NHL free agency begins at noon ET/11 a.m. CT on July 1, headlined by numerous pre-free agency moves.
Big ticket free agent Mitch Marner moved a day ahead of free agency via a sign-and-trade per multiple reports, signing an 8-year deal worth a reported $12 million per season before being traded from Toronto to Vegas.
The Nashville Predators aren’t expected to match their high-profile signings from last summer, but they do have needs for a top-9 forward (or two) plus a right-handed defenseman. Forward Luke Evangelista is the team’s top restricted free agent. The June 30 trade of Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon to Vegas for defenseman Nic Hague opens a spot at center.
The Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers re-signed a pair of high-profile free agents in defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Brad Marchand days after extending Sam Bennett with an eight-year deal worth a reported $8 million per season.
The crop of free agents aren’t as headline-grabbing as once was possible, but Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers and Vancouver’s Brock Boeser will add a scoring boost to their new teams.
Follow along with the latest NHL free agency news and reports:
Here are the top unrestricted free agents that will be free to sign with NHL teams on July 1 (with 2024-25 team in parenthesis):
Forwards
RW Mitch Marner (traded to Vegas after sign-and-trade with Toronto)LW Nikolaj Ehlers (WIN)RW Brock Boeser (VAN)LW Brad Marchand (re-signed with Florida)C Pius Suter (VAN)C Mikael Granlund (DAL)RW Patrick Kane (re-signed with Detroit)LW Andrei Kuzmenko (re-signed with LA Kings)C Ryan Donato (CHI)
Defensemen
Aaron Ekblad (re-signed with Florida)Vladislav Gavrikov (LAK)Ivan Provorov (re-signed with Columbus)Dmitry Orlov (CAR)Brent Burns (CAR)Ryan Lindgren (COL)Brian Dumolin (NJD)Cody Ceci (DAL)Matt Grzelcyk (PIT)
Goaltenders
Several good players are up for restricted free agency. Offer sheets are rare, but can happen. (See St. Louis and Edmonton last year.)
NHL free agency opens on 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT on Tuesday, July 1.
Incoming
Defenseman Nicolas Hague (signed four-year deal after trade from Vegas; would have been an RFA)
Predators UFAs
LW Jakub VranaLW Kieffer BellowsD Marc Del Gaizo
Predators RFAs
Restricted free agency allows teams to get the right of first refusal for players with less than seven NHL seasons or are under the age of 27. RFAs can be signed to offer sheets by other teams, but their current team has seven days to match those terms and sign an RFA to a deal. If an RFA is signed to an offer sheet and is not matched by their original team, the original team gets compensation determined by the offer sheet AAV.
The RFA compensation is:
$1,544,425 to $2,340,037 AAV: A third-round pick$2,340,038 to $4,680,076 AAV: A second-round pick$4,680,077 to $7,020,113 AAV: A first-round pick, a third-round pick$7,020,114 to $9,360,153 AAV: A first-round pick, a second-round pick, a third-round pick$9,360,154 to $11,700,192 AAV: 2 first-round picks, a second-round pick, a third-round pickMore than $11,700,193 AAV: 4 first-round picks
In theory, a larger salary cap could allow for more offer sheets after a long stretch of little to no usage. But teams must have those picks available as compensation to sign an RFA to an offer sheet, and they must be their original picks in the prescribed rounds.
Unrestricted free agents are free to sign on July 1 with any team with no limitations other than length of term (7 years) and a max salary per season of 20% of the current salary cap.