On Wednesday, when all eyes were on the draft, the Maple Leafs culled their roster down to two unsigned RFAs when they decided not to issue Qualifying Offers to any others. Those two are Ilya Mikheyev and Travis Dermott.
Both have a QO of $874,125, and Mikheyev’s is a two way, while Dermott’s is one-way. Players can simply accept the QO at any time between now and October 18 when they expire. When the offer expires, the player does not become a free agent. In fact nothing changes beyond the removal of the ability of the player to simply end negotiations for a year by accepting the QO.