Carolina opens 2026-27 with the Cup in hand and a target on its back, while Jaccob Slavin arrives after a season few American players have ever matched. The Hurricanes defenseman helped the United States beat Canada for Olympic gold, then lifted the Stanley Cup when Carolina knocked out Vegas and won its first championship since 2006.
Slavin became the second U.S.-born player, and ninth player overall, to claim Olympic gold and the Cup in the same campaign. Now the Hurricanes are chasing a repeat in a league reshaped by blockbuster contracts, trade disputes, front-office upheaval and a new collective bargaining agreement.
Quick facts
- Carolina is defending its first Stanley Cup title since 2006 after eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights.
- The NHL moves to an 84-game regular season, beginning Sept. 29.
- Connor Hellebuyck remains suspended by Winnipeg amid an unresolved trade request.
- Leo Carlsson stayed in Anaheim after the Ducks matched Philadelphia’s five-year, $90 million offer sheet.
- Cale Makar set a new contract benchmark with an eight-year extension carrying a $20.4 million annual cap hit.
- Toronto won the draft lottery and selected Penn State winger Gavin McKenna first overall.
The Hurricanes will try to become the fourth repeat champion in the past 11 seasons. Florida, the club that won consecutive Cups in 2024 and 2025, returns after injuries wrecked its bid for a third straight title and left the Panthers outside the playoff field.
Colorado enters as the West’s pace-setter after posting the NHL’s top record last season. Edmonton is close behind, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl aiming to take the Oilers to a third Final in four years. Vegas, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Dallas and Washington also begin in the contender tier, while Montreal is coming off an Eastern Conference Final appearance.
San Jose’s growing group around Macklin Celebrini has raised expectations, and Buffalo, New Jersey and Los Angeles are among the clubs looking to move from the next tier into the spring picture. Vancouver and Calgary, meanwhile, face a far steeper climb.
Brady Tkachuk supplied one of the summer’s loudest moves when Ottawa dealt its captain to Florida. He joins brother Matthew Tkachuk with the Panthers, saying he wanted a better chance to compete for the Cup and used his trade protection to steer the destination.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer offered a blunter explanation, saying family influence played a major part in the decision. The trade puts the Tkachuk brothers together on the same roster after years of sharing a podcast away from the rink.
Winnipeg has a more complicated standoff with Connor Hellebuyck. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner told the Jets after last season that he wanted out despite being signed through 2030-31, and his no-movement clause has narrowed the possible landing spots.
The Jets have not received an offer they consider acceptable. Hellebuyck and the club each acknowledged the impasse before camp, and the goaltender is suspended from the team; his salary will begin to be withheld when the regular season starts. Winnipeg has maintained that there remains a path for him to stay.
Detroit’s situation with Dylan Larkin has also carried into camp. The Red Wings captain had a trade request emerge late last season despite five years remaining on his contract, with Minnesota, Florida and Vegas reported as his preferred options.
No trade has materialized. Larkin reported to Detroit and lost the captaincy, while Steve Yzerman stepped away from the general manager’s job after seven seasons. Shawn Horcoff is serving as interim GM.
Columbus tried to get ahead of Zach Werenski’s contract uncertainty after the reigning Norris Trophy winner indicated he did not intend to extend when his deal ends in the summer of 2028. Don Waddell pursued a move to Dallas, but Werenski used his no-movement protection to stop it.
In a July effort to cool the story, Werenski said the matter had been exaggerated and reiterated that he wants to win in Columbus. The Blue Jackets have missed the playoffs for six consecutive years.
Not every player looking for a change was left waiting. Edmonton moved Darnell Nurse to San Jose after the defenseman sought a fresh start following 12 Oilers seasons. New Jersey also traded restricted free agent Simon Nemec, the No. 2 pick from 2022, to Calgary.
Utah landed Vincent Trocheck from the Rangers in a trade involving defenseman Sean Durzi. The Mammoth also signed former Islanders captain Anders Lee for three years at a $5.4 million average annual value, but sent winger JJ Peterka to Boston after only one season with the club.
Tampa Bay signed Darren Raddysh for eight years at $8.5 million annually, then moved him to Toronto before he could reach unrestricted free agency. The Leafs also added Nicholas Paul from the Lightning, while former Capitals defenseman John Carlson signed in Tampa on a two-year pact worth $8.5 million per season after Anaheim had acquired him at last year’s deadline.
Anaheim collected two first-round selections from St. Louis for 23-year-old center Mason McTavish. Florida answered Sergei Bobrovsky’s decision to enter free agency by acquiring Devils starter Jacob Markstrom in a trade involving Evan Rodrigues.
Washington brought in Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis and Alex Tuch from Buffalo, then signed Tuch for eight years at $10.5 million annually. Vegas traded leading scorer Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers, who gave the restricted free agent a seven-year deal with an $11 million cap hit.
Colorado sent Valeri Nichushkin to Columbus and replaced some veteran wing depth by signing Jaden Schwartz for three years at $3.25 million per season. Edmonton took another run at fixing its crease by signing 36-year-old Frederik Andersen, fresh off Carolina’s championship, for one year at $1 million.
Chicago acquired puck-moving defenseman Bowen Byram from Buffalo and immediately extended him for six years at $12.5 million annually. The larger emotional return came when Patrick Kane agreed to go back to the Blackhawks, signing for two years at $8 million per season.
Anaheim’s summer turned on Leo Carlsson. Philadelphia put a five-year, $90 million offer sheet in front of the 21-year-old center, a number Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said was far higher than expected.
Verbeek had told other clubs Anaheim would match any offer for Carlsson, and the Ducks followed through. Carlsson stayed put, but his deal shifted the market inside the organization: Anaheim signed Pavel Mintyukov for five years at a $7.2 million cap hit and gave Cutter Gauthier six years at $13.5 million annually.
