BILL WALSH WAS a year into retirement from coaching when the call came.

He was working for NBC in 1990, fresh off a decade-long run that produced three Super Bowl titles for the San Francisco 49ers and cemented his place as one of football’s greatest minds. Then New England Patriots owner Victor Kiam reached out with a proposition: run the franchise; coach the team.

“I told Victor that I was doing television and that if I had wanted to stay in coaching, I would have remained with the 49ers,” Walsh later told The Boston Globe. “But you can never say never … my impression was that if I wanted the job, it would definitely have been offered.”

He passed. And in doing so, Walsh redirected football history. Had he taken the job, it might have put the franchise on a course that didn’t lead to Bill Belichick in 2000. That means no Tom Brady. No dynasty.

Walsh was content, until a more personal opportunity came along — at Stanford in January 1992.

It was an unconventional move that placed pro football’s sharpest mind in college. Walsh had coached in college before, but what followed became a test of whether brilliance could adapt and thrive in a setting defined by a new set of variables. And as Walsh would learn, even for the most celebrated coaches, success is never guaranteed.

More than three decades later, Belichick, 73, made the stunning move to coach North Carolina. His 24-year reign overseeing the New England Patriots NFL dynasty ended nearly a year earlier, and now his path retraces a route once taken by Walsh — a generation-defining coach stepping into the college game where a new challenge awaits.

---

UNDER COACH DENNY Green, Stanford went 8-4 in 1991 and ended the season with a trip to the Aloha Bowl and a No. 22 ranking in the final AP poll. But Green was hired to coach the Minnesota Vikings shortly after the season.

Five Stanford seniors were appointed to a committee to assist with the coaching search and sat through interviews with the two internal candidates: offensive coordinator Ron Turner and defensive coordinator Willie Shaw.

Chris Dalman, a starting offensive lineman, was on the committee and when Stanford athletic director Ted Leland convened the group in his office following those interviews, Dalman assumed it was to finalize the decision.

Then Leland hit them with something unexpected.

“What would you guys think if Bill Walsh was to come back and coach us?” he asked.

Dalman looked around, stunned.

Leland wasn’t joking. The 60-year-old coach was interested.

“What do five college kids think when Bill Walsh says he potentially wants to come back to Stanford?” Dalman said. “We were all kind of in agreement. Yeah, if Bill Walsh is a reality, that’s the end of the conversation.”

The meeting ended with the room buzzing. Less than 36 hours later, it was official: Walsh was in.

Walsh had been the head coach at Stanford in 1977 and 1978, but by the time he returned, he was a living legend. The architect of the West Coast offense and the 49ers dynasty, Walsh coached star quarterback Joe Montana and changed offense forever.

When the team gathered to meet Walsh for the first time, the setting was casual, but the atmosphere was tense.

Sophomore receiver David Shaw, who would become the program’s all-time winningest coach, remembers the meeting vividly.

“He walked in the room, and it was dead silent, and we were excited, nervous, intimidated,” Shaw said. “Whatever the step is beyond instant credibility. That’s what he was.”

Walsh tried to break the tension with a few jokes, but they fell flat.

“Can we laugh? Is it OK to laugh?” Shaw said. “He was so many rungs above us when he walked in that room and we were in awe.”

---

IN 1978, LELAND had just arrived at Stanford to begin a PhD program in psychology. After four years as defensive coordinator at the University of the Pacific, he had grown tired of the coaching grind and left the profession.

Walsh, then in his second season as Stanford’s head coach, was looking for a defensive coach. Pacific’s success in 1977 caught Walsh’s attention and through a mutual contact on the Pacific faculty, he learned that Pacific’s defensive coordinator from that season was already living on the Stanford campus.

One day, Leland’s dorm phone rang.

It was Walsh with a proposition that would change everything.

They came to an unusual arrangement. Leland would spend his days in the psychology department and his afternoons on the field, as the outside linebackers coach. He was a small part of a larger project. Leland could tell Walsh was destined for bigger things, and Walsh sensed Leland would soon move on from coaching after completing his PhD.

That fall, Stanford beat Cal in the Big Game. On the ride back to Palo Alto, Walsh sat down next to Leland.

“He had a couple glasses of wine in him,” Leland said. “And he said, ‘Gee, someday I’ll be an unemployed coach. If you ever need one, just remember I have a good offensive mind.'”

Several weeks later, their paths diverted. Walsh was named the head coach of the 49ers, and Leland would build a career in college athletics administration. They remained close over the years, and Walsh even tried to hire Leland to the 49ers’ staff a couple times.

By the time Leland returned to Stanford in 1991 as athletics director, Walsh had been out of coaching for a few years. He retired from the 49ers after winning his third Super Bowl in the 1988 season, and Walsh had not enjoyed his three years in the broadcast booth since.

The search to replace Green started after Christmas in 1991, and defensive coordinator Willie Shaw — David Shaw’s father — emerged as the favorite. But as that process was nearing the end, Walsh called Leland.

“Just between you and I,” he told Leland, “I might be interested.”

The two met for coffee. Walsh was intrigued. He wanted to think about it, which left Leland unconvinced Walsh was serious. So, he moved forward with Shaw, who verbally accepted the job. They shook hands.

Then Walsh called again. He was almost ready to commit.

“What can I do to make it happen?” Leland asked.

Walsh told Leland he wanted to sit in the football coach’s chair, in his old office, to see how it felt.

“I picked him up at 11 o’clock at night, and he and I very quietly drove over to the Stanford football office and went through the back door,” Leland said. “I let him in the head coach’s office, he closed the door and he sat in there for about a half hour. I sat in the hallway outside, and he comes out about a half hour later and said, ‘This is going to work for me.’

“And of course then, we have no choice.”

Backing away from the handshake deal was difficult, but Shaw understood.

“My dad had a night — less than 24 hours — where he was Stanford’s head coach,” David Shaw said. “And so that next morning to be given that news was rough. But at the same time, Stanford had the opportunity to hire Bill Walsh. And my dad said that many times: ‘You can’t hire me if Bill Walsh is available. That’s who you hire.'”

What followed wasn’t an announcement that Walsh was returning to Stanford. It was a coronation.

---

THE STAFF WALSH assembled was a blend of veteran coaches, former 49ers players making coaching debuts and a couple holdovers from Green’s regime.

Fred vonAppen was one of the first calls. Walsh wanted him to run the defense.

VonAppen had coached with Walsh twice before — first during his initial Stanford stint in the late 1970s, then for six years with the 49ers. At the time, vonAppen had just signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers. But when Walsh reached out, vonAppen backed out of his deal and returned to Stanford for what would be his fourth stint at the school.

“It’s like Tony Soprano calling you and saying that you got to come with, you’re part of the mob,” vonAppen said.

Next came Terry Shea, who was the head coach at San José State. Walsh had admired Shea for years and had once interviewed him to be the 49ers’ quarterbacks coach. Shea had guided SJSU to a top-20 finish in 1990, but the opportunity to work with Walsh was too good to pass up.

“Bill says, ‘Terry, I’d like you to come to Stanford. Name your coaching position,'” Shea said. “So I said, ‘OK, Coach, I’d love to be the quarterback coach, the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach,’ and he gave me all three titles. That’s how detached he was from worrying about titles and positions and all that.”

There was no other person in football Shea said he would have taken a step down for.

