Can The Sabres Afford To Retain Alex Tuch?
The Buffalo Sabres broke a 14-year playoff drought this season in spectacular fashion and were within a shot of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals when Alex Newhook of the Montreal Canadiens broke their hearts in overtime. That one shot has no doubt haunted Sabres fans since the loss, and it was a frustrating defeat for a team whose top players went cold when the team needed them most. One of those players was forward Alex Tuch, who failed to score in the second round, when Montreal’s margin of victory was about as small as it could be. Despite Tuch’s lack of production, the pending UFA isn’t likely to see his stock fall too far as he approaches the open market on July 1, and that is a problem for the Sabres, who are facing a cap crunch and may not have the room to keep Tuch and his potential $10MM-$11MM cap hit.
Tuch is an interesting player, as he was the centerpiece of the return for Jack Eichel when the Sabres shipped him out to the Vegas Golden Knights. He is also a local, hailing from Syracuse, New York, and he has been one of the best deals in the NHL, collecting just $4.75MM annually while putting up 139 goals and 170 assists in 360 games as a member of the Sabres. It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship thus far, but it’s hard to say whether that will continue, especially if Tuch’s play starts to fall off in his 30s while he’s making north of $10MM annually.
According to PuckPedia, the Sabres currently have just shy of $12MM in available cap space with 22 players signed. At first glance, it seems straightforward that they could fit Tuch under the cap, but that’s where the problems start to emerge. Aside from Tuch being unsigned, the other two unsigned forwards are Zach Benson and Peyton Krebs, both of whom are due for large raises. Using AFP Analytics projections, Benson would be looking at a short-term deal around $4.2MM per season, while Krebs should fall in the $3.5MM range. That’s a $7.7MM expenditure if the Sabres go short-term on Benson, but if they go long-term, it might be closer to $7MM annually just for Benson. Couple those numbers with a potential $10MM cap hit for Tuch, and the Sabres would blow past the salary cap pretty quickly. That is without factoring in defenseman Michael Kesselring’s contract, which will also likely top $4MM annually. Nor does it consider the future contracts that will need to be signed with Noah Ostlund, Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius.
The Sabres have substantial maneuvering to do if they want to welcome Tuch back into the fold. But do they want to trade away foundational young players just to accommodate a veteran forward on the wrong side of 30 whose best days will soon be behind him? It’s a potential $70MM-$80MM question the Sabres will need to answer, and one that could dictate how the next 5-10 years play out in Buffalo.
The Sabres have to consider Bowen Byram’s future as well, since he is just 13 months away from becoming a UFA and will command a healthy payday on his next deal. But even moving the 24-year-old likely wouldn’t get the Sabres back under the cap if they sign Tuch and the other aforementioned players, meaning moving Byram alone would be the first of multiple moves. The Sabres already have Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power on the left side of their defense and may not need to keep Byram in the fold. So far, reports say Byram likes Buffalo, and they plan to meet this summer to discuss an extension.
So, what can the Sabres do to retain the talent they want to keep and stay under the salary cap? Probably the easiest move in the short term is to trade forward Jason Zucker and his $4.75MM cap hit. Zucker has been a good pro for a long time, but with one year left on his deal and a limited no-trade clause, he is a straightforward move to stockpile a future asset and clear part of the books. But he can’t be the only move Buffalo makes to shed salary, and the move beyond Zucker will likely need to be a hard one, sending away an important player. That’s not to minimize Zucker’s contributions, as he is one of the few veterans on the Sabres, but at 34 years old, he doesn’t have many years left in the NHL, and Buffalo might have to trade a younger asset to clear space if they want to sign Tuch.
That brings us back to the question at the outset of the article: Can the Sabres afford to keep Tuch? On paper, it’s possible. With cap maneuvering, such as trading Zucker and Byram, it’s very possible. But for the long-term health of the Sabres, they might need to let Tuch walk and be happy that he had a run in Buffalo that ended with them snapping a long playoff drought. Players rarely get better in their 30s, and it’s a guessing game when the decline begins. The NHL is littered with cautionary tales of teams signing players in their 30s to expensive contracts in unrestricted free agency, and the Sabres would be wise to sit out the Tuch negotiations and let another NHL club sign a contract that could one day end in a buyout.
Evening Notes: Frondell, Perfetti, Dorofeyev
The Chicago Blackhawks aren’t concerned about the long-term effects of a scary-looking injury to top prospect Anton Frondell. The top Swedish winger got his hand caught in a bench door during Team Sweden’s Friday matchup against Team Italy at the IIHF Men’s World Championship. He missed Sweden’s Saturday matchup with a subsequent injury that is not believed to be serious, per Scott Powers of The Athletic.
Frondell has kept his hot season rolling at the World Championship with two points in as many games. He has performed at a top level in competition across the world this season – netting 28 points in 43 SHL games, nine points in his first 12 NHL games, and eight points in seven games at the 2026 World Junior Championship. No decision has been made on Frondell’s availability for the remainder of the summer tournament, which could leave a major hole in Sweden’s roster.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- The Winnipeg Jets face an interesting task in re-signing middle-six winger Cole Perfetti this summer. The former 10th-overall pick scored 18 goals and 50 points in the 2024-25 season but fell back to 12 goals and 32 points in 68 games this season. That places him in an interesting spot next to many of his peers from the 2020 and 2021 NHL Draft class, as pointed out by Murat Ates of The Athletic. While Perfetti’s struggles to frequently pop up on the scoresheet could keep him from matching the long-term contracts of players like Matthew Coronato, Matthew Knies, and Alexis Lafreniere – he could find a starting point in negotiations in the six-year, $7.5MM recently signed by Winnipeg’s Gabriel Vilardi. While that deal serves as a ceiling, Ates points out that Winnipeg’s bidding could begin in the realm of $5.5MM. Splitting the gap between the two numbers, and leaning on the term garnered by peers, would put Perfetti’s next deal in the realm of four-to-six years and $6MM-to-$6.5MM in cap hit. That cap hit would dedicate roughly half of Winnipeg’s projected $13.628MM in cap space this summer to their top restricted free-agent – which should leave just enough room to also re-sign Jonathan Toews, Isak Rosen, and Eric Comrie.
- Another RFA to watch this summer will be Vegas Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev, who has exploded onto the scene this season with 37 goals and 64 points in the regular season and 10 goals and 14 points in 14 playoff games. That sudden boom – and Dorofeyev’s seamless fill-in for captain Mark Stone over Vegas’ last five games – could quickly be proving Dorofeyev’s ability as a true, top-six scorer. Teams around the league will pay attention to that as Dorofeyev heads towards restricted-free agency per Shayna Goldman of The Athletic. Vegas is only projected to wield $11MM in cap space this summer, per PuckPedia, with Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, and Rasmus Andersson all set to hit the open market. The 25-year-old Dorofyev would certainly be top priority among that list but could command the majority of their savings after a breakout year. If Vegas gets cold feet, the young sniper could be a great option for teams looking to add an immediate impact. Goldman projects both Dorofeyev and Andersson could command as much as $9MM in cap hit, which would pull Vegas nearly $7MM over budget with multiple lineup holes still to fill. After the St. Louis Blues’ success with their offer sheet of winger Dylan Holloway, could a team see similar potential in the cap-strapped Golden Knights’ handling of Dorofeyev?
Mario Ferraro Likely To Test Unrestricted Free Agency
San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro is likely “going to UFA,” Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on today’s 32 Thoughts Podcast. Friedman said it “doesn’t sound like” there has been much progress on a contract extension between Ferraro and the Sharks, and as a result it appears likely the veteran defenseman will test the open market on July 1.
This confirms what Sharks GM Mike Grier told the media at the end of the season, saying Ferraro would “probably at least test free agency” before finalizing any potential extension with San Jose. (Quote via Josh Frojelin of San Jose Hockey Now)
While there is enough time between now and the start of free agency for things to change, Friedman’s report indicates that Ferraro’s time as a Shark is soon to come to an end. Ferraro was a second-round pick by the team (No. 49 overall) at the 2017 NHL Draft, plucked from the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. After two solid seasons of college hockey at UMass-Amherst, Ferraro broke into the NHL in 2019-20. He earned an NHL spot out of training camp and hasn’t relinquished it since.
Across seven seasons in the Bay Area, Ferraro played in 490 NHL games, scoring 114 points. While his arrival in San Jose coincided with the team’s decline from consistent playoff contender to basement-dwelling rebuilder, Ferraro has been a steady presence on the Sharks blueline throughout those lean years.
A captain in the NCAA, Ferraro quickly took on more of a leadership role in San Jose. In 2021-22, his age-23 campaign, Ferraro was named an alternate captain and has held onto that status through 2025-26.
