Every spring, there are untold hours spent speculating and words spilled with projections for contracts for big-name Restricted Free Agents. Alex DeBrincat and Pierre-Luc Dubois are no stranger to that speculation and their names have already made their way through the rumor mill multiple times.

Further down the food chain, there is another subset of RFAs that are of intrigue to both fans and GMs looking to fill out rosters: players who may not be qualified by their respective club and could therefore become UFAs. Can a diamond be mined from the rough? Can one team’s trash be another team’s treasure?

There is always an almost audible gasp when the news hits Twitter when one team makes a surprising decision to cut ties because they either aren’t willing or can’t afford to keep an RFA. Washington parted ways with Ilya Samsonov in that manner one year ago, he was one of 100 players made a UFA last summer by virtue of not being made a qualifying offer.

Now, not every player who is not issued a qualifying offer will automatically become a UFA. In some cases, that is decided by team and player jointly as a negotiating path and they’re actively working on a longer-term deal that may pay the player below the face value number that they are guaranteed for one season.

Teams have until June 30 at 5 o’clock ET to issue qualifying offers. For more information on the process and what it means, click here to read a synopsis from CapFriendly.

DeBrincat, Dubois, Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier are all due significant qualifying offers.