“Anybody would’ve died to coach for Bill Walsh at that point,” he said.

With the coordinators in place, Walsh went about rounding up some of his former players to fill out the staff.

Tom Holmoe had played for Walsh for seven years in San Francisco and had just finished a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at BYU. (Holmoe would later return to BYU as an administrator in 2001 and spent two decades as the AD before retiring this year.) About a month before Walsh was hired, Holmoe had reached out to Walsh about being a reference in his job search, but it hadn’t yet paid off. Then, like it had for others, the call came.

Holmoe had not yet heard Walsh was headed to Stanford when the phone rang in the BYU football office. The conversation was quick. Walsh asked him if he was still looking for a job, and when Holmoe said he was, Walsh delivered a career-altering offer: “Come coach with me.”

Holmoe agreed to fly out the next day, but first he had to call his wife.

“I said, ‘Honey, Bill just called and he’s going back to Stanford. And he offered me a job.’ And she said, ‘How much are you getting paid?’ ‘I didn’t ask. I’m taking the job.’ She goes, ‘What are you going to coach? ‘I don’t know.’ I just assumed I was going to coach the defensive backs. ‘Well, you better ask him these questions. I said, ‘I’m going down to Stanford, to coach for Bill Walsh. This is my first full-time job. I’m taking it no matter what.'”

Holmoe was one of four former 49ers players who joined Walsh’s Stanford staff in full-time roles, along with Keena Turner (outside linebackers), Bill Ring (running backs) and Mike Wilson (receivers). For Walsh, this wasn’t about nostalgia, it was about trust. These were players who had been molded under his watch.

Defensive line coach Dave Tipton was a holdover from Green’s staff. He played at Stanford, was part of the program’s 1971 Rose Bowl win and spent six years in the NFL. Walsh had counseled Tipton years earlier to get his teaching credential and start coaching high school football — something Tipton calls “the best thing he ever did” — but he was one of the few staffers who didn’t have much history with Walsh. And he was skeptical about the four newbies.

“We’re going, ‘Oh s—, here we go, guys who had never coached,'” Tipton said. “Well, they were all fabulous, and that’s what Bill saw.”

---

JUST AS BELICHICK’S move has done this offseason, Walsh’s return to Stanford brought a spotlight to the program.

Walsh arrived on campus as a full-fledged celebrity, whose name carried weight in every NFL building and on every high school sideline.

“You could recruit anywhere in the country,” Holmoe said. “Pick up the phone and go, ‘Hey, my name’s Tom Holmoe, I’m the defensive backs coach. I’m calling on behalf of Coach Walsh at Stanford, and he’d like to have you come out.’ We would automatically be in the top two. Didn’t matter who else was recruiting the kid: Florida State, Texas, Penn State. You just jumped into the top two, because of Coach Walsh.”

One of the wildest recruiting trips Holmoe ever took was to a small town in Louisiana, where he convinced Walsh to help him pursue a top-ranked defensive back.

They made the usual stops — a high school and home visit — but the high school coach had more in store. Walsh was escorted around town like royalty, posing for photos with local business owners, shaking hands with boosters. Then came dinner. The coach had cleared out an entire restaurant, arranged a single long table in the middle, and roped it off like a VIP gala. A crowd gathered five deep just to watch Walsh eat.

Walsh pulled Holmoe aside. “What are we doing?” he asked. Holmoe shrugged: “I have no idea. Just go with it.”

Walsh played the part to perfection, holding babies, telling stories.

“He looked like a politician running for mayor or senator,” Holmoe said.

Stanford is only about a 20-minute drive from the 49ers’ facility, so it was common for many of Walsh’s former players to stop by to visit with their old coach, including Montana.

“One day Bill brought Joe over to the practice field,” Shea said. “He had me stand off to the side with our three quarterbacks.”

Montana was still playing in the NFL. But there he was, going through drills.

“And he coached Montana with a strong enough voice that, as he coached him on all the fundamentals — the footwork, the mechanics — the other three quarterbacks listened,” Shea said. “And this was about an hour and a half. I thought it was really a stroke of genius the way he pulled it off.”

Quarterbacks, especially, wanted to be around Walsh. He drew some of the best young passers in the country to visit Stanford. One camp included Peyton Manning, Jake Plummer and Brian Griese. And in Walsh’s first full recruiting class, he landed Scott Frost — the top-ranked quarterback in the country — out of Nebraska.

Walsh’s influence appeared in other ways.

Long before EA Sports College Football became a cultural juggernaut, its roots took hold inside the Stanford football offices during Walsh’s first year back.

At some point during that season, Walsh pulled a few coaches into his office.

“He said, ‘Hey, this tech company down the street is going to do this new game,'” Holmoe said. “‘It’s called Bill Walsh Football. Can you help them out a little? Give them some plays, work through some stuff on defense.'”

The assistant coaches weren’t paid to consult, but Holmoe remembers one specific detail from those early development sessions with the programmers.

“They were talking about how players could have different skills, different speed ratings,” he said. “And I kind of joked, ‘Hey, can you make the Stanford DBs the fastest in the league?’ And the guy goes, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’ I didn’t know if he was pulling my leg.”

And sure enough, in the first version of Bill Walsh College Football in 1993, the unnamed Stanford defensive backs were unusually fast. Their real-life counterparts certainly noticed.

“They thought it was great,” Holmoe said. “That’s how I first learned about player ratings.”

It was the first edition of the franchise that would become NCAA Football and, now, EA Sports College Football.

---

FOR THE PLAYERS returning in 1992, the offense wasn’t completely unfamiliar. Green — who had two stints under Walsh in San Francisco — had implemented principles of the West Coast offense. But the 1991 team also relied heavily on bruising fullback Tommy Vardell and a mammoth offensive line.

“We ran the West Coast offense,” David Shaw said. “We knew the terminology.”

But it wasn’t the same as learning from its inventor.

“When Bill came on,” Shaw said, “it was like going from pre-algebra to trigonometry.”

Walsh installed the system from scratch, but settled for a scaled-back version compared to what the 49ers ran. The offense — known for its short passes that incorporated running backs and tight ends — had evolved over the years, and installing it at this stage was a new challenge.

Shea was the offensive coordinator in title, but this was Walsh’s show, and Shea was happy to learn from the master, in fact, he wasn’t the only established coach in the room.

Around that same time, the 49ers had just hired Mike Shanahan from the Denver Broncos as their new offensive coordinator under George Seifert. Shanahan had never worked under Walsh, so he went to Stanford to understand the system from its source.

“He would come over to our installation meetings at Stanford and sit with our offensive coaches and Bill Walsh,” Shea said. “Bill would teach us the offense, and Shanahan sat there like he was going to be another quarterback or another coach on staff.”

Walsh’s arrival was a difficult transition for the offensive line.

“The offense he wanted to run was vastly different than what we did the year before,” Dalman said. “We had this massive offensive line, but Coach Walsh’s system was predicated on smaller guys moving. The install for us was completely different.”

Walsh demanded more than size and strength. He prioritized footwork and mobility. The learning curve was steep. But Dalman wasn’t just struck by the Xs and Os, he was impressed with Walsh’s ability to build relationships.

“Coach Walsh had an ability to come up and talk to every single person — wanting to get to know you,” he said. “He wasn’t an aloof guy. For everything in his résumé, he’d walk up to anybody on the team and ask how things were going, who they were, where they were from.”

