The 2026-27 season is nearly here, but some notable UFAs are still looking for their NHL homes. What's next for these players with opening night right around the corner?
As the NHL's 2026-27 season is about to kick off, there are still a handful of noteworthy players searching for contracts.
Wingers Vladimir Tarasenko, Michael Bunting and Patrik Laine all remain unsigned, and given how much parity there is in the league, you'd think these veterans would be pursued by at least a handful of teams seeking depth and experience.
The individual numbers of those four wingers should intrigue a few teams.
The 34-year-old Tarasenko had a very respectable 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games with the Minnesota Wild last season. The 31-year-old Bunting generated 14 goals and 33 points in 74 games with the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars.
And when the 28-year-old Laine was relatively healthy in the 2024-25 season, he posted 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games with the Montreal Canadiens.
Unfortunately for them, these unsigned veterans presumably haven't been offered what they believe they're worth, and they're highly unlikely to sign for the league's minimum salary.
By waiting, they're telling us something — a strategy for many of them that falls in line with what a number of player agents have told us over the years.
Players are essentially now in wait-and-see mode, and they're going to be particularly interested in teams pursuing contracts on teams that end up suffering a major injury to one or more of its players.
Once these franchises put injured players on the shelf, more salary cap space opens up, and that's where these unsigned veterans come into play. Suddenly, picking up an experienced contributor would make a lot of sense to teams decimated by the injury bug.
So, if we don't see players like Tarasenko, Laine and Bunting signing contracts for another couple of weeks, it doesn't necessarily spell the end of their NHL careers for any or all of them.
Staying on the sidelines without a contract is in many cases a tactic players buy into. If interest doesn't materialize from any NHL organization, suddenly the KHL or other top-end European leagues might be the best option for them to be compensated as they wish to be.
The financial facts of life in the NHL's salary cap era means that, on occasion, a mid-tier type of player is going to be squeezed by financial constraints. According to PuckPedia, 16 teams currently have less than $3 million in cap space, which is what has made the market for these remaining UFAs so limited.
Teams simply don't have the ability to pay these players what they’re accustomed to, and the only window that will open up money for them will be the window that opens due to injuries.
Are players like Bunting, Laine and Tarasenko the final piece of the puzzle for teams? Probably not. However, depth matters in the NHL, and when misfortune strikes and results in injury, you'll be much more likely to see these unsigned players land on their feet.
NHLers are in game shape pretty much all year long now, so these unsigned players have almost assuredly been skating all off-season in an effort to be a seamless addition to a team.
Patience is a virtue, and the patience that some of these unsigned veterans are displaying could be exactly what they need to eventually find a new NHL home.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.
See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
