Top 25 NHL UFAs of 2026: Will Kempe, Panarin, Tuch go to market?

Nov 13, 2025

Adrian Kempe, Artemi Panarin and Alex Tuch

Perhaps we should’ve known better.

It was fun to hype up the epic-on-paper NHL unrestricted free agent class of 2026, but did the limp 2025 offseason teach us nothing? In the rising-salary-cap world, countless big-ticket UFAs re-signed before going to market, from Brock Nelson to Matt Duchene to John Tavares to Sam Bennett. The message: many high-end players don’t want to leave the comfort of their familiar franchises if it can be helped.

And that was in a landscape where the cap rose from $88 to $95.5 million. With the cap projected at $104 million for 2026-27 and $113.5 million for 2027-28, it’s no wonder so many of 2026’s top UFAs have re-upped over the past couple months.

Kirill Kaprizov. Connor McDavid. Kyle Connor. Jack Eichel. Martin Necas. Name the elite-tier UFA and he’s off the board already. So whom does that leave at the moment?

Over the summer, we previewed the top 10 UFAs of 2026. Now, we take an updated look and grow the list to 25, with the understanding that several of the best options will re-sign in the weeks and months to come.

Disclaimer 1: Reminder that Anze Kopitar plans to retire after this season. He will thus not appear on this list.

Disclaimer 2: I’ve excluded Alex Ovechkin given he’ll only re-sign with the Washington Capitals and nowhere else should he decide to continue his NHL career.

(Ages are as of July 1, 2026)

1. Adrian Kempe, LW, Los Angeles Kings

Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $4,500,000

Kempe’s current deal at $4.5 million per is criminal. He’s 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 we can expect him to land something in the $10-11-million AAV range unless he signs in a no-tax market. Kings GM Ken Holland does have a pretty strong history of retaining his top players (and some not-so-great players) on long-term pacts.

2. 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 had 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 turn 35 next October and has yet to win a Stanley Cup in his career; if the Rangers, who missed the playoffs last season and have struggled to score this 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.

3. Alex Tuch, RW, Buffalo Sabres

Age: 30
2025-26 cap hit: $4,750,000

After the 2024-25 season wrapped, Tuch stated publicly he loved being a Sabre and would be willing to re-sign. But how does he feel a few months later with his team no closer to ending its playoff drought at an NHL-record 14 seasons? 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. The two sides couldn’t get anything done before the season and have tabled talks for now, which doesn’t bode well for Buffalo keeping him.

4. 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? A goaltending-starved wannabe contender 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-sign for considerably less. Could we see two or three years at a $7-million AAV? What about a “long-term” contract similar to 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.

5. Rasmus Andersson, D, Calgary Flames

Age: 29
2025-26 cap hit: $4,550,000

Well, at least the Flames’ struggles have made things less complicated. If they had remained a bubble contender trying to break through after missing the 2024-25 playoffs on a tiebreaker, Andersson might’ve had to be an “own rental.” But with Calgary taking residence in the Pacific Division basement and looking like a lottery team so far this season, Andersson is a virtual lock to get moved. The question is whether an extension will be baked into a trade or if he’ll go somewhere this winter as a pure rental and go to market in July.

6. Nick Schmaltz, RW, Utah Mammoth

Age: 30
2025-26 cap hit: $5,850,000

Tallying between 20 and 23 goals and between 59 and 63 points four years in a row, Schmaltz had established himself as a reliable “you know exactly what you’re getting” secondary scorer. On an ascending Utah team that rolls multiple dangerous lines now, Schmaltz is teasing a higher ceiling just in time for a contract year. Sort of. He’s produced as a point-per-game player, give or take, for extended stretches before, particularly in his injury-shortened 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, but this time he’s doing it at the start of a season. He’s typically a much more productive player in the second half. If he can deliver a wire-to-wire consistent campaign, he’ll set career highs across the board just in time for his walk year.

7. John Carlson, D, Washington Capitals

Age: 36
2025-26 cap hit: $8,000,000

You could make a case for excluding Carlson for the same reason I did Ovechkin. Carlson is a Capitals institution, by far the franchise leader in points among defensemen and soon to be second on Washington’s games list among all positions. He can still quarterback a power play and move the puck. He’s extremely active in the community with his charity work. It would be a surprise if he finished his career anywhere but D.C., but it seems the Caps are taking a wait-and-see approach to their 2026 offseason, so it’s not an absolute zero percent chance that he goes to market.