Now 27 years old, Ferraro has a chance to earn a life-changing contract this summer.
He’s on the younger side when it comes to unrestricted free agents, meaning interested teams can go into negotiations with Ferraro with less fear of the risks of age-related decline. That factor will help him drum up league-wide interest on the open market.
An additional factor aiding Ferraro’s case in free agency is his experience. While he has not yet played in the playoffs in his career, Ferraro has handled a top-four, if not top-pairing workload for a half-decade. His average time-on-ice per game for his career is 21:14, but that’s weighed down by his rookie season, when he averaged just 15:53 per game. From 2020-21 through this past season, Ferraro has averaged 22:00 time on ice per game.
He has consistently played a heavy workload in San Jose, including in 2023-24, when he was the team’s No. 1 defenseman. He has also been a fixture on the penalty kill, leading the team in time-on-ice per game while short-handed in three of the last four seasons.
While offensive production has never been a major element of Ferraro’s game, his ability to weather significant minutes stands out in what is expected to be a thin free agent class. AFP Analytics projects Ferraro to receive a four-year, $5.1MM AAV deal as a free agent, though that could be a conservative estimate given the way player costs have risen as projected increases in the cap have gotten priced into contracts on a more regular basis.
San Jose has more than enough cap space to afford to match any offer made to Ferraro in free agency. PuckPedia projects the Sharks to have nearly $42MM in cap space this summer. But the Sharks have to plan carefully, as they have extensions for their young stars to consider down the line, and they won’t want to commit too much money too far down the line in order to preserve as much financial flexibility as possible for when Macklin Celebrini and others are eating up significant portions of the cap.
Additionally, taxes are a factor that works against the Sharks whenever they look to bid on free agents. While they have had success in the past on the open market, suggesting they have been able to work around this obstacle, the reality is players take home a greater portion of their salary playing in a low-tax market such as Tampa Bay, or Nashville, than in a market like San Jose.
The tax calculator tool provided by Cardinal Point Athlete Advisors shows that if Ferraro were to receive identical offers at AFP Analytics’ projected salary ($5.13MM) from San Jose and Tampa Bay, respectively, Ferraro would pay an additional $705K per year if he took the Sharks’ offer, compared to Tampa Bay’s. Over the lifetime of a four-year contract, that is nearly $3MM difference between the two offers.
In other words, the Sharks and other markets are at a natural disadvantage when competing for free agents. Of course, the Sharks do have some advantages, such as their climate and up-and-coming roster. It’s difficult to isolate the free agent decision-making process to just one variable. And it has to be said that the true tax situation NHL players navigate is far more complex than a simple side-by-side calculator will be able to reflect.
But given all of the things working in Ferraro’s favor, it’s no surprise that he would want to see what kind of offers he’ll receive from around the league before deciding whether to move on from the only NHL franchise he’s ever known.
Photos courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Free Agency Notes: Jenner, Laughton, Chrona
The Columbus Blue Jackets may need a new captain for next season, as Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported yesterday that Boone Jenner may be getting “squeezed out of the mix in Columbus” in advance of the expiry of his contract on July 1. Jenner, who was reported to have recently swapped longtime agent Joe Resnick for Pat Morris of Newport Sports Management, has only played for the Blue Jackets in his 808-game NHL career. He’s the franchise’s all-time games played leader. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on today’s 32 Thoughts podcast that Columbus is hoping to find a way to keep Jenner, but Jenner “feels whatever he’s being offered is not anything he’s willing to accept.”
It’s not immediately clear what the Blue Jackets’ offer to Jenner might look like. Head coach Rick Bowness spent much of his time in Columbus utilizing Jenner in the bottom-six. He averaged 16:04 time on ice per game this season, down from 18:00 per game last year. Jenner also lost his grip on a spot on the Columbus power play, after averaging 1:48 time on ice per game there last season. Another factor that could contribute to Jenner’s exit from Columbus is his health. He’s missed significant time due to injuries over the past three years and despite solid production (13 goals, 38 points) in 2025-26, Columbus simply may not be able to offer Jenner the kind of contract he’s looking for given his availability and the amount of money they just committed to another veteran pivot, Charlie Coyle.
Other notes about pending free agents:
- The Los Angeles Kings are holding talks this week with pending UFA center Scott Laughton on a potential contract extension, reports Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. Laughton, who is also repped by Morris, will see the five-year, $3MM AAV contract he signed in 2021 expire on July 1. The 31-year-old was acquired by the Kings as a deadline deal that returned a third-round pick to his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just one year before that, Laughton’s league-wide stock was high enough for him to return a first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin on the trade market. Bernstein noted that Laughton was “solid in [head coach] D.J. Smith’s system” after arriving in Los Angeles, so the decision on who the Kings might hire as their permanent bench boss could impact how far the team is willing to go to extend the center. Laughton scored eight points in 21 games with the Kings but has a career-high of 18 goals and 43 points from 2022-23. AFP Analytics projects him to receive a three-year, $4.1MM AAV deal on the open market.
- The SHL’s Brynäs IF have officially announced the signing of goaltender Magnus Chrona to a two-year contract. We first covered reports indicating Chrona would be headed overseas for 2026-27 in January, and today’s announcement has made it official. Chrona, 25, has been a member of the Nashville Predators organization for the last two seasons, originally arriving to the team as part of the Yaroslav Askarov trade in August 2024. In each of his two seasons with the Predators, Chrona served as the No. 2 goalie for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. He posted a .903 save percentage in 2024-25, his debut campaign in Wisconsin, and had an .894 save percentage in 25 games this past year. Although this deal will allow Chrona to return to his home country of Sweden, he has not played there since 2018-19, during his junior hockey days. Chrona backstopped the Denver Pioneers to an NCAA National Championship before beginning his pro career with the San Jose Sharks.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Right Wing
With the regular season behind us, player movement between teams is now almost entirely restricted. Teams are in the thick of hotly contested playoff series, and many players with expiring contracts have either concluded their campaigns or are playing crucially important games. The players still in action are playing games that could help determine what magnitude of contract they might receive in the summer.
In a multi-part series, we’ll take a look at each position group of the upcoming free agent class, and do a rundown on how those upcoming unrestricted free agents have performed this year. Which players have increased their odds of scoring a jackpot on the open market? Which players have potentially hurt their earning potential with their play? What are the stakes for these free agents in the playoff games that remain? We’ll break it all down here.
The Marquee Names
Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres
As numerous pending free agents have signed extensions to remain with their current team, Tuch has emerged as one of the very best players remaining on the upcoming free agent market. While there is still a chance that the Sabres could come to an agreement with Tuch, who is repped by Brian and Scott Bartlett, the most recent reporting from the regular season indicates there is still a gap in those negotiations.
Unless substantive progress is made in those talks, it appears Tuch, a native of the Central New York region, which is just east of Buffalo, could be playing out his final campaign with the Sabres.
If he does hit the open market, he’d be one of the most in-demand players available. Tuch was a focal point of the Sabres’ return from the Vegas Golden Knights in the Jack Eichel trade, and has blossomed into a legitimate first-line winger for the team. He scored a career-high 36 goals last season and has scored at least 20 goals in each full season he’s played in Buffalo.
He concluded 2025-26 with 33 goals and 66 points in the regular season, and has two goals and two assists in the Sabres’ first three playoff contests.
With the Sabres hoping get past the Boston Bruins and make a deep playoff run, Tuch is in a position where he could author some big moments with the entire league watching.
While Tuch has been in form, there are factors beyond just his play that are contributing to his immense earning potential this summer. Firstly, the number of players who have signed extensions and taken themselves off of the free agent market means Tuch will be one of the few borderline star-level players left on the open market. Secondly, the sharp rise in the salary cap upper limit means there are quite a few teams with cash to burn this summer.
That means more teams will have the financial bandwidth to enter a bidding war for Tuch. The more teams that aggressively pursue an unrestricted free agent, the more money that free agent is often able to make. That bodes well for Tuch.
Patrick Kane, Detroit Red Wings
Like many other aging stars who have already made massive amounts of money in their career, Kane has prioritized on-ice fit and stability over maximizing his earnings in his last few trips to free agency. He found a good fit for himself in Detroit, and the Red Wings would not have come close to ending the league’s longest playoff drought without his efforts.
Now 37 years old, Kane likely has a place in Detroit for as long as he wants to continue playing. His contracts are loaded with performance bonuses, and it’s likely his next deal, in whatever form it takes, will be laden with bonuses as well. While he’s not as tied to Detroit as other similar free agents are to their teams, such as Alex Ovechkin with the Capitals or Jamie Benn with the Stars, it’s tough to imagine Kane entertaining a full free agency process at this stage of his career.