It was a trait that stuck with Dalman. But there was another side.

“Coach could care about your health, your family, tell you when you did something good,” Dalman said. “But he could also turn around and give you a cutting critique. And it didn’t matter who you were. He was going to tell you exactly how it wasn’t good enough.

“You didn’t want to let him down. He held everyone accountable. Coaches. Players. It didn’t matter.”

---

WITH WALSH’S OFFENSIVE pedigree and the national spotlight back on The Farm, expectations were high. Stanford entered the 1992 season ranked No. 17, but it quickly became apparent this would be a team more defined by its defense.

In the opener against No. 7 Texas A&M in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic in Anaheim, Stanford held the Aggies to just 10 points, but managed only one touchdown of its own in the loss.

Despite the early setback, Stanford rebounded quickly.

Led by future Hall of Famer John Lynch, the defense delivered all season. Months before Drew Bledsoe would be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, Stanford suffocated him and Washington State in a 40-3 win. Neither UCLA nor USC — both top-20 teams — reached double digits against the Cardinal.

“Bill could be a pain in the ass on the sideline,” vonAppen said. “But he was mostly focused on the offense.”

The defining moment might have come in South Bend, where Stanford dominated No. 6 Notre Dame 33-16 in what would be the Irish’s only loss of the season.

“That’s a remarkable experience anytime, but particularly when you bust the Irish on their home turf,” vonAppen said. “I remember watching hot dog wrappers blow around in the empty stadium afterward. That’s when I thought, ‘This is a crowning achievement for this outfit.'”

It was also the day Lynch cemented his reputation as the enforcer of Stanford’s defense, though he got off to a bad start.

“[Lynch] screws up his option responsibility, and they score as part of the deal,” Tipton said. “Then he gets hit in the head — probably would’ve been ruled out today — but he comes back like he’d put on a Superman cape.

“Notre Dame had this little running back named Jerome Bettis. He fumbled three times — mostly because of John.”

Stanford finished tied with Washington atop the Pac-10 standings at 6-2 and missed out on its first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1972 because of a head-to-head loss to the Huskies. The consolation was a trip to Florida to face Penn State in the Blockbuster Bowl.

The season ended much the way it had taken shape — behind a dominant defense — as Stanford overwhelmed Penn State 24-3.

Stanford finished 10-3, tied the school record for wins and closed the year ranked No. 9 in the AP poll — its fourth-best final ranking in school history.

---

WHEN LELAND HIRED Walsh, he hoped he would be there for five years. Walsh made it through three.

The first season was everything Stanford had dreamed — 10 wins, a top-10 ranking and national relevance restored. But the next two years were a grind. The roster turned over, Walsh’s recruits hadn’t quite matured, and the results reflected that: a 4-7 record in 1993, then 3-7-1 in 1994.

“Those next couple years, we were so young on the defensive side and we were small — we just hadn’t developed yet,” David Shaw said. “But the offensive side, we were still tearing people up. We were just getting outscored in a lot of those games. So we were a little disjointed, but man, we still felt really good about what we were doing.

“And I think with the losing, Bill felt tired at the end.”

He rejoined the 49ers briefly in the late ’90s in a front office role, but his heart was never far from The Farm. In 2004, he returned to Stanford as a special assistant to Leland.

“He loved Stanford,” Leland said. “It gave him a place where he could come in and do meaningful work. He could walk around campus — nobody asked him for autographs, nobody bugged him. He was just another person. That’s the culture.”

Walsh taught classes, wrote a book and was a sounding board for coaches, including Jim Harbaugh when hired in December 2006.

“When people asked me what he did, I’d say: ‘Whatever he wants,'” Leland said. “We gave him a place to hang his hat. And he didn’t care about the money. I think sometimes guys that are older that still have a lot to give, they still want to make a contribution.”

It was a fitting postscript for a man whose first great football work — his 1958 San José State master’s thesis on football schematics — came in an academic setting and reads less like a graduate project and more like a prototype for the modern game. Even then, decades before any of his Super Bowls, Walsh was diagramming space, studying leverage and predicting the future of the sport.

After his health declined following a leukemia diagnosis, Walsh stayed connected to the program. He visited the football offices, watched film and offered insight when asked. In the spring of 2007, just months before he died at age 75, he met with a high school quarterback on a recruiting visit — a quiet conversation with Andrew Luck that bridged generations.

Now, as Belichick begins his own unlikely chapter in college football, he’ll walk a similar uncertain path. The settings may differ. But the question remains the same.

What happens when a legend arrives not to finish, but to start over?

NHL teams head into this offseason with an understanding of where the salary cap is climbing over the next three seasons. It’s projected to rise to $95.5 million next season; $104 million in 2026-27; and then up to $113.5 million in 2027-28.

That could lead to more teams comfortably retaining their own players on expiring contracts. Or it could lead to those players receiving inflated offers in free agency, as a rising cap means rising chaos.

Here’s a look at the unrestricted free agent field, organized into different tiers. There are also some significant restricted free agents, too — like forward Marco Rossi (Wild), as well as defensemen K’Andre Miller (Rangers). It’s anyone’s guess if last season’s offer sheet fun was an anomaly or the new normal.

The contract terms and average annual contract values are courtesy of PuckPedia. In the case of players whose salaries were retained in transactions, we’re listing the full average annual value of their contracts.

Which players are you hoping your team signs this offseason?

Draft recap: All 224 picks
Grades for all 32 teams
Winners and losers

Tier 1: The impact players

These are established players who can play key, immediate roles for a team.

Age: 28 | 2024-25 cap hit: $6.65 million

Multiple reports had Boeser rejected the Canucks’ latest contract offer, all but ensuring that he’s going to test the free agent market. There’s probably more interest outside of Vancouver in signing Boeser than within the Canucks organization, which has sent mixed signals about retaining him. He is one season removed from a 40-goal campaign, and has eased concerns about his ability to remain in the lineup for a full season.

There’s been heavy speculation that the Burnsville, Minn., native could find his way to the Wild, but don’t count out potential suitors such as the Hurricanes, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Kings.

One team to watch here is the Edmonton Oilers, provided they have the cap space after signing RFA defenseman Evan Bouchard to his next contract. But don’t count out the Canucks yet, either.

---

Age: 29 | 2024-25 cap hit: $6 million

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has done an impressive job dispelling the “no one wants to sign in Winnipeg” accusation, having gotten Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck and Neal Pionk to re-up in the past few years. The GM said he’ll remain in dialogue with Ehlers — at one point saying he’d make a case for him to be “a unique Jet-for-life-type player” — but the expectation is that the winger will hit the market.

A consistent point producer, Ehlers put his best foot forward toward a free agent payday with his best points per 60 minutes average (3.5) in five years. He is an offensive force — when he is in the lineup, as Ehlers has played over 70 games just once in the past four seasons, and he has missed time in the playoffs, as well.

Ehlers will likely command an average salary between $8-9 million on the open market. There’s been a heavy focus on the Hurricanes. Either player could help fill the void created by the loss of Martin Necas in the trade for Mikko Rantanen, and then the subsequent trade of Rantanen.

Tier 2: The best bets

These players have shown they’re worth the investment.

Age: 29 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $5.875 million

Gavrikov just completed a two-year deal that he signed with general manager Rob Blake in 2023. The wrinkle here: Blake is no longer the GM, with Ken Holland now at the helm in Los Angeles.

