NHL Free Agents 2026: Top 50 List by Position

Last updated June 17, 2026. This board is reconciled against the latest signings, trades, and retirements. Players drop off the moment they re-sign. See the Live Updates log below for the most recent moves.

The NHL Free Agents 2026 class that hits July 1 is the thinnest elite tier in years, and that scarcity is exactly what makes it dangerous. With Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota, 8×$17M), Jack Eichel (Vegas, 8×$13.5M), and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg, 8×$12M) all signing extensions that lock in for 2026-27, the genuine 2026 unrestricted free agent pool has collapsed into what I'm calling The Survivor Market. Alex Tuch (30, Buffalo) headlines a class defined by who escaped an extension, not who chose to test the open market.

Here is the definition, up front: the 2026 NHL free agents are the players whose contracts expire this summer and who are still unsigned as of June 17, 2026. This page ranks the genuine July 1 unrestricted free agents (UFAs) by position, with ages at the July 1 opening bell, current cap hits, and the market tier each falls into. It is a living board: every name here has been web-verified as still available, and anyone who re-signs, retires, or is traded-and-extended gets pulled.

Live Updates

• May 26, 2026: Evgeni Malkin re-signed with Pittsburgh (1 year, $5.5M) and is off the board.

• Apr 27, 2026: Anže Kopitar played his final NHL game and is retiring, removed from the pool.

• Mar 6, 2026: John Carlson was traded Washington to Anaheim; he stays a pending UFA, now listed with the Ducks.

• Jan 18, 2026: Rasmus Andersson was traded Calgary to Vegas (Calgary retains 50%); still a pending 2026 UFA.

The Survivor Market, in two numbers

Class	Top UFA AAV	Who
2025 (last year)	$13.5M	Jack Eichel, 8-year extension, Vegas
2026 (projected)	~$9.0M	Alex Tuch, projected top of the market

A roughly $4.5M elite-tier collapse in a single year. That gap is The Survivor Market, priced in two numbers. Kaprizov and Eichel now sit atop our highest-paid rankings, which is exactly why the open market thinned out.

Key Takeaways

• The Survivor Market is real: after the Kaprizov, Eichel, and Connor extensions, Alex Tuch (30) is the only genuine first-line scorer on the July 1 board, with Patrik Laine and Patrick Kane the next names down the wing.

• Defense is the deepest tier: 13 legitimate top-four defensemen are available, led by Darren Raddysh, Rasmus Andersson, and John Carlson. This is where the real July 1 money flows in 2026.

• Center is the thinnest: no first-line center is available. Boone Jenner, Claude Giroux, and Jason Dickinson head a group built on bottom-six veterans, not difference-makers.

• One starting goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky (37) is the only starter-caliber netminder on the board. Everyone behind him is a backup or tandem option, which pushes goalie-needy teams into the trade market.

• Projected top contract: Alex Tuch at roughly 7 years × $9M ($63M total) is my top projection. The ceiling rides entirely on Buffalo's spring playoff run translating into bargaining room.

Coined Concept

The Survivor Market

A 2026 UFA pool defined by who escaped extensions, not who chose to test free agency. After Kaprizov, Eichel, and Kyle Connor signed extensions that lock in for 2026-27 (and 2025-cycle stars like Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, and Mikko Rantanen never reached this market), the remaining class became survivors of the extension wave. The result: Tuch's projected $9M tops a market that, in a normal year, would crown a $12M-plus contract.

NHL Free Agents 2026 by Position: Quick Index

Four position tables follow. Each row lists the player, age at the July 1, 2026 opening, current team, 2025-26 cap hit, and the market tier I've slotted them into: Elite ($8M+ AAV projection), Mid ($4-8M), or Depth (under $4M). This is The Survivor Market, ranked, tiered, and ready for July 1.

Wingers: Top NHL Free Agents 2026

The winger list is where the thin top tier shows up hardest. The extensions wiped out the elite scorers, leaving Tuch as the only legitimate first-line, 30-goal threat on the July 1 board. Behind him, the value is in reclamation bets and aging stars on short deals.

Top Wingers, 2026 NHL Free Agents

#	Player	Age	Team	2025-26 Cap Hit	Tier
1	Alex Tuch	30	BUF	$4.75M	Elite
2	Alexander Ovechkin	40	WSH	$9.5M	Mid (bridge)
3	Patrik Laine	28	MTL	$8.7M	Mid
4	Mason Marchment	31	CBJ	$4.5M	Mid
5	Anthony Mantha	31	PIT	$2.5M	Mid
6	Anders Lee	35	NYI	$7.0M	Mid
7	Patrick Kane	37	DET	$3.0M	Mid
8	Jaden Schwartz	34	SEA	$5.5M	Mid
9	Vladimir Tarasenko	34	MIN	$4.75M	Mid
10	Oliver Bjorkstrand	31	TB	$5.4M	Mid
11	Michael Bunting	30	DAL	$4.5M	Mid
12	Viktor Arvidsson	33	BOS	$4.0M	Mid
13	Mats Zuccarello	38	MIN	$4.125M	Mid
14	Eeli Tolvanen	27	SEA	$3.475M	Depth
15	Ilya Mikheyev	31	CHI	$4.75M	Depth
16	Jeff Skinner	34	SJS	$3.0M	Depth
17	Reilly Smith	35	VGK	$2.0M	Depth
18	Brandon Saad	33	VGK	$2.0M	Depth
19	Corey Perry	41	TB	$2.0M	Depth
20	Victor Olofsson	30	CGY	$1.575M	Depth
21	Marcus Johansson	35	MIN	$800K	Depth

