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Waivers

Waivers: 9/28/25

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With more and more cuts to training camp rosters being made, the waiver wire is becoming increasingly active. Today is another busy day on waivers as PuckPedia reports that 23 players have been waived. All of yesterday’s waived players have cleared.

Anaheim Ducks

F Jan Mysak

Buffalo Sabres

D Zac Jones
F Jake Leschyshyn

Columbus Blue Jackets

F Hudson Fasching
F Brendan Gaunce
F Mikael Pyyhtia

Chicago Blackahwks

F Dominic Toninato

Colorado Avalanche

D Ronnie Attard

Dallas Stars

D Kyle Capobianco
F Kole Lind
F Antonio Stranges

Montreal Canadiens

F Alex Belzile
D Nathan Clurman
F Lucas Condotta
D Marc Del Gaizo
F Sean Farrell

New Jersey Devils

F Ryan Schmelzer

St. Louis Blues

F Matt Luff
D Corey Schueneman

Tampa Bay Lightning

G Ryan Fanti
D Simon Lundmark
F Scott Sabourin
D Steven Santini

Today’s set of waived players is a more diverse mix, both with veteran players likely to play most of 2025-26 in the AHL and some younger players who have some NHL experience and still, theoretically, more room to grow. Jones, from Buffalo, appears to have lost a battle for an NHL job on the team’s blueline, but got into 46 NHL games for the New York Rangers last season and is still just 24 years old.

23-year-old Farrell, waived by Montreal, is a former top prospect who was, just a few years ago, ranked as the Canadiens’ second-best prospect by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. The former USHL and NCAA star had a strong back half of his 2024-25 AHL season and had six points in four games at the 2022 Winter Olympics, but hasn’t found a way to land an NHL role yet in his two-year pro career.

Beyond those younger names, there are also notable veterans on today’s waiver wire. Fasching, waived by Columbus, played in at least 43 NHL games in each of the last three seasons. Del Gaizo, waived by Montreal, got into 46 games with the Nashville Predators last season. And Toninato, waived by Chicago, has almost 200 NHL games to his name, although he only registered five NHL GP in 2024-25.

Waivers: 9/27/25

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As training camp cuts continue to occur, there will be an uptick in waiver placements over the next week and a half.  Today is a particularly busy day on the wire with PuckPedia reporting that 20 players are now on waivers.  Meanwhile, all of yesterday’s players cleared, per PuckPedia.

Buffalo Sabres

D Jack Rathbone

Calgary Flames

D Jeremie Poirier

Columbus Blue Jackets

D Dysin Mayo
F Hunter McKown
G Zachary Sawchenko
F Owen Sillinger

Colorado Avalanche

F Alex Barre-Boulet
F Tye Felhaber
F Jason Polin
F T.J. Tynan

Edmonton Oilers

D Josh Brown
F James Hamblin
F Roby Jarventie

New York Islanders

F Adam Beckman

St. Louis Blues

F Nikita Alexandrov
F Hugh McGing

Toronto Maple Leafs

F Travis Boyd
F Benoit-Olivier Groulx
F Vinni Lettieri

Vegas Golden Knights

D Lukas Cormier

For the most part, this is a group of veteran players who have cleared waivers multiple times in the past and should expect to do so here as well.  That said, Lettieri has gotten into 72 NHL games over the last two seasons and could be appealing to a team looking for some extra depth down the middle.  Alexandrov didn’t see any action with St. Louis last season but averaged just over a point per game with AHL Springfield last season and has 51 career NHL appearances under his belt.  Boyd was a full-time NHL player as recently as 2022-23 and is one game shy of 300 for his career but has settled in as more of an AHL veteran since then.

At this time of year, it’s sometimes the younger players who might garner some attention and there are some on this list who could draw a look.  Cormier and Poirier are only 23 and have shown some offensive upside in the past at both the QMJHL and AHL levels.  Jarventie was once a prospect with some upside before an injury derailed his 2024-25 campaign but if there’s a team that thinks he has fully recovered, he could garner attention as well.

These players will be on waivers until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Waivers: 9/26/25

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The following players have hit waivers for pending AHL assignments today as camp cuts continue, per Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic. Everyone waived yesterday cleared, per PuckPedia.