Gavrikov had a strong defensive season with the Kings and chipped in 30 points (five goals, 25 assists), which was the second-highest total of his six-season career. He was solid when paired with either Mikey Anderson or Jordan Spence.

All of this it say that the Kings should seek to retain Gavrikov. But if his new deal is too rich for what Holland wants to do with the rest of this roster, other teams will gladly add him to their blue line. The Rangers have been mentioned the most as a potential destination, a team that needs an infusion of competence on its blue line.

---

Age: 33 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $5 million

One of several great moves made by Stars GM Jim Nill this season, Granlund was rescued from last place San Jose, for which he posted 45 points in 52 games. Granlund had 21 points in 31 games for Dallas then nine in 16 playoff games while skating on the “Finnish Mafia” line with Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz.

Someone is probably going to overpay for Granlund, whose uptick in goal scoring has coincided with pending free agency. But he has produced points wherever he has played (Pittsburgh excluded). The Stars want to hang onto him, but will likely have to move money out to do so.

Tier 3: The best values

Under-the-radar gems, analytics darlings and difference-makers with low-cost contracts.

Age: 27 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1.25 million

This isn’t the first time Beauvillier has been in this tier, but his season with the Penguins and the Capitals underscored how valuable he can be on a budget contract, especially his six points in 10 playoff games with the Caps in their brief playoff run.

Strong underlying numbers, good output and still only 27 until next month.

---

Age: 31 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1 million

If it wasn’t for that other Connor stealing all the attention in Edmonton, perhaps more people would have appreciated the regular season Brown had for the Oilers — 13 goals and 17 assists in 82 games, skating to a plus-9 in 14:01 of average ice time per game — on a steal of a contract.

It took his playoff outburst — five goals and four assists in the Oilers’ run to the Cup Final — to really grab some attention. A hard-working, pace-setting player.

---

Age: 36 | 2024-25 cap hit: $2.25 million

“Daddy” had an impressive walk year with 20 goals and 20 assists in 80 games. He saw similar averages in the first year of his two-year deal with Dallas. He is never getting back to the offensive numbers he posted in his prime, but at the right average annual value, Dadonov can be an offensive strength in the regular season.

---

Age: 33 | 2024-25 cap hit: $3.15 million

The former Anaheim Duck was a trade-deadline pickup for New Jersey who was pressed into more service than expected due to injuries to the Devils’ defensive corps in the playoffs. In their five-game series against Carolina, Dumoulin averaged 29:21 per game in ice time, skating over 36 minutes in two overtime games and playing well in the process.

The two-time Cup winner with Pittsburgh still can bring it in the postseason.

---

Age: 31 | 2024-25 cap hit: $2.75 million

The former Boston Bruins defenseman had a quietly strong season for the Penguins with one goal but 39 assists — 24 of them at even strength. Defense was never his calling card, but offensively, he was solid in traditional stats and analytics.

---

Age: 29 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1.075 million

Wait, a former Buffalo Sabres forward being acquired by the Golden Knights and finding his game again? Never seen that before …

Anyway, Olofsson had 15 goals and 14 assists on a bargain-basement “show me” contract. He has demonstrated in the past that, when healthy, he has a ton of offensive upside.

---

Age: 40 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1.15 million

If you want to play for the Stanley Cup, you might want to have Corey Perry on your roster. Of course, winning the Cup with Corey Perry is a different story, as the veteran winger’s teams have lost in the Stanley Cup Final in five of the last six seasons after he won his only ring in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. But the fact remains that the Stars, Canadiens, Lightning and the Oilers (twice) all made the final round with Perry’s help as a win-at-all-costs winger.

Perry turns 41 years old next May. He had 30 points in 81 regular season games (11:56 of ice time per game) and 10 goals in 22 playoff games for the Oilers. But there’s a thought that Perry might be a luxury who Edmonton can’t afford in its cap crunch next season.

If Perry skates away from Edmonton, there are some familiar faces that could welcome him to their rosters: Los Angeles, whose GM Ken Holland signed him in Edmonton; and Dallas, where Perry played in 2019-20 and whose new coach Glen Gulutzan was with Perry in Edmonton for the last two seasons. But really, any team in the cusp of a Cup Final could dangle a hook for The Worm.

---

Age: 33 | 2024-25 cap hit: $800,000

In the 2023-24 season, Oliver Ekman-Larsson won a Stanley Cup with the Panthers on a one-year contract and parlayed that into a four-year, $14 million free-agent deal with the Maple Leafs. Schmidt essentially played the same role with Florida in this Stanley Cup run, and was extremely solid on their third pairing in the playoffs with 12 points in 23 games, skating to a plus-9.

He could return to the Panthers or use that success to find some term elsewhere.

---

Age: 29 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1.6 million

Suter is teetering on the brink of a potential overpay, after setting career highs in goals (25) and points (46) in a contract year with the Canucks. But his goal production has been steady in limited roles throughout his career, and he does enough away from the puck — according to the analytics — that even a dip in last season’s numbers won’t make a multiplier on his cap hit regrettable.

Tier 4: The boom-or-busts

Players who have the ability to justify the investment or whose contracts could eventually become an eyesore on PuckPedia.

Age: 40 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $8 million

The beard, the ranch, the mysterious bag filled with mysterious items.

There are few NHL players who have inspired the kind of lore that Brent Burns has. He also used to inspire a lot of offense, but that production has fallen off steeply over the past two seasons — from 61 points to 43 points to 29 points in 82 games this season, the lowest average of points per 60 minutes of his career.

Is this run the end of the line for Burns? He hasn’t said. But there’s always going to be a market for a puck-moving defenseman in the NHL who can log 20 minutes per game.

---

Age: 30 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $2.5 million

Drouin recaptured his offensive game with Colorado, which acquired him with the encouragement of his junior hockey teammate Nathan MacKinnon. It was a heartwarming story. Less so was the fact that, once again, the injury bug munched on him this past season.

He had 37 points in 43 games, showing that when he’s in the lineup he can be effective. Operative phrase: when he’s in the lineup. His agent Allan Walsh recently announced that Drouin was moving on from the cap-strapped Avalanche.

---

Age: 27 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $4.5 million

The Rangers traded the 27-year-old to the Avalanche at the trade deadline. He’s a solid defensive defenseman who could complement a puck-moving partner, like he did in New York with Adam Fox.

But at this point in Lindgren’s NHL career, it’s practically predestined that he is going to either play through injuries or miss some time because of them.

---

Age: 33 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $7.75 million

Orlov surprised many the last time he was a free agent by signing a short-term, high-AAV contract with the Hurricanes. He had a slight uptick in offensive production this season but remained just above replacement level as a defender. Orlov has been especially rough in his own end in the playoffs.

While the Canes could let him walk, there’s likely value in keeping Orlov around as a partner and mentor to rookie Alexander Nikishin, who looks like something special.

---

Age: 33 | 2024-2025 cap hit: $3 million

What was expected to be one of the best value signings in the NHL last offseason never really worked out that way for Skinner and Edmonton. He had 16 goals and 13 assists in 72 games, skating just 12:60 on average. He did appear in five playoff games during the Oilers’ run to the Cup Final, his first postseason action of his 15-year career.

Skinner is two seasons removed from a 35-goal campaign with Buffalo.

