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

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

It was a very busy day as free agency opened Tuesday.

But before it all began, the talent pool was thinned out.

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.

That made the likes of Boeser and Ehlers the top targets of several teams.

Boeser, a six-time 20-goal-scorer who had said he wanted out of Vancouver, elected to stick around by agreeing to a seven-year, $50.75 million contract a half hour into the signing period.

Soon after, the Rangers signed Gavrikov and 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 deal, at a time they expect to lose blue-liners Dmitry Orlov and Brent Burns to free agency.

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.

Other notable moves and trades Tuesday included:

Defenseman Ivan Provorov signed to a seven-year, $59.5M contract to stay in Columbus.

New Jersey re-signed goalie Jake Allen for $9M over five years and added winger Connor Brown for four years at $12M.

The Islanders signed forward Jonathan Drouin to a two-year, $8M contract, and also landed goalie David Rittich.

Carolina signed forward Logan Stankoven to an eight-year extension worth $48M.

The Rangers re-signed restricted free agent forward Will Cuylle to a two-year contract worth $7.8M.

Boston signed rugged forward Tanner Jeannot to a five-year, $17M contract and acquired winger Viktor Arvidsson from Edmonton for a 2027 fifth-round pick.

The Sabres added goaltending in Alex Lyon, and signed restricted free agent Ryan McLeod to a four-year, $20M contract.

The Blues sent forward Zachary Bolduc to Montreal for defenseman Logan Mailloux in a swap of 2021 first-round picks.

The Mammoth signed defenseman Nate Schmidt to a three-year, $10.5M deal and added forward Brandon Tanev to a three-year contract worth $7.5M.

Seattle got defenseman Ryan Lindgren for four years and $18M.

The Canucks also re-signed goalie Thatcher Demko to a three-year, $25.5M extension and forward Conor Garland to a six-year, $36M extension.

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, died at age 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.