Buffalo's playoff return handed Tuch's agent exactly the leverage they needed: a long run pushes his AAV toward $9M, while an early exit knocks it back to the $7.5M range. Further down, Corey Perry is the wildcard nobody talks about. Perry just reached his sixth Stanley Cup Final with one ring on the resume, and at $2M he is a veteran insurance policy with playoff pedigree that cap-floor teams quietly value in late June. PuckPedia's pending-UFA tracker and Daily Faceoff's 2026 board confirm this as the top winger group as of June 17, 2026.

Centers: Top NHL Free Agents 2026

Center is the shallowest position in The Survivor Market. There is no first-line option here. The list runs on second-line tweeners and respected veterans, with several future Hall of Famers weighing whether to keep playing at all.

Top Centers, 2026 NHL Free Agents

#	Player	Age	Team	2025-26 Cap Hit	Tier
1	Boone Jenner	33	CBJ	$3.75M	Mid
2	Claude Giroux	38	OTT	$2.0M	Mid
3	Jason Dickinson	30	EDM	$4.25M	Mid
4	Erik Haula	35	NSH	$3.15M	Depth
5	Scott Laughton	32	LAK	$3.0M	Depth
6	Adam Henrique	36	EDM	$3.0M	Depth
7	Jack Roslovic	29	EDM	$1.5M	Depth
8	Teddy Blueger	31	VAN	$1.8M	Depth
9	Jonathan Toews	38	WPG	$2.0M	Depth
10	Lars Eller	37	OTT	$1.25M	Depth
11	Noel Acciari	34	PIT	$2.0M	Depth

Claude Giroux is the most interesting name here. At 38 he is still a power-play driver, and Ottawa wants him back, but a contender short a top-nine center could pry him loose. The rest is bottom-six work: Boone Jenner's leadership and Jason Dickinson's defensive value will both find homes, just not at the price a first-line center commands. For teams that strike out here, the message our team-by-team need map keeps repeating is to solve center on the trade market, because July 1 simply does not have one.

Defensemen: Top NHL Free Agents 2026: The Deepest Tier

This is where The Survivor Market flips upside down. Defense has 13 legitimate top-four options, led by a breakout in Darren Raddysh and a pair of right-shot veterans in Rasmus Andersson and John Carlson. Expect the biggest July 1 contract in the entire class to come from this list.

Top Defensemen, 2026 NHL Free Agents

#	Player	Age	Team	2025-26 Cap Hit	Tier
1	Darren Raddysh	30	TB	$0.975M	Mid
2	Rasmus Andersson	29	VGK	$4.55M	Mid
3	John Carlson	36	ANA	$8.0M	Mid
4	Jacob Trouba	32	ANA	$8.0M	Mid
5	Connor Murphy	33	EDM	$4.4M	Mid
6	Mario Ferraro	27	SJS	$3.25M	Mid
7	Jamie Oleksiak	33	SEA	$4.6M	Mid
8	John Klingberg	33	SJS	$4.0M	Mid
9	Radko Gudas	36	ANA	$4.0M	Mid
10	Brett Kulak	32	COL	$2.75M	Depth
11	Tony DeAngelo	30	NYI	$1.75M	Depth
12	Mike Reilly	32	CAR	$1.1M	Depth
13	Brent Burns	41	COL	$1.0M	Depth

Raddysh is the prize. At 30 he is hitting peak production off a $975K cap hit, and my projection has him at 6 years × $7.5M, with Detroit and New Jersey the likeliest landing spots. I covered Rasmus Andersson's asking price and Calgary exit before his move to a cap-squeezed Vegas, and Steve Yzerman's Red Wings reset is the exact franchise dynamic that makes both Andersson and Raddysh clean Detroit fits.

The smartest play in this market is on the blue line. If you miss on Tuch, you overpay Andersson or Raddysh by a million and lock six years of top-four minutes. The Survivor Market rewards teams that value defense before July 1.

— Mike Johnson, NHL Senior Editor

Goalies: Top NHL Free Agents 2026: Starter Drought

The 2026 goalie class is the weakest piece of The Survivor Market. There is exactly one starter, and he is 37. Teams that need netminding will push the trade market, because July 1 offers only backup and tandem options.

