Top 10 NHL unrestricted free agents of 2026: A sneak peek
The NHL isn’t quite ready to hang up its collective “Gone fishing” sign, as Brad Treliving likes to say, but the initial crush of free agency is over, and we’re slowly drifting into the league’s quiet period.
The majority of roster movement to set teams up for the 2025-26 season is over. But where will we be a year from now or, more specifically, 362 days from now? That’s when the UFA class of 2026 drops. It has potential to be a landmark group, bursting with top-end talent just as the salary cap jumps from $95.5 million to $104 million.
The truth? Most of the top superstar UFAs don’t make it to market. Many of the names on the list below won’t be available July 1, 2026. But that’s why it’s fun to talk about them now. When else will we get to write a Top 10 UFAs piece that includes Connor McDavid on it? Indulge me.
Here’s a sneak peek at the best players slated to become unrestricted free agents next summer. Note: I considered Alex Ovechkin and Anze Kopitar for the list, but neither is a lock to continue playing and neither would be likely to leave his team if he did. There are many other big-ticket UFAs next season, from Mattias Ekholm to Evgeni Malkin, and we’ll dig deeper into them at a later date. For now: just a teaser showing the current top 10.
(Ages as of July 1, 2026)
1. Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $12,500,000
The millennium’s greatest hockey talent, a solid bet to become the sport’s second 2,000-point scorer someday, will become the highest-paid player in NHL history beginning in 2026-27. Whether he’s earning $16 million, taking a haircut again to help the Oilers build around him, or a number closer to his actual value at, say $18 million, the deal will be a record-setter. He’s probably worth 20 percent of the $104 million cap a year from now, which would be $20.8 million, but it would be a shock if he took that much. He’s too hellbent on winning. Chances are, this will be the only space in which we discuss Connor McDavid, Unrestricted Free Agent, as he’ll probably sign a monstrous extension before the summer is up, just like teammate and best friend Leon Draisaitl did a year ago. If McDavid doesn’t, and he enters next season unsigned, speculation will run rampant. Is he waiting for the Oilers to prove they’re still a Stanley Cup contender? Is he dreaming of a Toronto homecoming? Is he curious about pulling a Gretzky or Messier and taking his talents to Los Angeles or New York? It’s fun to speculate. May as well do it now while we can, as it will be quite the jaw-dropper if he actually goes to market.
2, Kiril Kaprizov, LW, Minnesota Wild
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $9,000,000
Like many of the names on this pipe-dream list, superstar scoring winger Kaprizov is highly likely to stay with his current team. Cap space is not a problem at all for Minnesota with the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyout cap hits down to $833,333 apiece and the cap reaching $104 million in a year. And as The Athletic’s Michael Russo points out, right now is the final window for Kaprizov to land eight years on a contract. With max term length shrinking by a year in the next CBA, an internal extension would top out at seven years, and signing on the open market would mean he can only score six years. It feels like getting a deal done soon would be wise for both parties. Kaprizov can lock himself in for eight years at huge number and avoid decreasing his worth if he gets hurt again this coming season. The Wild also run the risk of turning Kaprizov off he plays this coming season unsigned and they don’t show progress as a team. It would be a mild upset if he doesn’t re-sign before the summer is up.
3. Jack Eichel, C, Vegas Golden Knights
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $10,000,000
If it were any other team…we’d assume it was a done deal, right? Eichel has been everything Vegas hoped he’d be when they landed him in a blockbuster 2021 trade and gambled on letting him have experimental disk replacement surgery in his neck. He’s a Stanley Cup champion and one of the NHL’s best all-around centers. There’s reportedly mutual interest in maintaining the partnership for years to come, particularly with Mitch Marner joining the fray as an ideal winger for Eichel. But the Golden Knights chase the shiny thing like no franchise this generation and just loaded $12 million of Marner onto their cap. If no deal gets done by next summer and Eichel’s game shows any sign of decline this season, there’s no telling what GM Kelly McCrimmon would do. This is the team that traded Marc-Andre Fleury for literally nothing right after he won the Vezina Trophy, after all. That said: Eichel belongs with McDavid and Kaprizov in the “they’re almost certainly staying” tier. I’m not trying to drum up buzz, here, merely pointing out the Vegas brass’ history of ruthlessness.
4. Kyle Connor, LW, Winnipeg Jets
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $7,142,857
While Mark Scheifele and especially Connor Hellebuyck signed their extensions for below market value two years ago, Connor has already been signed below market value as a huge bargain over the course of his current pact, averaging 41 goals and 86 points per 82 games in the first six seasons of the deal. He’s owed serious coin on his next one. Adjusting for the cap inflation, he’s an $11 million player now, perhaps even $12 million given what he’d get on the open market at this point. As we saw with Marner this past season, playing without a contract for next season can be a major distraction in a hockey-mad Canadian market. The Jets will want to get a deal done before then and avoid a feeding frenzy for the speedy Connor’s services next summer.