The Solid Contributors
Bobby McMann, Seattle Kraken
NHL history is littered with offensive players who have changed teams mid-season and had slow starts in their new NHL homes. So much of creating offense is about chemistry, and the inherent challenge that faces these players is the fact that they’re entering lineups with teammates whose styles and tendencies are entirely unfamiliar to them.
With that said, some players change teams and find themselves able to hit the ground running despite those inherent challenges; Bobby McMann is one of those players. In his 18 games in Seattle, he scored 10 goals and 14 points, bringing his full-season production to 29 goals, 46 points.
The 29-year-old was dealt from the Maple Leafs as the team could not reach an agreement with him on a contract extension. It was reported that McMann’s asking price on his next deal, said to be over $5MM per year, was a little above where Toronto was willing to go.
Having authored a second consecutive season with at least 20 goals, it appears McMann has given himself a real chance to earn the kind of contract offer Toronto reportedly wasn’t willing to extend him. While he’s not a one-to-one comparable, the fact that Kiefer Sherwood was able to earn a $5.75MM AAV on a five-year term has helped McMann’s case for his next deal. He’s an endearing winger, a player whose hard-working style allowed him to grab hold of an NHL role.
As an undrafted product of Colgate University, which is a quality ECAC program but not one with an overwhelming record of producing NHL players, McMann faced somewhat long odds of becoming an impactful NHL player. But with his compete level, work ethic, and knack for finding the back of the net, McMann managed to beat those odds and become a valuable NHL goal scorer. After making just over $1MM on his last deal, McMann has positioned himself to land a massive pay raise as a free agent this summer.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Minnesota Wild
While Tarasenko’s star has certainly faded since his trade from St. Louis in 2023, he remains a capable NHL scorer and one of the better offensive options set to be available on the open market this summer. He was a mid-season trade addition in back-to-back years, first with the Rangers and then with the Panthers the following year. In Florida, he showed he could still be a valuable player on a contending team, scoring 14 points in 19 regular-season games and chipping in nine points on the Panthers’ run to their first ever Stanley Cup championship.
Fresh off of the championship, Tarasenko signed a two-year, $4.75MM AAV deal with the Detroit Red Wings. But after he only managed 11 goals and 33 points in Detroit, his lowest scoring total in a healthy season of his career, Tarasenko was dealt to the Wild for future considerations. The Red Wings, it appeared, were content to be rid of Tarasenko’s $4.75MM cap hit without needing compensation from the Wild.
That deal has paid dividends for Minnesota, as the Russian forward finished the regular season with 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games. At 34 years old, though, getting term on his next deal could prove difficult. Going on another deep playoff run – provided the Wild can get past the Dallas Stars in the first round – would certainly help position him to potentially get one.
Mats Zuccarello, Minnesota Wild
When the Wild originally signed Zuccarello, back in 2019 during the tenure of former GM Paul Fenton, the deal was largely criticized. Although most outside observers acknowledged Zuccarello was still a quality player, and the $6MM per year price tag was seen as fair, the length of the deal (five years) was met with concern.
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski wrote at the time that “there’s simply no defendable reason” why the Wild decided to sign Zuccarello for such a long term. The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy echoed the sentiment, adding “Zuccarello will eventually wear down and he will still have term on his contract when that happens.”
That concern from the media was not unreasonable, of course, as Zuccarello was into his thirties at that point. But the deal aged fabulously for Minnesota. Fenton’s successor, Bill Guerin, led the team to a quick turnaround, fueled in large part by the arrival of superstar Kirill Kaprizov from the KHL. Zuccarello found instant chemistry with Kaprizov.
After scoring 37 points in his debut campaign in the Twin Cities, Zuccarello managed 35 points in 42 games in 2021-22, Kaprizov’s rookie year.
Since Kaprizov arrived, Zuccarello has enjoyed the best, most productive years of his career even as he’s aged deeper into his thirties. He scored a career-high 79 points in just 70 games in 2021-22, which is a 92-point 82-game scoring pace. He scored 67 points the following year, and managed 63 points (in 69 games) in 2023-24.
His scoring rate has fallen a bit below where it once was as other Wild forwards have emerged as key focal points of the team’s attack (namely 2019 first-rounder Matt Boldy) but has still hovered at a clear top-six rate. This season, Zuccarello scored 15 goals and 54 points in 59 games, his games played total limited by upper-body injuries.
Over the course of his tenure with the Wild, Guerin has shown a willingness to invest in keeping his team’s core intact. His faith in this Wild core has been rewarded this season, without question. Given how well Zuccarello has played, it’d be tough to imagine Guerin letting him walk.
It’s unclear what Zuccarello’s expectations might be in free agency. Assuming he wants to continue his career and play his age-39 season, the fact that Zuccarello is able to be signed with performance bonuses means Minnesota has some flexibility in the route they decide to take with his extension.
Eeli Tolvanen, Seattle Kraken
There are many former top prospects who, after losing their spot on their original team and landing on waivers, have begun a downward spiral in their career. That spiral typically ultimately ends with the player leaving for the European pro ranks or the minor leagues. At one point, Tolvanen appeared to be at risk of following that path.
He was ranked as one of the top prospects in the game in 2018, and broke into the NHL in 2020-21 scoring 11 goals and 22 points in 40 games. But he wasn’t able to build on his rookie season in Nashville, and by late 2022, found himself on the waiver wire. The Kraken, in just their second season in franchise history, placed a claim on Tolvanen. The natural opportunity that comes with playing on an expansion franchise allowed Tolvanen to revive his career trajectory.
While he still isn’t the star he was once projected to be, he has finally begun to deliver some of the offensive upside that had tantalized scouts in years past. He scored 16 goals and 27 points in his first 48 games with the Kraken, and added eight points in 14 playoff games.
That first campaign with the Kraken showed what was to come for Tolvanen. He has become a reliable middle-six goal scorer, hitting a career-high 23 goals last season. This year, he scored 12 goals and 36 points.
Tolvanen has taken steps to round out his game this season, which bodes well for him entering free agency. He didn’t sniff the penalty kill when he began his tenure in Seattle, but is now playing over a minute per game short-handed. In a free agent class short on ascending options, Tolvanen, at 27 years old, will represent a relatively rare commodity.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Tampa Bay Lightning
For much of his NHL career, Bjorkstrand has been a model of consistency as a second-line scoring forward. The Danish winger has been close to a lock to score at least 20 goals and between 45 and 55 points when healthy, but his fit in Tampa Bay hasn’t been perfect. Despite averaging over three minutes of power play time on ice per game, Bjorkstrand’s production has been below the standard he’s set earlier in his career. Bjorkstrand finished the regular season with 12 goals and 32 points, well below the 21 goals and 46 points he managed last season.
A contributing factor to Bjorkstrand’s decline in production has been his role outside the power play. While he was a top player for Tampa on the man advantage in the regular season, he’s often occupied a bottom-six role at even strength. His 10:30 time on ice per game at even strength is below career bottom-sixers such as Pontus Holmberg and Zemgus Girgensons.
The playoffs have not helped Bjorkstrand’s case. He’s been unable to secure a spot in head coach Jon Cooper’s lineup, serving as a healthy scratch for all three contests thus far. Cooper has even elected to play journeyman Scott Sabourin, who at 33 has played in just 73 career NHL games, over Bjorkstrand.
That puts Bjorkstrand on somewhat shaky ground entering free agency. At 30 years old, he is in a position where he could reasonably get a medium or even long-term deal. But with the way his role has declined in Tampa, he could face a challenge trying to reach his current cap hit, $5.4MM, in free agency.
Latest On Charlie Coyle Contract Talks
As the 2025-26 season progressed, more and more pending unrestricted free agents signed contract extensions to remain with their current teams. A free agent market that was once slated to feature big names such as Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov has thinned out to a considerable degree, simultaneously hurting teams with big spending plans and helping the players who remain without a contract. One of the players who appears set to benefit most is Columbus Blue Jackets pivot Charlie Coyle.
Coyle, 34, is a pending UFA coming off of an extremely strong platform season. He’s set to be one of the top players available overall, and plays a premium position (center.) While his age might give some teams pause, he’s expected to receive significant interest on July 1 if he makes it until then without a new contract.
Yesterday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported that the Blue Jackets are determined to not let things reach that point. According to Portzline, a potential Coyle extension “is an immensely important contract for the Blue Jackets, such that Coyle could be seen as having a blank check to set his terms.”
On one hand, it’s not too difficult to see why Columbus would be desperate to extend Coyle. For much of Columbus’ franchise history, the team has battled a talent deficiency at the center position.
