and an ensuing rebuild. Now they look to be coming out of that very quickly.

What I love about the Rangers inking Panarin to a seven-year, $81.494-million deal ($11.642 million AAV) that made him the league’s highest-paid winger, is that even at that amount they still have all sorts of future cap flexibility....

LOSERS

MINNESOTA WILD
Notable acquisitions: Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman

I’m not entirely sure what the plan is here for this team. A couple of in-season trades seemed like they were on a trajectory to get younger and shift gears toward a different roster. With just two playoff series wins in the salary-cap era, it seemed like a prudent direction for a new GM to take.

But so far they’ve tried and been unable to find a taker for 27-year-old Jason Zucker, and GM Paul Fenton pulled in 31-year-old Mats Zuccarello with a five-year, $31-million deal Monday....

more on each of the above plus other winners and losers...