When drafting a player out of North America or any European country with a transfer agreement, a team acquires their exclusive negotiating rights for a set amount of time. Each year on June 1, a long list of players see those rights expire and become unrestricted free agents (or choose to re-enter the draft, depending on specific circumstances). This year, even though many other NHL deadlines have been shifted, CapFriendly reports that June 1 will still act as the threshold for expiring draft rights.
While this doesn’t always result in a flurry of signings in the last week of May, there are usually a few players who ink their deals at the last minute to stay in the organization that drafted them. With the deadline set for 4:00 pm CT next Monday, CapFriendly has provided a full list of players who will see those rights expire:
Arizona Coyotes
Dennis Busby (145th overall, 2018)
Patrick Kudla (158th overall, 2016)
Buffalo Sabres
Brett Murray (99th overall, 2016)
Philip Nyberg (129th overall, 2016)
Calgary Flames
Linus Lindstrom (96th overall, 2016)
Milos Roman (122nd overall, 2018)
Carolina Hurricanes
Luke Henman (96th overall, 2018)
Chicago Blackhawks
Wouter Peeters (83rd overall, 2016)
Mathias From (143rd overall, 2016)
Alexis Gravel (162nd overall, 2018)
Jake Ryczek (203rd overall, 2016)
Colorado Avalanche
Brandon Saigeon (140th overall, 2018)
Dallas Stars
Fredrik Karlstrom (90th overall, 2016)
Curtis Douglas (106th overall, 2018)
Jakob Stenqvist (176th overall, 2016)
Detroit Red Wings
Alfons Malmstrom (107th overall, 2016)
Mattias Elfstrom (197th overall, 2016)
Florida Panthers
Linus Nassen (89th overall, 2016)
Minnesota Wild
Shawn Boudrias (179th overall, 2018)
Montreal Canadiens
Allan McShane (97th overall, 2018)
Cole Fonstad (128th overall, 2018)
Samuel Houde (133rd overall, 2018)
Arvid Henrikson (187th overall, 2016)
Nashville Predators
Hardy Haman Aktell (108th overall, 2016)
Milan Kloucek (213th overall, 2018)
New Jersey Devils
Xavier Bernard (110th overall, 2018)
Mitch Hoelscher (172nd overall 2018)
New York Islanders
Blade Jenkins (134th overall, 2018)
New York Rangers
Nico Gross (101st overall, 2018)
Ottawa Senators
Markus Nurmi (163rd overall, 2016)
Philadelphia Flyers
Linus Hogberg (139th overall, 2016)
David Bernhardt (199th overall, 2016)
St. Louis Blues
Filip Helt (211th overall, 2016)
Toronto Maple Leafs
Riley Stotts (83rd overall, 2018)
Zachary Bouthillier (209th overall, 2018)
Vegas Golden Knights
Connor Corcoran (154th overall, 2018)
Xavier Bouchard (185th overall, 2018)
Jordan Kooy (208th overall, 2018)
Winnipeg Jets
Jacob Cederholm (97th overall, 2016)
Declan Chisholm (150th overall, 2018)
Giovanni Vallati (153rd overall, 2018)
Washington Capitals
Alex Kannok-Leipart (161st overall, 2018)
Eric Florchuk (217th overall, 2018)
Just curious if any of these guys are going to be like the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes or if their all destined for minors and over seas type players
@bigdaddyt – Seems like 3rd-rounders and lower might have a hard time with that old “leverage” thing. If the teams that drafted them don’t think all that highly of their development, you could see many of them being cut loose. That said, there seems to be a trend now of mining the European Tour for cheap Free Agent talent, which makes you wonder why didn’t the NHL teams try harder at the development for these drafted kids? If you only care about the first two rounds, why bother drafting after that, especially if the European leagues are supposedly brimming with talent. But, there’s also the angle of the Europeans not liking being promised more than the NHL team is willing to deliver, so they pull the ripcord on North America and head back overseas.