Columbus Blue Jackets

G Ivan Fedotov

New York Islanders

F Liam Foudy, F Julien Gauthier, D Cole McWard, D Travis Mitchell

Utah Mammoth

D Kevin Connauton

Washington Capitals

D Calle Rosen, F Spencer Smallman

Fedotov is the most eye-popping name here, but it’s not unexpected. It was clear after they acquired the netminder from the Flyers that they didn’t anticipate having him on the NHL roster as part of a three-goalie rotation with Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins and would place him on waivers during camp with the hope he’d clear and report to AHL Cleveland. Today is that day. They’re hoping his $3.275MM cap hit, albeit on an expiring deal, is enough of a deterrent for clubs not to claim the former KHL Goalie of the Year and highly-touted prospect. He posted a 6-13-4 record, .880 SV%, and 3.15 GAA in 26 appearances in his rookie season in Philly last year. If he clears and heads to Cleveland, he’ll still count for $2.125MM against the Jackets’ books.

None of the four names from the Islanders were expected to make legitimate ploys for a roster spot. Foudy and Gauthier are experienced names who will be high on the list of recall options from Bridgeport when the season gets underway, though. The duo combined for just three NHL appearances in 2024-25 but were among the farm club’s leading scorers. McWard and Mitchell will have a harder time finding opportunities to fill in on the NHL blue line and are likely ticketed to spend the whole year in Bridgeport behind more intriguing depth options like Ethan Bear and Isaiah George.

Connauton, 35, has 360 games of NHL experience but hasn’t appeared at the top level since the 2021-22 season. He’s slated to spend a fourth consecutive season in the minors as a result. He’s playing out the back half of the two-year, two-way deal he signed with Utah last summer. He served as an alternate captain for the club’s AHL partner in Tucson, posting a 6-11–17 scoring line with a -5 rating in 56 appearances while racking up 78 PIMs.

Rosen signed a two-way deal with the Caps this summer after spending last year in the minors in the Avalanche organization, where he had 34 points in 62 games for the Colorado Eagles. He’s got semi-considerable NHL experience with 93 games under his belt and will be among Washington’s top recall options from Hershey should they need an offensive-minded defender to fill in. Smallman, 29, is entering his ninth professional season without any NHL action to speak of. He signed a two-year, two-way extension with the club back in April to keep him with Hershey through 2026-27. He posted a career-high 10-24–34 scoring line in 62 games for the Bears last year.

Flyers Place Oscar Eklind On Waivers

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Waiver activity has been light today as teams are still carrying fairly large camp rosters into the second week of on-ice activities. Only three teams made placements today – one of them being the Flyers, who announced that winger Oscar Eklind has hit the wire as part of a larger round of cuts.

Eklind, 27, arrived in Philly as an undrafted free agent signing out of his native Sweden last summer. The 6’4″, 220-lb winger landed a one-year entry-level deal on the heels of a career-best campaign in the SHL with Luleå HF, putting together a 17-11–28 scoring line in 48 games.

That’s a relatively modest offensive line for an overseas addition in his mid-20s, but his potential upside largely stemmed from his size and hard-nosed play. Understandably, he didn’t have the most productive year in the minors last season upon arriving in North America. Eklind suited up 64 times for AHL Lehigh Valley, limited to five goals and 17 assists for 22 points.

The Flyers liked what they saw, though. Not only was it enough for them to bring him back, it was enough for them to give him an extension before reaching RFA status – a one-way deal at that – to pay him an $800K salary in 2025-26 even if he ended up back in the minors. That was presumably more than he would have made returning to Sweden, so he’ll be set for another year as a farmhand in Lehigh Valley in the likely event he clears waivers tomorrow. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Senators Place Xavier Bourgault, Four Others On Waivers

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Today is the first day of standard waivers for the 2025-26 campaign, meaning teams can now begin the process of cutting non-waiver-exempt players from their training camp rosters. The Senators are the first to do so, announcing they’re placing five players on the wire, including 2021 first-rounder Xavier Bourgault. Forwards Wyatt Bongiovanni and Garrett Pilon, defenseman Cameron Crotty, and goaltender Hunter Shepard are the other names that teams can submit claims for 24 hours after waivers officially open at 1:00 pm Central. They’ll all be assigned to AHL Belleville if they clear.

The moves were part of a wide-spanning roster cut the Sens made today ahead of their two neutral-site exhibition games in Quebec City. Those early cuts have the Sens’ camp roster down to just 31 players, by far the lowest roster count in the league, with well over a week until opening night rosters are due.

