NHL Free Agents 2024: Early look at the top five players

Each summer free agency is a time for NHL teams to improve their roster from the outside. While the best teams in the league are built through the draft, free agency has allowed some of the best teams around to add that little extra bit of star power.

The 2023-24 season will kick off on Oct. 10, so free agency might seem like something too far away to look at just yet, but now is the time to start looking at potential players. This is a contract year for a lot of star players, so there is a lot to discuss.

NHL Free Agents 2024: Early look at the top five players

This past summer, some of the top free agents included Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bertuzzi. So many different teams were able to land players that are going to help their roster this season, and next summer looks to have a lot of names on the list.

Today, I am only going to focus on UFAs who can jump onto a team next summer. While there are a lot of RFAs available like Elias Pettersson, Rasmus Dahlin or even Mortiz Seider, teams seem to not go out of their way to target RFAs from other franchises, that being said there are a lot of UFAs.

The past few seasons the salary cap has not seen any significant rise, but that could change. No one knows for sure when the salary cap will go up, but there is a chance the cap could get a bump in 2024-25. With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the top five players who could be heading to free agency.

Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Jake Guentzel is set to be an unrestricted free agent.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have not re-signed Jake Guentzel yet. That could have to do with Kyle Dubas having other things to focus on after he took the job in Pittsburgh. He has had to figure out how to get the Penguins moving in the right direction with Crosby and Malkin as well as address the franchise’s less than ideal salary cap situation.

Dubas could workout something with Guentzel to stay in Pittsburgh, but if Guentzel were to leave in the offseason there would be a lot of teams looking to add the star winger. Guentzel put up 73 points this past season with the Pens. He registered 36 goals and did his part to help get the team into the playoffs.

Guentzel has had two 40 goal seasons and has had a lot of success since being drafted in the third round of the 2013 NHL draft. Should he choose to walk away from Pittsburgh I think there is a good chance the winger could be heading towards a pay raise from the $6 million he currently makes a season.

Longtime Jets’ Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck could be heading to free agency.

Connor Hellebuyck might be starting the year with the Winnipeg Jets, but there is a good chance the 30 year old will be on a new team by the time the 2024-25 season comes around.

If your team is in need of a goaltender, Hellebuyck arguably would be one of the best goalies to hit free agency should he not work out an extension or get traded this season. Hellebuyck has won the Vezina trophy once and has been a finalist three times in his career, I do not think there is a goalie that makes a bigger impact on his team than Hellebuyck.

The Winnipeg Jets have by no means been one of the best teams in the league the past few years, yet they have made the playoffs in five of the past six seasons, and Hellebuyck has played a big role in that averaging just 2.66 goals against on average throughout his time in Winnipeg.

William Nylander and the Maple Leafs could not have enough room to make a deal.

With a hefty extension for Auston Matthews as well as future extensions for John Tavares and Mitch Marner to worry about, signing William Nylander might not be the easiest thing int he world for Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving.

In fact unless Nylander were to take a home team discount, I think there is a good chance he can be heading towards a hefty pay raise this next summer. Nylander is in the final year of a six year $45 million contract he signed on Dec. 1 of 2018.

Since signing that contract Nylander has put up 295 points in 336 NHL games including 129 goals. His best season was this past year where he registered 40 goals and 87 points, which was second best on the team behind Mitch Marner.

Nylander is only 27 years old and still has a lot of hockey ahead of him, he really does get to choose where he plays down the line and it could make for a pretty fun bidding war next summer.

The Lightning might have to move on from their longtime captain Steven Stamkos.

The Lightning did some work this summer. They made a few trades like sending Patrick Maroon to Minnesota, Corey Perry to Chicago and Ross Colton to Colorado, and they worked on their future cap situation extending Brandon Hagel and Darren Raddysh. One player the Lightning have not talked about extending through is Steven Stamkos.

Steven Stamkos has shared his frustration about entering the 2023-24 season without a contract in place for the future, yet here we are. Stamkos, who played in his 1000th NHL game this past season and is about to start his 16th season with the Lightning, will have to wait for the season to play out to get a new deal.

It makes sense Stamkos wants to remain a Lightning for life. He has captained two teams to the Stanley Cup and has been arguably the best player ever to wear a Lightning jersey. But, the NHL is a business, and we have seen star players not get brought back at the end of their contracts most recently in Chicago with Toews and Kane. If Stamkos were to hit free agency I think he could bring a lot to a new team.