2026 might be the most dangerous summer for NHL GMs
Free agency may not be the best way to solve a team’s problems this year, but teams still have to try.
Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong speaks with media at a press conference discussing the 2025 NHL Draft, at the Asher Adams Hotel in Salt Lake City on Friday, June 27, 2025. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News Hockey fans woke up Tuesday morning to some startling news: The Columbus Blue Jackets have extended Charlie Coyle to a six-year deal worth $6 million annually. That should scare general managers across the NHL.
It’s not that Coyle doesn’t deserve the money — he’s a good hockey player who leveraged his situation to secure the future for himself and his family. But no team wants to give a top-dollar, long-term deal to a 34-year-old middle-six player. Simply put, the NHL free agency market this season is dire.
Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Adrian Kempe and a number of other big names were supposed to headline the UFA class of 2026, but almost every team locked up its stars early. Free agency is still a month and a half away and there’s already nothing but crumbs left. You know it’s a weak free agency class when the biggest star is coming off a six-digit deal.
The other half of the equation is the rising salary cap. With last week’s announcement that each team will have an extra $8. 5 million to spend, in addition to big increases the past several seasons and the same anticipated in future years, the bidding wars could get out of control.
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