46 players could become free agents Saturday if not signed

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Josh Tupper
May 31, 2024 (8:28)

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46 prospects who were drafted by NHL teams could become free agents on Saturday if they're not signed by teams.

Although a lot of fans thought that the NHL Entry Draft marked the beginning of a team's off-season, June 1st is actually a big date for teams. A team has a predetermined window of time to negotiate to sign a prospect exclusively after selecting that player in the draft. Whether a player was drafted from North America or Europe determines which chronology applies.

But teams have to decide whether to sign the player or let their rights expire on June 1st of the expiration year. This gives the player the option to sign a contract elsewhere or, depending on his age, reenter the NHL draft. Less than twenty-four hours left until this year's deadline, and several players are still unsigned.

Some of the prospects on this list have signed deals to play overseas and have no zero of playing in the NHL. While others recently completed their Junior hockey seasons. The following list is provided by Cap Friendly

Anaheim Ducks
Connor Hvidston
Ben King
Albin Sundsvik

Boston Bruins
Reid Dyck

Buffalo Sabres
Jakub Konecny
Mats Lindgren
Albert Lyck�sen

Carolina Hurricanes
Zion Nybeck

Chicago Blackhawks
Michael Krutil

Colorado Avalanche
Graham Sward
Ivan Zhigalov

Dallas Stars
Daniel Ljungman

Detroit Red Wings
Jan Bednar
Tnias Mathurin
Theodor Niederbach

Edmonton Oilers
Jeremias Lindewall

Florida Panthers
Liam Arnsby
Elliot Ekmark
Kasper Puutio

Los Angeles Kings
Juho Markkanen
Kasper Simontaival

Minnesota Wild
Servác Petrovsk�

Montreal Canadiens
Jared Davidson
Cédrick Guindon
Petteri Nurmi
Miguël Tourigny

New Jersey Devils
Jarom�r Pytl�k

New York Islanders
Alexander Ljungkrantz
Matias Rajaniemi

New York Rangers
Maxim Barbashev
Oliver Tärnström

Pittsburgh Penguins
Nolan Collins
Thimo Nickl

San Jose Sharks
Mason Beaupit

Seattle Kraken
Kyle Jackson

St. Louis Blues
Landon Sim

Tampa Bay Lightning
Nick Mal�k

Toronto Maple Leafs
Brandon Lisowsky

Utah HC
Filip Barklund
Elliot Ekefjärd
Jérémy Langlois

Vancouver Canucks
Viktor Persson

Vegas Golden Knights
Patrick Guay

Washington Capitals
Jake Karabela
Oskar Magnusson

Winnipeg Jets
Anton Johannesson

It will be fascinating to see if any of these players get offers for contracts later on, or if their rights are just rejected. Time will tell, but this is the start of what I anticipate to be a hectic season.