Top Goalies, 2026 NHL Free Agents

#	Player	Age	Team	2025-26 Cap Hit	Tier
1	Sergei Bobrovsky	37	FLA	$10.0M	Elite (bridge)
2	Frederik Andersen	36	CAR	$2.75M	Mid
3	Stuart Skinner	27	PIT	$2.6M	Mid
4	Cam Talbot	38	DET	$2.5M	Depth
5	James Reimer	38	OTT	$0.85M	Depth

Stuart Skinner is the name to watch. Only 27, he was dealt Edmonton to Pittsburgh for Tristan Jarry in December and now reaches free agency young enough to bet on. My Vezina Verdict piece on Connor Hellebuyck explains why the real goalie movement happens on the trade market, not in this thin UFA pool.

There is exactly one starting goaltender on this board, and he is 37. Every other team chasing a netminder is forced into the trade market, which is why Bobrovsky's next deal quietly sets the entire goalie market.

— Mike Johnson, NHL Senior Editor

2026 UFA Class Grade: The Survivor Market

Here is the tier-by-tier grade of the 50-player board after the Kaprizov, Eichel, and Connor extensions.

2026 UFA Class Grade by Tier

Tier	Grade	Players	Projected AAV
Elite	C+	2 (Tuch, Bobrovsky)	$8M+
Mid	B	27	$4-8M
Depth	B-	21	Under $4M
Overall	C	50 total	Weakest elite tier in years

Verdict

The 2026 UFA class earns a C overall, the thinnest elite tier in years, rescued from D-territory by exceptional defensive depth. Expect teams to overpay Raddysh, Andersson, and Tuch because the alternative is a 36-year-old Carlson or a trade-market gamble.

The Survivor Market Verdict: Who Gets Paid, Who Gets Left

July 1 will be defined less by superstar signings and more by which mid-tier deals blow up relative to the market. My three bold projections:

• Alex Tuch lands at 7×$9M ($63M total): Buffalo offers 8 years at $8.5M; Tuch bets on his playoff bargaining edge and finds 7×$9M elsewhere. Likely destinations: Detroit, New Jersey, or Columbus.

• Darren Raddysh is the biggest bargain-to-contract jump: from $975K to $7.5M AAV on a six-year deal. Tampa re-signs at that number, or New Jersey overpays at $8M.

• Bobrovsky stays in Florida on a bridge: a 2-year, $6M-ish deal. With no other starter available, the Panthers and Bobrovsky both have every reason to keep the band together.

The July 1 bidding war happens on defense. Wingers are reclamation bets, centers are bottom-six help, and goaltending is a trade-market problem. This is the kind of class where smart teams buy low at the deadline instead of paying July 1 premiums, and where cap-floor teams get punished for waiting. Our cap-floor list shows exactly who has to spend.

Free Agency Watchlist: Storylines That Reshape The Survivor Market

Off-season storylines move free-agent prices faster than April playoff games. Here is what I am watching between now and July 1, graded by how much each shifts the math.

Off-Season Watchlist, Impact Grade

Storyline	Impact	What it moves
Buffalo's playoff run	A	Tuch's AAV, a swing of up to $1.5M
Cap jump to $104M	A-	The largest single-year leap; +8.9% spending headroom league-wide
Bobrovsky's decision	B+	Sets the entire goalie market; forces needy teams to trade
Carlson and Trouba in Anaheim	B	Two veteran right-shot D testing the market from the same team
Ovechkin, Toews, Giroux futures	B-	Legacy retirement-or-bridge calls that reset the veteran market

Two A-grade storylines, Buffalo's run and the cap jump, are the only events with enough leverage to reprice the top of the market. The War Chest Index tracks which teams actually have the room to chase these names, and the offer-sheet board covers the RFA route teams take when the UFA pool runs this thin. For the daily mechanics of how cap space gets spent, the playoff cap tracker shows the rules in motion.

About this analysis

Written by Mike Johnson, NHL Senior Editor, 15 years covering the cap and free agency. Every player's status, current team, age, and cap hit on this board was web-verified against Daily Faceoff's 2026 UFA rankings, PuckPedia, CapWages, Spotrac, ESPN, and NHL.com as of June 17, 2026. Players who re-signed, retired, or were traded-and-extended (including Malkin, Kopitar, and a dozen others previously listed) have been removed. The $104M cap and the July 1 open date are confirmed; contract projections are the author's analysis, clearly labelled as projections. Editorial review and fact-check: Sarah Chen, Hockey Operations Editor. Corrections: editorial@nhltraderumorstalk.com.

Sources and Reporting

• Daily Faceoff: 2026 Top-50 UFA board, contract projections

• PuckPedia: pending free agents, contract structure

• CapWages: salary-cap and AAV database

• Spotrac: contract terms and cap hits

• NHL.com: official signing and trade confirmations

• ESPN: 2026 free-agent class rankings

• TSN: live contract reports

The Verdict: Why The Survivor Market Matters in 2026

The 2026 NHL free agent class lacks a single player who changes a franchise. The extensions took that off the table by mid-January. What is left is a survival game: smart GMs target defensive depth in Raddysh and Andersson, and disciplined teams avoid the aging-wing trap. My pick for the smartest July 1 signing is Rasmus Andersson to Detroit at 6×$6.5M, the exact right-shot, top-four piece Steve Yzerman needs. Bookmark this page. It is reconciled every time an extension drops and The Survivor Market shifts again.