The Blue Jackets have been searching for a true No. 1 center for most of their existence in the NHL, and could very well have found one in Adam Fantilli. But Fantilli is still developing into that role, and the team’s No. 2 center, Sean Monahan, played through injury this season and was limited to just 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games. That’s a steep decline from his production last season, when he scored 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games. Monahan’s down season only further underscored Coyle’s importance to Columbus’ lineup.
Keeping Coyle would ensure the center position remains an area of strength in the Blue Jackets’ lineup. Part of why it may be seen as essential to team management is the fact that Columbus is under substantial pressure to reach the playoffs. They have very narrowly missed out on playoff hockey in each of the last two seasons, doing so in dramatic fashion this year.
The Blue Jackets have not made the playoffs since 2019-20, when they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a qualifying-round series. The club cannot afford to take a step backward or hurt their odds of competing next season, and most would argue that losing Coyle on the open market would be doing so.
With that said, on the other hand, it’s also fair to question whether investing in Coyle would be in the team’s best long-term interests. If Columbus do indeed feel backed into a corner with Coyle, as Portzline suggested, that’s not exactly an ideal position to negotiate from.
The team’s immense interest in keeping Coyle, combined with the anticipated heavy interest in his services from across the league, gives him a massive amount of leverage in talks with the Blue Jackets. Coyle spoke highly of his time in Columbus, but it still is likely to cost quite a bit to keep him from testing the open market.
Is paying top dollar for a talented veteran center the best move for the Blue Jackets to make if the goal is building a sustainable contender? That’s the question team management will have to answer over the next few months as it considers whether to extend Coyle.
Ryan Shea Aiming For Extension With Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the more impressive teams of the 2025-26 season, currently in a strong position as the No. 2 team in the Metropolitan Division, a real bounce-back from last season, when they finished in seventh place.
First-year head coach Dan Muse has rightfully gotten a significant amount of credit for the Penguins’ rapid turnaround, but there have also been individual players who have fueled the team’s reversal in fortunes. One player whose emergence has greatly aided the Penguins has been defenseman Ryan Shea, who now finds himself a pending unrestricted free agent.
The Athletic’s Josh Yohe spoke to Shea about his expiring contract, and Shea was candid about his future, saying “I’m a UFA this summer, and it’s not like I don’t know that, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of setting myself up.”
According to Yohe, Shea is “team-oriented,” and the reporter noted that the player’s focus is singularly on getting the chance to play playoff hockey for the first time in his NHL career.
But when it comes to his future, Shea’s priority isn’t testing free agency and securing a bidding war between other clubs for his services.
He has made it clear he wants to remain a Penguin, telling Yohe: “I absolutely want to be in Pittsburgh moving forward, I want to be here. This is the only organization that gave me a shot. I’m a loyal guy.” Shea added that his expectation is his contract will be dealt with after the season ends, in the summer.
Per Yohe, negotiations on a new contract have not yet taken place between the Penguins’ hockey operations department and Shea’s representatives. Shea is a client of Win Hockey Agency’s Matt Keator.
As Shea himself indicated, his breakout performance in the NHL has positioned him very well entering free agency. Shea’s rise has been so notable that we even covered his case for a hefty pay raise in January.
Shea has signed three successive one-year deals with the Penguins, his first a one-way pact valued at $775K. Shea’s second deal in Pittsburgh was a two-way contract, despite the fact that he played in a then-career-high 31 NHL games in 2023-24. That deal carried a $425K AHL salary and $450K guarantee along with the standard league-minimum $775K NHL salary. Shea’s third deal in Pittsburgh, the contract he’s currently playing on, is a one-year, $900K contract.
Shea has done enough to easily surpass that value on his next deal. AFP Analytics projects Shea’s next contract at three years, $3.43MM AAV. At face value, that seems like a fair number for the role Shea has played, serving as a hefty pay raise while also not breaking the bank by any means.
Shea has been the Penguins’ No. 6 defenseman in terms of average time on ice per game this season, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, as that includes mid-season additions Brett Kulak and Samuel Girard. Among Penguins blueliners who have played over 25 games for the team, Shea ranks No. 4 in average time on ice per game with 18:46. He ranks No. 2 in time on ice per game on the penalty kill, playing 2:14 there per game, which places him just a shade behind Parker Wotherspoon.
It’s clear that Shea has not only earned the trust of Muse, but also his teammates. He’s been a valuable defensive presence, an insulator for the Penguins defensemen who possess more natural offensive talent. Connor Clifton, Shea’s current partner on the team’s third pairing, said of Shea “I don’t really think that people understand how good this guy is,” and “he does everything well, there aren’t any weaknesses there.” Muse also spoke to Shea’s value to the Penguins’ lineup, telling Yohe: “you see the key defensive situations that he’s put in, five-on-five and on the penalty kill.”
With the expiration of his contract looming, Shea looks set to reach a new level of compensation, one commensurate with the on-ice value he’s established. His qualities as an NHL player are no longer a mystery, and neither is his desire to remain in Pittsburgh. All that is left to figure out, for both Shea’s representatives and the Penguins themselves, is the exact price tag it’ll take to get a deal on an extension formally completed.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Assessing The Best Free Agent Signings From Summer 2025
As we move into the final month of the season, it has become quite clear which moves from last summer paid off and which ones did not. While long-term effects of summer trades and signings are always part of the picture, it’s interesting to look back and assess the best free-agent signings to see which teams got value for their money and which did not.
Players don’t always succeed immediately with their new teams; sometimes there’s a settling-in period. However, many moves made last summer in free agency have significantly impacted playoff races this year.
For this exercise, we will focus specifically on players who were unrestricted free agents and moved to new teams. This excludes players like Brad Marchand or John Tavares, who re-signed with their respective teams before July 1.
The first player that comes to mind is the Penguins’ top goal scorer, Anthony Mantha, who signed a one-year, $2.5MM contract (plus $2MM in performance bonuses) with the Penguins after missing most of last season with the Flames due to an ACL tear. Many believed that Mantha would have a chance to improve his free-agent stock in Pittsburgh by playing top-six minutes before cashing in during the summer of 2026.
Last summer, the Penguins seemed like a team that would be selling at the trade deadline, so it made sense that they would give Mantha a one-year deal and then trade him for future assets in February or March. However, that outlook couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Mantha has become a key part of a Pittsburgh team that has surprised the NHL this season and remains competitive in the Eastern Conference. With 30 goals and 28 assists in 75 games, Mantha has provided considerable surplus value to the Penguins and is likely to secure a major contract this summer, particularly among one of the thinnest free-agent fields in the salary cap era.
Last year, much of the talk during free agency was that the goaltending market was incredibly thin, and on paper, it certainly looked that way. But that didn’t stop the Buffalo Sabres from exploring the free agency waters, signing Alex Lyon to a two-year, $3MM contract that has proven to be an absolute steal.
Lyon has split duties with his goalie partner, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and has appeared in 35 games this season, posting a record of 20-9-4 with a 2.69 GAA and a .909 SV%. While those stats are solid, the standout figure in Lyon’s line is his goals saved above expected, which currently sits at 14.8 (according to MoneyPuck). Lyon won’t be winning any awards this year, but considering how much money teams are spending on ineffective goaltending, Lyon has been a real boon for Buffalo.
Sticking with the goalies, another underrated signing that has paid off is Daniel Vladař of the Philadelphia Flyers. The 28-year-old was mainly a backup before this season but has become the Flyers’ starting goaltender, dressing in 45 games while posting a 24-13-7 record, a 2.50 GAA, and a .904 SV%.
Vladař has been excellent value on a two-year deal with a $3.35MM AAV. Not only is Vladař’s save percentage above average, but his goals saved above expected is up to 9.6, suggesting that his underlying numbers indicate a goaltender who has stolen some games for Philadelphia.
A signing that didn’t happen until the fall was forward Jack Roslovic, who again had to accept an under-market one-year deal. Roslovic signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract with the Oilers on Oct. 8 after his second straight unsuccessful free agency run, where he failed to secure a multi-year deal that suited him.
In Edmonton, the 29-year-old has already achieved his second straight 20-goal season and has been a reliable playmaker for the Oilers. Given his consistent production over the past two seasons, it’s unlikely he’s willing to settle for another one-year deal, especially in a tight free agent market.
Moving to the backend, veteran Brent Burns was a free agent for the first time in his career at age 40. Burns signed a one-year deal with the Avalanche that included a potential $4MM in bonuses, of which he will likely earn $3MM this season.
Burns is no longer an elite offensive defenseman, but he has still scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 73 games this year while playing in every game and averaging almost 19 minutes per game. Burns has benefited from playing on a top team and from a high PDO, but for a veteran right-shot defenseman or a bargain one-year deal, he’s worked out as well as the Avs could have hoped for.
