Speculation: Your Teams Offer Sheet History

pld459666

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
26,135
8,401
Danbury, CT
As a free agent during the summer of 1997, Joe Sakic signed a three-year, $21 million offer sheet with the New York Rangers as a restricted free agent. Colorado obviously matched.

Rangers front loaded the deal with it believe 14 million signing bonus.

They also signed Adam Graves to an offer sheet that wound up with Edmonton getting Troy Mallette as compensation.
 

pld459666

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
26,135
8,401
Danbury, CT
Hey All!

I was just on the Bruins board discussing offer sheets regarding current players and after one poster claimed that they are almost never used a second poster asked me if other teams have experienced the offer sheet threat that made a trade possible. We have also added any offer sheets that took place or were matched post 2006. For example:

In Anaheim:

1. Edmonton Oilers offer sheet Dustin Penner; Anaheim accepts compensation.

In Boston:

1. Toronto Maple Leafs have offer sheet threat with Phil Kessel which forces the Bruins to trade Kessel to Toronto.
2. Edmonton Oilers have an offer sheet threat with Dougie Hamilton which forces the Bruins to trade Hamilton to Calgary.
3. Also, rumour had it that the Sharks would have OS'd Martin Jones in Boston who didn't need a pricey tandem - so it "forced" a trade.

In Buffalo:

1. Edmonton Oilers offer sheet Tomas Vanek; Buffalo matches.

In Calgary:

1. Calgary signs Ryan O'Reilly to an offer sheet; Colorado matches.

In Chicago:

1. Hjalmarsson signed with the Sharks, which forced the Hawks to match...which led to Niemi shaking loose as a free agent, whom Doug Wilson immediately signed.

In Colorado:

1. Calgary signs Ryan O'Reilly to an offer sheet; Colorado matches.

In Edmonton:

1. Edmonton Oilers have an offer sheet threat with Dougie Hamilton which forces the Bruins to trade Hamilton to Calgary.
2. Edmonton Oilers sign Tomas Vanek to offer sheet; Buffalo matches.
3. Edmonton Oilers sign Dustin Penner to offer sheet; Anaheim accepts compensation.

In Nashville:

1. The Flyers offer-sheeted Weber and Nashville matched.

In Ottawa:

1. Tampa Bay threatens to offer sheet Andrej Meszaros in Ottawa; Ottawa forced to trade him to Tampa Bay.

In Philadelphia:

1. The Flyers offer-sheeted Kesler and Vancouver matched.
2. The Flyers offer-sheeted Weber and Nashville matched.

In San Jose:

1. Hjalmarsson signed with the Sharks, which forced the Hawks to match...which led to Niemi shaking loose as a free agent, whom Doug Wilson immediately signed.
2. Also, rumour had it that the Sharks would have OS'd Martin Jones in Boston who didn't need a pricey tandem - so it "forced" a trade.

In St.Louis:

1. Vancouver offer sheet to Backes; St.Louis matches.
2. St.Louis offer sheet to Bernier; Vancouver matches.

In Tampa Bay:

1. Tampa Bay threatens to offer sheet Andrej Meszaros in Ottawa; Ottawa forced to trade him to Tampa Bay.

In Toronto:

1. Toronto Maple Leafs have offer sheet threat with Phil Kessel which forces the Bruins to trade Kessel to Toronto.

In Vancouver:

1. Vancouver offer sheet to Backes; St.Louis matches.
2. St.Louis offer sheet to Bernier; Vancouver matches.
3. The Flyers offer-sheeted Kesler and Vancouver matched.

Even though no offer sheet was signed in either situation it is clear that the tool was used to force a trade.

Has your team been on one end or another of these situations that you could point out for us?

Flyers also offer sheeted Chris Gratton
 

Kahvi

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Jun 4, 2007
5,145
3,882
Alberga
It wouldn't surprise me if Dallas has made offers to noteworthy RFAs, only to be rebuffed.

I'm willing to bet the lion's share of offer sheets go unreported.

This is one of my favorite things to remind people. Most people seem to think that because players rarely sign offer sheets they are not used by the GM's.

Though it is really impossible to even estimate what % of offer sheets are signed. Who knows, maybe GM's discuss with agents to see if it is even worth the try. Kinda like unofficial offer; "We were thinking of an offer sheet worth this much for this player, would he sign that?"

I would love to read more about offer sheets from an insider.
 

varano

Registered User
Jun 27, 2013
5,161
1,917
Does anyone know why on earth an offer sheet of 1 year at 1.9 million was made for Ryan kesler????
 

Dooman

Registered User
Mar 8, 2006
640
102
This is one of my favorite things to remind people. Most people seem to think that because players rarely sign offer sheets they are not used by the GM's.

Though it is really impossible to even estimate what % of offer sheets are signed. Who knows, maybe GM's discuss with agents to see if it is even worth the try. Kinda like unofficial offer; "We were thinking of an offer sheet worth this much for this player, would he sign that?"

I would love to read more about offer sheets from an insider.

I suspect that would be considered tampering.
 

Bfreezy40

Registered User
Dec 17, 2014
719
13
Buffalo
I'm honestly surprised this doesn't happen more often. Especially this summer with all the great RFA's still unsigned at this current moment.
 

Coach Parker

Stanley Cup Champion
Jun 22, 2008
22,477
9,689
Vancouver, B.C.
This is one of my favorite things to remind people. Most people seem to think that because players rarely sign offer sheets they are not used by the GM's.

Though it is really impossible to even estimate what % of offer sheets are signed. Who knows, maybe GM's discuss with agents to see if it is even worth the try. Kinda like unofficial offer; "We were thinking of an offer sheet worth this much for this player, would he sign that?"

