5 Big Names Still Unsigned Just 3 Weeks Out From The Season.

The new rules of the collective bargaining agreement will be coming into effect for the 2026-27 National Hockey League regular season which means 84 games of action and a shortened preseason. Those two combined have resulted in a nice early start for hockey-starved fans with the season officially getting under way on September 29th, but despite that date rapidly approaching there are a number of established NHL names who still do not have a contract for this upcoming season.

Today I'm gonna look at 5 of the biggest names who still remain free agents a little over 3 weeks out from the start of the regular season. Here they are in no particular order:

#1 Ryan Reaves

A very popular figure in the hockey community, Reaves has publicly expressed his desire to return to the NHL for one more season and I don't blame him one bit. Reaves currently has 962 career regular season games under his belt and just 38 more games would get him to 1,000. It would be a truly incredible milestone for an NHL enforcer to achieve in this era of the NHL.

Reaves' last contract was a 3 year deal at a cap hit of $1.35 million, but realistically a 1-year league minimum type of deal or even a professional tryout offer is what I would expect at this stage of the offseason.

#2 Patrik Laine

Perhaps the biggest risk on this list, Laine is a bonafide scoring machine on the power play but a scoring machine that has been somewhat unreliable throughout his NHL career.

Laine is coming off of a 4 year deal that carried an average annual value and salary cap hit of $8.7 million per season and there's no way he's commanding anything close to that this time around. That being said I'm not sure a league minimum type of contract gets Laine to sign either making this a dangerous move for any teams seriously considering it.

Over the last 4 seasons Laine has appeared in just 130 games out of a potential 248, with last season being by far his worst with just 5 regular season games played for the Canadiens.

#3 James van Riemsdyk

At 37 years old the former 2nd overall pick from the 2007 NHL Entry Draft has slowed down, but despite that JVR has shown season after season that he can still compete at the NHL level. In each of his last two season, one with the Columbus Blue Jackets and one with the Detroit Red Wings, JVR has put up over 15 goals and over 30 points while being utilised in a bottom 6 role with limited minutes.

JVR signed a 1 year deal at an average annual value and a cap hit of $1 million with the Red Wings last summer and I expect something similar this time around if he gets another deal.

#4 Vladimir Tarasenko

Much like JVR, Tarasenko has bounced around in recent years while proving that he can still find creative ways to put the puck in the back of the net in whatever situation he is put in. His most recent season alongside Kirill Kaprizov did wonders for his numbers with Tarasenko producing 23 goals and 24 assists for 47 points with the Minnesota Wild last season.

It will be hard for Tarasenko to find a similar situation where he can thrive like he did in Minnesota, and he will have to take a significant pay cut from the cap hit of $4.75 million he had on his previous 2-year contract.

#5 Evander Kane

After a successful run with the Edmonton Oilers, Kane is coming off of a forgettable stint with the Vancouver Canucks that saw him put up just 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points last season.

The biggest knock against Kane however has always been his attitude away from the ice and, despite not having an NHL contract, Kane has once again been a lightning rod for controversy over the summer after being publicly called out by former teammate Kurtis Gabriel.

Kane just wrapped up a 4 year deal that carried a cap hit of $5.125 million per season and like many others on this list he's likely looking at a significant haircut off that number if he finds a team willing to give him another NHL contract.

Would you want your favorite team to sign any of these established NHL players before the season?