Tier 5: The goalies

The few, the proud, the available goaltenders

Age: 34 | 2024-25 cap hit: $3.85 million

Allen outplayed Jacob Markstrom in the regular season, with a higher save percentage (.908), more goals saved above expected (8.75) and just as many shutouts (four).

The Devils like their goaltending, and GM Tom Fitzgerald has discussed negotiating to bring Allen back. But the free agent goalie pool is basically a puddle. There’s a reason teams are making trades for goalies with term (Detroit) or quickly re-signing their RFAs before a potential offer sheet (St. Louis). Allen is easily the best of an underwhelming lot.

---

Age: 29 | 2024-25 cap hit: $3.4 million

The former starter for the Colorado Avalanche, Georgiev was sent to the Sharks in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. Things weren’t all the better for him there, as Georgiev had minus-13.7 goals saved above expected in 31 games for San Jose.

GM Mike Grier already told the goaltender he won’t be back with the Sharks next season.

---

Age: 32 | 2024-25 cap hit: $900,000

One of five goalies the Wings used this season, Lyon played 30 games for Detroit with an .896 save percentage and a 14-9-1 record. He was just under average in goals saved above expected at minus-1.63.

---

Age: 28 | 2024-25 cap hit: $1.8 million

Signed in a cost-effective deal as a backup to Adin Hill, Samsonov had a second straight season with a sub-.900 save percentage, along with a minus-7.85 goals saved above expected.

---

Age: 29 | 2024-25 cap hit: $3.4 million

A former starter with the Devils, Vanecek split time between the Sharks and Panthers this season, and he wasn’t particularly great for either of them.

---

Age: 27 | 2024-25 cap hit: $2.2 million

Dustin Wolf‘s incredible rookie season was supported by 30 games of perfectly average goaltending from Vladar, who remains a reliable tandem goalie if not much more.

Tier 6: The spackle

The other free agents available who don’t neatly fall into these tiers.

Mason Appleton, C, Winnipeg Jets
Cam Atkinson, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning
Joel Armia, LW/RW, Montreal Canadiens
Nathan Bastian, RW, New Jersey Devils
Nick Bjugstad, C, Utah Mammoth
Justin Brazeau, RW, Minnesota Wild
Cody Ceci, D, Dallas Stars
Tony DeAngelo, D, New York Islanders
Calvin de Haan, D, New York Rangers
Christian Dvorak, C, Montreal Canadiens
Lars Eller, C, Washington Capitals
Robby Fabbri, F, Anaheim Ducks
Radek Faksa, C, St. Louis Blues
Anton Forsberg, G, Ottawa Senators
Adam Gaudette, RW, Ottawa Senators
Tanner Jeannot, F, Los Angeles Kings
John Klingberg, D, Edmonton Oilers
Luke Kunin, F, Columbus Blue Jackets
Sean Kuraly, C, Columbus Blue Jackets
Oliver Kylington, D, Anaheim Ducks
Andrew Mangiapane, F, Washington Capitals
Anthony Mantha, RW, Calgary Flames
Brock McGinn, LW, Anaheim Ducks
Gustav Nyquist, RW, Minnesota Wild
Max Pacioretty, LW, Toronto Maple Leafs
Nick Perbix, D, Tampa Bay Lightning
Corey Perry, RW, Edmonton Oilers
Jeff Petry, D, Detroit Red Wings
Taylor Raddysh, D, Washington Capitals
Jack Roslovic, F, Carolina Hurricanes
Jan Rutta, D, San Jose Sharks
Brandon Saad, LW, Vegas Golden Knights
Nate Schmidt, D, Florida Panthers
Brendan Smith, D, Dallas Stars
Nico Sturm, C, Florida Panthers
Brandon Tanev, LW, Winnipeg Jets
James van Riemsdyk, LW, Columbus Blue Jackets

With the 2025 NHL draft in the rearview mirror, it’s time for free agency. The signing period officially begins Tuesday at noon ET, although re-signings (and trades) have been flowing for the past several days.

Every front office is trying to maximize its chance at reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs next spring and lifting the most famous trophy in sports. Here’s how each of them can nail this offseason and the cap space that each team has, as well as a look at key players hitting restricted and unrestricted free agency.

Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Metro teams were written by Kristen Shilton. Ryan S. Clark analyzed the Central and Pacific teams. Stats are collected from Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey. Projected cap space as of June 29, per PuckPedia.

Draft recap: All 224 picks
Grades for all 32 teams
Winners and losers

ATLANTIC DIVISION

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key player hitting UFA: None
Key player hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $12,743,333

What they should do: GM Don Sweeney seems invested in taking care of the Bruins’ own. He already signed Mason Lohrei to a two-year extension, and is engaged with Jokiharju on a return to keep Boston’s depth on the right side.

Sweeney also got Morgan Geekie signed to a new deal. The forward is coming off his best NHL season (33 goals and 57 points) and could be a foundational piece for the Bruins moving forward. Monday morning, the team announced that defenseman Henri Jokiharju had also re-signed.

From there, Sweeney has to find some outside help to up Boston’s scoring punch. Only Geekie and David Pastrnak managed 20-plus goals last season as the Bruins’ ranked 28th in offense. There’s serious room for improvement that Sweeny will have to address in free agency.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: D Bowen Byram, G Devon Levi
Cap space: $20,840,319

What they should do: Well, GM Kevyn Adams said he had a plan. And it went into full motion when he traded RFA JJ Peterka to Utah. That felt like just the first domino to fall in Buffalo.

Adams then signed pending RFA Jack Quinn to a two-year extension. But there’s work left to do. If Adams intends to move on from Byram, now is the time to do it while he’s still a valuable player. Then, Adams’ priority should be an extension for Alex Tuch. The key forward (and passionate leader) can re-sign beginning Tuesday, and there’s no use waiting around when the Sabres are desperate for positivity at this point.

There’s also the question of how to wring more consistency out of the lineup next season. Adams should target free agents who can bring that. Skaters such as Mason Appleton or Connor Brown could fill out the Sabres’ bottom six nicely, and give them some much-needed depth. The key is for Adams to stay active and not let Buffalo’s lack of success breed complacency.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key player hitting UFA: F Patrick Kane
Key players hitting RFA: F Jonatan Berggren, F Elmer Soderblom
Cap space: $18,411,628

What they should do: The Red Wings pulled off a blockbuster during draft weekend, landing John Gibson from Anaheim in exchange for Petr Mrazek and a pair of picks. That was a needed upgrade for Detroit in net, and allows Gibson to play with another solid veteran in Cam Talbot. That’s a strong start to the offseason for GM Steve Yzerman.

He’ll give his group a chance to get back into the postseason picture by continuing to tweak. Re-signing Kane is an easy boost — he has played well at 5-on-5 and special teams, and has a veteran poise.

It’s the Red Wings’ defense that’s in need of a true upgrade. Detroit gave up the 12th-most goals last season, and the collection of veterans the Red Wings relied on for their second and third pairings weren’t cutting it. There are UFA options available such as Vladislav Gavrikov who might help, or Yzerman could swing a deal for someone such as RFA K’Andre Miller. Regardless of where Yzerman looks, it’s important he finds a defenseman (or two) who can take some pressure off Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson.

