Penguins announce signing of enforcer Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond to two year, two-way contract. Worth $550,000 at NHL level.
Letourneau-Leblond is not fantasy relevant.
NHL Signings & Free Agents
Columbus prospect Josh Anderson has signed a three-year entry level contract with the club today.
Anderson, 19, was the 95th overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently a member of the London Knights (OHL) where he has seven goals and eight assists (15 points) in 16 games.
The Phoenix Coyotes have signed free-agent Tyler Gaudet to a three-year entry level contract .
Gaudet, 20, is currently a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. He has 10 goals and 12 assists in 16 games in his second OHL season. Gaudet is expected to finish out the season with Sault Ste. Marie and then turn pro and join the Portland Pirates (AHL).
Signing
The Vancouver Canucks have signed Daniel and Henrik Sedin to four-year, $28 million dollar deals.
Like Daniel, Henrik has played all 13 seasons with Vancouver after being drafted third overall in 1999. One of the NHL's premiere playmakers has 625 assists to go along with 185 goals in 955 career games. He is currently tied for second in the NHL with 18 points (3 G / 15 A).
Signing
The Vancouver Canucks have signed Daniel and Henrik Sedin to four-year, $28 million dollar deals.
Daniel is in his 13th season in the NHL - all with the Canucks. He has 297 goals and 476 assists in 921 career NHL games. He has had a strong start to the 2013-14 season, posting 15 points (6G / 9A) in 15 games. Daniel will remain a Canuck with his brother until they are 37.
The Hurricanes have announced that the team has agreed to terms with center Manny Malhotra on a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay Malhotra $600,000 at the NHL level, or $125,000 at the American Hockey League (AHL) level, with a guarantee of $250,000.
Malhotra, 33, signed a professional tryout contract with Carolina’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, on October 3rd. He has played in eight games with Charlotte this season. He played in nine games with the Vancouver Canucks in 2012-13, sitting out most of the season with a recurring eye injury originally suffered in Vancouver’s game against Colorado on March 16, 2011.
The Canadiens have signed Alexei Emelin to a 4-year $16.4 million contract extension.
The 27-year-old Emelin, is a big, physical defenseman who has been a key part of the Habs blueline when healthy. He is not fantasy relevant having posted just 19 points in 105 career NHL games. Emelin participated in his first practice without a no-contact jersey this morning. He is nearing a return from a torn ligament in his knee.
Signing
The Blackhawks have signed Brad Mills to a one-year contract and recalled him from Rockford (AHL).
Mills has scored one goal and one assist in 31 career NHL games with the Devils.
The Anaheim Ducks have announced a two-year contract extension for tonight's starting goaltender, Frederik Andersen. Deal begins next season.
Andersen gets an extension before he even makes his first career start - which comes tonight.
The Islanders have signed Radek Martinek to a one-year, $600k contract.
Martinek, 37, has appeared in 473 career National Hockey League games, including 466 with the Islanders. Martinek has 25 goals and 82 assists for 107 career points. He’s also appeared in 11 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, all with the Islanders. He has been signed to provide D depth while Lubomir Visnovsky recovers from a concussion.
The Red Wings have signed forward Anthony Mantha to a 3 year entry level contact.
Detroit selected Mantha with the 20th pick at this year's NHL entry draft. He scored 50 goals and 39 assists in 67 games with Val d'Or Foreurs (QMJHL) last season. He has been off to a hot start this year as well, 13 goals and 10 assists (23 points) in eight games (first in QMJHL).
The Los Angeles Kings have signed Scott Sabourin to a three-year, entry level contract.
The undrafted 21-year-old made his professional debut with Manchester at the end of the 2012-13 season after the completion of his 20-year-old season with the Oshawa Generals (30G-20A-50P in 65 games) and had signed a two-year contract with the Monarchs in April.
The Boston Bruins have signed Dennis Seidenberg to a 4 year, $16 million US contract extension. The contract includes a no-trade clause.
Seidenberg has played the last three and a half seasons with the Bruins appearing in 224 games, scoring 18 goals, 63 assists and a plus-45. The 32-year-old is a solid defenseman but is not fantasy relevant except for in deep leagues.
The Minnesota Wild have signed Jason Pominville to a five-year, $28-million US contract extension.
The 30-year-old was acquired by Minnesota on Trade Deadline Day from Buffalo last season. He tallied nine points (4-5=9) in 10 games after coming to Minnesota. Pominville will skate on a line with Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise as the Wild open their regular season tonight.
Radek Dvorak has been signed to a one-year deal that will pay him $600,000 on the NHL level or $125,000 on the American Hockey League level.
Dvorak was with the Hurricanes on a professional tryout. Dvorak split the 2012-13 season between HC Davos of the Swiss league and the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL, totaling seven points in seven games for Davos, and four goals in nine games with the Ducks. He will skate on the Canes third line with Riley Nash and Jeff Skinner.
Penguins have signed LW Chuck Kobasew to a 1-year, $550k contract, team announced.
Kobasew had been with the Penguins on a professional tryout. It looks as if the 31-year-old has cracked the opening night roster on the Pens third line. Kobasew has only 53 points in 200 games in his last four NHL seasons.
Signing
#NHLJets sign undrafted free agent F Axel Blomqvist, who suited up for Jets at Young Stars Classic and attended training camp with team. The three-year, two-way entry-level contract carries an average annual value of $608,000.
Blomqvist had seven goals, 33 points and 66PIM in 59 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes last season. The 18-year-old adds to organizational depth up front. Blomqvist is huge, standing at 6-foot-6, 213 lbs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Phil Kessel to an 8-year, $64 million US ($8 million AAV) contract extension. The contract comes with a no-movement clause and a limited no-trade clause.
Since being traded to the Maple Leafs, Kessel has scored 119 goals in four seasons. He has had three 30-goal seasons and 20 goals in the shortened season (on pace for 34). He is a one dimensional player, but it is hard to find a consistent 30-goal scorer so Kessel will remain the centrepiece of the Maple Leafs roster for the next eight years. In seven NHL seasons with the Bruins and Maple Leafs, he has 185 goals and 379 points in 504 games.
Philadelphia has signed Hal Gill to 1 year deal with an AAV of $700K.
Gill had been in Flyers camp on a tryout basis. He had zero points in 32 games last season, he is not fantasy relevant.
The Nashville Predators have signed free-agent forward Simon Moser to a one-year entry-level contract worth $550,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level. Moser attended Predators training camp under a professional tryout agreement.
Moser has spent the last five seasons with Langnau of the Swiss Elite League, posting 110 points (56G-54A) in 232 games. In 2012-13, the 6-1, 214-pound winger posted 21 points (10g-11a) in 35 games while serving as team captain.
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.