{"id":621620,"date":"2026-07-13T13:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/621620\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T13:36:14","slug":"the-highest-valued-nhl-contracts-signed-this-summer-so-far-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/621620\/","title":{"rendered":"The Highest Valued NHL Contracts Signed This Summer So Far \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, with the NHL Salary Cap rising, articles like these will constantly highlight the growth of hockey. Players are looking to make more money, and teams are avoiding sticker shock in the moment of inking the deal.<\/p>\n

As major free agents have put pen to paper, and some remain in play to receive their payday. Most notably, UFA\u2019s Patrick Kane<\/a>, Anthony Mantha<\/a>, and Vladimir Tarasenko<\/a> remain open to veteran NHL contracts, and RFAs Jason Robertson<\/a>, Adam Fantilli<\/a>, and Connor Bedard<\/a> all need new deals too. So far, we\u2019ve seen a total of 249 NHL contracts signed. Today, we will examine this offseason\u2019s largest total valued contracts signed since the free agency opening on July 1.<\/p>\n

1. Leo Carlsson<\/a> \u2014 5 years, $90.00MM ($18MM AAV), Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n

I think a lot of us expected a large sum of money to head to Leo Carlsson\u2019s bank account; however, I don\u2019t think any of us saw Carlsson ending up first on this list. The former No. 2 overall pick in 2023 received a lucrative offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers, which the Anaheim Ducks matched. With Verbeek retaining the young Swedish phenom, it\u2019ll be interesting when we look back on the drama from this past week, and the gamble to use 17.3% of Anaheim\u2019s cap hit on the 21-year-old, and how it impacted the Ducks and the NHL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Bowen Byram<\/a> \u2014 6 years, $75.00MM ($12.5MM AAV), Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks found their No. 1 defenseman, but it cost them a hefty price to do so, which included trading away the 2026 fourth-overall pick. Bowen Byram wanted to be the go-to man on the blue line for an NHL club, and this fits for Chicago. The funny way to put this is that in 2027-28, when the contract kicks in, Byram will have the same income as Connor McDavid<\/a> and a higher annual paycheck than his former Sabres teammate, Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>. Last season was the former No. 4 overall pick\u2019s best season offensively, but Chicago is hoping that he\u2019ll elevate that production with the keys to the backend.<\/p>\n

3. Ivan Demidov<\/a> \u2014 8 years, $73.2MM ($9.15MM AAV), Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n

The youngest player on this list will be a Hab for a long time. The 20-year-old Russian winger won\u2019t need another contract until 2035, and at the cap hit he signed for, GM Kent Hughes<\/a> was probably ecstatic knowing he inked Demidov to this deal after the Flyers went ahead and reset the market entirely. When this contract takes effect in 2027-28, as of this writing, the former fifth-overall pick will be the 37th-highest-paid player in the NHL. Chances are, if his sophomore season saw above 60 points in production, who knows what Demidov will produce in his prime based on that trajectory.<\/p>\n

4. Rasmus Andersson<\/a> \u2014 7 years, $59.5MM ($8.5MM AAV), Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights are probably very happy bringing Andersson back into the fold, especially after dealing away two top-64 draft picks and Zach Whitecloud<\/a> to Calgary at the deadline. As the top UFA available with Darren Raddysh<\/a> signed and traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Andersson cashed in. What the Golden Knights can hope for is a bounce back from what many considered a lackluster playoff performance, registering six assists en route to a Stanley Cup Runner-up finish. Right defensemen available on the market are once in a blue moon, and for a player with that handiness who has provided 10+ goals and 50 points, it\u2019s a reasonable payment until 2033.<\/p>\n

5. Nico Hischier<\/a> \u2014 5 years, $58.5MM ($11.7MM AAV), New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n

The Devils wanted to extend their captain this offseason, and they checked that box. The 2017 first overall pick was entering the final season of a seven-year, $50.75MM deal signed with New Jersey back in 2019. Now, the Devils will keep their 27-year-old top-line center through the 2031-32 season while giving him around an 65% salary increase. Rightfully so for one of three Devils to score over 300 points up to today (1st. Jesper Bratt<\/a>, 418 points and 2nd. Jack Hughes<\/a>, 407 points), that\u2019s an integral piece to retain towards the ultimate goal.<\/p>\n

Other notable contracts signed: As of July 13, 8:07 AM ET<\/p>\n

6. F Tyson Foerster<\/a> \u2014 8 years, $56.8MM ($7.1MM AAV), Philadelphia Flyers
\n7. F Eetu Luostarinen<\/a> \u2014 8 years, $40.00MM ($5.0MM AAV), Florida Panthers
\n8. D Simon Nemec<\/a> \u2014 5 years, $36.25MM ($7.25MM AAV), Calgary Flames
\n9. D Pavel Mintyukov<\/a> \u2014 5 years, $36.00MM ($7.2MM AAV), Anaheim Ducks
\n10. Mason Marchment<\/a> \u2014 5 years, $33.75MM ($5.0MM AAV), San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year, with the NHL Salary Cap rising, articles like these will constantly highlight the growth of hockey.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,2031,229,26,96,1739,249,57,3350,5,638,3040,862,21,151,4,1602,4181,56,3327,168,1178,3674,39],"class_list":["post-621620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheimducks","tag-bowen-byram","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-calgary-flames","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-ducks","tag-eetu-luostarinen","tag-florida-panthers","tag-free-agency","tag-hockey","tag-ivan-demidov","tag-leo-carlsson","tag-mason-marchment","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-nhl","tag-nico-hischier","tag-pavel-mintyukov","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-rasmus-andersson","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-simon-nemec","tag-tyson-foerster","tag-vegas-golden-knights"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116912939819424639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}