Finally, we return to the Penguins and the skillful work of general manager Kyle Dubas accomplished in the early days of free agency last year. Not only did Dubas sign 30-goal scorer Mantha, but he also secured Justin Brazeau with a two-year deal worth just $3MM, as well as defenseman Parker Wotherspoon on a two-year, $2MM deal. The contracts gave Dubas a top-nine forward in Brazeau and a top-pairing defenseman to play alongside Erik Karlsson, all at a total cost of $2.5MM per season for this year and the next.
Dubas and Penguins Director of Player Personnel Wes Clark did excellent work last summer, finding players with lots of potential who hadn’t been given the chance to succeed. By betting on low-risk, high-upside free agents, Dubas effectively accelerated the Penguins’ retooling plans, which seemed unlikely just a year ago, when the team had missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year.
Earlier this season, there was talk that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby should request a trade because he might not make the playoffs again. However, thanks to Dubas’s bargain shopping, the Penguins now seem to be on track for the playoffs and have plenty of cap space this summer to strengthen their already impressive lineup.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Left Wing
With the trade deadline behind us, player movement between teams is severely restricted. Teams are jockeying for playoff position, and many players with expiring contracts across the NHL are playing games that could ultimately determine what magnitude of contract they might receive in the summer.
In a multi-part series, we’ll take a look at each position group of the upcoming free agent class, and do a rundown on how those upcoming unrestricted free agents have performed this year. Which players have increased their odds of scoring a jackpot on the open market? Which players have potentially hurt their earning potential with their play? What are the stakes for these free agents in the games that remain this season? We’ll break it all down here.
The Marquee Names
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
While he is technically a pending unrestricted free agent, Ovechkin’s situation is not one of a typical pending UFA. The league’s all-time goal scoring leader is, barring some great surprise, a one-team player. He will either re-sign with the Capitals, or end his time in the NHL. The odds of another outcome are extremely remote.
While the 40-year-old doesn’t fly around the ice in a manner even close to how he did earlier in his career, his offensive instincts, and his trademark shot, are still there – making him still a productive NHL top-six winger. He has 51 points in 68 games this season, so the question for Ovechkin heading into the expiry of his deal isn’t about whether he can still play in the NHL, it’s about whether he still wants to.
Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
Benn is in a similar position to Ovechkin. The one-time Art Ross Trophy winner is set to turn 37 years old this summer, and is not your typical pending UFA. Like Ovechkin, one would have to imagine that Benn will either be playing in Dallas, or nowhere at all. That he took a $1MM base salary on a one-year deal last summer (albeit with $3MM total in performance bonuses) suggests Benn is willing to be flexible in how he structures his contracts in order to remain with the Stars. As a result, it’d be tough to imagine him having a true free agency – so while he technically belongs on this list, the free agent class truly begins in the category below.
The Solid Contributors
Patrik Laine, Montreal Canadiens
Just a few years ago, there would be no debate about whether or not Laine belonged in the “marquee names” section of this list. He was at the center of a blockbuster trade involving Pierre-Luc Dubois, earned an $8.7MM AAV contract, and was regularly scoring at around a point-per-game rate. But even when his league wide stock was far higher, some cracks were showing in Laine’s game, specifically in terms of his ability to stay on the ice.
While much of this has been, unfortunately, out of Laine’s control, and therefore it isn’t exactly fair to count it as a factor working against his earning potential, the reality is Laine hasn’t played in enough games over the last few years for teams to feel comfortable investing significant money in him.
He’s played in just five games this season after undergoing core muscle surgery in October. Last season, he was limited to just 52 games, with his season only beginning in December due to a left knee sprain.
When Laine is healthy and playing at his peak, he can be one of the game’s more purely talented offensive players.
His goal-scoring ability has never been in question, and even in his uneven days as a Columbus Blue Jacket, he still managed 108 points in 111 games between 2021-22 and 2022-23. But the issue for Laine, especially as it relates to his upcoming free agency, is that he simply has not been healthy, or playing at his peak, on anything close to a consistent basis, throughout his pro career.
With all of that said, Laine is just 27 years old. He has many years of his career still ahead of him. Even with all of his struggles, he remains an intriguing option as the player with the most pure upside as a scorer set to be available on the open market.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun noted that Laine’s IR placement for most of this season will make him eligible for a unique type of contract: one laden with performance bonuses. Those bonuses are typically reserved for players above 35 or on their entry-level contract, so Laine and his representatives will be able to structure a creative contract to find Laine the right landing spot to maximize his chances of a career renaissance.
A team with a clear need for an elite shot for their power play would be an ideal fit for Laine.
Mason Marchment, Columbus Blue Jackets
Early in the season, it looked as though Marchment would be heading into free agency on somewhat shaky ground. The 30-year-old was traded to the Kraken over the summer, and hadn’t quite found his footing there. Through 29 games in Seattle, he’d managed just four goals and 13 points, well below the scoring pace (22 goals, 47 points in 62 games) he set the year before.
The Kraken elected to deal Marchment to Columbus, removing a quality middle-six forward from their roster despite having every intention of competing for a playoff spot. Both the Blue Jackets, and Marchment, have reaped the benefits of the mid-season deal.
Columbus has surged back into legitimate playoff contention. Although a hyper-competitive Eastern Conference means their playoff chances are up in the air, it’s worth noting that the team holds enough points to be No. 1 (with a four-point cushion) in the Pacific Division. But while geography and league alignment might keep Columbus out of the postseason, it won’t keep Marchment from capitalizing on his current run of form in the summer.
Since arriving in Ohio, Marchment has scored 12 goals and 21 points in 25 games. He is shooting 25.5% right now, so puck luck is definitely playing a role – but even still, Marchment is playing far closer to his career standard than what he put forward as a Kraken.
Given his substantial track record of middle-six (or better) production since his 2021-22 breakout year with the Florida Panthers, Marchment is likely positioned well to receive a raise over the $4.5MM AAV he earned on his last deal.
Michael Bunting, Dallas Stars
Another middle-six forward who was the recipient of a mid-season trade, Bunting’s season has moved along well within what most would have reasonably expected of him.
In Nashville, he was not surrounded by the kind of offensive talent he had next to him as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, so he wasn’t able to score quite at the rate he managed at his peak. At the same time, he still carved out a role as a respectable secondary producer with the Predators, registering 13 goals and 31 points in 61 games. That’s a 42-point scoring pace over 82 games.
That Bunting was able to keep up his standard of steady secondary scoring helped earn him a trade to the Stars, giving him the chance to join one of the league’s marquee Stanley Cup contenders. Now 30, Bunting is entering a crucial free agency as the contract he receives could be the most financially substantial of his career.
He’s got two points in five games with the Stars so far, but is currently on their third line, skating alongside Justin Hryckowian and Colin Blackwell. If Bunting can manage to find a way onto one of Dallas’ top two scoring lines, he could further improve his earning potential in the summer with a strong conclusion to his 2025-26 campaign.
Anders Lee, New York Islanders
Lee is, in many ways, in a similar boat to Ovechkin and Benn, even if he doesn’t have the same level of star power as those two names. Now 35, he’s his team’s captain and has been a fixture on Long Island for most of his professional career, save for a brief stint in the AHL.
He was a core Islander during the height of the team’s most recent competitive era, when they made two deep playoff runs under head coach Barry Trotz. His leadership helped stabilize and elevate the Islanders in the aftermath of the stunning departure of franchise face John Tavares.
Put simply: one would have to imagine both Lee and the Islanders have every intention of working out a contract extension. The odds are considerable that New York and Lee come to some sort of agreement on a new deal.
With that said, there still remains the remote possibility he tests free agency, and in that case, he’d be an attractive short-term veteran option.
Lee has reached the 20-goal plateau nine times over the course of his career, and with 15 in 68 games this season, he stands a real chance of making it ten. He’s one of the league’s more effective goal-scorers when placed directly in front of the net, and it’s his prowess around the crease that helped him become a 40-goal scorer earlier in his career.
While his age means he might have a tough time matching his current $7MM AAV on his next deal, he’s had a solid season and has earned more than just a smaller base contract stuffed with performance bonuses.
Evander Kane, Vancouver Canucks
Where Kane stands at this point is not the easiest to pin down. He was expected to be traded before the deadline earlier this month, with numerous reports indicating that the Canucks were not only aggressively shopping Kane, but that they’d even given his agent, Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey, permission to speak with other teams to facilitate a Kane trade.
He did not end up getting dealt, which naturally opens up questions related to how he’s viewed as a player across the league. On the ice, he’s still a reasonably productive player. On a Canucks team that has struggled mightily this season, Kane has 12 goals and 29 points in 64 games. That’s a 15-goal, 37-point pace over 82 games, which is a decline, but not a massive one, from where he was in 2023-24, his most recent full healthy NHL campaign.