8. Mike Matheson, D, Montreal Canadiens

Age: 32
2025-26 cap hit: $4,875,000

The versatile Matheson was a higher-end offensive creator when needed for that role and, once Lane Hutson arrived, became more of a veteran presence and all-situations minute muncher. Matheson remains extremely valuable to the Habs and is building chemistry with Noah Dobson on their top pair. There’s a risk of paying Matheson for his impending decline years on his next deal, which will likely carry an AAV in the $7-million range. But even young, rising teams need some veterans, and the Habs will be free of Patrik Laine’s $8.7-million AAV next summer, meaning they shouldn’t be in a bind. They can likely afford to re-sign Matheson and still hunt for that elusive No. 2 center.`

9. Boone Jenner, C, Columbus Blue Jackets

Age: 33
2025-26 cap hit: $3,750,000

Jenner, a heart-and-soul player and the Blue Jackets captain, hasn’t logged a Stanley Cup playoff game since 2019-20. That’s feels cruel. He’s built for postseason hockey. If Columbus falls out of contention by late winter, there will be a feeding frenzy for his services approaching the Trade Deadline. The same will be true if he goes to market next July. On the other hand: he’s the franchise’s career games leader and hasn’t seemed interested in leaving before. The bet here is an extension gets done, but if Columbus’ playoff push stalls again, you have to wonder how many years Jenner can wait until he plays meaningful spring games.

10. Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh Penguins

Age: 39
2025-26 cap hit: $6,100,000

Malkin’s sizzling start has been a ton of fun, but he did this last fall before fading as the grind of the calendar got to his late-30s body. We’ll see if Malkin is cooking when the dog days of February arrive. With his native Russia barred from the Olympics, the break has been earmarked for contract talks with Pens GM Kyle Dubas. But couldn’t you see Malkin getting traded to Florida as an Aleksander Barkov stopgap, then falling in love with the place and re-upping for next year? A Marchand 2.0 situation. Of course, that only works if the Pens fall out of contention

11. Anders Lee, LW, New York Islanders

Age: 35
2025-26 cap hit: $7,000,000

The Isles’ captain is classy, consistent and relatively durable. But with Bo Horvat signed long-term, this team has another ready-made captain, and it could make sense to turn the roster over during a rebuild. Isles GM Mathieu Darche expressed little urgency to re-up Lee before the season. Could Darche be waiting to see if his team is competitive come March? Lee would attract plenty of trade interest.

12. Patrick Kane, RW, Detroit Red Wings

Age: 37
2025-26 cap hit: $3,000,000

When healthy, Kane can still be a power-play asset at this stage of his career. He also still has plenty to play for, currently hunting Mike Modano for the all-time scoring line among American-born players.

I asked Kane point-blank a couple months ago: when you only have so many years left in the NHL, why do you place your faith in a Detroit team that hasn’t made the playoffs in nine years?

“It’s a good situation for me, it really is,” he said, “especially coming into this year with Todd McLellan as a coach. It got a lot better under him last year when we made the switch. The team got a little bit more aggressive, and we started playing better as a team as well. But playing in the top six, playing on the top power play, I think as you get older, you really want to win, and I think we can do that there…And we haven’t been in the playoffs the past couple of years, but we really feel like we’re on the verge and we should do it this year.”

For now, Kane still sees Detroit as somewhere he can win, but will that still be the case if the drought reaches 10 years?

13. Adam Lowry, C, Winnipeg Jets

Age: 33
2025-26 cap hit: $3,250,000

Don’t be surprised if Lowry is gone from this list by the next update. The Jets are intent on keeping their captain, a prototypical third-line center and emotional leader. With Connor re-signing, Gabe Vilardi and Neal Pionk doing the same earlier this year, Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele still signed through 2030-31 and Josh Morrissey under contract a couple more seasons after this one, the Jets clearly believe they’re still in their contention window. Expect a multi-year deal for Lowry soon, perhaps before the calendar reaches 2026, with a couple extra million bucks tacked on to the current AAV.

14. Ryan McDonagh, D, Tampa Bay Lightning

Age: 37
2025-26 cap hit: $6,750,000

McDonagh is more of a 20-minute-a-night guy at his age now, but he’s still mobile enough to stabilize a middle pair while contributing dressing-room leadership. He and Erik Cernak continue to form one of the best shutdown tandems in the NHL. McDonagh’s next contract should be a short one, but he’s arguably still worth his current AAV. He remains vital to the Lightning blueline.

15. Kiefer Sherwood, RW, Vancouver Canucks

Age: 31
2025-26 cap hit: $1.5 million

The Canucks have to be careful here. Dakota Joshua broke out as a crash-and-bang power forward two years ago and earned himself a new contract that he didn’t live up to. Yes, he dealt with testicular cancer last year, which had to influence his performance as he worked his way back into playing shape, but it also was the unsustainable shooting percentage that made his 2023-24 unrepeatable. Now we have Sherwood, the most prolific hitter the game has ever seen, who has buried 11 goals in his first 18 games on 29.7 percent shooting. It’s Joshua 2.0. Still, a bottom-sixer scoring at north of a 40-goal pace while coming off an NHL single-season record 462 hits is a fascinating specimen and a candidate to get a nice (and perhaps ill-advised) raise on a competitive open market, a-la Tanner Jeannot with the Boston Bruins this past summer.

