The Ferda Room: Fantilli got paid, Larkin got a list, Florida gets Raleigh

Welcome to the first Ferda Room, the one piece a week where the whole staff sits at the same table on the same stories. The week was about money and the end of pretend hockey: Adam Fantilli got $82.5 million, Dylan Larkin got a longer list, and the Panthers packed for Raleigh.

The room splits on Columbus. Marcus calls the deal fair, Sully calls it a playoff price for a guy who has never played a playoff game, and Gord says the number was set in Anaheim.

The big one: Fantilli's $13.75 million

Marcus Lind — What the numbers say

The number is 13.2 percent. That's Fantilli's $13.75 million against the $104 million ceiling, six years and $82.5 million through 2031-32. Leo Carlsson signed for $18 million a year in Anaheim the week before, and Don Waddell admitted he raised his offer once that happened.

The deal is fair, and a shade light against the Carlsson number. Columbus bought every remaining RFA year on a 21-year-old center coming off 59 points, and it bought them before the ceiling climbs again next July.

Whether 13.2 percent looks heavy in year four depends on where the ceiling lands. The projections say it lands higher, which is the whole argument for paying now.

Gord Tremblay — Where it goes from here

Waddell said Wednesday was "a very exciting day for our organization." It was also the day every agent in the league learned what a comparable signing does to a standoff. Anaheim set the Columbus price without meaning to, and a GM said so out loud.

The read: the next number in Columbus is Kirill Marchenko's, and that file just got harder, not easier.

Around the league, the standoffs that matter haven't budged. Hellebuyck has a no-move, a public request and a suspension for skipping camp, and Winnipeg hasn't moved an inch. Larkin has a list of about eight teams and no takers with cap room. Fantilli's deal ended one standoff, and it didn't start a trend. That part's smoke, not fire.

Sully — The grade and the grievance

Six years, $82.5 million, zero playoff games. Columbus paid the Stanley Cup Final rate for a guy whose postseason experience is the couch. The kid's good, 59 points at 21 on a team that hasn't sniffed April in six years. I get it.

But Waddell said he raised the offer because Anaheim paid Carlsson. That's buying a car for whatever your neighbor paid for his. Fantilli said it was tough not being around the guys. Buddy, you were holding out from Columbus. The guys understand.

Grade: B. The player earns it, and the timing costs a letter. Marcus has the comparables above. I have a calendar, and it says they could've paid this in June.

Gord Tremblay — Three from the notebook

1. Larkin's list is up to about eight. Friedman put Colorado and Washington on it this week, alongside Florida, Minnesota, Vegas, Dallas and Tampa. Grade: Reported. Larkin carries $8.7 million a year through 2030-31, and nobody on that list can absorb it without sending money back.

Detroit has about $19.5 million in space, so the retention lever is Detroit's. The read: a salary swap with a star attached, and those take weeks.

2. The Panthers and Tarasenko are "eying each other." Friedman floated the reunion and tied it to Marchand's timeline. Grade: Reported. He's 34, unsigned, and scored 23 goals for Minnesota last year.

Florida is $895,714 over with 21 players, so the paperwork clears when Marchand's $5.25 million goes on LTIR, not before. The read: the hockey fit is real, and the date is November.

3. Hughes in Minnesota has no clock. LeBrun said "this could take a while," and Hughes himself doesn't feel stressed to do anything before the season. Grade: Reported. Craig Leipold's "we will" from the Board of Governors is still the only firm word. The read: the Wild open Thursday, and the file will be open after that too.

Marcus Lind — The number

The number: $22.7 million. That's the maximum contract on July 1, 2027, when the cap climbs to a projected $113.5 million and 20 percent of it is the ceiling on one player. Today that ceiling is $20.8 million.

Every week the Wild let the Quinn Hughes extension sit, the top of the market grows by about $2 million. Cale Makar's $20.4 million starting in 2027-28 is the peer deal. Hughes has one Norris and a 76-point season, and 30:57 a night in the playoffs.

Sign him now / Wait:

• Sign him now: eight years at $19.5 million, about 17 percent of a $113.5 million cap. Minnesota paid Buium, Rossi, Ohgren and a first to get him. The price of waiting is a Makar-plus ask next July, when the maximum is $22.7 million.

• Wait: the Kaprizov deal didn't get done until Sept. 30 last year and turned out fine. Hughes is 26 and plays 30 minutes, so an extra season of tape only helps the Wild if the tape is bad.

• My call: sign him now. The ceiling moves against you every month, and a Hughes at 17 percent is cheaper than a Hughes at 19.

Sully — The grievance

Look, the Panthers' last impression of the preseason was a 3-2 shootout loss to Tampa's kids in which they held a lead for 30 minutes and 55 seconds, then took five minors after the first period. Five. That's not a penalty kill, that's a subscription.

Shots were 22-22, both goalies stopped 20, and the difference was Florida's chronic inability to keep its hands to itself. Great. Tremendous. Carolina scored three power-play goals in a 6-0 win the same night. Tuesday's opponent. Reading is fundamental, boys.

Kept off the sheet: Alexander Petrovic, 23:10, zero shots. He's auditioning for the eighth defenseman job, and the audition is the part where you do something. Petrovic ate 23 minutes like a guy at a buffet who forgot why he came.