---

2024-25 result: Won the Stanley Cup

Key players hitting UFA: F Brad Marchand, D Nate Schmidt, G Vitek Vanecek
Key player hitting RFA: F Mackie Samoskevich
Cap space: $4,900,000

What they should do: The Panthers already found Sergei Bobrovsky‘s new backup in a trade with Columbus for Daniil Tarasov. The 26-year-old will replace departing UFA Vanecek, and crosses one item off GM Bill Zito’s to-do list.

Before re-signing, Sam Bennett publicly said he wasn’t leaving Florida, a proclamation Aaron Ekblad‘s agent encouraged him not to do out loud (for leverage reasons). But, Ekblad elected to come back too via an eight-year contract signed Monday with a $6.1 million AAV.

Zito now has limited cap space for additional contracts. Will he make a trade to ensure Marchand stays? Thankfully for Zito, Florida doesn’t have many other holes to fill. And retaining Marchand shouldn’t be at too high a cost given his age and role with the team.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key player hitting UFA: F Christian Dvorak
Key player hitting RFA: G Jakub Dobes
Cap space: $-3,394,166

What they should do: Montreal made waves with its push into the postseason in 2024-25. That’s nothing compared to what GM Kent Hughes pulled off on draft day, acquiring Noah Dobson from the Islanders and signing him to an eight-year, $76 million contract. It cost Hughes a pretty penny — including two 2025 first-round draft choices — but the 25-year-old Dobson joining Lane Hutson & Co. on the Canadiens’ blue line makes that a formidable-looking squad.

Now the Canadiens’ most glaring need is a second-line center — but that’s a hot commodity without many skaters available via free agency to fill that role. Anthony Beauvillier has been mentioned often in connection to the Habs, but that doesn’t provide a long-term solution. Re-signing Dvorak would be a holdover choice as well.

Hughes could also settle for adding to the wings, or orchestrate a trade that wrangles a true top-six pivot. Either way, there’s a want and need for the front office to infuse some exciting offensive energy into the Canadiens’ lineup without sacrificing too much of the pipeline or more draft capital.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: F Nick Cousins, G Anton Forsberg
Key players hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $8,194,286

What they should do: The Senators’ focus was largely trained on re-signing Claude Giroux. GM Steve Staois got that one done Sunday when he inked Giroux to a one-year contract extension. That’s an important deal for the Senators to maintain some of the consistency that helped them become a playoff team last season.

Now, will Staois do much else to boost Ottawa going forward? He has been vocal about liking Ottawa’s group as it is, and might decide just keeping Giroux — and his leadership — will most benefit the Senators’ rising core.

Ottawa doesn’t appear in glaring need of help in other facets — they’ve built slow and steady for a reason — so getting Giroux done might be Staois’ signal that the Senators will continue prioritizing growth from within as opposed to chasing outside help. That mindset would also be well reflected in an extension for Forsberg, although the goalie is rumored to want to test the open market instead.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key player hitting UFA: D Nick Perbix
Key player hitting RFA: F Gage Goncalves
Cap space: $5,480,001

What they should do: As usual, nothing is off the table for Tampa Bay. Where there’s a will, GM Julien BriseBois generally usually manages to find a way.

The Lightning ran out of steam in the postseason (again), and you could see BriseBois wanted to guard against that by leveraging his minimal cap space with the addition of some new players, particularly on the back end. But there’s work to be done at the minimum in keeping Perbix and Goncalves. Both skaters have filled their roles for Tampa Bay recently, and Goncalves especially is just finding his stride in the NHL.

BriseBois has brokered more than one blockbuster of late though, and Goncalves could also be someone to watch on the trade market if the GM is looking to roll the dice again to give the Lightning another chance to be the team to be beat in the Sunshine State.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the second round

Key players hitting UFA: F Steven Lorentz, F Mitch Marner
Key player hitting RFA: F Nick Robertson
Cap space: $13,570,581

What they should do: The Maple Leafs took care of business by getting John Tavares signed to a four-year extension last week. That was the top priority this offseason for GM Brad Treliving.

Unless a trade for Marner’s rights materializes in the next 24 hours, there’s almost no doubt he will walk away for nothing in free agency. Either way, that’s a massive loss for the Leafs’ offense. Losing Tavares too would have cratered the Leafs’ center depth.

But with Tavares squared away — and knowing the Leafs won’t be investing ample cap space in Marner — Treliving was able to re-sign RFA Matthew Knies to a six-year extension carrying a $7.75 million AAV. That’s about as good as it gets for the Leafs.

Now, will Treliving fill in the gaps with some blue-line help? That would be good business as well. And he should also consider bringing back Lorentz and Robertson.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

2024-25 result: Lost in the conference finals

Key players hitting UFA: D Brent Burns, D Dmitry Orlov, F Jack Roslovic
Key players hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $26,715,958

What they should do: Carolina can’t quite get over the hump, stalling out in the Eastern Conference finals two of the past three seasons. It’s on GM Erik Tulsky to find players to power the Hurricanes through to the other side.

The first thing Carolina needs is to add scoring wingers, preferably those with top-nine pedigree and a proven track record. A second-line center would be valuable as well, and — if there’s cap room left — boosting their right-side defensive depth wouldn’t hurt. Carolina averaged fewer than three goals per game in the playoffs, and struggled especially in the conference finals against Florida’s stout defensive effort.

The Hurricanes might have too many of the same style skater in their lineup, making them easier to shut down, so Tulsky should target some grit to go with the finesse Carolina can already wield with its current roster.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: F Christian Fischer, F Luke Kunin, F Kevin Labanc, D Ivan Provorov
Key players hitting RFA: D Jordan Harris, F Dmitri Voronkov
Cap space: $28,533,752

What they should do: Columbus didn’t wait around for Tuesday to start dealing, trading for Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood from Colorado. Coyle especially helps make the Blue Jackets’ middle six more robust, and gives the team some flexibility at center. And if Wood can reignite his game after some down seasons, he’ll contribute somewhere in the bottom six.

Depth like that is an asset. But it’s not enough (right now) to truly change the Blue Jackets’ fortunes. GM Don Waddell should be seeking another center and a top-six winger who complement the young core. The right side of their blue line would also benefit from a boost, beyond the extension for Dante Fabbro.

That was all true before the trade of goalie Daniil Tarasov, though. How will Waddell go about Columbus’ netminding now? There’s Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves. Waddell isn’t giving the Blue Jackets’ their best opportunity without exploring an upgrade in the cage.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: F Nathan Bastian, F Daniel Sprong, G Jake Allen
Key players hitting RFA: F Nolan Foote, D Luke Hughes
Cap space: $14,394,167

What they should do: The Devils will be rightfully focused on getting a new deal done with pending Hughes, a backbone on their blue line and key to the franchise’s future. Then, GM Tom Fitzgerald can start adding to New Jersey’s offense.

There’s a critical need for a center (especially if they don’t qualify RFA Cody Glass) considering that Dawson Mercer might not be ready for that jump next season. Punching up the team’s scoring is another significant task. New Jersey ranked 20th in offense last season, and while some of that could be tied to losing Jack Hughes to injury, it was still an issue even when he was healthy.