Bourgault hitting the wire is notable but not particularly surprising. It’s his first year without a waiver exemption, but the 22-year-old forward hasn’t demonstrated much development at all since turning pro three years ago. In fact, Bourgault’s AHL point pace has largely regressed over time, and as a result, he’s yet to make his NHL debut, never mind securing a call-up.

The Oilers made him the 22nd overall pick of the 2021 draft after the 5’11” Quebecer had 40 points in just 29 games for QMJHL Shawinigan in his COVID-shortened draft year. He remained highly productive the following year with 75 points in 43 appearances, winning a QMJHL title in the process, before turning pro “early” in 2022-23 thanks to his October birthdate. His transition to pro hockey was measured, although he still managed a respectable 13-21–34 scoring line in 62 appearances with AHL Bakersfield. His production cratered the following year, though, limited to 20 points in 55 games and losing consistency in the lineup. That led the Oilers to cut bait with him last offseason, trading him to the Sens for winger Roby Jarventie.

Bourgault similarly failed to impress with Belleville last season. He finished eighth on the team in scoring with a 12-14–26 line in 61 appearances. While it was enough to earn him a qualifying offer and a subsequent two-way deal in July after his entry-level contract ran out, it was never going to be enough to put him in serious contention for an NHL roster spot, barring a hugely impressive training camp performance. As a result, he’s at risk of being lost for nothing on the wire if a team decides to take a swing on his draft pedigree.

As for the other names, Bongiovanni is standard waiver wire fodder for this time of year. The 26-year-old pivot is a respectable AHL scorer, notching a career-best 22 goals and 33 points in 54 showings with the B-Sens last year, but doesn’t have any NHL experience to his name. He’ll likely only see his first NHL recall this season if injuries take out an overwhelming amount of Ottawa’s forward core.

Pilon, 27, fills a similar niche with more pro experience. The 6’0″ pivot is entering his third season in the Sens organization and served as Belleville’s captain last year, posting 48 points in 68 games. A 2016 third-round pick by the Capitals, he scored one goal in three NHL games across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns with them but hasn’t appeared at the top level since. He’ll clear the wire with no issue and resume his role as the on-ice leader of Ottawa’s top development affiliate.

Crotty and Shepard are both new faces to the organization, signing two-way deals this summer to serve as experienced call-up options. They might draw some consideration as a result, but by waiving them this early in camp, the Sens have a better chance of passing them through before preseason injuries truly begin to pile up. Crotty made one appearance each for the Coyotes and Wild in each of the past two campaigns, but nearly all of the 26-year-old’s pro experience has come in the minors. The 6’3″ shutdown righty served as the captain for Minnesota’s AHL club last year and had 10 assists with a -7 rating in 64 appearances.

Shepard will serve as the Sens’ No. 4 goalie on the depth chart behind Linus Ullmark, Leevi Merilainen, and Mads Søgaard. That’s a step down from his last few seasons in Washington, where he was the AHL starter and No. 3 option organizationally. But after being named the AHL’s top goaltender in the 2023-24 campaign, his numbers took a nosedive last year with a .891 SV%, 2.80 GAA, and a 23-11-4 record in 39 appearances for the Hershey Bears. Goalie-needy teams will likely look elsewhere for depth as a result.

Flames’ Joni Jurmo, Maple Leafs’ Ty Voit Have Contracts Terminated

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July 16: Jurmo and Voit cleared waivers and will have their deals terminated, according to Friedman.

July 15: Flames defense prospect Joni Jurmo and Maple Leafs forward prospect Ty Voit are both on unconditional waivers Tuesday to terminate their entry-level contracts, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Both have one year left on their deals and would have been restricted free agents in 2026. Any other NHL club can claim them within the next 24 hours; if not, their contracts will be voided, their remaining money forfeited, and they’ll become unrestricted free agents.

Jurmo, 23, was a third-round pick by the Canucks in 2020. Calgary acquired his signing rights in last year’s Elias Lindholm trade and signed him after his season in his native Finland concluded, bringing him to North America for 2024-25.

While Jurmo had played exclusively in Finland’s top-flight Liiga since 2021-22, the adjustment to North America was rough. The 6’4″, 207-lb lefty failed to capture a full-time AHL role with the Calgary Wranglers, going pointless with an even rating in 17 games. He fared much better in the ECHL with the Rapid City Rush, posting 10 points in 12 games, but his lack of success higher on the depth chart wasn’t a promising sign for his development so long after his draft year.

