- Saturday puts the NHL one month from the deadline to hand out an eight-year contract
- Seven players have signed max-term deals this summer, with Ville Koivunen the most recent
- Read below for who is still in position to grab the last eight-year deal
The eight-year contract has about a month left to live.
Saturday marks 30 days until the cutoff. Starting Sept. 16, teams re-signing their own players max out at seven years, and clubs signing a free agent off another roster top out at six.
That change was written into the collective bargaining agreement the NHL and NHLPA ratified in July 2025.
Seven players have taken the full eight years this summer. John Marino signed for $54 million with Utah, Tyson Foerster got $7.1 million a season in Philadelphia, and Eetu Luostarinen locked in $40 million with Florida.
Ivan Demidov pulled $73.2 million out of Montreal. Alex Tuch got $84 million from Washington and Darren Raddysh $68 million from Toronto.
Then came the one nobody had circled. Pittsburgh gave Ville Koivunen eight years at a $4 million cap hit on Aug. 6, long money for a 23-year-old with seven points in 39 NHL games and 12:44 of average ice time last season.
Cutter Gauthier is the biggest name still unsigned as a restricted free agent, with Adam Fantilli right behind him in Columbus. Either one could still go the distance.
Recent history is pulling the other way, though. Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard both settled on five years this summer, betting on a salary cap that executives expect to climb past $150 million by the early 2030s.
The 2027 unrestricted class is where the math gets awkward. Cale Makar turns 28 in October and Quinn Hughes turns 27 the same month, which puts both in the window where a max deal makes sense for the team.
Hughes is reportedly angling for three years in Minnesota so he can hit the market at the same time as his brother Jack.
Whoever signs the last eight-year contract in NHL history has until Sept. 15 to get it done.