16. Jaden Schwartz, LW, Seattle Kraken

Age: 33
2025-26 cap hit: $5,500,000

It feels like Schwartz has toiled in obscurity out in the Pacific Northwest, playing for a franchise with one playoff appearance in its first four seasons. But Schwartz, who won a Stanley Cup with the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues, still has game. He’s coming off a 26-goal season. He could sign on as a middle-six forward on an elite team or a top-six forward on a middling team as he is now.

17. Mario Ferraro, D, San Jose Sharks

Age: 27
2025-26 cap hit: $3,250,000

Ferraro has been a popular name in trade-rumor talk for a couple seasons now. He plays a simple, grinding game and can log 20-plus minutes a night in his sleep. His under-the-hood defensive metrics typically aren’t pretty, but it’s hard to evaluate them given he’s played on a bottom-dwelling Sharks team. Ferraro might flourish in a depth role on a higher-end team.

18. Frederik Andersen, G, Carolina Hurricanes

Age: 36
2025-26 cap hit: $2,750,000

The Hurricanes still trust Andersen more than Pyotr Kochetkov in playoff situations, but Kochetkov outplayed Andersen in the regular season last year and has so far in 2025-26 as well. If the Canes finally give the keys to Kochetkov, who has another year left on his deal, might Andersen seek a larger starting opportunity next season? The Edmonton Oilers could certainly use him.

19. Mats Zuccarello, RW, Minnesota Wild

Age: 38
2025-26 cap hit: $4,125,000

Over the past three seasons, only seven forwards average more primary assists per 60 on the power play than Zuccarrello. Even if he’s pushing 40 and his body is breaking down, he’s handy as a specialist, and his chemistry with Kirill Kaprizov in Minnesota tells us Zuccarello can still keep up with elite players.

20. Jacob Trouba, D, Anaheim Ducks

Age: 32
2025-26 cap hit: $8,000,000

The bruising hitter has revived his career at an opportune moment with the Ducks surging into competitiveness just in time for his contract year. He and partner Olen Zellweger have won their minutes at 5-on-5 more than any other pair on the team. The Joel Quenneville effect? It’s going to get Trouba a nice multi-year deal, whether it’s in Anaheim or elsewhere.

21. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C, New York Islanders

Age: 33
2025-26 cap hit: $5,000,000

He’s a demon on faceoffs, he can center your third line, he can kill penalties, and he has a history of coming up big in the playoffs. In a rising-cap world, Pageau might actually find a suitor to pay him his current AAV again.

22. Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning

Age: 31
2025-26 cap hit: $5,400,000

The raw talent hasn’t gone anywhere, but Bjorkstrand has struggled to find his scoring touch in a diminished role since arriving in Tampa, with just six goals in 33 games. Bjorkstrand may be entering the “mercenary contract” phase of his career, in which he catches on with a lower-end team that will place him on a scoring line and inflate his trade value.

23. Mason Marchment, LW, Seattle Kraken

Age: 31
2025-26 cap hit: $4,500,000

He functions best as a disruptive middle-sixer who can chip in offense and get in opponents’ heads. That worked well when he was a cog in the Dallas Stars machine. Asked to do a bit more on a weaker Kraken team and playing the most minutes of his career, Marchment has struggled. He feels like a lock to be moved before the Trade Deadline as a rental if Seattle isn’t in playoff contention. As for his next contract: if he continues to disappoint this year, a shorter-term “prove it” deal looks likelier than a long-term pact.

24. Charlie Coyle, C, Columbus Blue Jackets

Age: 34
2025-26 cap hit: $5,250,000

The same teams interested in Pageau should theoretically look into Coyle next summer. Bringing size, playoff experience and penalty-killing acumen, he’s a quintessential third-line center who can play higher up someone’s lineup if injuries strike.

25. Connor Murphy, D, Chicago Blackhawks

Age: 33
2025-26 cap hit: $4,500,000

There will always be a significant market for a big, bruising, right-shot defenseman who can eat minutes, dish out physical punishment and block shots. As we can see with the ice time, which sits at a career-low 14:34 per contest, Murphy is being phased out as the Blackhawks break in a younger brigade of promising blueliners. It’s pretty clear GM Kyle Davidson missed the sell-high window, and Murphy trends toward becoming a depth-rental trade chip at the deadline if the Hawks aren’t in the mix. On the open market in the summer, though? He’ll attract plenty of interest.

Other 2026 UFAs to watch: Cam Talbot, Corey Perry, Patrik Laine, Stuart Skinner, Michael Bunting, Scott Wedgewood, Jordan Eberle

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