Kane also showcased his talents during the Oilers’ back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final, showing how he could be a valuable contributor to a team just a few wins away from multiple titles. He’s always been a complicated player, someone with high peaks and low valleys in terms of performance.
That’s been evident throughout Kane’s career, such as in 2020-21, when he led his team in scoring with 49 points in 56 games (72 point pace) but ended the season with less-than-stellar reports emerging about his off-ice value.
The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reported at the time that “several key players informed team brass that if Kane was going to be a part of the Sharks going forward, they didn’t want to be.”
Those factors that complicate a player’s league wide standing are often extremely difficult, if not impossible, for outside observers to take into account. It’s entirely possible, perhaps even likely, that the Kane that was the subject of those reports no longer exists. His time in Edmonton certainly would support that argument, as he was a key veteran on one of the league’s top teams. But without being able to know for sure where Kane stands, it’s difficult to predict the level of interest he’ll will receive in the summer, or what level of investment those interested teams will be willing to make in him.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Centers
With the trade deadline behind us, player movement between teams is severely restricted. Teams are jockeying for playoff position, and many players with expiring contracts across the NHL are playing games that could ultimately determine what magnitude of contract they might receive in the summer.
In a multi-part series, we’ll take a look at each position group of the upcoming free agent class, and do a rundown on how those upcoming unrestricted free agents have performed this year. Which players have increased their odds of scoring a jackpot on the open market? Which players have potentially hurt their earning potential with their play? What are the stakes for these free agents in the games that remain this season? We’ll break it all down here.
The Marquee Names
Charlie Coyle, Columbus Blue Jackets
That Coyle is arguably the top name set to be available at the center position in the upcoming UFA class speaks to two realities the NHL is dealing with: first, true top-six centers are an exceedingly rare commodity. Second, it’s especially uncommon to find them available on the free agent market.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Coyle isn’t a strong player in his own right. The Massachusetts native has enjoyed a resurgent year with the Blue Jackets.
He’s been the club’s No. 3 center this season, behind veteran Sean Monahan and 2023 No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli, but has outscored both of the pivots ahead of him on the depth chart.
Through 66 games, Coyle has managed 16 goals and 51 points, which is a 20-goal, 63-point 82-game pace.
If he can keep up this pace, he’ll set a new career-high in points production at the age of 34. In a league where the demand for quality centers often outpaces the supply, Coyle is well-positioned, despite his age, to cash in on the open market.
Beyond his offensive production, he offers a well-regarded two-way game. He’s been the top penalty-killing center for Columbus this season, and once received a fourth-place Selke Trophy vote as a member of the Boston Bruins.
As a free agent, Coyle represents a safer bet to provide steady, immediate contributions on both ends of the ice than perhaps any other free agent center available. While teams are likely to have some wariness to invest in him due to his age, the way he’s bounced back after an uneven 2024-25 season has demonstrably elevated his stock entering his free agency. AFP Analytics projects Coyle to receive a three-year, $5.8MM AAV deal.
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Whether Malkin will actually remain on this list or instead sign an extension to remain in Pittsburgh figures to be one of the major storylines to track in Pittsburgh over the next few months. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe relayed word from Malkin’s agent, J.P. Barry of CAA, that Malkin would have a face-to-face meeting with Penguins GM Kyle Dubas to discuss his future.
Since that point, nothing concrete about Malkin’s status has been reported. Yohe reported that, “as of last summer,” the Penguins had decided Malkin would not be a part of the team’s plans past the expiration of his current contract.
The key question, then, is whether the Penguins’ team-wide resurgence this season, as well as notably improved play from Malkin, has changed the team’s mind in any way. There are undoubtedly key voices in Pittsburgh who would like to see Malkin return, the most likely of those being captain and franchise face Sidney Crosby.
While Crosby, as an active player, of course does not have any direct decision-making power within hockey operations, it has been widely reported that his input and influence is one Penguins management often considers. Additionally, Malkin himself has indicated that he would like to remain in Pittsburgh beyond this season, and feels he has earned another deal.
There is also public sentiment to consider. Malkin is a legendary figure in Pittsburgh, and the team risks deflating much of the positive momentum it has built over the last year if Malkin walks as a free agent. With that said, there is an argument in Pittsburgh to consider that the team’s future would be better-served turning over the valuable minutes Malkin plays to a younger player, such as breakout rookie Benjamin Kindel.
As far as Malkin is concerned, all he has done in 2025-26 (outside of a poor lapse in judgment that resulted in a five-game suspension) is improve his stock heading into free agency. The 40-year-old has 47 points in 46 games, his first season of point-per-game scoring since 2022-23. His ability to elevate his linemates, something that has defined his play throughout his career, is still intact. Nowhere has that been more evident than his chemistry with in-season trade addition Egor Chinakhov, who has 11 goals and 21 points in 28 games as a Penguin. He had six points in 29 games this season before joining with Malkin.
Given Malkin’s age, it’s extremely unlikely he’d receive much term on his next deal, and could very well be at the stage of his career where he’s only playing on one-year deals. AFP Analytics projects the value of his extension at $6.7MM, which would actually be a pay raise over the $6.1MM AAV he’s costing this season.
The Solid Contributors
Boone Jenner, Columbus Blue Jackets
In a thin center market, players such as Jenner enter free agency under extremely favorable conditions. While he’s never been a top scorer, the 32-year-old has long been one of the game’s most reliable two-way centers. He provides the Blue Jackets with strong work at the faceoff dot and valuable leadership qualities as their captain, as well as solid secondary scoring.
Jenner struggled with injuries over the last few years, but has found a way to remain productive. He scored 22 goals and 35 points in 58 games in 2023-24, and had 19 points in 26 games last season. He’s scored at least 20 goals on four occasions, and has hit at least 35 points five times.
This season, Jenner’s stock is trending in a neutral direction. He’s kept up his usual scoring rate, potting nine goals and 29 points in 51 games. That’s a 14-goal, 47-point 82-game scoring pace. He’s also kept up a role on Columbus’ penalty kill, though he’s not winning quite as many draws as he typically does.
The key storyline regarding Jenner this season has been how the Blue Jackets’ enviable depth at the center position has impacted his role. Where he once received middle-six or even top-six deployment in Columbus, he’s now been relegated to No. 4 center duty when all of Fantilli, Monahan, and Coyle are healthy.
Last season, Jenner averaged 18 minutes of time on ice per game, good for No. 3 among Blue Jackets forwards. The year before, he was Columbus’ most heavily-utilized forward. This season, he’s averaging 16:09 time on ice per game, which ranks No. 6 on the team.
While his points production does not appear to have been impacted, his declining role is something interested teams will have to interrogate when deciding whether to pursue him in free agency. Is it more of a matter of the Blue Jackets becoming uncharacteristically deep at the center position, something they were not known for for much of Jenner’s career? Or is it an early sign of age-related decline for the 32-year-old? That is the key question teams will have to answer when considering Jenner’s free agency case. AFP Analytics projects a $5.2MM AAV for Jenner on a three-year term.
Jonathan Toews, Winnipeg Jets
The legendary Chicago Blackhawks forward returned after a two-year absence to join his hometown Jets, but things have not gone according to plan in Manitoba. Last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners have fallen down the league standings this season, and are more likely than not going to miss the upcoming playoffs.
While it’s essential to note that Toews is deserving of an immense amount of respect for returning to the NHL and occupying a regular role given the serious health challenges he faced, most would acknowledge he’s not the same player that starred in Chicago. If he elects to continue his career beyond this season, his free agent market is likely to reflect his current capabilities, rather than what he has achieved previously.
Some of what made Toews so effective previously remains intact. The Selke Trophy winner is still lethal at the faceoff dot, winning 61.6% of his draws this season. That’s the top rate in the NHL among regular centers. While he’s no longer a penalty killer, he still presents considerable value for key defensive-zone faceoffs, or in any case when winning a faceoff and establishing puck protection is crucial.
Toews’ offense hasn’t been at the level of prior years of his career. He has seven goals and 21 points in 65 games this season, despite averaging nearly two minutes of ice time on the power play per game. At this stage of his career, Toews’ value proposition to NHL teams is clear: he’s a trusted defensive center who presents an immense amount of value as a veteran leader, even if his on-ice production is now more muted. A one-year deal around his current cap hit of $2MM, perhaps laden with some bonuses, appears to be a fair expectation for Toews if he elects to continue his career.
