How past late-signing RFAs fared in their next season

This Jeremy Swayman saga was the contract negotiation version of the Boston Marathon.

Although it’s common to see two sides take an entire summer and then some to hammer out a deal, remember, this was the second consecutive off-season Swayman and the Bruins found themselves at odds following a 2023 arbitration hearing that resulted in a one-year contract.

If you’ve seen the new splashy hockey doc on Amazon Prime Video Faceoff: Inside the NHL, you know that what went down in that arbitration hearing stuck with Swayman.

“You don’t forget what was said,” Swayman says in Episode 3 of the series, referring to the unpleasant experience of being in a room while your employer basically runs you down. “I wrote them down and I looked at them the other day, and I had a couple checkmarks. My biggest knock was how I wasn’t trustworthy in playoffs. Check.”

If you were a Bruins fan who just happened to hear the headstrong Swayman talking like that on camera last week, you had to be at least a bit concerned. However, things obviously resolved in fantastic fashion for the player and team, with Swayman inking an eight-year, $66-million pact on the weekend.

Now, all Swayman must do is go out and perform like the guy who clearly belonged in the “best goalie in the game” conversation during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, without the benefit of having a training camp for the 2024-25 season.

How will being late to the preparation party impact Swayman? It’s hard to say, and, obviously, Boston will give him all the time he needs to get up to speed. He’s certainly not the first guy to miss camp time — or even regular-season games — while banging out a new deal. With that in mind, we wanted to look back at other high-end RFAs who didn’t sign deals until the 11th hour — on the eve of camp, during camp or after the regular season began — and see how their season went.

Every situation is a bit different, but it’s worth examining how things played out for other guys who were in Swayman’s position. Sportsnet’s NHL editor, Rory Boylen, did an awesome deep dive on this topic a few years ago, so if you want to see how things played out with guys from about 2013 to 2020, take a peek at this.

We’ll pick up where Rory left off and go back to 2021, when there just happened to be three monster RFA contract situations in two Canadian cities.

Signed just as training camp was opening

Player Robert Thomas

Backstory Thomas was coming out of his three-year entry-level deal in the summer of 2021. He hadn’t produced much at the NHL level to that point and also had trouble staying healthy through his first few seasons. That said, the 2017 first-rounder did have the experience of playing 21 post-season games for the Blues during their run to the 2019 Cup.

The Contract Just a couple days before camp officially opened, Thomas and St. Louis came together on a two-year bridge deal worth $5.6 million.

Result Thomas took off during 2021-22, netting 77 points in 72 games. The following summer he inked an eight-year extension worth $65 million. Today, he’s the Blues' No. 1 centre and is rounding into an incredibly valuable two-way pivot at the age of 25.

Player Kirill Kaprizov 

Backstory This is a bit crazy. After years of putting up great numbers in the KHL, Kaprizov — a fifth-rounder by the Wild in 2015 — finally made the jump to North America by inking a two-year entry-level deal at age 23 in July 2020. However, he still wasn’t allowed to spend that first year in the NHL — which was preparing to emerge from a COVID hiatus that summer — so Year 1 of his ELC was actually burned while he played in Russia. Then, he came over for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign, notched 51 points in 55 games and won rookie of the year. And, just like that, a 24-year-old who won the Calder Trophy by receiving 99 of 100 first-place votes was an RFA in need of a new deal.

The Contract On Sept. 21, 2021 — the same day his Central Division rival, Thomas, signed — Kaprizov inked a five-year, $45-million deal on the eve of camp.

Result Kaprizov blew the doors off in Year 2, netting 108 points in 81 games and finishing seventh in MVP balloting. Since the start of 2021-22, he ranks 10th in the NHL with 1.25 points per game. Now, the conversation is beginning to shift back to his contract status again because Kaprizov is eligible for an extension in the summer of 2025. If that deal doesn’t get inked, he could be a whale of a UFA in 2026. 

Player Rasmus Dahlin

Backstory Dahlin, the first-overall pick in 2018, was coming off his three-year entry-level deal in 2021. He’d finished third in Calder Trophy voting as a rookie, played at 56-point pace in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, but saw his production fall to 23 points in 56 games during the wonky pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season.

The Contract Dahlin and the Sabres put pen to paper just as camp opened, coming together on a three-year deal worth $18 million on Sept. 22, 2021.

Result Dahlin had his best year to date in 2021-22. His 13 goals were more than all but eight defencemen in the NHL and his ice time jumped to over 24 minutes per night. While Buffalo has not had the team success everybody in Western New York is dying for, things have obviously gone swimmingly for Dahlin. He inked an eight-year, $88-million extension almost exactly one year ago and, this fall, he was named captain of the Sabres.

