2026 NHL Offseason Will Be Remembered for Years to Come

Offer sheets, blockbuster trades, overpriced contracts. Did I mention offer sheets? Most years, the NHL offseason comes and goes with minimal excitement, but that has not even been the case this summer. I don’t want to call it the greatest offseason of all-time, but it has certainly been the best in recent memory, and it doesn’t appear we’re done yet.

The Carlsson & Hayton Offer Sheets

Let’s start with the offer sheets, because how often do we see them? It began on July 1, when the New Jersey Devils tendered an offer sheet to Barrett Hayton of the Utah Mammoth. That offer sheet was for one year at a cap hit of $4.775 million.

On the surface, that looks like an easy match for the Mammoth, but I don’t think that’s the case. There’s a bit of a poison pill element to it. If the Mammoth match, they cannot trade Hayton for one full calendar year, which allows him to become a UFA next July.

If the Mammoth decide to let Hayton go and sign with the Devils, they would receive the Devils’ 2027 second-round pick. Cam Robinson reported the two sides were close to a trade involving Hayton at the NHL Draft, but the Mammoth pulled out at the last minute. So the Devils tendered an offer sheet instead.

After acquiring Vincent Trocheck from the New York Rangers, which came just before the Devils tendered an offer sheet to Hayton, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Mammoth decline to match and take the second-round pick. They’re loaded at center even without Hayton, and if they don’t plan to sign him long term, they’re better off taking the pick rather than losing him for nothing.

One offer sheet is enough to get jaws to drop, but a second? On July 3, the Philadelphia Flyers announced they were tendering a five-year mega offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson worth $18 million per year. Was that payback for the Ducks acquiring Cutter Gauthier from the Flyers a couple of years ago? Perhaps, but this offer sheet presents risks for each side.

Don’t get me wrong. Carlsson is a great player, but he’s not remotely close to an $18 million player right now, and he’s unlikely to ever be worth that AAV. That price tag is for someone like Connor McDavid, and the likelihood of Carlsson ever consistently reaching that MVP-level is quite low.

That’s what makes this offer sheet quite fun, though. One team is going to get stuck with a bad contract. The Ducks have said they will match any offer sheet for Carlsson, but it will mess up their cap structure moving forward. If they don’t match, the Flyers will have the highest-paid player in the NHL on their roster, and it could affect their cap structure when it’s time to pay Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov in a year or two.

There Have Been Some Fun Trades, Too

The offer sheets have been fun, but so has the trade market. Among the biggest trades this summer was the Chicago Blackhawks acquiring Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres for the fourth overall pick in the 2026 draft.

Byram is a good player, but he was not worth the fourth overall pick. The Blackhawks doubled down on their decision and signed Byram to a six-year deal at an AAV of $12.5 million. It’s not all that different from the Carlsson offer sheet. Is Byram a No. 1 defender? Far from it. He’s a good second-pair defenseman, but the Blackhawks are unlikely to extract proper value from that contract.

Byram has been far from the only big name moved this summer, too. The Vegas Golden Knights traded Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers at the draft, and he subsequently signed a seven-year extension worth $11 million per year. He finished this season with 49 goals between the regular season and playoffs, but it’ll be interesting to see if he lives up to his new contract. He’s not a play driver, and I’m not sure the Rangers have the roster to optimize his skill set.

In Edmonton, the Oilers cleared Darnell Nurse’s contract, freeing up $9.25 million in cap space. The Devils got out of Jacob Markström’s contract before his two-year extension even kicked in, and the Washington Capitals were the surprise landing spot for Jordan Kyrou.

Other notable trades this summer included the Mammoth acquiring Trocheck, the Ducks trading Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues, and the Capitals acquiring Alex Tuch in a sign-and-trade with the Sabres. And it sure doesn’t feel like the trade winds are ready to die down yet. There could be more moves to come.

Most years, NHL insiders hype the trade market ahead of the draft, only for it to be a dud with little movement. That has not been the case this summer, and it’s another reason why this has been such an entertaining offseason for fans.

It hasn’t just been the trades, though. How often do we see NBA-like trade requests in the NHL? There have been a couple this season, Nurse being one, but the most notable has been Dylan Larkin asking out of Detroit. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has held firm so far, but Larkin hasn’t rescinded his request.

There was also the saga involving Zach Werenski, who first signaled he didn’t plan on re-signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets after his contract expires in two years, only for him to say a few days later that he wants to remain a Blue Jacket for the foreseeable future.

His teammate, Kirill Marchenko, also indicated that he does not intend to sign long-term with the Blue Jackets. But perhaps that has changed after the Werenski saga; GM Don Waddell has insisted Marchenko will begin the 2026-27 season in Columbus. Either way, the drama is something we don’t see very often during the NHL offseason.

Lastly, there’s been plenty of noise around Connor Hellebuyck and whether he wants out of Winnipeg. The Jets have held firm with Hellebuyck so far, but teams in need of goaltending are surely keeping a watchful eye on how this situation plays out.

Free Agency Had No Shortage of Poor Contracts

No matter the year, there are always terrible contracts handed out in free agency. Even though this was one of the weakest UFA classes in recent memory, there were still a few head-scratching deals signed by teams on July 1.

The most notable signing was the Sharks handing out a four-year deal to Jacob Trouba at a cap hit of $8.25 million. The Sharks had a clean cap sheet entering this offseason, but after signing Trouba and acquiring Nurse, they may have a couple of problem contracts a few years down the road.

In Toronto, new GM John Chayka signed Sergei Bobrovsky to a three-year deal worth $7 million per year. Bobrovsky struggled this past season in Florida, and when the Panthers decide to move on from a player, it should probably raise an eyebrow. We’ll see how this works out for the Maple Leafs, but there’s plenty of risk.

As mentioned, the Capitals acquired Tuch in a sign-and-trade with the Sabres. They subsequently signed him to an eight-year extension worth $10.5 million per year. Tuch showed some signs of decline this season. He’s beginning to lose some footspeed, and that should be a red flag for the Capitals, especially in a couple of years.

In Vegas, they doubled down on Rasmus Andersson and signed him to a seven-year extension worth $8.5 million per year. Andersson is a fine second-pair defender, but that contract could age very poorly. Andersson has already shown some signs of decline, especially defensively. The Golden Knights could regret this one down the road.

An NHL Offseason for the Ages

This NHL offseason has been a blast for fans so far, and it’s probably not over yet. At the very least, we know the Mammoth and Ducks have to make decisions on Hayton and Carlsson. That could take until the middle of next week, and there are even rumors of more offer sheets on the horizon.

The trade market should also be quite active for another week or two. But even if it ends up being quieter than anticipated, there have been plenty of exciting trades for fans to debate. This is the offseason that fans have hoped for in recent years but haven’t gotten. It has not disappointed, and it’s a summer that many will likely remember for quite some time.