Ranking the 20 best NHL free agents in the 2024 offseason

The 2023-24 NHL season has reached its natural end point: the start of free agency.

That’s right, even though the Stanley Cup was awarded mere days ago, free agency is set to begin at 12 p.m. ET on the dot on July 1. When the free agency period opens, all 32 NHL teams — including the newly relocated Utah Hockey Club! — will be able to sign unrestricted free agents to contracts for the upcoming 2024-25 season and beyond.

Free agency usually begins with a flurry of activity before quieting to a trickle as the summer well and truly begins for the hockey world. This season’s crop of free agents has some high-end talent, including a handful of recent Stanley Cup Final winners, but we’ll have to see how NHL GMs get creative with their moves this offseason.

As the opening of the NHL’s free agent period looms, here are the top-20 UFAs headed to market that you should watch out for.