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Boston Bruins
The Bruins will almost certainly still have some needs at center, but their top priority will be retaining goalie Jeremy Swayman (RFA) and winger Jake DeBrusk (UFA). The latter has developed into a legit top-six producer and after a trade request last year really seems to have found a home and a role in Boston.
Swayman, 25, is part of an elite goaltending duo with the 30-year-old Linus Ullmark and has not only been the superior goalie so far this season, he is almost certainly the team’s long-term starter given his age. An extra $4.2 million could be huge in keeping one or both.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes have a significant portion of their core not only locked in place, but also locked in to mostly team-friendly contracts. Their primary concern this offseason will be getting new deals signed with a couple of restricted free-agent forwards in Martin Necas, 24, and Seth Jarvis, 21.
Both players are potential building blocks who are just entering their prime years. But Necas has developed into one of their top offensive stars and will be in line for a huge payday.
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit has spent big in unrestricted free agency and on the trade market the past two offseasons, while also re-signing Dylan Larkin. But the Red Wings are entering an offseason with only 10 players under contract for the 2024-25 season and have 13 pending free agents.
That not only includes veteran unrestricted free agents such as David Perron and Robby Fabbri, but also key restricted free agents like Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.
Raymond, 21, and Seider, 22, will be the most important re-signings as they are key members of their long-term core and both starting to enter their prime. The big question the Red Wings have to answer is do they go with short-term bridge deals or go all-in with long-term pacts?
Florida Panthers
The Panthers have two major unrestricted free agents this offseason in forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman Brandon Montour. They will present the Panthers with two significant questions: Do they want to keep them, and how much do they trust them on long-term deals?
Montour was one of the league’s surprising breakout stars last season but has been limited to 11 games this season because of a shoulder injury. He’s also never come close to producing at that level throughout his career.
Reinhart is on track for a career year with 37 points in his first 27 games. The Panthers will have $28 million in cap space to work with during the offseason, which in theory is more than enough to sign both players, but they only have nine players under contract. That means they still have 60 percent of a roster to fill out.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings are going to be facing some big headaches this offseason with young forwards Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev entering restricted free agency. Byfield is going to be the main concern, as he is finally having the breakout year the Kings were hoping for and might be in line for a long-term deal.
They will only have $22.6 million to sign nine players, including the two young forwards and both goalie spots as Cam Talbot and Pheonix Copley are each playing on expiring contracts.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins have shown zero interest in starting a rebuild and seem determined to keep trying to compete in what is left of the Sidney Crosby era. There is no reason to believe that will change this offseason.
Their big concern will be trying to re-sign forward Jake Guentzel, a pending unrestricted free agent. He is one of the most productive wingers and goal-scorers in the NHL and has an incredible chemistry alongside Crosby. He has been playing on a team-friendly $6 million cap hit the past few years, but he has played his way into a significant raise on his next deal.
An extra $4 million in cap space will help a cap-strapped Penguins team keep him if they choose.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Does an increase in the salary cap potentially change their plans for impending UFA Steven Stamkos? The fact that they have not re-signed the franchise legend, as well as general manager Julien BriseBois’ comments on his situation before the season, cast some doubt as to whether the Lightning want to bring him back.
But the 33-year-old is still an elite scorer and should still have some big years ahead. Even with the projected increase in the cap, the Lightning only have $12 million in space remaining with eight spots to fill. Figure a new Stamkos deal eats up at least $8 million of that…and maybe more. It still might require another trade to get him back and still fill the rest of the spots.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The good news for the Maple Leafs is that even with the contracts for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly, they still have over $34 million in cap space this offseason.
The bad news is they only have 10 players under contract and have the top unrestricted free agent on the market in William Nylander. Even before the potential increase in cap space there was still an argument to be made they could retain Nylander.
They have big money coming off the books following the 2025 season and would really only need to worry about a cap-crunch for one season. Given his production (13 goals, 21 assists, 34 points), there is almost no chance Nylander signs for a dollar less than $10 million per season.
That would still leave Toronto with somewhere around $24 million to fill out 12 spots. That is very doable.
Vancouver Canucks
For most of the Jim Benning era, the Canucks were perpetually in salary-cap shambles despite the fact that they never had a good team and never really had any of the top-50 contracts in the NHL.
But now they actually have a little bit of cap flexibility, and it couldn’t come at a better time as they have to figure out how to get superstar forward Elias Pettersson signed to a long-term deal.
He is going to be the top restricted free agent on the market this offseason and will be looking at a 10-figure salary…easily. The Canucks have over $30 million in cap space with 11 players already signed. If Pettersson takes up between $10 and $12 million of that, then that is going to leave them $18 to $20 million for the next 10 players. Defenseman Filip Hronek is the only other key player whose contract is up after this season.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas is always in the market for whatever big-name player is available, but its main focus this offseason should be retaining its own star. In this case, Jonathan Marchessault.
He has been one of the most important Golden Knights forwards from their arrival in the NHL, and he is still going strong. Between him and Chandler Stephenson, who has been one of the biggest steals by any team in recent years, Vegas has two prominent forwards to try to keep. They should eat up a significant portion of Vegas’ $16 million in salary-cap space this offseason.
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