Scott Laughton, Los Angeles Kings
If he had been able to hit the UFA market during his final few years as a member of the Flyers, it’s likely Laughton would have received interest from across the NHL. The 2012 first-round pick developed into one of the NHL’s better defensive centers over the course of his time in Philadelphia. By his late twenties, Laughton was scoring around 35 to 40 points per season, and even earned a Selke Trophy vote for his defensive play and contributions as a leading penalty killer.
It’s those on-ice qualities, as well as his reputation as a valuable veteran leader, that made the Toronto Maple Leafs interested enough to surrender a first-round pick along with prospect Nikita Grebenkin in order to acquire Laughton. On a team desperate to make a deep playoff run, Laughton reverted into being more of a defensive specialist, scoring just six points across 33 combined regular-season and playoff contests with the Maple Leafs.
Playing on a team more fully-stocked with offensive weapons compared to the Flyers made an impact on Laughton’s scoring. While he was once good for at least 30, and as many as 43, points in a season, he saw his production dry up in Toronto. Before his trade at the recent trade deadline to the Kings, Laughton managed just 12 points in 43 games for the Maple Leafs.
Since his trade to Los Angeles, Laughton has managed to score twice and register three points in five games. The fact that Laughton only netted the Maple Leafs a third-round pick just a year after he was worth a first-rounder suggests that his stock has declined somewhat.
With that said, he has a clear opportunity ahead of him in Los Angeles to re-write the book on him entering free agency, where he could be poised to sign a life-changing contract as a soon-to-be 32-year-old free agent. Laughton’s current contract carries a $3MM AAV, and his tenure with the Kings (and whether it contains a playoff run) will go a long way in determining what kind of raise, if any, he’ll receive over that cap hit on his next deal.
The Role Players
Jason Dickinson, Edmonton Oilers
Although he’s not the scorer anymore that he was very early in his tenure with the Chicago Blackhawks, Dickinson is valuable enough to be the centerpiece of a deal that netted Chicago a first-round pick at the recent trade deadline. His game fits the mold of many of the other names on this list: he’s a 30-year-old defensive specialist offering size, two-way responsibility, some moderate ability at the faceoff dot, and some Selke Trophy votes in his past.
The key for Dickinson, entering this summer’s free agent market, is his performance in what the Oilers hope will be a lengthy playoff run. If the Oilers’ past two playoff runs are any indication, Dickinson may yet get the chance to showcase his talents on some of the game’s biggest stages. As Connor McDavid chases that Stanley Cup championship that has thus far eluded him in his career, Dickinson could end up playing a high-profile reserve role. When the Oilers have to kill a penalty in a big moment in a game, or defend a narrow lead, it’s likely Dickinson’s skates will hit the ice.
While Edmonton could very well end up disappointing in the playoffs (they have been more uneven in 2025-26 than prior years), it’s clear what Dickinson has done this season for the Blackhawks is likely to be less relevant for his free agent case than what he could be set to do for the Oilers.
Colton Sissons, Vegas Golden Knights
With nearly 700 games played entirely for one team, the Nashville Predators, this season has been one of real change for Sissons. He’s playing for a new NHL organization for the first time in his professional career, and is also slated to hit unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career. Sissons’ last contract, signed by Hall of Fame GM David Poile, came all the way back in 2019, and locked Sissons into a $2.85MM AAV contract with a seven-year term.
For six of those seven years, Sissons was a key bottom-six piece for the Predators. He was a reliable defensive presence, regularly killing penalties. Later in his Predators tenure, he even developed real credibility as a secondary scorer, registering a career-high 15 goals and 35 points in 2023-24. 
Sissons was not immune from Nashville’s team-wide struggles last season, and he also dealt with an injury.
He was then traded to Vegas, and while Sissons has maintained his status as a capable defensive fourth-line center, his offensive production has not rebounded to the level of earlier years in his career.
That Sissons will enter the market now two seasons removed from back-to-back years with at least 30 points is notable, as is the fact that he’s only scored nine points in 51 games as a Golden Knight.
He remains a key penalty killer in Vegas, but his offensive decline likely means his path towards earning a pay raise from his current $2.85MM AAV is considerably more narrow.
Alexander Kerfoot, Utah Mammoth
Heading into unrestricted free agency this summer, it’s clear the last two years have not been entirely kind to Kerfoot. During his one year with the since-relocated Arizona Coyotes, he scored a career-high 45 points, reminding the league of the player he was earlier in his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche.
He’s a player who has hit the 40-point plateau four times, but in Utah, that level of production has been nowhere to be found. Last season, he scored 11 goals and 28 points, his lowest result as a scorer, on a points-per-game basis, since entering the NHL. This season, Kerfoot has just four points in 19 games as he missed most of the first few months of the season with an injury.
In Utah, Kerfoot has morphed from being a steady middle-six two-way forward into more of a defensive specialist. He ranked second among all Utah forwards in short-handed time on ice per game last season, and has maintained a regular penalty-kill role this season. But his average ice time per game overall is down to just 11:13 per game, a steep decline from last season where he averaged 15:15 per game.
The injuries and inability to score on a consistent basis have likely damaged Kerfoot’s earning potential as a free agent. With that said, his stellar resume prior to arriving in Utah makes him an intriguing buy-low candidate for teams interested in strengthening their center position.
Kevin Stenlund, Utah Mammoth
Stenlund played 19 games in the AHL in 2022-23, and was viewed as somewhat on the NHL-AHL bubble. The Florida Panthers saw something in the 6’3″ Swede, though, and elected to sign the center with the plan of including him in their NHL plans. That move proved to be a great one for the Panthers, as Stenlund scored a career-high 11 goals and helped the franchise win its first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
He was able to cash in after that victory, earning a two-year, $2MM AAV deal with the Mammoth. He’s further elevated his stock in Utah, and at 29 years old, is poised to once again cash in as a free agent. Stenlund offers size, defensive ability, and some secondary goal-scoring qualities. Stenlund has been an excellent faceoff taker in Utah, winning 59.2% of his draws last season and 54.8% this season.
The key storyline to track for what remains of this season as far as Stenlund is concerned is his shooting. After scoring 14 goals and 28 points last season, Stenlund has managed only four goals this year. His shooting percentage has dropped from 13.7% to 7.3% year-over-year. If he can get some puck luck in what remains of the season, or at least help the Mammoth go on a real playoff run, he could enter this summer in very good shape.
Mark Jankowski, Carolina Hurricanes
Despite a trade sending him from Nashville to Carolina, Jankowski has maintained the traits in his game that have allowed him to carve out a nearly 500-game NHL career. The 6’4″ forward has the versatility to play both center and on the wings, can contribute as a secondary penalty killer, and offers the kind of size teams covet in fourth-line players.
Though he’s not an overly physical player, with just 33 hits to his name this season, he’s earned a regular role in head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s lineup, and is likely to add to his 23 games of career playoff experience later this season. While he’s likely to earn only a modest pay raise, perhaps in the $1MM to $1.25MM range at most, he could stand to earn even more depending on how the Hurricanes fare – perhaps experiencing something similar to what Stenlund experienced during his free agency after winning the Stanley Cup with the Panthers.
Teddy Blueger, Vancouver Canucks
Blueger, 31, has only played in 19 games this season, so he hasn’t amassed a huge sample of data points that could heavily impact his stock heading into free agency. With that said, his performance in those 19 games for the Canucks has been strong, scoring six goals and 11 points to go along with the defensive and penalty-killing contributions teams have grown to expect from Blueger at this stage of his career.
The development this season (or lack thereof) that is most likely to impact his upcoming free agency is the absence of a trade to a contending team. While playing out the string on a basement-dwelling Vancouver Canucks team likely means Blueger will receive more substantial minutes than he’d receive on a contender, it also means teams will approach any increased scoring he achieves this season with a clear caveat: he was producing within a workload he’d be unlikely to replicate in a playoff-bound lineup.
One could argue Blueger’s upcoming free agency would be better-served by him showcasing his talents in a fourth-line role for a contender, the kind of role most teams targeting him would pencil him into. But a trade didn’t materialize for him, and as a result, the best thing he can do is continue to take advantage of the opportunity in front of him in British Columbia.
Tyson Jost, Nashville Predators
The status of the No. 10 pick from the 2016 draft as an NHL player looked to be on shaky ground for the last few years, as Jost found himself on waivers repeatedly and lost his grip on a regular NHL role. He bounced between teams, and even saw time in the AHL in each of the last two seasons.
When the Predators signed Jost this past summer, the fact that the deal was of a two-way structure (albeit with a massive $600K guarantee) was notable – it was the first time in Jost’s NHL career, since his league-mandated entry-level contract, that he would play out a season on a two-way contract. That’s reflective of where his stock was at that point: in real decline.