Fight of the week: Thomas Harley, Dallas. He scored the winner at 18:38 of the second, then went and found Matt Boldy at 18:44 of the third, and Dallas and Minnesota fit three fights into the last 1:16 of a September game.

A goal and a fight is two-thirds of a Gordie Howe, which in preseason rounds up. Benn took Foligno 24 seconds later, because Jamie Benn heard a fight happening without him and considered it a personal insult.

Grade: C-plus for Florida's finale. It was the kids. The kids still took five penalties.

Tommy Kessler — Campus minute

Denver opens the season at No. 1 with 35 of 50 first-place votes, and I'm still with the other 15. Michigan finished last season as the NPI's No. 1 team at 29-7-1. Michigan State won the Big Ten. Neither one got a parade, and the champs go to Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 2-3 without a competitive shift from their freshmen.

My ballot says Michigan State in April, so write it down.

The weekend I'd watch is Minnesota at No. 19 Michigan Tech, where the Brett Larson era starts on the road in Houghton and the Gophers open No. 14 after an 11-22-3 year. A split there is respectable. A sweep the wrong way and the ranking is gone by Monday.

The prospect the NHL crowd should know: Samu Salminen, Denver's champion center, signed a two-year entry-level deal with Florida and led the Pioneers with 376 faceoff wins at 54 percent. He starts in Charlotte.

Meg Halloran — The W minute

Hockey Canada made the obvious hire, and the obvious hire is the right one. Kori Cheverie takes over from Troy Ryan four months after coaching Montreal to its first Walter Cup, and her first exam is the Women's Worlds in Denmark, Nov. 6-16.

The streak is the job: Canada has lost eight straight to the United States, including the Olympic final in Milan.

In college, Wisconsin swept St. Lawrence 6-2 and 6-0 to open the three-peat bid, and the scoreboard is lying a little. Ava McNaughton left Friday's game in the second period, and Rhyah Stewart came in cold and stopped all 11 shots she saw. Boston University visits Madison Thursday and Friday.

The W read: Cheverie was hired to win one-goal games against the Americans. Everything else is the appetizer.

Pabs — The Panthers table

Camp's done, and the cats open the season Tuesday in Raleigh at 5 p.m. on ESPN. That starts a four-game road trip: Carolina, then San Jose Wednesday night, Anaheim Saturday and Los Angeles Monday. The home opener isn't until Oct. 10 against Minnesota.

The lineup is 19 deep with one forward spot open. I said Friday that Cole Reinhardt should get it, and I'll say it again. He holds the wall, gets pucks out and chips in, and that's the game a coach trusts on a Tuesday in November.

Imama's hits are a weapon, but this room already has four guys who fight for fun.

Maurice isn't saying yet. "There is cake in the coaches room right now. Monday will be a good day." Brady Tkachuk hasn't skated since Sept. 22, and Maurice still expects him Tuesday. That's the whole week in Sunrise, and the rat year taught me to take good news when it's offered.

• Marcus: Florida is $895,714 over with 21 players. Two waiver moves fix that by Tuesday. The real bill is November, when Marchand's $5.25 million comes back on the sheet and somebody has to go.

• Gord: The Canadian read on Florida is that Tarasenko is a when, not an if, and the when is Marchand's LTIR paperwork.

• Sully: Sandis Vilmanis got Marchand's minutes and played 20:15 with a goal against Tampa's kids. Tuesday it's Aho's line. Different zip code, kid.

• Kessler: The Charlotte line: Salminen is already there, and whichever of Reinhardt, Imama and Schwindt loses the bubble on Monday joins him. The Checkers just got a real third-line center.

The Room's locks

This is edition one, so the scoreboard opens at 0-0 for everybody. Next Sunday we grade these with the receipt, and Sully's record is public whether he likes it or not.

• Pabs: The Panthers win in Raleigh on Tuesday.

• Marcus: Quinn Hughes is still unsigned when the Wild open Thursday in Nashville.

• Gord: Dylan Larkin is still a Red Wing when Detroit opens Friday against the Rangers.

• Sully: Toronto beats Montreal on Tuesday, Bob gets the win, and Leafs Nation books the parade route by Thursday.

• Kessler: Denver sweeps at Alaska Anchorage.

• Meg: Wisconsin sweeps Boston University at home, whoever's in net.

Season records: Pabs 0-0 · Marcus 0-0 · Gord 0-0 · Sully 0-0 · Kessler 0-0 · Meg 0-0.

Where they split

The week's real disagreement is Tarasenko, and it's Marcus against Sully.

• Marcus: The sheet says November. Nobody gets added without somebody leaving or Marchand's $5.25 million going on LTIR, and Florida isn't eating a roster spot in September to save a month.

• Sully: The guy won a Cup in this building. Marcus has a spreadsheet. I have eyes, and my eyes say get him a parking spot before the humidity breaks.

Last word: Pabs

The first game that counts is Tuesday, in the building where Carolina just hung six on Nashville. Everything since June, Brady, Markstrom, the picks, the cap math, comes down to whether this group starts like a champion on the road. I think it does. Dale.