Missed a portion of training camp

Player Elias Pettersson

Backstory Pettersson arrived from Sweden with all kinds of hype and lived up to it, basically producing a point per game in his sophomore season. However, he played less than half the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign thanks to a wrist injury.

The Contract About a week into camp, on Oct. 1, 2021, Pettersson and Vancouver agreed to a three-year deal worth a hair over $22 million.

Result Pettersson struggled mightily early in the 2021-22 campaign. Through 28 contests, the Swede registered just four goals. He did, however, turn it on in the back half of the year, netting 51 points in the final 43 games. There definitely seems to be a bit of a pattern here, as Pettersson also struggled last season after inking his huge $92-million extension on March 2. Maybe the good news for Canucks fans is, after he works out the post-signing cobwebs, he goes back to being one of the best point producers in the world.

Player Quinn Hughes

Backstory Hughes had played two full years in the NHL by the summer of 2021 and was firmly established as one of the best young D-men in the game. He recorded 94 points in those two seasons, more than all but three blueliners in the game in that span.

The Contract On the exact same day Pettersson inked a bridge deal, Quinn signed a six-year pact with Vancouver worth just over $47 million.

Result Fantastic from the start. Hughes registered 12 points in his first dozen games in 2021-22 en route to a 68-point season. Today, the reigning Norris Trophy winner offers some of the best bang for the buck you’ll find thanks to the $7.85 million cap hit he has through 2026-27.

Player Jason Robertson

Backstory Robertson exploded on the scene in 2020-21 to finish second in Calder voting behind Kirill Kaprizov. He followed that up with a 41-goal performance in the final year of his ELC.

The Contract About a week before the regular season began, on Oct. 5, 2022, Robertson and the Stars agreed to four-year deal worth $31 million.

Result Robertson went out and tore up the league, netting 109 points in 2022-23. He shot out of the gate with an incredible 23 goals in 25 games. Despite a step-back year last season (80 points), Robertson is poised to cash in next summer when, at age 26, he’ll be eligible to ink an extension in Dallas.

Player Trevor Zegras

Backstory Zegras finished second to Moritz Seider in Calder Trophy voting in 2021-22, then came back with a respectable 65-point sophomore season. But from the jump, negotiations between Zegras and Ducks GM Pat Verbeek seemed strained in the summer of 2023.

The Contract On Oct. 2, 2023 — less than two weeks from the start of the regular season for the Ducks — Zegras inked a three-year, $17.25-million deal with Anaheim.

Result Let’s just say things are, uh, not great. Zegras had a miserable, injury-ravaged season last year. He wound up with a paltry 15 points in just 31 games. Moreover, he’s basically been the subject of trade rumours for 16 months now. It feels like the only two resolutions here are either the long-anticipated trade or Zegras coming out with a points-filled first six weeks to re-establish himself as part of the Ducks core.

Player Jamie Drysdale

Backstory Injuries undercut Drysdale’s clear potential. The sixth-overall pick in 2020 registered 32 points as a 19-year-old defenceman in 2021-22, his only full NHL season. The next year, though, he was limited to just eight games thanks to a torn labrum in his left shoulder as his entry-level contract expired.

The Contract Three days after Zegras signed, Drysdale and the Ducks also hammered out a three-year deal on Oct. 5, 2023, worth $6.9 million.

Result More of the same, unfortunately. The left turn, though, was that Drysdale was dealt to Philadelphia in one of the more surprising moves last season when Flyers draft pick Cutter Gauthier indicated he was not interested in signing a deal with the team. Drysdale was again slowed by injuries, playing just 10 games for the Ducks and 24 in Philly. He had more surgery in April — this time to repair a sports hernia he played through with the Flyers — and might begin penning a new chapter to his career in Pennsylvania now that he’s healthy.

Missed regular-season games

Player Brady Tkachuk

Backstory Brady Tkachuk jumped right into the NHL after being taken fourth overall by the Ottawa Senators in 2018 and basically scored at a 25-goal pace in each of his first three seasons.

The Contract Tkachuk signed a seven-year, $57.56-million deal on Oct. 14, 2021, the same day Ottawa opened the 2021-22 season at home versus the Toronto Maple Leafs

Result Tkachuk missed three games before rejoining the Sens. He picked up an assist in his first game, but his return dovetailed with a miserable stretch for Ottawa as the team went 2-14-1 in Tkachuk’s first 17 games in the lineup. However, less than a month after inking his new deal, Tkachuk was made the youngest captain in team history. Tkachuk did record his first 30-goal season in 2021-22 and has produced more goals (35 and 37) in each subsequent season.