The backup goaltender position will also have to be addressed: Can the Devils rely on Nico Daws behind Jacob Markstrom? It’s slim pickings for a goalie in free agency, but a trade could materialize to help the Devils improve there.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: D Scott Perunovich
Cap space: $14,693,334

What they should do: Incoming GM Mathieu Darche didn’t waste time shaking things up on the island when he traded Noah Dobson to Montreal during draft weekend. That move left the Islanders with only four viable blueliners signed for this season, though Darche moved quickly to get Alexander Romanov re-signed as well, via an eight-year contract.

And of course, there’s the possibility No. 1 draft choice Matthew Schaefer works his way into the rotation.

The team’s next priority is ensuring Ilya Sorokin has the right support in goal next season. Semyon Varlamov was sidelined by an injury in December, and he never returned; the Islanders’ goaltending struggled as a result. Varlamov is 37 now, and might not be the best option any longer to play in tandem with a top-tier goalie such as Sorokin. Darche will have to decide if there’s a deal to be made for Varlamov or if the Isles’ can be confident he’ll give them strong minutes in the coming season.

And, as always, the Islanders could use more scoring depth (they ranked 28th in offense last season) but they’ll have to prioritize which areas can be shored up now vs. later.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: F Will Cuylle, F Arthur Kaliyev, D K’Andre Miller
Cap space: $12,197,142

What they should do: New York already sent Chris Kreider to Anaheim, completing a trade that seemed inevitable at some point this offseason. That freed up some cap space that they can use to try to become a playoff team again.

Coming to a decision on Miller is vital. Do the Rangers keep him? Trade him? Where does he fit for them into the future?

Then there is Cuylle, who had an excellent second season and should be signed by the Rangers quickly to avoid any sort of offer-sheet situation. New York doesn’t have enough cap yet to make many other major moves. Barring another veteran trade, taking care of his own might be the best GM Chris Drury can do for now.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: F Jakob Pelletier, D Cam York
Cap space: $15,141,905

What they should do: Philadelphia’s primary needs going into the 2025-26 season were to be stronger down the middle and getting another goaltender. Trading for Trevor Zegras has (theoretically) accomplished that first goal. Now it’s time for the Flyers to find another goaltender who can complement Samuel Ersson.

Philadelphia ranked 32nd in team save percentage last season (.872), and neither Ivan Fedotov nor Aleksei Kolosov appear reliable enough for the Flyers to lean on moving forward. GM Danny Briere will have to scour the (middling) free agent market for another netminder.

A trade for Thatcher Demko, with his connection to new coach Rick Tocchet and one year left at $5 million AAV, might be their best bet despite his injury history. Alex Lyon or Jake Allen could also be viable veteran options to support Ersson (whom the organization still believes has a bright future).

After the goaltending is sorted, if Briere can also add a left-handed defenseman to the mix, all the better for Philadelphia.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: F Connor Dewar, F Philip Tomasino
Cap space: $19,616,904

What they should do: We believe the Penguins won’t be trading Sidney Crosby in the offseason. Erik Karlsson, though? That’s something GM Kyle Dubas should be exploring.

Karlsson has shown his age the past two seasons, and Pittsburgh has to be dialed in on getting younger and faster if they expect to be a postseason contender. It won’t be easy to get Karlsson off the books. But if there’s a way Dubas can get out from under his contract, it will benefit the Penguins in a big way.

Dubas is likely to get both Dewar and Tomasino signed to new deals.

Then there’s the Penguins’ goalie confidence rating — as in, where is it right now? Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic remain in the fold but were, shall we say, not exactly a top tandem last season. Could a Karlsson trade perhaps return a netminder to help out? It’s possible.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the second round

Key players hitting UFA: D Ethan Bear, F Anthony Beauvillier, F Andrew Mangiapane
Key player hitting RFA: D Alexander Alexeyev
Cap space: $9,375,000

What they should do: GM Chris Patrick said he wanted to add more high-skill players to the Capitals’ lineup. That’s rich coming from the second-highest scoring team in 2024-25 — and yet, there’s logic to it. Washington was boosted by a handful of skaters having career-best seasons offensively. It would be foolish to rely on that happening again for so many players.

Retaining Beauvillier would help the Capitals maintain their bottom-six depth without breaking the bank. There’s going to be some turnover for Washington regardless, with T.J. Oshie retiring, so the decision to prioritize scoring is a wise one.

CENTRAL DIVISION

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: None
Key players hitting RFA: D Louis Crevier, D Wyatt Kaiser, F Philipp Kurashev, G Arvid Soderblom
Cap space: $22,495,357

What they should do: Find a way to improve the roster, while also advancing the team’s rebuild at the same time.

The Blackhawks were in the bottom 10 of goals scored per game while allowing the second-most goals per game. Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson traded for Andre Burakovsky to provide another potential goal-scoring option. Davidson could use free agency or one more trade to find another experienced scorer who meshes with their youth movement.

There’s also a possibility the Blackhawks could look to do the same on the back end by getting at least two experienced defensemen to improve upon last season’s issues. Especially when the current group they have features seven skaters younger than 24 who are either under contract or team control for next season.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: F Jonathan Drouin, F Joel Kiviranta, D Ryan Lindgren, F Jimmy Vesey
Key player hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $8,950,000

What they should do: Strengthen their roster to win another Stanley Cup. Building a supporting cast has been an issue since the Avs won the Stanley Cup in 2022. It remains that way now with them needing to again reconfigure their bottom-six forward corps while doing the same for their third defense pairing.

There are options that can be had, but that goes back to why they’re in this situation in the first place: cap space. Trading Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood created an additional $8.2 million in room but also came at the cost of trying to fill two more bottom-six roles.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the conference finals

Key players hitting UFA: D Cody Ceci, F Evgenii Dadonov, F Mikael Granlund
Key players hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $980,084

What they should do: Reinforce their bottom-six forward group. Who knew? There’s another Western Conference team in a championship window that must rebuild its bottom six with the intent that it can play a role in getting them to their desired destination.

While that’s not to say the Stars couldn’t be inclined to add more help elsewhere, the bottom six appears to be their greatest need, with only 10 forwards under contract on a team that must create more space to attain the strongest possible options.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: F Justin Brazeau, D Jon Merrill, F Gustav Nyquist
Key player hitting RFA: F Marco Rossi
Cap space: $17,711,835

What they should do: Solidify their roster by adding more goal scorers. GM Bill Guerin said at the end of the season that finding another center was in the team’s plans. The Wild appeared to have several options of players who were slated to hit free agency.

Or that appeared to be the case until centers such as Sam Bennett, Matt Duchene, Brock Nelson and John Tavares decided to stay with their teams, while Jonathan Toews signed a one-year deal with his hometown Jets.

Should the Wild decide to go in another direction, they could be inclined to add another top-six or top-nine winger. Now, if only there was a seven-time 20-goal scorer who could reach free agency that just happens to be from the Twin Cities.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: D Marc Del Gaizo, F Jakub Vrana
Key player hitting RFA: F Luke Evangelista
Cap space: $13,519,610

What they should do: Select the path they believe is the one to success. Being experienced in some areas while inexperienced in others played a role in why they went from playoff team to lottery entrant in a single season — especially after “winning July 1” last year, as GM Barry Trotz mentioned during the draft broadcast.

