The five biggest unresolved storylines of the 2026 NHL offseason
It’s debatable when exactly NHL GMs are safe to tape those “Gone Fishing” signs to their doors, but we’re close to that point. Give or take 95 percent of the offseason roster turnover happens before July is up. Training camps begin in September. That means August qualifies as the closest the NHL has to a true dead season.
And yet: there’s a healthy amount of drama lingering out there, even after Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars came to a tense one-year agreement and after Patrick Kane rejoined the Chicago Blackhawks for a two-year, swan-song deal.
Let’s run down the top NHL storylines still unresolved as we near the end of July.
1. Dylan Larkin’s trade request
The hammer dropped in June when Detroit Red Wings captain Larkin, fed up after 10 consecutive playoff misses, asked for a ticket out of Hockeytown, requesting he be traded to the Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights or Florida Panthers. Then-Wings GM Steve Yzerman publicly dug his heels in, insisting Larkin had five years left on his deal and that Detroit was under no obligation to force a trade if it didn’t feel right. But now Yzerman is out as GM, having stepped down from the post last week. Given Larkin had a frosty relationship with Yzerman, does his departure increase the odds of Larkin staying? He’s a Michigan native, don’t forget. Then again, given the fan base’s understandably charged reaction to him asking out, there may be no turning back. Still, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see it happening before training camp. For one, Detroit, uh, needs a GM in place to make the trade. Secondly: Larkin’s three-team list, which expanded to four with the Stars, consists of four teams who are seriously lacking in cap space at the moment, meaning they’d have to move some important players out to make a deal work. The Wild still seem like the frontrunner.
2. Connor Hellebuyck’s future in Winnipeg
Unlike Larkin, Hellebuyck did not formally request a trade from the Jets. But he did express restlessness over his team’s future after they tumbled from Presidents’ Trophy winner in 2024-25 to out of the playoffs in 2025-26, and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said he was listening to offers for his future Hall of Fame goaltender during NHL Draft Week. The Jets don’t have to move Hellebuyck – they are still trying to compete in the present, and he has five seasons remaining on his deal – but its’ telling that they didn’t include him on any of their promotional material for the schedule release last week.
3. Cutter Gauthier’s contract
The Leo Carlsson offer sheet was a double dagger for the Anaheim Ducks. For one, it forced them to match and pay their franchise center $18 million, quite a bit more than he’s currently worth despite breaking out as a 21-year-old this past season. But it also made things awkward with fellow RFA Cutter Gauthier. He’s isn’t worth $18 million either but, having topped 40 goals as a sophomore and emerged as one of the NHL’s elite scoring-chance generators, he’s been as good as Carlsson if not better. We can make the case Carlsson deserves more given he’s a center, but Gauthier absolutely has to land in a similar range on his next AAV. That’s…a problem given the Ducks are down to $9.073 million in cap space. Think GM Pat Verbeek regrets giving A.J. Greer $4.25 million a year? At least Gauthier isn’t offer-sheet eligible, but yikes.
4. Cale Makar’s, Quinn Hughes’ and Nikita Kucherov’s extensions
Carlsson will be the NHL’s highest-paid player for 2026-27, but he might not be when three superstars’ extensions kick in beginning in 2027-28. Makar and Hughes sit third and sixth, respectively, all-time in points per game among defensemen. Both became eligible to ink their next deals July 1. Hughes feels likelier to get something done sooner. He’s an expressed an openness to a deal, Wild owner Craig Leipold and coach John Hynes have voiced confidence that it will get done, and The Athletic’s Michael Russo predicts a three-year extension that would line Hughes up for free agency at the same time as brother Jack in 2030.
As for Makar? He and the Avs have indicated he’s a franchise lifer, but contract talks were expected to drag well into the summer. In a rising-cap world, Hughes’ next AAV should leapfrog teammate Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million, while Makar could become hockey’s first $20-million player.
The lack of income tax in Florida could keep Kucherov’s cap below what his true market value is, assuming he re-signs. That’s the good news. The bad: over the course of his current deal, which commenced in 2019-20, he won a second Hart Trophy, a second and third Art Ross Trophy and two Stanley Cups and led the playoffs in scoring on both of those title runs. Kucherov, one of the century’s greatest pure scorers, is entitled to whatever he wants, despite the fact he’s been quite a playoff disappointment the past few seasons. It’s a matter of whether he prioritizes a monster payday or trying to keep winning in Tampa.
5. Other offer sheet candidates
Typically, offer sheets involve mid-range players whom the new team values higher than the old team, perceiving additional upside often because the player hasn’t been given a large enough role on the original team – and that makes the player likely to sign the offer sheet. Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg leaving the Edmonton Oilers for the St. Louis Blues were quintessential examples. But the Carlsson offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers changed everything. They were willing to massively overpay and surrender four first-round picks to get him. Have they set a new precedent, and will other high-end RFAs be targeted? The Columbus Blue Jackets would be wise to lock up top center Adam Fantilli soon. Same goes for the Red Wings with defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
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