Brock Boeser stayed put in Vancouver. The New York Rangers retooled their blue line by landing free agency’s top defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, and trading K’Andre Miller to Carolina.

And Nikolaj Ehlers is taking his time before determining his future.

The frenzy of multiple signings when NHL free agency opened Tuesday was tempered by a free-agent class thinned by teams making pre-emptive moves to keep top talent.

“The list wasn’t deep,” Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said, before assessing how active he intended to be in the coming days. “No, I would say that where we’re at now, we’re comfortable with where we’re at if you look at our group.”

That group includes defenseman Ivan Provorov, who was signed to a seven-year, $59.5 million contract.

Taking advantage of a record $7.5 million jump in the salary cap, the Vegas Golden Knights landed the biggest prize in a sign-and-trade deal to acquire Mitch Marner on Monday. On the same day, the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers used “home Cup” advantage to re-sign defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Brad Marchand.

Boeser, a six-time 20-goal-scorer, elected to stay in Vancouver by agreeing to a seven-year, $50.75 million contract a half hour into the signing period.

Soon after, the Rangers signed Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million contract. New York then acquired defenseman Scott Morrow, a conditional first-round draft pick and a 2026 second-rounder in trading Miller, a restricted free agent and potential candidate to attract an offer sheet.

The Hurricanes signed the 25-year-old Miller to an eight-year, $60 million contract, at a time they expect to lose blue-liners Dmitry Orlov and Brent Burns to free agency.

California’s franchises were the most active, shelling lots of money.

And that included Corey Perry’s return to Southern California, this time with the rival Los Angeles Kings after spending the first 14 seasons in Anaheim.

The Ducks missed out on the biggest names in free agency despite billionaire owner Henry Samueli’s guarantee of a blank check but still added consistent scoring forward Mikael Granlund to a team that finished 30th in the NHL in goals last season. The Finnish veteran signed a three-year deal worth $21 million.

As the dust settled, the top players available seven hours in were Ehlers, fellow wingers Andrew Mangiapane and Anthony Beauvillier and Orlov. Ehlers, who scored 20 or more goals in eight of his 10 seasons in Winnipeg, has informed teams he might take a day or two to decide where he’ll sign.

Also

The Dallas Stars hired Glen Gulutzan as their head coach 12 years after he was fired from his first stint with them by the general manager, Jim Nill, who is still there. This is Gulutzan’s third job in charge of an NHL team after leading the Stars from 2011-13, and the Flames from 2016-18.

Alex Delvecchio, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame who helped the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup three times in the 1950s, has died. He was 93.

Delvecchio spent his entire NHL career with the Red Wings from 1951-73, recording 1,325 points in 1,671 regular-season and playoff games.