Overview
- Qualifying offers must be tendered by Monday, June 29, and the open market begins at 10 a.m. MT on Wednesday, July 1, which will lock in who teams can retain as restricted free agents.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have installed John Chayka in the front office, cleared salary through recent moves, and enter the summer with about $18.8 million in projected cap space to pursue top-six help or trade assets.
- The Calgary Flames enter free agency with 20 expiring contracts and 12 pending RFAs, five of whom (Beecher, Kerins, King, Morton and Say) are eligible to file for salary arbitration and could complicate roster decisions.
- The Utah Mammoth project roughly $13 million in cap room and list re-signing arbitration-eligible center Barrett Hayton and settling a backup goaltender behind Karel Vejmelka as top priorities.
- Teams will use qualifying offers, arbitration filings, trades and the rising salary cap to balance keeping veteran depth versus promoting prospects, so expect matching decisions, short-term deals and targeted trades to drive early July activity.