As NHL training camps loom and the start of the regular season less than a month away, Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish and New Jersey Devils defenceman Luke Hughes headline the group of restricted free agents that remain unsigned for the upcoming season.

The four other RFAs still without contracts are forwards Luke Evangelista (Nashville Predators), Alexander Holtz (Vegas Golden Knights) and Rasmus Kupari (Winnipeg Jets) as well as defenceman Wyatt Kaiser (Chicago Blackhawks). All but Kupari are coming off their entry-level deals.

Kupari will not be playing in the NHL this season after the 25-year-old signed a two-year deal in Switzerland with HC Lugano on June 3.

McTavish and Hughes, the third and fourth picks in the 2021 draft, are coming off productive seasons in 2024-25.

McTavish had a career season last year, scoring 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games, his third with the Ducks. In 229 career NHL games, he has scored 60 goals with 140 points.

This isn’t the first time in recent years that Anaheim has gone the distance before signing a RFA ahead of the season. Ahead of the 2023-24 season, forward Trevor Zegras and defenceman Jamie Drysdale missed training camp before signing three-year deals on Oct. 2 and Oct. 5 respectively.

Both players were eventually dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in separate trades.

Hughes, 22, had seven goals and 44 points in 71 games last season, his second with the Devils. He appeared in just one playoff game as an injury suffered in Game 1 knocked him out for the remainder of the team’s first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

He underwent shoulder surgery in early May with the expectation he would be ready for training camp.

Hughes’s Devils teammate and brother, Jack, has five seasons remaining on his eight-year contract.

Evangelista, 23, had 10 goals and 32 points last season with the Predators, his third in Nashville after being drafted in the second round (42nd overall) in 2020.

Holtz split the 2024-25 season between the NHL and AHL. With Vegas, the 23-year-old winger skated in 53 games, scoring four goals with 12 points. He also had seven goals and 13 points in 16 games in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights.

Kaiser, 23, also split last season between the NHL and AHL. In 57 games with the Blackhawks, he had four goals and four assists. With the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, he had three assists in 17 games.