It's official: Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa are both free agents

The NHL's biggest insider Elliotte Friedman and the NHL's most popular analyst Kevin Bieksa are both officially free agents.

Fellow insider Jonah Siegel reports today that neither Friedman nor Bieksa were able to negotiate a contract extension with Rogers Sportsnet prior to yesterday's deadline and are now officially on the open market for the 2026-27 season.

Sportsnet has already walked away from long-time analyst Kelly Hrudey, but have reportedly come to an agreement with long-time host Ron MacLean.

As for Friedman and Bieksa... well... who knows where they'll end up?

Of course, they could re-sign with Sportsnet and, honestly, that's probably the most likely scenario. Still, you have to imagine that they'll be fielding offers from TSN, TNT, ESPN and even Amazon Prime. I've got to believe that Rogers has fumbled the ball in a big way by not locking down both Friedman and Bieksa. Oof...