Less than a day after the Carolina Hurricanes clinched the Stanley Cup with a Game 6 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, the celebration continues. But while the Canes work toward this weekend’s championship parade in Raleigh, N.C., the rest of the NHL is looking ahead to the league’s offseason calendar.It won’t be long until transactions and other offseason activity dominate the news cycle, and it begins sooner than you think. Here’s what to know, and when it will happen.June 17: Buyout window opensNHL teams can begin buying out players’ contracts as early as 48 hours after the Cup is awarded, and the period runs until 5 p.m. ET on June 30. If a team does so, the bought-out player’s cap hit is spread over twice the length of his remaining contract as a cost-saving measure.One example of a player who could be a buyout candidate: Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has four years left on an eight-year, $38.56 million deal and spent the entire 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs as a healthy scratch.June 23: Board of governors meetingThe NHL’s board of governors will meet in New York City later this month, though an agenda hasn’t been set as of yet.The BOG meets biannually to discuss league topics, ranging from rule changes and player safety to expansion, hockey-related revenue, the salary cap, and even television media rights. An eventual succession plan for 74-year-old commissioner Gary Bettman could also be a possible topic.“We have been in discussions over the last couple of years, at least, as to what a succession plan might look like,” Bettman told reporters earlier this month at the Stanley Cup Final. “It hasn’t been fully implemented. The executive committee is fully on board. The board has been briefed in terms of the direction that we may go.“Beyond that, there’s nothing happening imminently and reports of my demise or retirement are greatly exaggerated.”June 26-27: NHL DraftThe two-day NHL Draft takes place in Buffalo this year, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the clock with the first choice. If it feels like déjà vu, well, you’re right. The Maple Leafs had the No. 1 draft pick a decade ago at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, also in Buffalo, selecting superstar forward and current captain Auston Matthews.Talented forward Gavin McKenna is projected by many to be the Leafs’ pick from a crowded crop of strong prospects, including Ivan Stenberg, Chase Reid and Caleb Malhotra.Until then, we’re knee-deep in mock draft season.June 29: Qualifying offer deadlineNHL teams have until late June to tender qualifying offers to restricted free agents. If a player isn’t given a qualifying offer, they become an unrestricted free agent in July. Chicago’s Connor Bedard, Dallas’s Jason Robertson, Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, Philadelphia’s Trevor Zegras and Vegas’s Pavel Dorofeyev are at the top of this year’s RFA class.Some of these players are arbitration-eligible (more below), and all of them could conceivably be given an offer sheet by other teams. But many teams, like Chicago, figure to be more focused on keeping their young talent around for years to come.June 30: Canadian media deal turnoverThis marks the final day of the current 12-year national rightsholders deal between the NHL and Rogers Communications that was signed in 2013 for $5.2 billion Canadian. The next day, when the league’s fiscal calendar turns over on July 1, a fresh 12-year contract worth a whopping $11 billion Canadian will kick in.The new deal is supposed to bring more national games and fewer regional blackouts, and to allow Rogers to sub-license their rights to willing parties. For example, Sportsnet licensed Monday night games to Prime Video over the last two seasons and could feasibly do so again.Sportsnet also sub-licensed games at the start of the previous 12-year deal to TVA Sports, making the latter the national rights holder for French-language broadcasts. There are already regional French-language broadcast deals in place for teams like the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, both of which came to terms with the sports network RDS in the last year. An agreement isn’t yet completed for a new French-language national contract, but Sportsnet does have the option to once again sub-license those rights to TVA Sports — or someone else.July 1: NHL free agencyAt 12 p.m. ET, NHL players on expiring contracts become free to sign with teams of their choosing. This year’s crop is much less heralded compared to those in previous years, however, as many players once projected to hit unrestricted free agency this summer ended up signing extensions last year.In an alternate world, we would’ve been speculating over Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov and Jack Eichel needing new deals. Instead, we’re left with Alex Tuch, Darren Raddysh and Rasmus Andersson. And these players could still sign with their current teams before July 1. And yes, that includes the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, Alex Ovechkin, who is still pondering whether to return for a 22nd NHL season.Could this lead NHL GMs to make more trades? Dylan Larkin and Darnell Nurse have asked out in recent days, and Morgan Rielly could be on the move, too.An important note here: This is the final year NHL teams can sign external free agents to the maximum seven-year contracts before the current collective bargaining agreement expires in September. As of next summer, six years will be the longest contract term allowed.July 1: Extension eligibility for 2027 UFAsThere could be just as many fireworks for players entering the final years of their deals who thus become eligible to sign contract extensions on the first of the month. Not just because of the players, but because of the contract lengths: NHL teams have until September to dole out eight-year extensions to eligible returning players, ahead of the new CBA. By next summer, the maximum extension length will be seven years.Colorado’s Cale Makar and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes are two of this summer’s biggest and most intriguing extension-eligible names. Last week, Avalanche team president and GM Joe Sakic appeared confident in his ability to complete Makar’s extension, declaring that the defenseman will finish his career in the team’s colors. Hughes, meanwhile, was acquired by Minnesota last December from the Vancouver Canucks; both he and the Wild have expressed an interest in negotiating a deal this summer.Tampa Bay Lightning superstar and Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov can also sign an extension as of July 1. The same is true for Pittsburgh Penguins legend and captain Sidney Crosby, and restricted free agent and fellow superstar Macklin Celebrini in San Jose. Other notable names include Nico Hischier, Alex DeBrincat and Drake Batherson.July 20: Arbitration hearings beginFor restricted free agents who’ve filed for salary arbitration, their cases can be first heard in late July. According to PuckPedia, players like Robertson, Zegras and Dorofyev are arbitration-eligible.The final deadline for teams to file for salary arbitration with eligible players is July 6; players can elect to pursue arbitration up until the previous day.All arbitration decisions must be rendered by Aug. 3.Late September: The 2026-27 season startsLast fall, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the start of the 2026-27 NHL season was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 29.In addition to the atypically early puck drop, the upcoming season will feature an 84-game schedule instead of the current 82-game schedule, another feature of the new CBA. NHL training camps and preseason games will also begin sooner than usual and will be much shorter compared to previous seasons.It means we’ll get to the regular season faster and should mean earlier ends to NHL campaigns — in other words, no more Cup Final series stretching well into June.