Top 7 remaining restricted free agents in the NHL

In the wake of two successful offer sheets — the St. Louis Blues claimed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers — general managers across the NHL are evaluating their own restricted free agents, hoping nobody else swoops in before they come to terms.
A restricted free agent — more commonly referred to as an “RFA” — is eligible to sign with any team, but the player’s former team may choose to match the contract and keep the player. If the former team chooses not to match, it is entitled to receive draft picks from the other team as compensation. The amount and ranking of the draft picks depends on the average annual value of the contract.
Between 2008 and 2020, the NHL saw zero successful offer sheets. Then, in 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes abducted Jesperi Kotkaniemi from the Montreal Canadiens with a one-year offer worth $6.1 million. The RFA market laid low again until Aug. 13, when the Blues double-whammied the cap-strapped Oilers.
Reporters have often talked about a code of honor among general managers: a 32-way handshake agreement not to sign offer sheets. Doug Armstrong, the general manager of the Blues, told TSN that he never got that memo.
“I’ve read what people are writing,” Armstrong said. “If there is a GM code not to do offer sheets, no one emailed it to me. … This is a tool that I think everyone uses and should use.”
Among goalies who played 25 games or more last season, Jeremy Swayman had the fifth-best save percentage and the eighth-best goals-against average. Coming off a one-year, $3,475,000 contract, Swayman is due for an astronomical raise. His team, the Boston Bruins, has a shade over $8.6 million in remaining cap space, according to PuckPedia.
Though it’s tempting to secure a young star goalie, the task might be easier said than done. If Swayman were willing to accept the amount of money the Bruins have left, he would probably already have a contract. Anything near that amount would command, at minimum, three draft picks: one in the first round, one in the second round and one in the third round. If the average annual value reaches $9,161,834, an additional first-round pick would be necessary.
Bruins fans are anxious to get the deal done. Head coach Jim Montgomery, on the other hand, told reporters he has “no doubt Jeremy Swayman will be a Bruin at the start of camp.”
Everyone knows Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman doesn’t do things the way anyone else thinks he should. That’s exactly how he landed Moritz Seider in the first place, drafting him sixth overall when most experts expected him to go in the 15 to 25 range.
Five years later, in the late summer when most teams already have their rosters set, Yzerman finds himself figuring out how to sign both Seider and Lucas Raymond, two of his best players.
It’s all part of the “Yzerplan.”
Seider is the only player in the last decade to record 200-plus hits and 200-plus blocks in a season. As the Red Wings’ only top defenseman, he plays all the tough matchups, hurting both his offensive production and his defensive stats. Don’t let the numbers fool you, though — Seider is an excellent defenseman and he’s worth every penny he’ll eventually get.
Raymond really broke out this year, tallying 31 goals and 72 points in 82 games. His timing was great for his wallet, as he will undoubtedly multiply his salary several times over.
The Red Wings have a little more than $17.6 million in remaining cap space. If they give bridge deals to one or both players, they’ll get away with paying them less this season but risk having to pay them more later with the salary cap rising. If they extend them long-term, the deals will likely have higher values for the next few seasons, but in the long run they could benefit the team.
In addition to Seider and Raymond, they also have to sign Jonatan Berggren, though he could spend significant time in the AHL again this year.
Thomas Harley made a name for himself in his first full NHL season. He averaged 21 minutes of ice time, playing alongside Miro Heiskanen on the Dallas Stars’ first defense pairing.
Only seven defensemen scored more goals than he did in the 2023-24 season, and he really broke out as one of the better transitional defensemen in the game.
The Stars would benefit greatly from a bridge deal. The Stars have a little more than $6.2 million in cap space, most of which they could give to their only remaining RFA on a one-year deal. With Jamie Benn’s $9.5 million coming off the books next year, they’ll have more financial freedom with which to reward their budding star (no pun intended).
A team with significant cap space could really handcuff the Stars by signing Harley to an offer sheet worth a few million more than what they have available. It would cost a few high draft picks, but that might be worth securing a proven top-pairing defenseman.
Dawson Mercer took a step back this year after a productive 2022-23 season — but then again, so did the entire New Jersey Devils roster. With a new coach, especially one as offensively minded as Sheldon Keefe, he’s bound to see a spike in production.
Before that can happen, he’ll need a new contract. The Devils have a little less than $5 million in cap space, and while he may want to get his hands on all of it, the Devils likely don’t value him nearly that highly.
Betting on himself might be Mercer’s best option. A short-term, low-dollar deal could light a fire under him, at which point, with Keefe’s offensive systems, he could light up the league and earn a longer, more valuable contract.
As the unofficial most improved player of the year, Seth Jarvis has earned his dough. Now he just has to convince Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky of the same thing.
Jarvis made about $900,000 in each of the last three years. While that was life-changing money for himself and his family, he has a chance to earn generational wealth with his next deal.
The Hurricanes have $6,640,000 left. Expect Jarvis to get most of it.
Cap space shouldn’t prevent the Winnipeg Jets and Cole Perfetti from getting a deal done. The Jets have much more space than Perfetti is probably worth.
The 22-year-old posted 19 goals and 38 points in 71 games this year, but he ended up sitting all but one game in the playoffs. Before getting a big payday, he will probably need to show that he’s harder to play against.
If Perfetti wants a bigger payday now, though, he may be able to find an offer sheet elsewhere. As a recent high draft pick, teams might value his upside enough to pay a compensation pick or two.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told Winnipeg Sports Talk last week that he’d recently spoken to Perfetti. “Hopefully it’s something we get done sooner rather than later,” he said.