Carlsson briefly held the largest cap charge in league history before Celebrini passed him. The Sharks’ 20-year-old star signed a five-year extension beginning in 2027-28 at $18.8 million per season.
Makar then pushed the ceiling higher still. Colorado’s elite defenseman signed for eight years and $163.2 million, an agreement that starts in 2027-28 and makes him the first player of the cap-era NHL to carry a $20 million-plus annual value.
Connor Bedard signed a five-year, $15 million-per-season extension with Chicago, while Columbus locked up Adam Fantilli for six years at $13.75 million annually. Dallas avoided losing Jason Robertson immediately, but only after a drawn-out negotiation ended with a one-year, $12 million contract.
Seattle reportedly explored an eight-year sign-and-trade arrangement worth more than $15 million annually for Robertson, but the winger would not approve the move. The 45-goal scorer can now reach unrestricted free agency next summer.
Quinn Hughes and Nikita Kucherov are the next major contract questions. Hughes can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, leaving Minnesota to weigh its Cup hopes against the possibility that he may want to join his brothers in New Jersey. Kucherov, a two-time NHL MVP after winning again last season, is also one year from free agency in Tampa Bay.
Five clubs changed head coaches. Jim Hiller moved from Los Angeles to Toronto to replace Craig Berube, while Peter Laviolette took the Kings’ opening. Vegas promoted Ryan Craig from the AHL after John Tortorella’s late-season stint ended with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Manny Malhotra received his first NHL head-coaching job in Vancouver, taking over for Adam Foote. Edmonton made the most controversial choice, hiring Mike Babcock to replace Kris Knoblauch.
Babcock resigned from Columbus in 2023 before coaching a game after players criticized his requests to review personal photos on their phones. He had also faced accusations of mental abuse from former players. The NHL reviewed his time with the Blue Jackets and found no current reason to bar him from employment.
Edmonton pursued Babcock after Vegas declined to release Bruce Cassidy from his contract. McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman were central to the Oilers’ internal effort to vet and support Babcock’s return.
Colorado general manager Chris MacFarland left to replace Barry Trotz in Nashville, bringing Joe Sakic back into the Avalanche GM chair. Ryan Johnson in Vancouver, Sunny Mehta in New Jersey and Alex Steen in St. Louis each begin their first GM jobs.
Toronto’s overhaul went beyond the bench. The Maple Leafs fired Brad Treliving after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, then hired former Arizona GM John Chayka as head of hockey operations and added Hall of Famer Mats Sundin as a senior hockey operations adviser.
Chayka rebuilt around Auston Matthews and William Nylander, bringing in Raddysh, Bobrovsky, Jack Roslovic and Paul. Toronto’s biggest addition, however, came through the draft lottery: McKenna, the Penn State winger selected first overall in June.
McKenna joins a rookie crop with real immediate opportunity. Philadelphia winger Porter Martone already made a late-season impact during the Flyers’ playoff push, while San Jose expects to see No. 2 overall selection Ivar Stenberg beside its young core.
Chicago can look to center Anton Frondell, the third pick of the 2025 draft, and winger Roman Kantserov, who produced at a point-per-game rate in the KHL. Boston has center James Hagens, Washington has Ilya Protas, and Buffalo welcomes Konsta Helenius after his energetic late-season appearance.
Washington defenseman Cole Hutson leads the blue-line rookie watch, following brother Lane’s emergence in Montreal. Montreal’s Jacob Fowler and Pittsburgh’s Sergei Murashov are the young goaltenders to track.
The new four-year NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement formally took effect Sept. 16, although some elements had already been introduced. The schedule expands to 84 games after the preseason was shortened, and Sept. 29 marks the first full regular-season opening in September since 1993.
Maximum contract lengths are now seven years for players re-signing with their current clubs and six years for those joining another team. Signing bonuses can account for no more than 60 percent of a contract’s total value.
Carlsson’s offer sheet arrived before that restriction. Of his $90 million deal, $85.3 million came in bonus money, roughly 95 percent of the full compensation.
Each club will also carry a traveling emergency backup goalie. Those EBUGs cannot have played in the NHL under contract, cannot exceed 80 professional games, and cannot have played professionally during the previous three years. Many are expected to come from team staffs.
Alex Ovechkin is back for a 22nd NHL season after briefly leaving open the possibility that last year could be his final run. The league’s all-time scoring leader has 929 goals and said his children wanted him to continue, though he wanted Washington to improve after its playoff miss.
The Capitals did so aggressively and then signed Ovechkin for one more year. His agreement includes a $1 million base salary and bonuses that bring the total to $9 million.
Ovechkin’s preseason was complicated by his appearance in a political video for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party. Capitals GM Chris Patrick said the club would have worked hard to prevent the situation had it known the video was planned.
Expansion remains a live boardroom topic even without a formal NHL process. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league has received interest from potential ownership groups, with Texas drawing particular attention.
The Friedkin family began a six-month review in June of possible teams in Houston or Austin, either of which would join Dallas as a second Texas market. Bettman said the combined expansion fee and arena cost could require roughly $3.5 billion in investment.
Atlanta has three groups discussing another attempt at an NHL club, despite the Flames leaving for Calgary and the Thrashers relocating to Winnipeg. Phoenix is also pursuing a return after the Coyotes’ demise, but Bettman has stressed that a credible arena plan must come first.
December’s board of governors meeting could bring a clearer read on whether the league wants teams No. 33 and 34. Not every owner is convinced expansion is necessary, especially with the Cup already requiring a climb over 31 opponents.
