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The Vegas Golden Knights has won the Stanley Cup and the NHL now turns its attention to the off-season.
First up for the off-season is the NHL Draft which takes place on June 28 and 29 and after that, free agency is the most important date on the calendar.
NHL free agency is slated to begin on Saturday, July 1, at noon ET. Prior to that, players have the option to re-sign with their current teams. However, they are not allowed to sign with other teams until the official start of free agency on July 1 at noon ET.
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Other important NHL off-season dates
July 1 is the date many fans have circled as the first day of free agency sees most of the best players sign, while trades usually go down on this day. Along with that, players that have a year left on their contract can also sign a contract extension on July 1.
Some other important dates of the NHL off-season are as follows:
- June 15: Buyout period begins
- June 26: NHL Awards
- June 28-29: NHL Draft
- June 30: Buyout period ends
- July 1: Free agency begins
- July 5: Deadline for player-elected salary arbitration
- July 6: Deadline for team-elected salary arbitration
- July 20-August 4: Salary arbitration hearings
Who are the best NHL players available in free agency?
The knock on the 2023 NHL free agency class is that it doesn't feature true star players, rather it has just a ton of second-line defensemen and middle-six forwards.
The best players available will be Vegas Golden Knights' forward Ivan Barbashev, Boston Bruins winger Tyler Bertuzzi, Toronto Maple Leafs forwards Michael Bunting and Ryan O'Reilly, Colorado Avalanche center JT Compher, New York Rangers forward Patrick Kane, Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba.
The best goalie available in free agency will likely be Adin Hill who helped Vegas win the Stanley Cup.
Looking at NHL's team cap space
Due to COVID, the NHL cap has not gone up a substantial amount in a few years which has been a problem for cap-strapped teams.
However, there are some teams with a ton of cap space available. According to Spotrac, these are the 10 NHL teams with the most cap space.
- Anaheim Ducks: $39,048,333
- Chicago Blackhawks: $37,594,877
- New Jersey Devils: $34,282,500
- Detroit Red Wings: $30,665,278
- Arizona Coyotes: $27,061,794
- Carolina Hurricanes: $24,573,083
- Seattle Kraken: $20,343,424
- Pittsburgh Penguins: $20,207,158
- Ottawa Senators: $17,073,096
- Buffalo Sabres: $16,959,763
Meanwhile, here are the 10 NHL teams with the least amount of cap space entering the off-season.
- Vancouver Canucks: -$668,750
- Tampa Bay Lightning: $450,000
- Montreal Canadiens: $725,935
- Calgary Flames: $1,250,000
- Vegas Golden Knights: $3,462,517
- Boston Bruins: $4,937,500
- Edmonton Oilers: $5,070,000
- New York Islanders: $5,336,667
- Columbus Blue Jackets: $5,854,168
- Philadelphia Flyers: $6,801,476
