Big Free-Agent Signing Announcement Off The Ice

While all eyes are on the likes of Quinn Hughes, Adam Fantilli and Simon Edvinsson to get their new contracts signed, another huge signing has been announced Wednesday morning off the ice. 

Influential insider Elliotte Friedman was actually one of the biggest free agents this month, as his contract with Rogers ended on August 31st. Rumors were everywhere that Rogers/Sportsnet might not be bringing hockey's most trusted and notable insider back. But the big announcement was dropped this morning. Both Friedman and Saturday night cohort Kevin Bieksa have been re-signed and will be returning. 

🚨 Saturday Night Hockey debuts Oct 3, featuring Ron MacLean, Kevin Bieksa, Elliotte Friedman & Colby Armstrong

🚨Monday Night Hockey returns Oct 5 with David Amber, Luke Gazdic & Justin Williams, and new this season, streams exclusively on Sportsnet+https://t.co/Amvoz3zXcK pic.twitter.com/Q26GaRCFeH

— Sportsnet PR (@SportsnetPR) September 9, 2026

The one big difference is that Hockey Night in Canada, after nearly 75 years, is no more. We knew back in June that the CBC would no longer carry it, and now Sportsnet has announced that it'll now be known as Saturday Night Hockey, and it debuts October 3rd, the first week of the new season. 

Ironically, Friedman, who often reports on the behind-the-scenes wrangling of players and agents trying to squeeze all they can out of teams in contract negotiations, has gone through the same process and come out with a big new deal to continue dropping his intel for fans on Sportsnet. 

The insider has been with the network for 12 years, since joining in June 2014. 

Rumors in recent days had linked Friedman to Amazon Prime, which recently secured a 12-year sublicensing deal for national Canadian Wednesday night NHL games starting this season. But other reports suggested that Amazon was "never going to break their entire payroll for an insider."