- Jason Robertson’s one-year deal in Dallas drops him into the 2027 UFA pool
- Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and Nikita Kucherov all need new contracts by next summer
- Read below for the full nine-name list and where each deal stands right now
Next summer’s free agent class already looks better than the one teams just picked through. Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and Nikita Kucherov are all on it.
Jason Robertson pushed the list to nine. The Dallas winger avoided arbitration last week on a one-year, $12 million contract that ties him with Mikko Rantanen atop the roster and sends him to the open market in July 2027. Adam Proteau of The Hockey News laid out the rest of the group, and the money each of them is playing on this season frames how big next summer gets:
| Player | Pos | Team | 2026-27 Cap Hit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Robertson | LW | Dallas Stars | $12,000,000 |
| Nikita Kucherov | RW | Tampa Bay Lightning | $9,500,000 |
| Cale Makar | D | Colorado Avalanche | $9,000,000 |
| Sidney Crosby | C | Pittsburgh Penguins | $8,700,000 |
| Alex DeBrincat | LW | Detroit Red Wings | $7,875,000 |
| Quinn Hughes | D | Minnesota Wild | $7,850,000 |
| Jordan Binnington | G | St. Louis Blues | $6,000,000 |
| Scott Wedgewood | G | Colorado Avalanche | $2,500,000 |
| Carter Hart | G | Vegas Golden Knights | $2,000,000 |
Cap hits via PuckPedia. List per The Hockey News.
Crosby turns 40 in August 2027. If the Penguins captain plays that season, the expectation is another one-year deal at the $8.7 million he has taken every year since 2008-09, a ceiling he has never pushed against even when he easily could have.
Makar is the one who could blow up the market. He’s in the last season of a six-year deal paying $9 million a year, and Colorado has no plans to let him get anywhere near July. Joe Sakic was asked in June how those extension talks were going.
“Cale is going to finish his career here. We’re already talking to his agent, so we’re confident that something’s going to get worked out at some point. I mean, he’s got another year, but this summer we expect to have him signed,”
Joe Sakic, via Colorado Hockey Now
Hughes is the other defenseman capable of resetting the scale. He’s making $7.85 million this coming season and could double it, and Bill Guerin is sitting down with him this week to try to get something signed.
Minnesota wants long term. A three-year deal is the likelier landing spot, which would line Quinn up to reach free agency the same summer as his brother Jack in New Jersey.
Kucherov might be the strangest case of the bunch. He just put up 130 points and won the Hart Trophy on a $9.5 million cap hit, a bargain nobody in Tampa wants to say out loud. He’ll be 34 when the deal runs out, and the age is the only thing giving the Lightning any pause.
Most of these players never reach the open market. The cap has climbed from $88 million to $95.5 million to $104 million in three straight seasons and lands at $113.5 million in 2027-28, which is why clubs keep locking up their own stars a year early. If even two of Makar, Hughes, Kucherov and Robertson slip through, next July gets loud.
