Brennan has agreed on a one-year deal worth $600K with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 24-year-old defenseman was the 31st overall pick in 2007. He is a solid puck moving defenseman who could crack the Maple Leafs blueline next season.
NHL Hockey Player News
Brad Richardson's AAV in VAN is $1.15M on a 2 year deal.
Richardson is a gritty fourth-line forward that brings some toughness that new bench boss John Tortorella should love.
Jeff Schultz to LAK, one year, $700K.
Schultz had three assists and was a minus-6 in 26 games for the Capitals last season. Schultz is a big-body at 6-foot-6, 227 pounds and has 75 careers points in 399 games.
Hurricanes sign Anton Khudobin, 1 year, $800,000.
Khudobin went 9-4-1 with a 2.32 GAA and .920 SV% as the Bruins backup to Tuukka Rask. He will go to Carolina and replace Dan Ellis as Cam Ward's backup.
Rangers have signed C Dominic Moore. The deal is for one year and worth $1 million
In 530 games, Moore, who played for the Sharks in 2011-12, has 67 goals and 185 points. He sat our last season for family reasons.
Signing
Yannick Weber signs 1 way deal/ Vancouver 650K.
Weber only appeared in six games with the Habs last season after dealing with injuries. He has 32 points in 115 career games.
Nashville has signed forward Eric Nystrom to a four-year, $10 million contract. He will make $2 million in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 and $3 million in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Nystrom, 30, has spent the last two seasons with the Dallas Stars, posting 11 points (7g-4a), 61 penalty minutes and ranked among the League leaders in hits (122) while playing in all 48 games in 2012-13
Travis Hamonic signs a 7 year deal with the New York Islanders at 27M total
Hamonic is a great defensive-defenseman at 6-foot-2 and over 200 pounds, but he also has talent in the offensive zone. He has 10 goals and 50 assists in 183 games in his first three seasons with the Islanders.
Valteri Filppula agrees to 5 year deal for $5M per year with TB.
Filppula has spent the first eight years of his career with the Detroit Red Wings scoring 100 goals and 151 assists in 483 games. He had an off year last season totaling only 17 points in 41 games. The 29-year-old Fin had a career high 23 goals in 2011-12.
Handzus and the Blackhawks have agreed on a one-year deal.
The 36-year-old forward had three goals and eight assists in 23 playoff games with Chicago.
The Blackhawks and Rozsival have agreed on a 2-year deal.
Rozsival had 12 assists in 27 games with the Hawks this season as well as four assists in 23 playoff games en route to a Stanley Cup.
Signing
Dallas has signed free agent goaltender Dan Ellis to a two-year contract worth $1.8-million.
Ellis posted a 6-8-2 record with Carolina in 19 games played, recording a .906 save percentage, a 3.13 goals against average and one shutout. The six-year NHL veteran has appeared in 184 career regular season games for Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and Carolina. He has a career record of 78-65-17 with 13 shutouts, a .908 save percentage and a 2.73 goals against average.
Keith Aucoin agreed to a one year deal at $625K with STL.
Aucoin has amassed only 49 points in 143 games (12 points in 2013) with the Islanders, Capitals and Hurricanes.
Signing
LaBarbera has agreed to a 1-year, $1-million dollar deal with the Edmonton Oilers.
LaBarbera will likely serve as the backup to Devan Dubnyk in Edmonton.
Signing
Nashville has signed forward Matt Hendricks to a four-year, $7.4 million contract that will pay him $1.85 million per season through the 2016-17 campaign. The Predators originally drafted Hendricks 131st overall (fifth round) in the 2000 Entry Draft.
Hendricks, 32 (6/17/81), amassed eight points (5g-3a) in 48 games for the Washington Capitals in 2012-13, while leading the team in penalty minutes (73), and ranking third on the team in both face-off efficiency (56.8 percent) and hits (93).
#Isles sign F Pierre-Marc Bouchard to one-year, $2 million deal.
Bouchard has battled concussion issues in his career but had a healthy year last season while scoring eight goals and 12 assists in 43 games.
Stephen Weiss has agreed to terms on a 5-year, $24.5 million dollar deal with the Detroit Red Wings.
Weiss struggled last season because of a wrist injury but before that he had recorded three straight 20 goal seasons, including 28 in 2009-10. He will provide the Red Wings with more forward depth and allows them to continue to play the puck possession game that they love.
Matt Cullen agrees to terms with the Nashville Predators on a 2 years /7M total. #TSN
Cullen had seven goals and 20 assists in 42 games with the Wild last season. He is a solid play-making center having recorded at least 20 assists every season since 2005-06.
7 years, $36.75 for Clarkson and Leafs. Ltd no-trade and no-move clause.
After scoring 30 goals in 2011-12, David Clarkson only potted 15 in 48 games this season. The 6-foot-1-inch, 200 pound forward brings a physical style of play and solid net-front presence. His size along with the addition of Dave Bolland will open up the ice for the smaller Maple Leafs like Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri.
Signing
NSH agrees to 4 year, $12M deal with Viktor Stalberg.
Stalberg posted 23 points in 47 games with the Blackhawks last season. He brings a big-body with a ton of speed to an up-and-coming Nashville team.
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.