Several big-name players are reaching restricted free agency this summer. Inevitably, some of these players will become unrestricted free agents should their team decide not to issue a qualifying offer. Especially for teams close to the salary cap ceiling, restricted free agents, particularly those eligible for arbitration, will be left to sign with any team of their choice or re-signed to a lower salary than their qualifying offer. The entire list of RFAs entering the 2026 offseason is as follows:<\/p>\n
Centers<\/p>\n
Nils Aman<\/a> (Canucks, arbitration eligible) Left Wingers<\/p>\n Zach Benson<\/a> (Sabres) Right Wingers<\/p>\n Jonatan Berggren<\/a> (Blues, arbitration eligible) Left-Handed Defensemen<\/p>\n Emil Andrae<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible) Right-Handed Defensemen<\/p>\n Justin Barron<\/a> (Predators, arbitration eligible) Goaltenders<\/p>\n Garin Bjorklund<\/a> (Capitals)
Zakhar Bardakov<\/a> (Avalanche, arbitration eligible)
Connor Bedard<\/a> (Blackhawks)
John Beecher<\/a> (Flames, arbitration eligible)
Mavrik Bourque<\/a> (Stars, arbitration eligible)
Skyler Brind\u2019Amour<\/a> (Hurricanes, arbitration eligible)
Leo Carlsson<\/a> (Ducks)
Paul Cotter<\/a> (Devils, arbitration eligible)
Kirby Dach<\/a> (Canadiens, arbitration eligible)
Colton Dach<\/a> (Oilers)
Jared Davidson<\/a> (Canadiens, arbitration eligible)
Jack Drury<\/a> (Avalanche, arbitration eligible)
Adam Fantilli<\/a> (Blue Jackets)
Barrett Hayton<\/a> (Mammoth, arbitration eligible)
Ivan Ivan<\/a> (Avalanche, arbitration eligible)
Rory Kerins<\/a> (Flames, arbitration eligible)
Ville Koivunen<\/a> (Penguins)
Arttu Hyry<\/a> (Stars, arbitration eligible)
Peyton Krebs<\/a> (Sabres, arbitration eligible)
Hendrix Lapierre<\/a> (Capitals, arbitration eligible)
Connor McMichael<\/a> (Capitals, arbitration eligible)
Sam Morton<\/a> (Flames, arbitration eligible)
Zack Ostapchuk<\/a> (Sharks)
Cole Perfetti<\/a> (Jets, arbitration eligible)
Matthew Poitras<\/a> (Bruins)
Jacob Quillan<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)
Justin Robidas<\/a> (Hurricanes)
Joshua Roy<\/a> (Canadiens)
Cole Sillinger<\/a> (Blue Jackets, arbitration eligible)
Wilmer Skoog<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Philip Tomasino<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible)
Ryan Tverberg<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)
Joe Veleno<\/a> (Canadiens, arbitration eligible)
Trevor Zegras<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible)<\/p>\n
Zachary Bolduc<\/a> (Canadiens)
Brett Berard<\/a> (Rangers, arbitration eligible)
Brendan Brisson<\/a> (Rangers, arbitration eligible)
Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a> (Golden Knights, arbitration eligible)
Cutter Gauthier<\/a> (Ducks)
Nikita Grebenkin<\/a> (Flyers)
Roby Jarventie<\/a> (Oilers)
Philipp Kurashev<\/a> (Sharks, arbitration eligible)
Matias Maccelli<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)
Taylor Makar<\/a> (Avalanche, arbitration eligible)
Carter Mazur<\/a> (Red Wings, arbitration eligible)
Brennan Othmann<\/a> (Flames)
Xavier Parent<\/a> (Devils, arbitration eligible)
Mikael Pyyhtia<\/a> (Blue Jackets, arbitration eligible)
Jason Robertson<\/a> (Stars, arbitration eligible)
Nicholas Robertson<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)<\/p>\n
Xavier Bourgault<\/a> (Senators, arbitration eligible)
Bobby Brink<\/a> (Wild, arbitration eligible)
Ethan Cardwell<\/a> (Sharks, arbitration eligible)
Egor Chinakhov<\/a> (Penguins, arbitration eligible)
Marc Gatcomb<\/a> (Islanders, arbitration eligible)
Collin Graf<\/a> (Sharks)
Arseny Gritsyuk<\/a> (Devil, arbitration eligible)
Arthur Kaliyev<\/a> (Senators, arbitration eligible)
Jacob Melanson<\/a> (Kraken)
Isak Rosen<\/a> (Jets)
Mackie Samoskevich<\/a> (Panthers)
Cole Schwindt<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Max Shabanov<\/a> (Islanders, arbitration eligible)<\/p>\n
