Screenshot via Columbus Blue Jackets / YouTube
Highlights
Elvis Merzlikins, Ondrej Palat and Stefan Noesen all hit unrestricted free agency next summerAll three are coming off down years, and two of them had surgery in the last eight monthsRead below for the cap hits, the numbers and what each veteran has to prove
Elvis Merzlikins has one season left to save his NHL career.
The Blue Jackets goalie is in the final year of his five-year deal, and Pro Hockey Rumors’ Bradley Keith grouped him with Ondrej Palat and Stefan Noesen as the Eastern Conference veterans carrying the most weight into 2026-27. Same trap for all three: expiring contract, a season that went backward, and a shrinking market waiting on the other side.
Merzlikins already lost the Columbus crease to Jet Greaves. Keith laid out the underlying numbers, and they are ugly: minus-7.3 goals saved above expected across 30 appearances last season by Moneypuck’s count, with a save percentage under .900 in each of the last four years.
Then came the part nobody planned for. Columbus announced in August that the 32-year-old had shoulder surgery with no timetable attached:
Palat’s math is different. The squeeze is the same.
He is 35 with 905 games and two Stanley Cups, sitting 95 games short of 1,000. He is also a $6 million fourth-liner on Long Island now, and New Jersey had to attach a 2026 third-rounder and a 2027 sixth to get him there in January:
A goal and an assist in his Islanders debut against the Rangers got the building going. Palat then went his last 28 games without another goal and finished the year with 15 points in 80 games.
New York added Mattias Maccelli this summer and returns a mostly unchanged group for new head coach Peter DeBoer, which pushes Palat further down the depth chart. The Islanders had a second buyout window in July and passed on using it, so the whole thing plays out on the ice.
Noesen has the shortest runway of the three. He scored 22 goals in 2024-25, then managed three in 38 games last season with his shooting percentage cut in half to 5.8 percent and his power-play job gone. Knee surgery in January ended it early.
The Devils have since added Anthony Mantha, Evan Rodrigues and Luke Evangelista, which leaves new general manager Sunny Mehta with 14 forwards for 12 spots. Here is where the three of them stand:
PlayerTeamAgeCap HitLast SeasonElvis MerzlikinsBlue Jackets32$5.4M30 GP, minus-7.3 goals saved above expectedOndrej PalatIslanders35$6M80 GP, 15 pointsStefan NoesenDevils33$2.75M38 GP, 3 goals, season ended by knee surgery
What happens to the guys who miss on a year like this is already on the board. Kevin Hayes was an All-Star in 2023 and is playing in the KHL. Jeff Skinner signed in Switzerland. Calle Jarnkrok went home to Brynas.
Reilly Smith and Michael Bunting are still unsigned with camps a week away. That is the list Merzlikins, Palat and Noesen are skating to stay off next summer.