Jurmo likely wasn’t happy with the lack of overall playing time, either, and will presumably seek out a more stable role in Europe if he becomes a UFA tomorrow. In turn, Calgary will clear a contract slot and open up more playing time for their large pool of young defenders likely headed for the Wranglers this season.

Voit, 22, is a similar story. Toronto’s 2021 fifth-rounder was a star in the OHL after missing his draft year due to COVID, capping off his junior career with a 105-point showing in 67 games for the Sarnia Sting in 2022-23.

Injuries cost him nearly his entire 2023-24 season as he adjusted to the professional ranks, though. He still showed immense playmaking promise when healthy, recording eight points in only five games for the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.

Despite that, Voit didn’t see a second of AHL action last season and instead spent the year back down in the ECHL, now with the Cincinnati Cyclones. His production entered a tailspin, posting a much more conservative 8-29–37 scoring line in 63 games.

The 5’9″ forward could still be in line for an AHL contract somewhere, even if NHL interest isn’t likely. There’s a potential fit with the Penguins – he’s a Pittsburgh native and was drafted by current Pens general manager Kyle Dubas when he was in Toronto.

Sharks Sign Dmitry Orlov, Claim Nick Leddy

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The Sharks are signing free agent defenseman Dmitry Orlov to a two-year, $13MM contract, sources tell Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The team has also claimed defenseman Nick Leddy off waivers from the Blues, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

San Jose has been looking to make a big financial splash over the past few days, at least per season, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. While also serving as additions to a thin defense, Orlov’s $6.5MM cap hit and Leddy’s $4MM cap hit put the Sharks over the $70.6MM salary cap floor in 2025-26.

Orlov, who turns 34 later this month, now cashes in on a short-term, high-AAV contract for the second time in three years. The top free agent of a thin 2023 class landed a two-year, $15.5MM commitment from the Hurricanes that time around, but it was clear there wasn’t a good fit for him to return next season with the emergence of top prospect Alexander Nikishin and the sign-and-trade pickup of K’Andre Miller from the Rangers filling up the left side of Carolina’s defense.

It’s a slight pay cut for Orlov after seeing his minutes dip below the 20-minute mark per game with the Canes – he’d cost $7.75MM against the cap for the last two years. He does land trade protection from the Sharks, though, after going without it in Carolina. PuckPedia reports Orlov received a full no-trade clause in 2025-26 and a 15-team no-trade clause in 2026-27 as part of the deal. In terms of the cash breakdown, Orlov will rake in a $5.4MM base salary and a $2MM signing bonus this year and a $4MM salary with a $1.5MM signing bonus next season. That low salary compared to the actual cap hit in the back half of the deal could make him an appealing trade candidate at that time.

The 5’11” lefty immediately becomes San Jose’s top defenseman. While he wasn’t the everyday top-four threat on an exceedingly deep Carolina defense like he was for most of his earlier career with the Capitals, he’s only a couple of years removed from averaging north of 22 minutes per game and will need to prepare to resume that workload with the Sharks. Over his two-year tenure with the Hurricanes, Orlov averaged six goals, 22 assists, 28 points, and a +10 rating per 82 games while logging 18:36 per night.

Orlov was a consistent 30-point threat with good two-way acumen during his peak in Washington. It remains to be seen if his age will prohibit him from reaching that level again with San Jose, but their excess of cap room and need for veteran defensemen, combined with only a two-year term, makes this a low-risk signing for general manager Mike Grier, despite his cap hit likely coming in north of his market value.

As for Leddy, the Blues placed him on waivers yesterday with one year remaining on his contract at a $4MM cap hit. St. Louis was looking to shed salary and open up roster space after adding 2021 first-rounder Logan Mailloux to their blue line in a trade with the Canadiens, so they exposed Leddy to the wire after failing to agree on a trade to send him elsewhere.

San Jose is now nearly $2MM over the cap floor, so they can’t flip Leddy to another club while remaining cap-compliant unless they retain salary. All three of their retention slots were full last year, but with Brent Burns’ previous contract expiring, they have one open now. The same goes for frequently speculated trade candidate Mario Ferraro ($3.25MM cap hit) and other potential trade chips like righty Vincent Desharnais ($2MM).

Along with Orlov, Leddy could step into a top-four role for San Jose on the left side, although he could also flex over to the right if necessary. The 34-year-old missed most of last season due to injury and only managed five points in 31 games when healthy, but averaged over 22 minutes per game for St. Louis the year prior and had 28 points with a +14 rating.

