As the calendar flips from May to June, and the NHL Stanley Cup final is set and about to commence, the majority of significant transactions between now and the start of the 2026-27 season will likely take place over the course of the next four to six weeks.
The Anaheim Ducks find themselves in unfamiliar waters after what could be seen as their first successful season in nearly a decade. They enter the offseason with a projected $38.7 million in cap space, two core RFAs (Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier) to sign to big extensions, two secondary RFAs (Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger) on whom tough decisions will have to be made, and one to three areas on the roster potentially in need of upgrades.
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Anaheim could now be seen as a desirable destination for players on the move. Even after RFAs are inked to new deals, the Ducks will still have considerable cap space to add quality players to their roster who could help them now and moving into a bright future.
After feasibly identifying three areas in need of an upgrade on the Ducks’ depth chart (right shot defense, second-line center, top-nine winger), now seems like a good time to identify paths in which general manager Pat Verbeek could go about adding to his group and numerous organizations’ situations they could target around the league.
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I’ve decided to break this up by division, so we’ll take a look at some teams in the Atlantic Division, perhaps the most competitive division heading into the 2026-27 season.
Disclaimer: This exercise is purely speculative. Some players mentioned have been previously reported to be in trade discussions, while others haven’t. This is intended to provide ideas on the type of players the Ducks could target this offseason.
(Alphabetical Order)
The Bruins made a somewhat surprising run to the playoffs in 2025-26 under new head coach Marco Sturm. They enter the offseason with a projected $15.4 million in cap space, and a surprisingly potent prospect/young player pool highlighted by James Hagens (19), Fraser Minten (21), and Dean Letourneau (20).
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They’ll aim for continued growth from young, potentially impactful players while maximizing the prime years of David Pastrnak (30), Charlie McAvoy (28), and Jeremy Swayman (27).
Their roster features a pair of middle-six contributors one year from unrestricted free agency, whom the Ducks could target in an effort to boost their own forward group: Pavel Zacha (29) and Casey Mittelstadt (27). Zacha is more in the mold of a 200-foot center with penalty killing capabilities, while Mittelstadt is a versatile offense-oriented option.
Zacha has one year remaining on his contract that carries an AAV of $4.75 million (8-team NTC). Mittelstadt has one year at $5.75 million remaining (9-team NTC).
A more outside-the-box, long-shot option could be Elias Lindholm (31), who hasn’t been able to replicate his production from his days in the Calgary Flames organization, but remains one of the better two-way centers in the NHL. His contract has five years remaining at $7.75 million (full NMC).
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Boston will soon have some decisions to make within their forward group, and moving off of one of their veterans could open up ice time for their younger impact players to thrive.
To many, the Sabres were the feel-good story of the 2025-26 season, making the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They defeated the Bruins in the first round but lost in the second to the Montreal Canadiens and will look to improve upon that result moving forward.
They enter the offseason with $11.9 million in cap space, a trio of RFAs in need of new contracts, Alex Tuch set to hit unrestricted free agency on July 1, and Bowen Byram set to hit the market a year from now.
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Buffalo is expected to commit long-term to Zach Benson, and depending on their decisions in regards to Byram and Tuch, RFAs Peyton Krebs (25) and Michael Kesselring (26) could be available this summer.
Krebs is a versatile, late-blooming, offensive depth piece coming off his most productive NHL season. Kesselring was touted as one of the better young, defensive-oriented defensemen in the NHL when he was traded to Buffalo in the summer of 2025, but was injured and then healthy-scratched during the playoffs.
Like most young teams exiting a rebuild, the Sabres will have to make some difficult roster decisions in the next two months to continue their build now that their core has been identified and their first taste of success has been found.
The Leafs are in a period of extreme transition, as they’ve recently hired new general manager John Chayka and new Senior Executive Advisor of Hockey Operations Mats Sundin after their worst regular season finish in the last decade. They enter the 2026 offseason with a projected $22.3 million in cap space, a depleted prospect pool, and the first overall pick in the draft.
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It’s been reported that a goal of the front office for this offseason will be to sell team captain Auston Matthews on the direction of the franchise after missing the playoffs for the first time in his career. He has two years remaining on his deal at a $13.25 million AAV (full NMC), and he isn’t expected to be moved before the start of the 2026-27 season, but that hasn’t stopped such discussion from national media.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun went so far as to speculate and conclude that the Ducks would be on his short list of teams he’d be willing to move to. A 1-2 punch down the middle featuring Leo Carlsson and Auston Matthews is enough to make anyone salivate, and something along the lines of the return the Vancouver Canucks received from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Quinn Hughes (first round pick, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, Marco Rossi) would be a logical comparison in this scenario.
Aside from Matthews, practically everyone on Toronto’s roster seems up for grabs to some extent. For Anaheim, right-shot defenseman Brandon Carlo makes the most sense. After a successful stint with the Boston Bruins, the 6-foot-5 defensive defenseman hasn’t quite been a seamless fit in Toronto throughout his one-and-a-half-year tenure. He has one year remaining at a $4.1 million AAV (3-team NTC).
The Leafs remain without a head coach, but indications point toward them wanting to get younger and speedier before next season. The Ducks and Leafs would make for intriguing trade partners, as the two organizations are at vastly different points in their franchise’s competitive windows.
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