Top-pair defencemen and No. 1 goalies. Bridge candidates and future superstars that need to be locked up ASAP.
The 2024 class of impending restricted free agents offers a little bit of everything.
And while several potential ’23 RFAs avoided the drama and uncertainty by signing well before July 1 (Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson chief among them), plenty of intriguing young names remain unsigned for next season.
As these RFAs look to bank off their platform campaigns and managers wonder how to spend their newfound cap space, plenty of tense negotiations (or trades?) are still on deck.
The situations in Vancouver, Carolina, and Detroit are particularly compelling.
Here’s where things stand with the top 12 RFAs of 2024, with the trade deadline in the rear view.
1. Filip Hronek
Age on July 1: 26
Position: Defence
2023-24 salary cap hit: $4.4 million
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: Right-shot defenceman in his prime. Calder Cup champ. Fine chemistry with franchise player and captain Quinn Hughes. Vancouver spent a first- and second-round pick to acquire. Longest point streak by a Canucks defenceman. Crushing career highs in points (45 and counting) and plus/minus.
The latest: General manger Patrik Allvin confirmed to Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah of Sportsnet 650 that a long-term extension offer has already been presented to Hronek’s camp.
“We like Filip. He’s been a good fit for us,” Allvin said. “We want to keep him. We have put a contract offer out to him, which we feel is fair, so hopefully, we can get a deal done with Filip to stay here in Vancouver.”
Irfaan Gaffar reports that the Canucks’ offer was worth in the vicinity of $52 million over eight years, and it was rejected.
No doubt, Vancouver wants to keep Hronek’s AAV under that of captain Hughes ($7.85 million), but the defenceman will push to get his salary into the 7’s.
Certainly, there is some common ground to be found here, though Hronek does wield the leverage of arbitration and could walk to UFA after one more season.
He holds the same power Elias Pettersson did. And now that Pettersson has committed for maximum term, the Canucks’ top signing priority has become Hronek.
Age on July 1: 23
Position: Defence
2023-24 salary cap hit: $863,333
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: Top-six draft pick. 2022 Calder Trophy winner. Silver medallist at 2023 world championships. Named to 2021 and 2023 world championships all-star team. 6-foot-3, 205-pound right-shot horse with edge. Can run a power-play and kill a penalty. Leads all Red Wings in ice time. Capable of 50 points while taking on hard matchups.
The latest: Seldom do rebuilding clubs mess around trying to nickel-and-dime their young stud defencemen.
Consider how swiftly Ottawa locked up Jake Sanderson with an eight-year, $64.4-million extension. Or how Buffalo gave Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power monster offers they couldn’t refuse to secure their prime seasons.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman should be willing to ink Seider the maximum term of an eight-year extension and make the German his highest-paid defeceman by a mile.
How does an AAV around $8.6 million sound?
That would tuck Seider in just below team captain and payroll leader Dylan Larkin ($8.7 million cap hit).
Age on July 1: 25
Position: Left wing / Centre
2023-24 salary cap hit: $2.5 million
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: Top-10 draft pick. Word juniors medallist. Young centres are hard to find. Colorado gave up a quality defenceman in Bowen Byram to acquire him. Led Sabres in scoring prior to deadline trade and on pace for career high in goals, plus/minus.
The latest: “You see the price they paid. That makes me excited that they really want me here,” Mittelstadt told reporters upon being dealt to Cup-contending Colorado at the deadline.
Mittelstadt’s trade was, in part, influenced by Buffalo’s belief that he and the team were unlikely to agree on long-term contract this off-season.
The Avalanche needs to solidify its 2C spot, so why not go young?
“He’s a very good playmaking centre with really good vision. We think the last two years, his game has taken a jump. He’s gotten stronger with experience, and we think there might even be another level to his game. And we think we have a very good role for him. So we’re excited to get him in the burgundy and blue and go from there,” Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland said.
Mittelstadt says he’ll leave extension talks to his agent. Nothing is imminent.
