The Unleashed 2026: Group VI Unrestricted Free Agents

Although most players must wait until after their 27th birthday to become eligible for unrestricted free agency and be able to sign with any team in the league without compensation, there are a few other ways to reach the open market. Players who complete seven full seasons in the NHL are eligible for UFA status, as are restricted free agents who do not receive qualifying offers.

There is another option, however, available to players who don’t receive many opportunities in the NHL but have spent several years at the professional level: Group VI unrestricted free agency.

PuckPedia has a complete list of players who will become free agents through this category. To refresh your memory on how a player qualifies for Group VI free agency, they must meet three requirements:

1. The player is 25 years or older (as of June 30 of the calendar year the contract expires).
2. The player has completed three or more professional seasons, qualified by 11 or more professional games (for an 18/19-year-old player), or one or more professional games (for a player aged 20 or older). This can include NHL, minor league, and European professional league seasons played while on an NHL contract.
3. The player has played fewer than 80 NHL games, or 28 NHL games of 30 minutes or greater for a goaltender.

This year’s list is as follows:

Anaheim Ducks

None

Boston Bruins

F Matej Blumel
D Michael Callahan
F John Farinacci
F Georgii Merkulov
F Navrin Mutter
D Victor Soderstrom

Buffalo Sabres

F Trevor Kuntar

Calgary Flames

D Nick Cicek

Carolina Hurricanes

G Amir Miftakhov
F Ryan Suzuki

Chicago Blackhawks

None

Colorado Avalanche

F Matthew Stienburg

Columbus Blue Jackets

None

Dallas Stars

None

Detroit Red Wings

D Antti Tuomisto

Edmonton Oilers

F Samuel Poulin

Florida Panthers

F Nolan Foote
F Cole Schwindt

Los Angeles Kings

F Nikita Alexandrov
F Jan Jenik

Minnesota Wild

None

Montreal Canadiens

D Marc Del Gaizo

Nashville Predators

G Magnus Chrona

New Jersey Devils

F Jonathan Gruden
F Nathan Legare
F Marc McLaughlin

New York Islanders

F Adam Beckman
D Cole McWard
D Travis Mitchell

New York Rangers

None

Ottawa Senators

D Samuel Bolduc
F Graeme Clarke
F Olle Lycksell
D Lassi Thomson

Philadelphia Flyers

D Adam Ginning
D Max Guenette

Pittsburgh Penguins

G Taylor Gauthier
D Ilya Solovyov

San Jose Sharks

F Egor Afanasyev
F Shane Bowers
F Patrick Giles
F Pavol Regenda
G Jakub Skarek
D Jett Woo

Seattle Kraken

None

St. Louis Blues

G Georgi Romanov
D Hunter Skinner
F Akil Thomas
G Vadim Zherenko

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Declan Carlile
G Ryan Fanti

Toronto Maple Leafs

None

Utah Mammoth

None

Vancouver Canucks

F Curtis Douglas

Vegas Golden Knights

F Raphael Lavoie

Washington Capitals

F Wyatt Bongiovanni
F Henrik Rybinski

Winnipeg Jets

F Samuel Fagemo
D Ville Heinola