Finally, the hockey insiders can rest.
The 2026 NHL off-season has featured plenty of dramatic moves.
There were rumblings of big transactions the previous couple of off-seasons, but the actual deals never lived up to expectations.
And so, going into the 2026 off-season, when the hype built once again, people started to become skeptical to the idea that a blockbuster deal would happen.
However, this time the NHL delivered on multiple fronts.
But, with so many big-time moves heading into the 2026-27 season, which ones will be the most impactful?
Here's our list:
10. Sabres bet on Olen Zellweger to replace Bowen Byram
A Buffalo Sabres team that ended its 14-year playoff drought kept the changes coming in the off-season.
They shipped Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks for a return highlighted by the fourth-overall pick in the 2026 draft and then replaced Byram with Olen Zellweger just a couple days later in a deal with the Anaheim Ducks.
Byram was due to be paid a lot of money – he got six years with a $12.5-million average annual value (AAV) from the Blackhawks. The Sabres decided to grab a more cost-effective defenceman in Zellweger, who projects to have a similar profile to Byram, at least offensively.
Even though Zellweger might not have the same impact as Byram, this move also allowed the Sabres to sign Zach Benson to a seven-year deal with a $7.5-million AAV, effectively locking in Buffalo's core moving forward.
9. Simon Nemec to the Flames
Considering the Calgary Flames are in the middle of a full rebuild, it was surprising to see them push considerable chips forward to acquire the 2022 second-overall pick, Simon Nemec, a young right-shot defenceman from the New Jersey Devils, before following it up with a five-year deal with a $7.25-million AAV,
The move signals that the Flames, set to open a new arena for the start of the 2027-28 season, are willing to take home-run swings on players they think will fit into their up-and-coming core.
8. Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals
Capitals general manager Chris Patrick wasn’t messing around this summer.
His first big splash of the off-season was acquiring Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues before grabbing Alex Tuch in a sign-and-trade with the Sabres, giving the Capitals one of the deepest and scariest forward units in the NHL.
7. Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers
Not every move is going to be impactful in a good way.
Sure, the New York Rangers acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev, a back-to-back 35-goal scorer, and giving him a massive seven-year, $77-million contract makes the fanbase happy now.
But considering the team was 21 points out of a playoff spot last season, and then sold assets during the off-season, the only impact Dorofeyev likely will have is delaying what feels inevitable: a full rebuild.
6. Ivan Demidov signs for pennies on the dollar
Despite it being a quiet summer for Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens when it was expected to be busy on the trade front, their biggest move of the off-season has set them up for a bright future.
By signing Ivan Demidov – the last big contract Hughes needed to get done – to an eight-year deal with a $9.15-million AAV, the Canadiens have the best cap situation moving forward in the NHL. Demidov has the highest AAV of any forward on the team,
5. Sergei Bobrovsky to Toronto, among a lot of other moves
Even at 37 years old and coming off a down season, Sergei Bobrovsky was the clear No. 1 goalie available. Considering the goalie problems in the past for the Toronto Maple Leafs, new general manager John Chayka saw an opportunity to fix that right away.
By signing Bobrovsky to a three-year, $21-million deal, it’s clear Chayka and the Maple Leafs brass think Bobrovsky still can be the backbone to a winning team.
If signing Bobrovsky wasn’t enough evidence of that, we can look at the seven new bodies expected to be in the lineup for the 2026-27 season, including 2026 first-overall pick Gavin McKenna and defenceman Darren Raddysh.
4. Bedard and Celebrini contracts
Since both of these players will be tied to each other for the rest of their careers, they deserve to be connected on this list.
After the Leo Carlsson offer sheet, which we will get to later, the bar was set for both Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini to sign unprecedented tickets out of their entry-level contracts.
Within 11 days of each other, they did just that. Bedard came in with a $15-million AAV while Celebrini was at $18.8 million – the highest AAV in the history of the game.
But the even bigger impact is the term. Like Carlsson, Bedard and Celebrini both signed for five years, instead of the maximum eight. This allows all of them to sign a mega deal when they’re just entering the prime of their careers, and when the salary cap has grown even more.
Because Celebrini and Bedard have now done it, we can expect more players coming off their entry-level deals to sign in that term range as well.
3. Golden Knights not allowing the Oilers to speak to Bruce Cassidy, leading to Mike Babcock being named head coach
It has been an interesting off-season, to say the least, for the Edmonton Oilers,. After getting bounced in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks, it’s clear the urgency to win is higher than ever with Connor McDavid having only two years remaining under contract.
In May, it was leaked that the the Oilers were trying to speak to recently fired head coach Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights before they had even cut ties with now former coach Kris Knoblauch.
The Golden Knights didn't grant permission at the time.
The Oilers brass held out hope until after the Stanley Cup Final, which the Golden Knights lost, that they would be able to speak to Cassidy. However, after it became clear the Oilers’ division rival wasn’t going to let that happen, they pivoted.
The Oilers hired Mike Babcock, after the NHL and NHLPA completed an investigation looking into the allegations of the coach snooping on players’ smartphones during his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023.
The organization is banking on Babcock, who hasn’t coached an NHL game since November 2019, to guide McDavid and Co. to a championship in the next two years.
2. Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers
The Panthers missed the playoffs after going to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row, leading to action from GM Bill Zito. He beat everyone to the punch by making a bombshell trade to get Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators, pairing him with his brother Matthew.
This trade might have made the Panthers the Stanley Cup favourites again for next season. It also could have a huge impact on the Senators.
Think about it, Tkachuk, the Senators' captain, requested a trade while they were in win-now mode after making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in back-to-back years. And because Tkachuk had a no-move clause, he got to pick where he would end up, leaving Senators general manager Steve Staios with no leverage to get a position player back.
Yes, the Senators then traded for William Eklund, but it’s hard to look at the Ottawa roster and think they’re a better team than last year.
1. Carlsson offer-sheet saga
How can this not be No. 1 on this list? Leo Carlsson changed the NHL forever on July 3 when he accepted a five-year $18-million AAV offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers that was later matched by the Anaheim Ducks.
The move will have lasting impacts on multiple levels. For the Ducks and GM Pat Verbeek, they entered the summer with $40 million in cap space, probably hoping that $25 million in AAV would go to Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov combined. But now because of the offer sheet, their internal cap has been busted and Verbeek might be looking at $40 million combined for the three of them.
Many general managers have stayed away from offer sheets, especially for star players. However, this a clear message to everyone: Don’t allow your young stars to go unsigned before their contracts expire, or you might pay the price.
