The 2024-25 season is done. That means the sprint to the build 2025-26 rosters has begun for general managers around the NHL. While some teams, like the Tampa Bay Lightning, have already made some quiet moves, expect the action to start heating up as the league calendar plows on towards the NHL draft, which starts just over a week from today on June 27th. The draft leads into free agency on July 1st, but the past 24 hours has seen some potential free agents decide that the grass (and money) is green enough where they’re at already.
The Chicago Blackhawks kicked things off by signing Ryan Donato to a four-year extension with a $4 million AAV. The 29-year-old was ranked 13th on The Athletic’s free agent list, and should have had plenty of suitors had he reached the open market as there are plenty of teams looking for depth down the middle. He doubled his previous salary and locks in with a team after bouncing around the league for a little while. Was he on the Lightning’s radar? Probably not, as they have an abundance of centers on the roster at the moment.
Ranking higher on the free agent list was veteran Matt Duchene as The Athletic ranked him 11th. He’s staying in Dallas for four more years at $4.5 million. The 34-year-old apparently loves the Lone Star State as he’s put up 147 points (55 goals, 92 assists) in 162 games since joining the Stars. Again, as a pivot man he probably wasn’t high on the Lightning’s list of potential acquisitions this summer.
Now, we move on to an area where the Lightning might be looking to strengthen their team – wingers. The next two moves don’t involve unrestricted free agents, but what does Julien BriseBois love more than acquiring players with term? Maybe his family. That’s probably about it.
Ottawa locked up restricted free agent Fabian Zetterlund with a three-year deal that clocks in at $4.275 per season. Picked up at the trade deadline, Zetterlund had 2 goals and 3 assists for the Senators in 20 games, but has scored 36 times over the last two seasons. Speaking of wingers, the Rangers signed Matt Rempe to a two-year deal. Hopefully the $975,000 per season is enough to cover any fines from the DoPS that he acquires during the length of the deal.
There was also a trade that went down as the New Jersey Devils shipped Erik Haula to Nashville for a 2025 fourth-round pick and young defenseman Jeremy Hanzel (so hot right now). The Devils cleared off Haula’s $3.15 million to clear up some cap space. While they currently have about $15 million in room to make some moves, they do have to sign restricted free agent Luke Hughes to a new contract, and that should eat up a significant chunk of that money. Haula would have been an interesting player on the Lightning roster. While the 34-year-old never matched the heights of his 29-goal, 26-assist season with Vegas in 2017-18, he is a reliable double-digit goal scorer that can play center or wing.
The offseason is under way and teams are starting to make moves to lock in their rosters. Expect more than a few extensions to be signed over the next week (looking at you Trent Frederic) as teams chose to go with what they know as opposed to gambling on the free agent market. That will make what is already a somewhat lackluster free-agent class a little more dull, but could lead to some trades as GMs look to chase next year’s Stanley Cup.