I would love to read more about offer sheets from an insider.

Exactly!

Imagine a reporter sat down with Wilson, Holland, Poile, Shero, Chiarelli, Murray and Lamoreillo and used the thesis of the article/report/book to be just on offer sheets and their experiences?
 

Coach Parker

Stanley Cup Champion
Jun 22, 2008
22,477
9,689
Vancouver, B.C.
I'm honestly surprised this doesn't happen more often. Especially this summer with all the great RFA's still unsigned at this current moment.

When you look back at my OP and the postings, it seems since 2006 half the teams in the NHL have been on one side or another of an offer sheet that was made public. I'd imagine some of the bigger names have had agents coming to the player and saying 'look, Dallas will put an offer sheet down right now for 7 x7 if you want to play there and let's see if they will match and get this over with' only to have the player say no so the offer sheet never happens.
 

Kahvi

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Jun 4, 2007
5,145
3,882
Alberga
Ok, I think I'm gonna argue against myself here but so what.

Being RFA eligible for an offer sheet simply means that the player can negotiate with other teams and sign a contract. If that contract is signed the original team has a right to match the contract. So in a sense every offer sheet is signed by the player, and "unsuccessful offer sheets" are negotiations that didn't end up in agreement.

"offer sheet" might make it sound like there's some kind of process where a GM sends a take it or leave it offer out of the blue to a player, who signs it or not.
 

KingCanadain1976

Registered User
Jul 8, 2009
18,345
1,893
Thunder Bay Ont. Can
As far as i know the kings haven't made any offer sheets offers. I do remember a quote from when drew was a rfa by our gm "if anyone offers him a sheet we will match it and then offer sheet that teams rfas for years to come" So kings and offer sheets don't happen
 

One Blurred Eye

Prefer the future.
Sep 27, 2014
287
15
No mention of Carolina's poison pill offer sheet for Fedorov in 98? 14m signing bonus to be paid out in full along with 12m base salary should the team make the conference finals--which Carolina had no expectation of doing. Detroit, forced to match, goes on to win the Cup, but ends up paying Feds 28m of the total 38 mil per the matched offer for half-a-season's work. Carolina reaps what they sow in 2002, when Feds sets up Hull's game three tying goal, which ends with Larionov's triple overtime winner, breaking a 1-1 series tie. Detroit rolls the rest of the series. Just another fine yarn in the Ilitch-Karmanos feud.
 

Coach Parker

Stanley Cup Champion
Jun 22, 2008
22,477
9,689
Vancouver, B.C.
No mention of Carolina's poison pill offer sheet for Fedorov in 98? 14m signing bonus to be paid out in full along with 12m base salary should the team make the conference finals--which Carolina had no expectation of doing. Detroit, forced to match, goes on to win the Cup, but ends up paying Feds 28m of the total 38 mil per the matched offer for half-a-season's work. Carolina reaps what they sow in 2002, when Feds sets up Hull's game three tying goal, which ends with Larionov's triple overtime winner, breaking a 1-1 series tie. Detroit rolls the rest of the series. Just another fine yarn in the Ilitch-Karmanos feud.

I focused on 2006 onward as the compensation was picks and seem to be more solidified and not negotiable.
 

McSuper

5-14-6-1
Jun 16, 2012
17,153
6,914
Halifax
Did it really force them? If Hamilton signed for the same Calgary contract, Boston would have got more and better picks as compensation right?

This and if the Oilers offer sheeted Hamilton we would have no Puljujarvi . I think Boston would have but who knows if Hamilton improved us to jump us up a spot or 2
 

Tripod

I hate this team
Aug 12, 2008
79,242
87,030
Nova Scotia
Does anyone know why on earth an offer sheet of 1 year at 1.9 million was made for Ryan kesler????

Because at the time, it was a lot of money for an unproven player. Clarke tried to snap up a prospect before he broke out. The Canucks qualified Hun at $564,000.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/flyers-defend-kesler-offer-1.595876

The Canucks are expected to match it, even though the signing will put them dangerously close to the NHL's salary cap of $44 million.

At issue is what Kesler's inflated salary may do to affect future deals.Kesler, a 22-year-old American, scored 10 goals last season with the Canucks in a checking role.Though considered a prized prospect, the $1.9-million offer from the Flyers is considered high for a player of Kesler's stature.
 

One Blurred Eye

Prefer the future.
Sep 27, 2014
287
15
I focused on 2006 onward as the compensation was picks and seem to be more solidified and not negotiable.

Makes sense, I was just surprised Sakic's came up but not Fedorov's. And reading back through the thread, of course I see now that it was! So nuts to me.
 

nmbr_24

Registered User
Jun 8, 2003
12,864
2
Visit site
Not really, there are a possibility but the only reason there was an offersheet threat in either the kessel case or dougie case was Bostons cap situation.

In the Kessel case they gave the money to others that off season and it was pretty clear the had no intention of retaining phil

In the Hamiliton is was poor cap mgmt. over the last couple seasons. Generally in the cap era the offersheet only is a threat if a team can't match. In either event they lose the player either for compensation or a trade.

In both cases it seems Boston did not want to keep the player, Phil they chose to pay others instead and I think the DH situation it was less the offersheet threat than the thought that he would not sign LT with the B's or they did not want EDM to be the ones signing him to an offer sheet. A little of Cam's pride getting in the way of a sound hockey decision maybe- that has never happened before has it?

That isn't true, it was clear that they had no intention of paying him more than other players that they valued more than him, but they had the intention of keeping him, they just wanted to sign him to a $4 million deal which was at the time a pretty good salary.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad