Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson stole the headlines after inking a gargantuan five-year, $90 million offer sheet as a restricted free agent from the Philadelphia Flyers on July 9 before the Ducks matched it, and he isn’t the only RFA benefiting from an increasing salary cap.
The Blackhawks handed 2023 first-overall pick Connor Bedard a five-year, $75 million contract on Saturday, while the Flyers gave four-year deals to forward Trevor Zegras ($9.125M AAV) and defenceman Jamie Drysdale ($6.5M AAV). Elsewhere, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Connor McMichael to a six-year contract and the Winnipeg Jets re-upped with winger Cole Perfetti on a five-year deal.
Three more RFAs in line for big contracts are Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, Columbus Blue Jackets centre Adam Fantilli and Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier.
Robertson is coming off a four-year, $31 million deal while Fantilli and Gauthier are coming off their entry-level contracts.
Robertson, who is set to have an arbitration hearing on Saturday, led Dallas in scoring last season with 45 goals and 96 points in 82 games last season and added five goals and eight points in six postseason contests.
In late June, the 27-year-old reportedly rejected an eight-year contract worth $15 million per season in a sign-and-trade with the Seattle Kraken, according to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun.
Stars general manager Jim Nill said earlier this month that the goal is to get Robertson under contract.
“The games don’t start until September, and this is part of contract negotiations. The goal is to get him signed and, as we talked about at the (2026 NHL) draft, same situation,” said Nill.
Robertson is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after next season if he doesn’t sign a long-term deal.
Columbus currently has $23.27 million in cap space with Fantilli and teammates, goaltender
Jet Greaves and forward Cole Sillinger, also needing new deals. Greaves and Sillinger are scheduled for arbitration hearings on July 23 and July 27, respectively.
Fantilli, 21, scored 24 goals with a career-high 59 points in 82 games last season for the Blue Jackets.
Other than Greaves and Sillinger, the remaining RFAs with scheduled arbitration hearings are Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Ronan Seeley (July 29), New York Islanders forward Alex Jefferies (July 30) and Florida Panthers goaltender Akira Schmid (Aug. 1).
Gauthier has watched two Anaheim teammates in Carlsson and defenceman Pavel Mintyukov (five years, $7.2 million AAV) get big deals this summer as RFAs also coming out of their entry-level contracts and has a case to be the third Duck to cash in big despite Anaheim having just over $9 million in cap space.
The 22-year-old led the Ducks in goals (41) and points (69) in 76 games last season and was a point-per-game scorer in the playoffs with 12 points in 12 games before Anaheim was eliminated in the second round.
The Montreal Canadiens have a pair of unsigned RFAs in forward Zachary Bolduc and defenceman Arber Xhekaj with $9.78 million in remaining cap space.
Bolduc scored 12 goals with 30 points in 78 games in his first season with the Canadiens in 2025-26. A first-round pick by the St. Louis Blues in 2021, he was acquired by Montreal on July 1, 2025, in exchange for defenceman Logan Mailloux.
Xhekaj, 25, scored one goal with three assists in 65 games while averaging 11:25 TOI last season with the Canadiens, his fourth with the team. In the playoffs, he scored one goal with an assist in 13 games.
