NHL free agency officially opens on July 1, and with the Stanley Cup Final underway, it is an appropriate time for 30 other teams to start preparing for the 2026-27 campaign. For the Boston Bruins, they are in a unique position entering the new year: Forward Viktor Arvidsson (33) and Defenseman Andrew Peeke (28) are the only two unrestricted free agents (UFAs) on the team, and the majority of the core is locked up until 2029-30. With $15 million in cap space available, there’s a lot of options for Boston.Â
Who they’re losing
I think both Arvidsson and Peeke will not re-sign with Boston. Starting with Peeke, he has been an effective defenseman since his trade to the team on March 8, 2024. In his two full seasons, he averaged just over 15 points with 105 hits and 130 blocks for the team. His most vivid improvement across those seasons was cutting down his giveaway rate by 40%, from 98 giveaways in 2024-25 to 59 giveaways in 25-26. He occupied a spot on the third pairing and first penalty kill.
Arvidsson, meanwhile, arrived via trade last July 1 and paid immediate dividends. Arvidsson had his second-best point total in a season, surpassing the 25-goal mark for the fifth time in his career. He played especially well down the stretch on the second-line wing alongside Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt, recording twenty points in the month of March.Â
We’ve established that the open spots are second-line wing and penalty killing defensemen, but I’m just going to be looking at three defensemen who are a focus of free agency.
Who is entering free agency
Rasmus Andersson
One of the top prizes of this year’s trade deadline, Andersson was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights on January 19. The Bruins were linked to Andersson, as reported by Eliotte Friedman, during the deadline, but ultimately couldn’t agree upon an extension that might have landed him in black and gold. The Golden Knights have just $4.625 million in cap space with 8 UFAs and Pavel Dorofeyev needing an extension, so the likelihood of Andersson hitting free agency seems pretty high. The next question is, what does his future value look like?
Over the past 5 seasons, Andersson ranks 25th among defensemen in scoring and is entering his age-29 season. As a barometer, let's take teammate Alex Pietrangelo from when he signed with Vegas during his age 29 season. Pietrangelo averaged 46.2 points during that 5-season stretch, compared to Andersson’s 43.2 points from the same age, and signed a seven-year deal worth $61.6 million, or $8.8 million AAV.
If we just slot Andersson into the top 20 of defenseman AAV, that number is $8.55 million per year, just ahead of Ivan Provorov’s $8.5 million who signed at 28. I think a defense-needy team will have no problem paying over $9 million AAV, and while that is a number the Bruins can afford as their current cap situation stands, it would have ramifications for their 2027 free agency class.
Darren Raddysh
Raddysh exploded in 2025-26 with 70 points at age 29. He is very much a late bloomer, with his first full NHL season coming just two years ago, which leaves a puzzling figure for him in free agency. There were only two examples in which a defenseman recorded 70+ points in a season and signed a contract with a new team in free agency (not extensions with a club they were traded to or already on) within the last five years that I could find. Those are:
- Brandon Montour, 2024 - Scored 73 points in 2022-23 (two years before free agency) and signed with Seattle for 7 years, $50 million ($7.1 million AAV)Â
- Dougie Hamilton, 2021 - Scored 74 points two years after signing with New Jersey, received a 7-year, $63 million ($9 million AAV) deal in free agency.Â
It’s rarified air that Raddysh finds himself in. I don’t think anyone expects him to keep up the pace of 70 points, but he’s certainly earned himself a big raise from his $975,500 entry-level deal. The average of those two deals I highlighted is $8 mil AAV, and Tampa Bay is also in a position comparable to Boston. They have $13 million in cap space, and they could potentially convince Raddysh to re-sign on a team-friendly deal. A $7 million AAV would put him second among defenseman on the Lightning.
One other knock on Raddysh is that he didn’t have nearly as much penalty kill time (just 47 seconds per game) as other players listed, which is a need for Boston. Any player can be worth it at the right price, but he is not someone I would have a lot of faith in paying $7 million or more to. I would prefer if the Bruins passed on him if he were to hit free agency at that price.Â
Mario Ferraro
Offensive numbers aren’t the only thing that matters. Ferraro is just 27 years old, and I think he fits Boston’s needs much more closely. He is a defensive-minded defenseman who has occupied a spot on the Sharks' bottom four and has been a mainstay on the penalty kill unit for years now. The Sharks are in an interesting position; they finally have money coming off the books and have an absurd $40 million in cap space as of this writing, with four defensemen as UFAs and the looming extensions of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith due in 2027.
Ferraro’s physicality is very consistent: he’s averaged 160 hits and 153 blocks per season for his career, which vastly outpace Peeke’s rates. While other free agent defensemen like Ian Cole (37) and Andersson surpassed his 2025-26 shot block totals, Ferraro is younger and represents a better bargain among the available defensemen. He managed a respectable 7 goals and 23 total points, both career highs, so his offense is also not a total liability.
I think an AAV of $5.5 to $6 million, which puts him just ahead of Nikita Zadorov on the Bruins, would be in the ballpark of what gets him out of San Jose and gives the Bruins a much-needed boost on the penalty kill; Anything less than that I think would be a bargain but unlikely to get him away from the Sharks.Â
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