With the pickups and the still-delicate cap math to stay above the floor, there’s a bit of a log jam on San Jose’s defense. They have eight rearguards on one-way deals for next season – Orlov, Leddy, Ferraro, Desharnais, July 1 signing John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren, and youngsters Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin. None of them are waiver-exempt, and that list doesn’t include unsigned RFA Jack Thompson or top prospect Sam Dickinson. The Sharks likely won’t be willing to waive Thrun or Mukhamadullin, so the Sharks might still be in the market to add a high-salaried forward this summer in order to help facilitate a trade to create more opportunities for Dickinson, Mukhamadullin, Thompson, and Thrun.

Images courtesy of James Guillory-Imagn Images (Orlov) and Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images (Leddy).

Blues Waive Nick Leddy

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The Blues have placed defenseman Nick Leddy on standard waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Leddy, 34, cannot be bought out since the first window has closed. Since he’s on standard, not unconditional waivers, this move isn’t made with a contract termination in mind, either. Instead, the Blues are seeing if there are any takers for the final season of his contract, which carries a $4MM cap hit but only $3MM in actual salary, per PuckPedia.

St. Louis had been working in conjunction with Leddy to find a trade partner to give him more ice time this season, but no offers materialized, Frank Seravalli reports. Any of the league’s 31 other teams can now have him for free by submitting a claim in the next 24 hours, including the 16 teams on his no-trade list.

Leddy signed a four-year, $16MM extension with St. Louis in 2022 that had largely provided fair value until last year. The 13-year veteran missed over half the season with a lower-body injury and only had five points and a plus-six rating in 31 games when healthy, averaging 18:40 of ice time per game. He’d averaged at least 20 minutes per game for the previous 10 seasons.

It remains to be seen what happens in the event Leddy clears waivers. If the Blues have made up their minds that he won’t be on their roster next season, he could either accept an AHL assignment and take home his $3MM guaranteed salary for next season or request a mutual termination, forfeiting his money but allowing himself to pursue an NHL opportunity elsewhere in free agency.

One of the league’s consistent top-four fixtures throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, Leddy has 75 goals, 341 assists, and 416 points with a -36 rating in 1,042 career games with the Blues, Blackhawks, Islanders, and Red Wings. Before his injury-plagued 2024-25 campaign, Leddy had posted 59 points and a +21 rating in 180 games with St. Louis, who initially acquired him from Detroit at the 2022 trade deadline.

The Blues have been open to parting ways with veteran defensemen to make way for a youth movement. They opted not to re-sign Ryan Suter and will now look to offload Leddy to both free up cap space for future trade discussions this summer while also giving more opportunity for players like fresh trade pickup Logan Mailloux, Matthew Kessel, and Tyler Tucker to play more consistent NHL roles.

Image courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.

Lightning, Conor Sheary To Mutually Terminate Contract

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June 30: Sheary has cleared unconditional waivers and will have his contract terminated, per Friedman.

June 29: Lightning winger Conor Sheary hit unconditional waivers Sunday after asking for a contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

While it may initially come across as a favor done by Sheary to the Lightning to not force the team to buy out the final season of his contract at a $2MM cap hit, it’s not that cut and dry. Sheary was due $1.5MM in base salary for 2025-26, which would have resulted in a $503K cap hit for the Lightning in each of the next two seasons if he was bought out. That’s barely any cap savings compared to if they buried Sheary in the minors (a cap hit of $850K), so they likely would have pursued that option instead of being on the hook for an additional season with a buyout.

Sheary, understandably, desires a chance to crack an NHL roster and wasn’t particularly amenable to that solution. Instead, he’ll walk away from $1.5MM in guaranteed money and become an unrestricted free agent while the Lightning clear his cap impact from next season’s books completely. In return, Sheary gets the chance to return to a full-time NHL role next season.

The 33-year-old has been a rare free-agent bust for Tampa general manager Julien BriseBois. He was signed to a three-year, $6MM contract in 2023 in the hopes that the diminutive winger could provide some affordable depth scoring and perhaps even flex into a top-six role. Instead, Sheary was relegated to the press box by the end of 2023-24 and spent most of this past season on assignment to AHL Syracuse after clearing waivers a few weeks into the campaign.

Sheary ends his two-year run in Tampa with a 4-11–15 scoring line in 62 games, logging a minus-five rating while averaging 11:07 of ice time per game. Only five of those appearances came this season, and he didn’t record a point in any of them. The veteran of nearly 600 NHL games took his minor-league assignments in stride and was an extremely important player for Syracuse, ranking among the AHL’s top producers with 61 points (20 G, 41 A) and a +15 rating in 59 games.

