The 2025 offseason includes a thin group of high-level free agents with an exploding salary cap atmosphere, meaning Brian Burke's "the biggest mistakes get made on July 1" credo is likely to be truer than ever.
This year, the free agent generating the most attention is Mitch Marner. There's a significant gap behind him to Matt Duchene, Sam Bennett, John Tavares, Brock Boeser and Aaron Ekblad. It's a stark contrast to July 1, 2026, when it's possible that Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, Artemi Panarin, Kyle Connor and John Carlson may be all available.