No doubt, how the forward fits and performs this postseason will be a factor.
“We’ll dive into that. It’s certainly something that we do an assessment on before we do any type of transaction like that. He has arbitration rights, and that’ll take care of itself once we get through the rigors of the rest of the regular season, the playoffs, but it’s something that we certainly [planned for],” said MacFarland, who has cap space opening up this summer.
“We didn’t just do [the trade] without sort of glancing at what that may look like. But, again, his age, his upside, sort of his last two years certainly we’re hoping are indicative of how he’s going to fit in and where he’s going to go.”
Age on July 1: 22
Position: Right wing / Left wing
2023-24 salary cap hit: $925,000
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: Fourth-overall pick. World junior star twice over for Sweden. Two-time 20-goal, 57-point forward. Youth fits well with Red Wings’ trajectory for improvement.
The latest: While Yzerman keeps his plans under lock and key, the Detroit GM’s previous actions may tell us where things may go with Raymond.
When Yzerman signed stud RFA Alex DeBrincat to a four-year contract averaging $7.875 million per season, he suggested a preference for mid-term commitments instead of longer deal — like, say, the seven-year, $49-million whopper Anaheim gave to RFA Troy Terry last summer.
“You’re starting to see more players, at least this offseason, and I think it might be a trend, signing shorter-term contracts, not necessarily going the full seven, eight years,” Yzerman said in the off-season.
“I’m not sure I have a hard-set philosophy on contracts. There’s risk in every deal. There’s short-term risk, you lose control of the player. On the back end, the long-term risk is a lot of things can happen that affect a player’s ability to perform on a long-term deal.
“What is my philosophy? I try to make a deal with the player, try to understand what they’re looking for and what’s important to them, but ultimately, I’m comfortable. I like these mid-term deals.”
Something to keep in mind as talks heat up.
5. Seth Jarvis
Age on July 1: 22
Position: Right wing
2023-24 salary cap hit: $894,167
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: First-round pick. Eight playoff goals in 29 games. Hit 20 goals and 50 points with weeks to spare. Hurricanes need his offence. Carolina has plenty of cap space opening up for 2024-25.
The latest: The benefits of buying out Patrick Marleau’s Maple Leafs contract are now paying off big-time for the Hurricanes. Jarvis — drafted with the pick Carolina obtained from Toronto to take an aging Marleau’s bad money — is emerging as an impact winger who delivers on the power-play and in clutch situations.
While GM Don Waddell’s decisions on key UFAs Teuvo Teravainen, Jake Guentzel, Jordan Martinook, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo will be more complicated and costly, keeping Jarvis in the fold is a no-brainer.
Because Jarvis is just now emerging from his entry-level deal, the team holds the hammer.
Does Waddell wish to go bridge?
Or will the Canes bet big that Jarvis could break out and lock him up long-term the way they did with Andrei Svechnikov as he wrapped his ELC?
Age on July 1: 22
Position: Defence
2023-24 salary cap hit: $863,333
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: First-round pick. Youngest roster player in the 2020 Cup Final. 2021 world junior silver medallist for Team Canada. Superb showing for Stars during their 2023 run to the Western Conference final. Breakout campaign with career highs in all categories. Only Miro Heiskanen logs more minutes for Dallas this season.
The latest: The emergence of slowly groomed Harley has been an incredible subplot for the Dallas Stars this season, as they speed toward another legitimate stab at a championship.
GM Jim Nill, you’ll recall, bridged his last breakout RFA, Jason Robertson, so he may well do the same with Harley — who only has one full NHL campaign on his resume and lacks the arbitration leverage of teammates Ty Dellandrea and Sam Steel.
Whether it’s this summer or one down the line, however, Harley is building a sturdy case for a significant windfall.
Nill already has veteran lefties Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Ryan Suter under contract for 2024-25, but Harley’s youth and impressive offensive acumen will be needed.
