The Lightning have signed John Carlson to a two-year deal worth $8.5M AAV ($17.0M total).
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NHL Signings & Free Agents
Chicago has signed Dillon Boucher to a one-year, two-way contract.
Chicago has signed Connor Mylymok to a one-year, two-way contract.
New Jersey has signed Marc McLaughlin to a one-year, two-way contract.
Vegas has signed Antti Tuomisto to a two-year, two-way contract.
Vegas has signed Ville Heinola to one-year, $850,000 contract.
Heinola was drafted 20th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The Jets decided to move on from the 24-year-old defenseman, resulting in a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. Heinola spent most of 2025-26 in the AHL, where he scored 21 points (3G / 18A) in 44 games with the Manitoba Moose.
Vegas has signed Raphael Lavoie to a two-way contract.
Lavoie, a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, has not been able to earn an extended look at the NHL level, but hopes to build momentum after a tremendous 2025-26 season in the AHL. The 25-year-old forward scored 56 points (30G / 26A) last season in 45 games with the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL).
Vegas has signed Marc Gatcomb to a two-year, two-way contract.
Gatcomb is no stranger to the NHL, with 16 points (11G / 5A) in 88 career games, and will provide solid organizational depth for the Vegas Golden Knights. The 26-year-old forward played a career-high 49 games with the New York Islanders last season, scoring seven points (3G / 4A).
Vegas has signed Joe Fleming to a one-year, two-way contract.
Fleming is an undrafted 23-year-old who has spent most of the past two seasons in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights. The defenseman had 14 points (4G / 10A) last season in 60 games with Henderson.
Vegas has signed Jakub Demek to a one-year, two-way contract extension.
Demek was a fourth-round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The 23-year-old Slovak forward has played significant minutes professionally in North America, but had a decent 2024-25 season with the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL), scoring 19 points (6G / 13A) in 31 games.
Dallas has signed Joel Kiviranta to a one-year, $1 million AAV contract.
Kiviranta will rejoin the Dallas Stars, the team he began his NHL career with, on a one-year deal. The 30-year-old Finnish forward spent the past three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, including a career-best 2024-25 season, in which he scored 23 points (16G / 7A) in 79 games.
Florida has signed Casey Fitzgerald to a one-year, two-way contract.
Fitzgerald has exclusively played in the AHL the past three seasons as a serviceable shutdown defenseman. The 29-year-old scored 23 points (4G / 19A) in 2025-26 in 71 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL).
Edmonton has signed Frederik Andersen to a one-year contract worth $2.8 million AAV.
After spending the past five seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, helping them win a Stanley Cup in 2025-26, Andersen will join his fourth team, the Edmonton Oilers. The 36-year-old veteran goalie is one of the winningest goalies in modern history, with a consistent 2.59 GAA and .913 SV% over 552 career games (324-149-58). That said, he has battled injuries in recent years and is coming off the worst season of his career, posting a 3.05 GAA and .874 SV% in 35 games (16-14-5).
Edmonton has signed Max Jones to a one-year, $850,000 AAV contract.
Jones, the 24th-overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, has split time between the NHL and AHL in recent seasons, but impressed with the Oilers in 2025-26, earning a one-year contract extension. The 28-year-old forward scored five points (3G / 2A) last season in 21 games with the Oilers.
Anaheim has signed Travis Mitchell to a one-year, two-way contract.
Mitchell, an undrafted defenseman, made his NHL debut last season, scoring one goal in nine games with the New York Islanders. The 26-year-old spent most of the season in the AHL, where he tallied 17 points (1G / 16A) in 58 games with the Bridgeport Islanders.
Chicago has signed Connor Mackey to a two-year, two-way contract.
Mackey has had brief stints at the NHL level over the past several seasons, but has not been able to stick. The 29-year-old defenseman spent most of 2025-26 in the AHL, where he scored 18 points (5G / 13A) in 62 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Winnipeg has signed Mario Ferraro to a three-year contract worth $4 million AAV ($12M total).
Ferraro has become a popular commodity in recent seasons and will finally move on from the San Jose Sharks after seven seasons with the team that drafted him. The 27-year-old defenseman scored 23 points (7G / 16A) last season in 82 games with the Sharks.
Montreal has signed Ethan Samson to a one-year, two-way contract.
Samson, a sixth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, has yet to play an NHL game and will head to the Montreal Canadiens in a similar depth organizational role. The 22-year-old forward scored 14 points (5G / 9A) last season in 30 games with the Syracuse Crunch (AHL).
Florida has signed Boko Imama to a one-year, two-way contract.
Bokondji, a career journeyman, will add some depth to the Florida Panthers organization on a one-year, two-way contract. The 29-year-old forward spent most of the 2025-26 season in the AHL, where he scored 11 points (6G / 5A) and recorded 137 penalty minutes in 66 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL).
Los Angeles has signed Scott Laughton to a three-year, $3.5 million AAV contract extension ($10.5M total).
The Los Angeles Kings acquired Laughton in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs before the trade deadline last season. The 32-year-old forward's eight points (5G / 3A) in 21 games with the Kings were enough to earn him a three-year contract extension worth $10.5 million ($3.5M AAV).
