RFA Qualifying Offer Deadline Need-To-Know

We are two days away from NHL Free Agency, where the league will continue its frenzy of roster movement, not just in signings and trades, but there are a lot of decisions to be made within each organization’s players whose rights can be extended or not, based on the direction the player and organization want to go in.

Certain RFA’s like Connor McMichael to St. Louis, Simon Nemec to Calgary, and Olen Zellweger to Buffalo have already been highlighted trades to new teams, and none have signed their next contracts with said teams…yet. Alexander Nikishin has a big market, and Jason Robertson was nearly traded as we continue to wait on his status for 2026-27. Top 2023 draft picks Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, and Adam Fantilli need new deals too. All these names are RFA’s who will make headlines based on where they go and what they ink on their expected extensions.

The RFA qualifying offer deadline is today at 5:00 pm ET. Restricted free agents must be tendered a Qualifying Offer if NHL teams want to retain a player’s rights when free agency opens on July 1. If they do not provide a Qualifying Offer, the player becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent. These players can’t accept their offer until then, which would be a 1-year contract at a similar value to their previous contract, based on the salary paid prior;

Requirements for the summer of 2026 per Puckpedia:

If a player received $750K to $999K on their most recent salary, the Qualifying Offer must be 105% to a maximum $1.0M

If a player received $1.0M or more on their most recent salary, and the contract was signed before July 2020, the Qualifying Offer must be 100%

If a player received $1.0M or more on their most recent salary and the contract was signed after July 2020, the Qualifying Offer must be the lesser of: a) 100% of the most recent salary, b) 120% of Cap Hit

So far, no players have been pushed to UFA status via not receiving a QO.

If a Qualifying Offer is not accepted, it expires by July 15 unless extended in writing by the team. A Qualifying Offer must be a one-way offer if the player has done all three of these: played 180 or more games in the previous 3 NHL seasons, played at least 60 NHL games in the previous NHL Season, and not cleared waivers in the period between training camp and the end of the season of the most recent NHL season.

An RFA must sign by 5:00 pm EST on December 1 for the contract to be valid for the season.  An RFA would not have a valid contract and therefore cannot play if signed after December 1.