As this 2025 free agency window comes to a close, the question arises as to which teams came out on top. Here are the top 5 teams that won this years free agency.
Florida Panthers
How this Florida Panthers team was able to keep together virtually their entire core Cup winning group, especially the likes of Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad needs to be studied. Most pundits believed they would lose at least one of those players and they kept them all aboard at great value.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas has to amongst the top of the board when it comes to free agency winners. The sign and trade of Mitch Marner has put them among the Cup favorites next year, if they were not already. The fact that they only had to give up Nicholas Roy in that deal was a bargain. They also locked up some depth pieces in Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith.
Utah Mammoth
The JJ Peterka fleece well before the free agency window was an absolute win for Utah. And they only had to give up Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan. They also made some nice depth signings such as Nate Schmidt and Brandon Tanev. Utah will be a team to look out for next year.
Montreal Canadiens
The Noah Dobson trade at the draft was the exact move Montreal needed to take them to the next level. The Habs get a nice compliment on the blue line to potentially pair with Calder winning defenseman Lane Hutson. They also made a couple sneaky depth additions in Sammy Blais and Zach Bolduc.
Vancouver Canucks
This is not a team many would have had pegged as a probably free agent winner before July 1. But the fact they were able to lock up Brock Boeser when it was widely assumed he was gone was a win. They also brought in Vancouver native Evander Kane, who gives the team some snarl they’re missing.
