While it’s still very early in the 2026-27 season, it’s not too early to begin looking at players who may be setting themselves up to earn a big pay raise in the summer. With the salary cap rising at a steep rate, promising individual performances can have even more weight as teams look to identify and pay players before those players can realize the full extent of their value on the open market. The Anaheim Ducks’ decision to pay Tristan Luneau, with less than 30 NHL games to his name, a $7.2MM AAV on a long-term contract extension serves as an illustration of this principle in action.
One player who is lining himself up to earn a substantial pay raise is Minnesota Wild winger Max Shabanov. The 26-year-old former KHL star endured a difficult NHL rookie season with the New York Islanders in 2025-26, and New York ultimately non-tendered him after he scored just 18 points in 44 games. The Wild inked Shabanov to a one-year, $1.6MM deal, and he’ll be an RFA with arbitration rights over the summer. His early-season form suggests a major pay raise could be in store, as he’s found himself a regular role on Minnesota’s top power play unit and has produced nine points in his first 13 games with the Wild.
Other notes from around the league:
Given a tough 4-8-0 start to the season, it may seem natural for the Chicago Blackhawks to consider a major roster shuffle that would see top talents from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, called up. But Scott Powers of The Athletic writes that such a decision is “unlikely,” at least for the time being. If Chicago did consider recalls, though, Powers indicated that top prospect Nick Lardis would be first in line after scoring six points in five AHL contests.
The 2027 NHL Entry Draft is certainly far away, but it’s not too early to begin looking at which prospects may be selected at the top of the order. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler released his preliminary ranking of the class’ top 64 prospects, and, as expected, star NCAA defenseman Landon DuPont has earned the No. 1 position. Wheeler wrote that DuPont “looks like a future star defenseman in the NHL.” Behind DuPont, Wheeler ranked OHL forward Dima Zhilkin No. 2, and had a pair of Russian forwards, Sergei Skvortsov and Nazar Privalov, at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.