5. Artemi Panarin, LW, New York Rangers
Age: 34
2025-26 cap hit: $11,642,857
Panarin will go down as one of the most successful big-ticket UFA signings of all time, joining the likes of Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa. Over the first six seasons of the Bread Man’s seven-year pact with the Broadway Blueshirts, only Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon have more points. Panarin has been named a first-team All-Star twice and finished top-five in the Hart Trophy vote twice as a Ranger, too. But his future feels cloudy. Panarin will be 34 next summer and has yet to win a Stanley Cup in his career; he didn’t join up with the Chicago Blackhawks as a Calder Trophy winning rookie until the year after their last title. If the Rangers, who missed the playoffs last season, don’t reverse course and become a contender again, does Panarin want to re-up on a sinking ship? And from Rangers GM Chris Drury’s perspective, would it be risky to re-sign a declining Panarin? It might make more sense to cash him out for a major haul approaching the 2026 Trade Deadline. Better yet, with a potentially loaded UFA class featuring some younger impact players, the Rangers will want cap flexibility as a franchise that never has trouble wooing stars. Earlier this week, Drury declined to comment on whether the Rangers and Panarin are negotiating a new deal. If I’m placing a bet right now as to whom the top Trade Deadline prize will be, and/or whom the belle of the 2026 free agent ball will be, it’s Panarin.
6. Adrian Kempe, LW, Los Angeles Kings
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $4,500,000
Connor is a bargain, yes, but Kempe at $4.5 million is criminal, having scored between 28 and 41 goals in four consecutive seasons, bringing an edge along with his sniping ability and elevating his game in the postseason, where he averages 44 goals per 82 games in his career. There’s a premium on players of his ilk, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him double his AAV on his next pact, whether he’s remaining a King or subject to a bidding war next summer. New GM Ken Holland struck out pretty badly in his free agent additions but does have a pretty strong history of retaining his top players (and some not-so-great players) on long-term pacts.
7. Martin Necas, RW, Colorado Avalanche
Age: 27
2025-26 cap hit: $6,500,000
Necas wasn’t happy with his role as a Carolina Hurricane, believing his considerable puck skills could produce a lot more offense if he got a chance. His scoring rate actually dipped considerably after his trade to the Avs despite the fact he played 2:25 more per contest. Some reports have surfaced indicating Necas didn’t love his fit in Colorado, and he appeared on Frank Seravalli’s Daily Faceoff Trade Targets board last month, predicted to play without an extension this season in hopes of driving his value well north of $9 million per year.
8. Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Florida Panthers
Age: 37
2025-26 cap hit: $10,000,000
Remember when ‘Bob’ had one of the NHL’s worst contracts a few years back? Now he’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Panthers, a certified stud clutch goaltender, a 400-game winner and, having won two Vezina Trophies before signing with the Cats, a surefire Hall of Famer. Who would’ve expected he could ever flirt with another $10 million AAV on a contract? Teams are desperate enough league wide to find reliable playoff goaltending that someone would likely pay him that much on a short-term deal next year. But if Florida continues keeping the band together and inking players to team-friendly pacts that break the game, we can expect Bob to re-up for considerably less. Could we see three years at a $7 million AAV? What about a long-term contract similar to Brad Marchand’s, guaranteed to land ‘Bob’ on LTIR halfway through? As coach Paul Maurice said a few months back, “The future of the Florida Panthers is Sergei Bobrovsky.” They made that pretty clear when they traded Spencer Knight.
9. Rasmus Andersson, D, Calgary Flames
Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $4,550,000
It doesn’t feel like Andersson’s next contract will be signed with the Flames, who have been fielding offers for the right-shot blueliner in recent weeks. If they can bake an extension into a trade, they can ensure a bigger return. On the other hand, Andersson is coming off a relatively down year; if he remains a Flame and has a strong 2025-26 season, he could fetch a major haul as a rental. But things get complicated if they hold him into the season and remain a bubble playoff team. If you’re close to earning a spot, do you need him as an own rental? That would mean you risk losing him for nothing next summer. It feels like the best resolution for everyone is to work out a trade now.
10. Alex Tuch, RW, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 30
2025-26 cap hit: $4,750,000
After the 2024-25 season wrapped, Tuch stated publicly he loves being a Sabre and would be willing to re-sign. But how does he feel a few weeks later after seeing the underwhelming return for JJ Peterka? Does this team feel any closer to ending its playoff drought at an NHL-record 14 seasons? It sure seems like Buffalo has gotten worse, not better, which could give Tuch pause. If he and the Sabres don’t strike a deal, he’ll be one of the hottest commodities approaching the Trade Deadline as a big-bodied scorer with a strong two-way game. Given how many teams failed to address their needs this summer with so many top-end UFAs re-signing before going to market, there should be a demand Tuch right this second if GM Kevyn Adams is willing to stomach another trade of a top-six forward.
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