Trotz has stated how much potential he sees in the club’s young players, and how that could see the team find cohesion with those more experienced players. But at the same time, the Preds could be inclined to add another top-nine forward and/or a top-six defenseman just to be safe. Trotz did the latter late Sunday when he traded for Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague, and signed him to a four-year contract worth $5.5 million annually.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: F Radek Faksa, D Ryan Suter
Key players hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $1,625,150

What they should do: Add at least one more defenseman. GM Doug Armstrong said in May that he doesn’t expect Torey Krug to play next season. If that’s the case, that would leave the Blues needing another top-six defenseman, while possibly trying to acquire one more for depth.

Armstrong told reporters days before the draft that the Blues will have the long-term injured reserve space from Krug’s contract, which is on the books at $6.5 million annually.

Aside from that, the Blues appear to have their top-nine forwards situated while having both goalies under contract with Joel Hofer signing a two-year extension Saturday.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: D Robert Bortuzzo, F Nick Bjugstad, F Michael Carcone
Key player hitting RFA: F Jack McBain
Cap space: $14,982,143

What they should do: Aggressively pursue every top-six forward. They already got a head start on that by trading for JJ Peterka, and signing him to a five-year contract extension worth $7.7 million annually.

It’s possible there are other potential top-six options who could be in play if they reach the market. If not, the Mammoth could be inclined to see if a trade exists to add one more forward to a team that appears to be on the cusp of the playoffs. Especially when Utah was among the top 10 teams in the NHL in shots per 60 minutes and scoring chances per 60 but finished 21st in goals per game.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the second round

Key players hitting UFA: F Mason Appleton, F Nikolaj Ehlers, F Brandon Tanev
Key players hitting RFA: F Morgan Barron, F Rasmus Kupari, D Dylan Samberg, F Gabriel Vilardi
Cap space: $23,513,810

What they should do: Strategically sign more forwards. It’s possible that the Ehlers saga could come to an end with him signing a contract. But there’s also the reality he could leave in a market in which he’s one of the strongest options available.

Ehlers or not, the Jets can spend to get additional scoring help. But there must be certain items taken into consideration given they’ll need to balance their cap space. They’ll either need to re-sign Ehlers or find who they feel can be his replacement.

Also, they need to get a new deal done for 27-goal scorer Vilardi. They’ll also need to bolster their bottom-six forward group while taking care of Samberg on the back end.

PACIFIC DIVISION

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: F Robby Fabbri, F Brock McGinn
Key players hitting RFA: G Lukas Dostal, D Drew Helleson, F Mason McTavish, F Isac Lundestrom
Cap space: $35,988,812

What they should do: Spend carefully now, knowing what’s ahead in the future. Hypothetically speaking, GM Pat Verbeek has more than enough cap space to do whatever he feels is necessary. That could be anything from adding another top-six forward to a middle-six forward to at least two bottom-six forwards. It’s possible Verbeek could do something on defense, but it would come at the risk of taking playing time away from members of their young but promising blue line.

And, any decision Verbeek makes also comes with the consequence that they have key players they must pay this offseason — with the idea that Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger are all RFAs after next season.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: F Anthony Mantha, F Kevin Rooney, G Dan Vladar
Key players hitting RFA: F Morgan Frost, F Connor Zary
Cap space: $19,820,000

What they should do: Acquire forwards who can consistently finish scoring chances. Where it gets a bit complicated for the Flames is that they’re trying to add scoring help in a free agent market in which the options could create a bidding war.

The Flames could opt to play that game, with the idea they could determine if it makes more sense to find a trade that addresses their needs. They must also think about how to structure new contracts for Frost and Zary — short-term bridge deals or longer-term ones to have cost certainty.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the Cup Final

Key players hitting UFA: F Connor Brown, D John Klingberg, F Corey Perry, F Jeff Skinner
Key player hitting RFA: D Evan Bouchard
Cap space: $11,050,834

What they should do: They must re-sign Bouchard and then revamp their supporting cast. There appears to be at least one opening in their top six, a few more on their fourth line, and at least one among their defensemen.

Their goaltending obviously remains under question after a consecutive defeat in the Stanley Cup Final that featured uneven performances.

The Oilers have clear areas they must address, with the understanding that they’ll need to either create more cap space or attempt to improve their roster with the hope the personnel they seek can be had at team-friendly prices.

And of course, they do all of this with the best player in the world slated to hit unrestricted free agency after 2025-26, which could be a factor in all of it.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the first round

Key players hitting UFA: D Vladislav Gavrikov, F Tanner Jeannot, F Andrei Kuzmenko, G David Rittich
Key player hitting RFA: F Alex Laferriere
Cap space: $23,210,000

What they should do: Take one or two big swings. New GM Ken Holland has been connected to every top-six forward of significance, ranging from Brock Boeser to Mitch Marner to Brad Marchand. The Kings could also go after another top-four defenseman, whether that’s re-signing Gavrikov or landing someone else.

But that also comes with the understanding that the Kings will want to have enough space remaining to add more experience to their fourth line — and upgrade their backup goaltender should it come to that point.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: G Alexandar Georgiev, D Jan Rutta
Key players hitting RFA: F Thomas Bordeleau, F Klim Kostin, F Nikolai Kovalenko
Cap space: $44,090,832

What they should do: Keep adding to the rebuild. Finishing last in the NHL means that the Sharks need help in many areas. OK, they could use help in every area, ranging from their top nine to their bottom six to their defense to adding another goaltender who could work in tandem with promising prospect Yaroslav Askarov.

This will be the second season for Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, which means they’re still concentrating on the future. So, the Sharks could again sign veteran players to one-year deals whom they could move on from at the deadline to attain more draft capital.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key player hitting UFA: F Michael Eyssimont
Key players hitting RFA: D Ryker Evans, F Kaapo Kakko, F Tye Kartye
Cap space: $18,057,621

What they should do: Continue the trend of adding players who help them establish consistency. Similar to how they traded for Mason Marchment, getting a 22-goal scorer who hypothetically bolsters their top-nine forward group, or how they traded for Frederick Gaudreau to give their bottom six a two-way center and 18-goal scorer who has now scored 14 or more goals in three of the past four seasons.

Those are the sort of moves that could help the Kraken find more continuity, while also establishing potentially a deeper roster than they’ve had since making the playoffs in their second season.

---

2024-25 result: Missed the playoffs

Key players hitting UFA: F Brock Boeser, F Pius Suter
Key players hitting RFA: None
Cap space: $7,031,667

What they should do: Find more top-nine forward help. Consistently scoring goals was an issue last season, and it appears that it could be an issue again ahead of next season.

There’s a chance they could re-sign Boeser and Suter, although they could also lose both. If they do, that presents a new gap to fill.

The Canucks should also add another bottom-pairing defenseman, with the caveat that they can only do so much with such limited cap space.

---

2024-25 result: Lost in the second round

Key players hitting UFA: F Victor Olofsson, F Tanner Pearson, G Ilya Samsonov
Key player hitting RFA: F Alexander Holtz
Cap space: $2,186,429

What they should do: Strengthen their roster to win a second Stanley Cup. There’s always going to be the expectation that GM Kelly McCrimmon does something. As for what that could be? It’s complicated.

On Saturday, there were multiple reports that they’ve talked to the Maple Leafs about a sign-and-trade involving Mitch Marner. A day later, it was reported by The Fourth Period that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo would require multiple surgeries and is expected to sit out the 2025-26 season.

Hours later, they would trade then-pending RFA defenseman Nicolas Hague for forward Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon in a move that saw them add depth while leaving them with less than $800,00 in cap space. It’s never boring in Vegas!