Age on July 1: 25
Position: Goaltender
2023-24 salary cap hit: $3.475 million
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: World juniors medallist. 2023 William Jennings Trophy co-winner. Career save percentage of .919. Three consecutive 20-win seasons. 2024 All-Star Game representative. Big hugger.
The latest: Despite sharing the Boston Bruins’ crease with pal Linus Ullmark, Swayman has played an integral role in the club’s run to the 2023 Presidents’ Trophy and its bid for another Atlantic Division title this season.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in early March that Swayman and GM Don Sweeney had already begun negotiating his next contract, which should be a biggie now that the goaltender has sparkled during his one-year prove-it pact.
Swayman politely declined comment on the report but did not deny that talks were underway.
The goalie, remember, went through arbitration last summer, where he said he was subjected to “hearing things that a player should never hear” before getting a one-year award.
An inevitable raise for Swayman puts the future of tandem mate Linus Ullmark (locked into a $5 million cap hit in 2024-25) in question.
An in-season Ullmark trade (possibly to L.A.) was discussed but not completed.
“I’m not ever going to get into a conversation with what I may have talked to Linus about,” Sweeney said on March 8. “I’ve acknowledged we’ve explored different situations, and we had opportunities to move different players.
“I really like the tandem we have right now. I’m very happy that we’ve [stood] pat there.
“Both goalies benefit from having a strong relationship, from pushing each other, knowing it’s hard to get the net because the other guy’s really good too. And the team responds to that as well.”
Bottom line: Boston’s crease will be too expensive if both Swayman and Ullmark are in the lineup for opening night in October.
Age on July 1: 21
Position: Centre / Left wing
2023-24 salary cap hit: $894,167
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: 2020 world junior gold medallist. 2021 world junior silver medallist. Second-overall pick. Enjoying breakout season and should hit 20 goals and 50 points. Scored best highlight goal of 2024. Earning more trust from coaches as season goes on and a promotion to top power-play unit. Teams generally like 6-foot-5, 220-pound centremen with skill.
The latest: Byfield is a prime example of patience paying off.
The second-overall choice of the 2020 draft failed to make the instant splash that the player selected immediately after did (Tim Stutzle), but the Los Angeles Kings let their impact forward develop in the AHL and are now reaping the benefits.
“He’s really stepped up there, just his overall game. The pace that he plays with, it definitely helps our team,” Rob Blake said in March.
The general manager must soon make a decision here: Attempt to lock up Byfield long-term ($6.5 million or $7 million AAV?) and bet the player outperforms his cap hit? Or bridge a player that has really only has one good NHL campaign under his belt?
By virtue of his performance, Byfield has pushed his file to the top of the priority list in L.A. — right there with acquiring a dependable goaltender for 2024-25.
9. Martin Necas
Age on July 1: 25
Position: Right wing / Centre
2023-24 salary cap hit: $3 million
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: First-round draft pick. Calder Cup champion. Star forward for Team Czech Republic at three world juniors and a world championship. Two-time 20-goal man on a team that needs offence. Capable of 70 points.
The latest: The difference between negotiating with RFA top-six forwards Necas and Jarvis is that the former has arbitration rights and has already made good on his prove-it bridge contract.
OK, it’s time to get paid, Necas must be thinking.
The dynamic playmaker is one of 11 Hurricanes on an expiring contract and should be a core member of the group going forward.
Where his number lands, however, is up for debate as Waddell — under council of owner Tom Dundon, of course — appears content to put aside most of the serious negotiating until the post-season, and hopefully a deep run, wraps.
10. Matty Beniers
Age on July 1: 21
Position: Centre
2023-24 salary cap hit: $897,500
Arbitration rights: No
Bargaining chips: 2021 world junior gold medallist and world championships bronze medallist, as the youngest player on both teams. 2022 Olympian. Second-overall draft pick and first-ever selection by the Seattle Kraken. 2023 Calder Trophy winner. Scored 24 goals and 57 points as a rookie.
The latest: If Beniers could swap last season’s stat line and this season’s, he probably would.