That showing demonstrated the Massachusetts native may still have the chops to be a third-line scoring piece at the NHL level, even if the fit in Tampa wasn’t a good one for whatever reason. Even with his recent poor run of production, he still averages 17 goals and 37 points per 82 games over his NHL career. That’s a resume a scoring-needy team will take a flyer on, even if he isn’t in a position to command much more than a league minimum salary. His two Stanley Cup rings with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 will certainly help his case, too.

Once Sheary’s contract officially comes off the Lightning’s books tomorrow, the Bolts will have nearly $5.5MM in cap space with four open roster spots to fill, according to PuckPedia. Their only notable RFA to re-sign is forward Gage Goncalves, who AFP Analytics projects will land a one-year deal at $1.2MM. That leaves a roughly $4MM budget for Tuesday’s free agent frenzy, in which they’ll look to add a few depth skaters, considering no core pieces are on expiring deals.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Kraken Buy Out Joe Veleno

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June 30: Veleno has cleared unconditional waivers and will be bought out, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

June 29: The Kraken announced Sunday they’ve placed newly acquired center Joe Veleno on unconditional waivers for a buyout.

If a team wants to pick up the final year of Veleno’s contract at a $2.275MM cap hit, they can do so over the next 24 hours, in which case the Kraken would not be on the hook for the salary cap implications of a buyout. Waiver priority is still determined by reverse standings order from the 2024-25 season. In the more likely event he clears waivers, the 25-year-old’s buyout won’t carry as much of a salary cap penalty as usual. Players under 26 years old receive only one-third of their remaining base salary in a buyout, instead of two-thirds.

Veleno was due to earn $1.775MM in base salary in 2025-26, so the total cost of the buyout will be $592K spread over the next two seasons. He was owed a $500K signing bonus on July 1 that is protected from a buyout, though. That means the Kraken will carry a $796K cap charge in 2025-26 and a $296K cap charge in 2026-27, according to PuckPedia. Even with the increased buyout penalty next season, they’re still opening roughly $1.5MM in space compared to his initial cap hit.

Seattle acquired Veleno from the Blackhawks in a one-for-one swap for winger André Burakovsky last weekend. They initially opened $3.225MM in cap space for 2025-26 with the move, but that number jumps to $4.7MM with Veleno’s pending buyout. The 2018 first-rounder seemed like he may have been an awkward fit on a Seattle roster already teeming with natural centers, particularly after they also acquired Frédérick Gaudreau from the Wild a few days ago.

It’s clear now he wasn’t in their plans moving forward and was only taken back in the deal to take a contract off Chicago’s books. Assuming he’s indeed bought out, he’ll hit unrestricted free agency for the first time following one of the more underwhelming seasons of his brief NHL career. 2024-25 was the fourth season for Veleno as a full-timer with the Red Wings, who drafted him 30th overall seven years ago, but he only managed 10 points and a -14 rating in 56 games as their fourth-line center before being traded to the Blackhawks at the deadline for Petr Mrázek and Craig Smith.

Veleno had a decent end to the campaign in Chicago. He put together a 3-4–7 scoring line in 18 games, ranking eighth on the team in scoring from the trade deadline until the end of the season. All of that production came at even strength while averaging a relatively conservative 12:38 per game. His historically underwhelming possession impacts remained in the gutter, though. He posted a 41.1 CF% and 37.9 xGF% at even strength, along with a minus-nine rating for the Hawks, although it’s worth noting he did face a difficult workload with 64.2% of his zone starts coming in the defensive end.

That end to the season, combined with his draft pedigree, means it won’t be surprising if Veleno lands an NHL contract as a UFA. It won’t be in the neighborhood of his previous $2.275MM cap hit, though. Players of that caliber who get bought out – think defenseman Adam Boqvist last offseason – usually settle for a league-minimum contract in hopes of landing in the best environment to get their career and development back on track.

Seattle now has just over $18MM in cap space with six open roster spots, according to PuckPedia. Three of those spots will presumably be filled by pending RFAs Ryker Evans, Kaapo Kakko, and Tye Kartye. That trio will likely consume between $8.5MM and $10.6MM of cap space, depending on whether it’s a long-term or bridge deal for Evans, per AFP Analytics’ projections.

Image courtesy of David Banks-Imagn Images.

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