NHL Free Agents: Best Available Players in 2025
Once the dust settles on the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL offseason officially commences as the latest wave of free agents hit the market as teams and players alike reevaluate their current situation and plot their next steps toward success.
With a plethora of talent up for grabs every summer, Stanley Cup contenders can be formed as well as broken up through free agency. With NHL signings going down at a breakneck pace throughout the opening days of free agency, we’ll keep you in the loop with our 2025 NHL free agency tracker. You can find all of the latest NHL signings of the free agency period as players switch teams, sign extensions, and change the outlook of the league with a single decision.
Whether you’re a diehard fan of your favourite team and are looking to stay up to date with every move made by the front office, or are an avid daily fantasy sports bettor that wants to prep for their wagers, our NHL free agency tracker is the best destination for all your free agent market news.
Types of Free Agent Markets
Each NHL free agent holds their own unique distinction when signing with a team. These distinctions are made based on a number of factors including age, NHL experience, as well as their current contract situation. NHL free agents are divided by restricted and unrestricted free agents, with each classification of player holding varying rights, including how teams are able to offer them contracts, and the results of receiving an offer.
Below, we take a deep dive into each type of NHL free agent so you can get a thorough understanding of each free agent market type, how they are able to sign with teams, and the possible outcomes from each offseason acquisition.
Restricted Free Agents
A restricted NHL free agent (RFA) is a player that is either under the age of 27 or has been in the NHL for less than seven seasons. Teams hold a form of protection over their restricted free agents, providing them with a sort of insurance if their RFA decides to sign with a new team.
While restricted free agents are technically eligible to sign a new contract with different teams, the process can become messy if a team other than their original squad makes them an offer and they accept. Restricted free agents are only able to sign a standard NHL contract with the team that currently owns the players rights, all other squads must submit an offer sheet if they want to lure away a player from their team. If an offer sheet is made to an RFA, the team who holds the players rights will be left with the option to either match the offer made to their player, or allow the player to sign with the team that made the offer sheet, in return receiving draft compensation depending on the value of the contract offered.
Qualifying Offers
In order for a team to retain a player’s rights heading into the free agency period, they must make a qualifying offer to the player. These offers are in the form of a one-year contract, with the amount offered being formulated depending on the value of their previous contract.
For any player who was on a deal worth $660,000 or less, the qualifying offer they receive must be worth 110% the amount of their previous season’s salary. For a player making between $660,000 and $1,000,000, they must be offered 105% their previous seasons salary. Finally, if a player was making more than $1 million in their previous year of duty, their team must offer them 100% of their previous season’s salary.
These offers are not final and players are eligible to receive greater or lesser valued contracts from the team that holds their rights once free agency begins. Players who reject qualifying offers remain restricted free agents.
Non-Qualified RFAs
If a team decides to not submit a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent on their roster, all non-qualified RFAs instantly become free agents and are welcome to sign contracts with any team come July 1st.
Unrestricted Free Agents
The other form of NHL free agent is the unrestricted free agent (UFA). UFAs have the right to sign their next deal with any team without restriction, as long as the offer they sign complies with league salary cap mandates and rules. Unrestricted free agents are truly what can shake up the free agent market, with many of the leagues top stars entering into the offseason as UFAs.
There are multiple forms of unrestricted free agents, each with their own unique classifications, but don’t necessarily affect the potential value of the contracts offered to them in the offseason. Below are two of the most common UFAs.
Group 3 UFAs
Common among NHL veterans, Group 3 comprises players entering free agency that are 27 or older, or have played in the NHL for more than seven accrued seasons. An accrued season is defined as a season in which a player has suited up for action on an NHL roster in at least 40 games (30 for goalies). Any player that fits this criteria will become an unrestricted free agent once their contract expires in the following offseason.
Group 6 UFAs
Another way that players can become an unrestricted free agent is by being 25 years of age or older and to have played three or more professional hockey seasons under an NHL contract (AHL, ECHL, Europe), but played in less than 80 NHL games (28 for goalies) in their career. Often, Group 6 unrestricted free agents are developing players that, for one reason or another, have not had the chance to crack into an NHL lineup, but still possess experience as a high-level player. There is no difference in the rights of Group 3 and Group 6 unrestricted free agents, but typically the latter will receive smaller contracts, both in terms of value as well as in duration.
Undrafted UFAs
The final way that a player may enter into free agency as an unrestricted free agent is by going undrafted in their three years of draft eligibility. If a player is not selected by an NHL franchise through the draft they are still eligible to crack into a final roster as a free agent.
NHL Free Agency FAQs
Who are the top NHL free agents in 2025?
Some of the top NHL free agents available this summer are Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen, Aaron Ekblad, Nikolaj Ehlers, John Tavares, Brock Boeser, Brad Marchand and Linus Ullmark.
This offseason will bring a stacked crop of free agents to the market that will shape the landscape of the 2025-26 NHL season. Not only will the final landing spots for each of the top 2025 NHL free agents shake up the framework of the league, but will also have major implications on the upcoming fantasy hockey season. Be sure to stay in the know in regard to the latest free agency updates with our NHL player news.
What time does free agency start?
On July 1st, 2025, at 12 PM EST, the 2025 NHL free agency period officially opens. While some players will have all but signed the dotted line up to this point, nothing can become official until noon on Canada Day.