A victim of the sophomore slump, Beniers’ down year production-wise (10 goals and 28 points through his first 62 games) has aligned with the Kraken’s tumble out of the playoff picture and resulted in a rather underwhelming platform campaign.
His bargaining position is compromised, which has us wondering if a short-term deal is the solution here.
GM Ron Francis revealed at his trade-deadline press conference that he held preliminary extension discussions with Beniers’ camp over the summer.
“We’ll pick that up once the season is done,” said Francis, who is not afraid to play hardball.
For the Kraken to excel, the club needs Beniers to live up to his promise.
“He’s definitely felt the pressure since he’s came into the organization, since Day 1. We were a struggling team, and he was kind of looked at as the saviour of our team. And I’m sure he’s been hearing that a lot and knowing that is going to have a prominent role ever since he’s been drafted,” teammate Vince Dunn said.
“When you see a guy maybe going through a little slump or going through hardships, I just try to get ’em going. Make him realize how important they are to the team and how much potential they do have, and hopefully they can bring that out in themselves.”
11. Sean Durzi
Age on July 1: 25
Position: Defence
2023-24 salary cap hit: $1.7 million
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: 2019 Memorial Cup all-star. Back-to-back 30-plus-point campaigns. Big, right-shot defenceman with power-play prowess.
The latest: Already on his third franchise, Durzi has found increased opportunity and quiet success in the desert, where he should set new career highs in goals and points by the time his current bridge deal (signed by the Kings, who traded him to Arizona over the summer) ends.
“Like a lot of young players, he needs to work on his consistency, game management, decision-making process under pressure, but he does a lot of good things,” coach Andre Tourigny said midseason. “We believe a lot in him, so we expect a lot.”
Durzi’s role, power-play and otherwise, can grow with experience and with fellow righty Matt Dumba getting dealt at the deadline.
“He has a good shot, but he needs to take the hesitation out of his game,” Tourigny said. “He overthinks some situations. He has to be a little bit more fluid, more quick in execution, especially to take a shot. Sometimes, he is a little bit predictable, but I think he has a lot of talent. He sees the ice really well, and he can be deceptive.”
Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong is staring at off-season negotiations with seven(!) restricted free agents, all of whom hold arb rights. His decisions over the next few months will have a lasting impact on his roster.
Durzi and the Kings held tense contract talks that didn’t get finalized until right before 2022’s training camp. He was traded for a second-round pick less than year later.
12. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Age on July 1: 25
Position: Goaltender
2023-24 salary cap hit: $837,500
Arbitration rights: Yes
Bargaining chips: World junior gold medallist. Red Tilson Trophy winner. Set career highs this season in games played, wins and save percentage. Winning record for a struggling squad. GMs love big goalies, and UPL stands 6-foot-5, 217 pounds. The Sabres have plenty of cap space.
The latest: Luukkonen is enjoying a breakout season in a year that was originally billed in Buffalo as prospect Devon Levi’s coming-out party.
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has been doling out long-term extensions to RFAs lately (Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Dylan Cozens), banking on improvement and building a young core.
As well as Luukkonen has performed this season, we don’t see a similar deal in the cards here. His sample size of excellence is as small as it is encouraging.
The organization has high hopes for Levi, so a mid-term deal make more sense for UPL and would ease the pressure on Levi to elevate as an NHL Number 1 before he’s had a good development run.
More notable pending RFAs: Cole Perfetti, Yegor Chinakhov, Eeli Tolvanen, Kirill Marchenko, Jack Drury, Cole Sillinger, Alexandre Texier, Simon Holmstrom, Ryan Lindgren, Barrett Hayton, Calen Addison, Timothy Liljegren, Dawson Mercer, Bobby Brink, Anton Lundell, Connor McMichael, Carl Grundstrom, Henri Jokiharju, Akira Schmid, Dustin Wolf, Nick Robertson, Filip Zadina, Sam Steel, Shane Pinto, Alex Vlasic, J.J. Moser
Contract info via the excellent CapFriendly.com.
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