While Jost hasn’t had an exceptional campaign by any means, his 2025-26 season has been a useful one as it has re-established him as a regular NHL player. He’s gotten into 52 games for the Predators, thus far avoiding any stints in the AHL. He’s playing a fourth-line role, but is getting some secondary penalty-killing time. His 11 points in 52 games aren’t on the high-end for a fourth-liner, but his ability to both earn, and hold, the trust of head coach Andrew Brunette is something that will help him return to one-way contracts this summer.
Adam Henrique, Edmonton Oilers
For much of his over 1,000 game NHL career, Henrique was a prototypical middle-six center, someone capable of producing secondary offense while holding down a staunch defensive role. Those days are in the past, as Henrique’s offensive production has fallen to the wayside. He scored 51 points in 2023-24, but has not been able to reach those heights as an Oiler. He scored 12 goals and 27 points last season, but has just two goals and 10 points in 50 games this year.
At 36 years old, Henrique is inching closer towards the end of his career. That’s not to say he doesn’t have gas left in the tank, of course, but teams will have to be measured in their approach to him this summer, given how much of an impact age appears to have had on him as an Oiler.
He’s still a valued veteran who has helped the Oilers win back-to-back Clarence S. Campbell bowls, and still regularly kills penalties in Edmonton. But at this stage, he’s a veteran fourth-line option, rather than the kind of middle-six two-way player he once was.
Lars Eller, Ottawa Senators
Eller is in many ways similar to Henrique, only he’s now playing his second consecutive year in the role Henrique now finds himself in. Eller, who turns 37 in May, is the Senators’ No. 4 center. He is a secondary penalty killer for the team, wins 57.5% of his draws, and costs just $1.25MM against the cap.
The offense he once showed, particularly as a third-line center on contending Washington Capitals teams, is no longer part of his game. But he’s shown this season that he can still hold down a role as a fourth-line center, and entering free agency, if he wants to continue his NHL career, he can expect to be compensated as one. The Senators’ late push for a chance to return to the playoffs will be a storyline to watch as it relates to Eller’s free agency.
Rodrigo Abols, Philadelphia Flyers
Abols, 30, has been a nice find for the Flyers’ scouting staff, turning into a legitimate NHL depth piece after four years as a solid SHL center. The 6’4″ pivot showed flashes of NHL potential in Europe and on the international stage, perhaps nowhere more than during Latvia’s historic bronze medal run at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships.
2025-26 looked like it could be a big year for Abols. He split last season between the NHL and AHL, playing 47 games with AHL Lehigh Valley and 22 games with the Flyers.
This season, Abols has been able to carve out a regular role as the Flyers’ No. 4 center, and has thus far avoided reassignment to the AHL.
It’s unfortunate for Abols, then, that his momentum (especially from early in the season) was cut short by a lower-body injury.
He’s been out since January, and it’s unclear when, or if, he’ll be able to return this season. While the injury has cost him the chance to build an even stronger free agency case, the fact that he’s currently playing on a one-way $800K deal suggests he should at least be in a position to earn a one-way contract for next season.
David Kampf, Washington Capitals
Kampf, 31, found himself outside the Maple Leafs’ NHL plans early this season, and made the decision to terminate his contract in an effort to find an NHL role with a team. He latched on with the Canucks, and occupied his normal role as a fourth-line pivot and penalty-killer, something that earned him a trade to the Washington Capitals. He has yet to make his debut in Washington, and Washington faces long odds to return to the postseason.
But given the Capitals’ consistency as a regular in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it could be in Kampf’s best interest to sign an extension in Washington in order to potentially secure the fourth-line center role with the team. That’s a role Nic Dowd occupied to great success in recent years, and it’s one Kampf could find some stability in if he’s able to earn the trust of Washington’s coaches and management.
Curtis Lazar, Edmonton Oilers
Lazar took a pay cut last summer to sign with the Oilers, going from a $1MM AAV on his last deal to a league-minimum $775K this year. Injuries have stymied him over the last two seasons, as he managed just five points and 48 games for the Devils last season, and is currently out on a week-to-week basis this season.
He did score a healthy 25 points in 71 games for New Jersey in 2023-24, showing himself to be the kind of high-energy, physical fourth-liner teams often covet in those roles. This season with the Oilers has been more like his 2024-25 than his 2023-24, and as a result, Lazar isn’t heading into free agency in the strongest position. As with most players, though, a deep playoff run could always help change that.
Sam Lafferty, Chicago Blackhawks
When Lafferty was last with the Blackhawks, he proved himself to be a strong enough bottom-six center to be included in the Maple Leafs’ Jake McCabe trade, a deal that net Chicago first and second-round picks, among other assets. He was held in high enough regard to earn a $2MM AAV two-year contract in the summer of 2024, but he’s unlikely to receive that kind of deal this upcoming summer.
Lafferty averaged 13:15 time on ice per game, including sporadic usage on both sides of special teams, in 2022-23 with the Maple Leafs. The following year, he played a regular fourth-line role on a strong Canucks team, scoring a career-high 13 goals. Since signing his deal with the Sabres, Lafferty’s scoring has all but disappeared, and with it, his regular NHL role.
He managed just seven points in 60 games last season, and has just two points this year. He’s been a regular healthy scratch for the Blackhawks this season, and is averaging just 8:36 time on ice per game in contests he dresses for this season. On a per-game basis, he’s receiving a lighter workload than any other Blackhawks forward.
As a result, his stock is unquestionably trending in the wrong direction heading into free agency. In any case, he has accomplished enough as a bottom-six player over his nearly 400-game NHL career to suggest he will still receive a shot to earn an NHL role with a team for next season.
Others Of Note
Jonny Brodzinski, New York Rangers
Since he got into 35 NHL games with the 2017-18 Los Angeles Kings, Brodzinski has lived in one of the more volatile positions a pro hockey player can occupy: a place on the NHL-AHL bubble. He’s both captained AHL teams and played in NHL playoff games, but over the last two years, Brodzinski appears to have put his AHL days behind him.
After getting into the first playoff games of his career during the Rangers’ runs to the Eastern Conference Final, Brodzinski has carved out a full-time NHL role over the last two years as a versatile thirteenth forward option. He scored a career-high 12 goals in 2024-25, doing so in just 51 games. That’s a 19-goal 82-game scoring pace.
Had he been a free agent last summer, he could have earned a decent short-term guarantee. But he’s not been able to sustain his goal scoring this season, and as a result, the 32-year-old’s stock has to be considered to be down.
Kevin Hayes, Pittsburgh Penguins
A player who has hit at least 40 points in a season six times, Hayes was once a well-regarded middle-six offensive piece. He netted a first-round pick for the Rangers as a trade deadline asset in 2019, and signed a hefty free agent deal with the Philadelphia Flyers afterwards.
After scoring 54 points in 2022-23, Hayes was traded to the Blues, where he only managed 13 goals and 29 points in 2023-24. The Blues paid a second-round pick to the Penguins in order to rid themselves of Hayes’ cap hit, and he has been unable to restore his prior status as a middle-six scorer in Pennsylvania.
Hayes’ struggles as a Penguin (just five points in 25 games this season) leave him in a curious spot.
He’s an offensive player who built an entirely respectable NHL career as a scoring forward, but that scoring has since dried up. Is it realistic to expect him to rediscover his form as a secondary scorer? Or can he potentially reinvent himself to be more palatable as a bottom-six piece?
Those are the kinds of questions teams interested in Hayes might ask themselves this summer. In any case, he’s likely to have to settle for an inexpensive, prove-it contract wherever he signs.
Jansen Harkins, Anaheim Ducks
After playing in a career-high 77 NHL games for the Jets in 2021-22, it looked as though Harkins had secured a role as a full-time NHLer. The following season, though, Harkins only earned 22 NHL games, and by the end of 2023-24, he had changed NHL teams and gone 45 games without a goal.
The Ducks signed Harkins to an affordable two-year deal with a one-way structure for both years, and Harkins has been able to hold down a spot on the NHL roster on that deal. He scored 17 points in his 11 AHL games with the organization, and has played in 101 NHL games across the last two years in Orange County. At 28 years old, the fact that he’s solidified his grip on an NHL roster spot means he’s positioned himself to once again receive a one-way contract in the summer.
Luke Glendening, Philadelphia Flyers
At 36 years old, it’s clear the value proposition Glendening offers to NHL teams has become somewhat narrow: he’s still an adept face-off taker, but his impact as a defensive forward has waned, and his production is almost entirely gone.
With that said, his over 900 games of NHL experience and abilities as a faceoff taker were still intriguing enough to allow him to be claimed off waivers, and give him a chance to stick in the NHL beyond this season if he elects to continue his career.
Photos courtesy of Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sport, Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images, Jerome Miron-Imagn Images and Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images