Tobias Bjornfot<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Ethan Del Mastro<\/a> (Blackhawks)
Simon Edvinsson<\/a> (Red Wings)
Domenick Fensore<\/a> (Hurricanes, arbitration eligible)
Jordan Harris<\/a> (Bruins, arbitration eligible)
Tyson Hinds<\/a> (Ducks)
Daemon Hunt<\/a> (Wild, arbitration eligible)
Pierre-Olivier Joseph<\/a> (Canucks, arbitration eligible)
Vladislav Kolyachonok<\/a> (Stars, arbitration eligible)
Kevin Korchinski<\/a> (Blackhawks)
Carson Lambos<\/a> (Wild)
Hunter McDonald<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible)
Pavel Mintyukov<\/a> (Ducks)
Shakir Mukhamadullin<\/a> (Sharks, arbitration eligible)
Alexander Nikishin<\/a> (Hurricanes)
Donovan Sebrango<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Ronan Seeley<\/a> (Hurricanes, arbitration eligible)
Spencer Stastney<\/a> (Oilers, arbitration eligible)
Henry Thrun<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)
Topias Vilen<\/a> (Devils)
Arber Xhekaj<\/a> (Canadiens, arbitration eligible)
Egor Zamula<\/a> (Blue Jackets, arbitration eligible)
Olen\u00a0<\/a>Zellweger<\/a>\u00a0(Ducks)<\/p>\n
Michael Benning<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Brandt Clarke<\/a> (Kings)
Jamie Drysdale<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible)
Mikulas Hovorka<\/a> (Panthers, arbitration eligible)
Vincent Iorio<\/a> (Rangers)
Matthew Kessel<\/a> (Blues, arbitration eligible)
Michael Kesselring<\/a> (Sabres, arbitration eligible)
Ian Moore<\/a> (Ducks)
Scott Morrow<\/a> (Rangers)
Simon Nemec<\/a> (Devils)
Braden Schneider<\/a> (Rangers, arbitration eligible)
David Spacek<\/a> (Wild)
Jordan Spence<\/a> (Senators, arbitration eligible)
William Villeneuve<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)<\/p>\n
Joel Blomqvist<\/a> (Penguins, arbitration eligible)
Talyn Boyko<\/a> (Rangers)
Tyler Brennan<\/a> (Devils)
Vyacheslav Buteyets<\/a> (Ducks, arbitration eligible)
Gabriel Carriere<\/a> (Sharks, arbitration eligible)
Luke Cavallin<\/a> (Bruins, arbitration eligible)
Calle Clang<\/a> (Ducks, arbitration eligible)
Drew Commesso<\/a> (Blackhawks, arbitration eligible)
Sebastian Cossa<\/a> (Red Wings)
Nico Daws<\/a> (Devils, arbitration eligible)
Samuel Ersson<\/a> (Flyers, arbitration eligible)
Dylan Garand<\/a> (Rangers, arbitration eligible)
Jet Greaves<\/a> (Blue Jackets, arbitration eligible)
Carter Gylander<\/a> (Red Wings, arbitration eligible)
Samuel Hlavaj<\/a> (Wild, arbitration eligible)
Benjamin Kraws<\/a> (Stars, arbitration eligible)
Tristan Lennox<\/a> (Islanders)
Carl Lindbom<\/a> (Golden Knights)
Jakub Malek<\/a> (Devils, arbitration eligible)
Leevi Merilainen<\/a> (Senators, arbitration eligible)
Hugo Ollas<\/a> (Rangers, arbitration eligible)
Victor Ostman<\/a> (Kraken, arbitration eligible)
Vyacheslav Peksa<\/a> (Maple Leafs, arbitration eligible)
Isaac Poulter<\/a> (Jets, arbitration eligible)
Cayden Primeau<\/a> (Hurricanes, arbitration eligible)
Nikita Quapp<\/a> (Hurricanes)
Owen Say<\/a> (Flames, arbitration eligible)
Akira Schmid<\/a> (Golden Knights, arbitration eligible)
Arturs Silovs<\/a> (Penguins, arbitration eligible)
Anson Thornton<\/a> (Mammoth)
Henrik Tikkanen<\/a> (Islanders, arbitration eligible)
Connor Ungar<\/a> (Oilers, arbitration eligible)
Jesper Vikman<\/a> (Capitals, arbitration eligible)
Simon Zajicek<\/a> (Bruins, arbitration eligible)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several big-name players are reaching restricted free agency this summer. Inevitably, some of these players will become unrestricted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[157823,49,48,4247,448,39495,82],"class_list":["post-739084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2026-free-agency","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-rfa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}