Does an offer sheet make sense for the Oilers?
By Jason Gregor
7 years agoThe 2016 UFA crop of defencemen isn’t very deep. The Arizona Coyotes acquired the rights to the best D-man available, Alex Goligoski, yesterday for a 5th round pick in 2016 and they have the exclusive negotiating rights until next Saturday, June 25th. If they sign Goligoski before July 1st, the list of candidates becomes even less attractive.
Jason Demers, Keith Yandle and Dan Hamhuis are the other top free agent defencemen. You could land a solid, veteran 3rd pairing defender, but the list of top-four D-men is short.
Will Peter Chiarelli turn his focus to a restricted free agent instead and submit an offer sheet?
Offer sheets are rare. We’ve only seen 35 offer sheets beginning in 1986 when the Chicago Blackhawks offered Gary Nylund a three-year deal worth a total of $620,000. The Leafs didn’t match and they received Ken Yaremchuk, Jerome Dupont and a 4th round pick.
In the early years of offer sheets, teams could negotiate compensation and if they didn’t like what the offering team submitted they could take it to arbitration. The most notable case was in 1991 when the St.Louis Blues signed Brendan Shanahan to an offer sheet. The Blues offered New Jersey Curtis Joseph, Rod Brind’Amour and two picks, but the Devils asked for Scott Stevens. The arbitrator ruled in New Jersey’s favour and Stevens became a Devil.
Oddly enough, the previous summer the Blues signed Stevens to an offer sheet and the Washington Capitals accepted five first round picks as compensation. So the Blues gave up five first round picks to get Stevens for one year, before losing him to New Jersey. Ouch.
Of the 35 offer sheets, only 13 weren’t matched, but most of those happened before 1996. Since 1996 only Ron Tugnutt (no compensation due to value of his contract), Chris Gratton (Philadelphia surrendered four first round picks to Tampa Bay) and Dustin Penner (Edmonton gave Anaheim a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick in 2008) changed teams.
There have been eight offer sheets since 2006.
September 12th, 2006: The Flyers offered Ryan Kesler one-year at $1.9 million. The Canucks matched.
July 6th, 2007: The Oilers offered Thomas Vanek $49 million over seven years. Buffalo matched.
July 26th, 2007: Oilers offered Penner $21.5 million over five years. Ducks took the picks.
July 1st, 2008: Vancouver offered David Backes three years at $2.5 mill/year. St.Louis matched.
July 8th, 2008: The Blues offered Steve Bernier one year at $2.5 million. The Canucks matched.
July 9th, 2010: San Jose offers Niklas Hjalmarsson $14 million over four years. Chicago matches.
July 18th, 2012: Philly offered Shea Weber 14 years at $110 million. Nashville matched.
February 28th, 2013: Calgary offers Ryan O’Reilly two years at $10 million. Colorado matched.
Offer sheets are rare today, because often you will have to give the player a substantial raise, and then relinguish multiple draft picks to acquire him. Many teams are leery of offer sheets, but with so many teams up against the salary cap, this might be the year we see one or two.
There are many talented young RFA forwards like Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Filip Forsberg, Nathan MacKinnon, Mark Schiefele, Mike Hoffman, Alex Killorn and Vincent Trocheck. None of these teams are in a bad cap situation, so I doubt they get an offer sheet, plus young, skilled forwards aren’t nearly as sought after as young, capable defencemen.
I’d be surprised if there was an offer sheet, but if I had to guess I’d wager a defender would be the target. Hampus Lindholm, Seth Jones, Tyson Barrie, Jacob Trouba, Rasmus Ristolainen and Tory Krug are available.
Lindholm would be my first choice, followed by Jones.
The Blue Jackets have less than $4 million in cap space and they need to sign Jones and two other players. An offer sheet would put them in a very tough situation.
The Ducks have loads of cap space, they are currently under the cap floor, but they only have 14 players signed. They aren’t a cap team, and while I’d be surprised if they let Lindholm walk strictly for draft picks, making him an offer sheet wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Compensation parameters for this summer:
1. Less than $1,239,266 No compensation.
2. $1,239,266 to $1,877,615 Third round pick
3. $1,877,615 to $3,755,233 Second round pick
4. $3,755,233 to $5,632,847 First and third round picks
5. $5,632,847 to $7,510,464 First, second and third round picks
6. $7,510,464 to $9,388,080 Two first round picks, one second and one third rounder.
7. $9,388,080 or more Four first round picks
For me, the issue with an offer sheet is in order to scare a team away from matching Jones and/or Lindholm for instance, you’d likely have to offer at least $5.6 million, and most likely over $7,511,000 to make them think about.
I like Lindholm a lot, but is he worth $7.5 million today? It is a major gamble.
PARTING SHOTS…
- The other key factor regarding the Oilers, and some other teams, is whether or not they will be able to defer draft picks to 2018 for signing GMs/coaches from other teams. Currently the Oilers owe Boston their 2nd round pick in 2017. If that doesn’t change, then the Oilers wouldn’t be able to make an offer sheet that includes a 2nd round pick as compensation (Number two, five and six listed above). There was a report saying teams will be able to defer until 2018, but the NHL has not confirmed it. We should know for certain next week when the NHL officially announces details on the 2017 Las Vegas expansion draft.
- In order to submit an offer sheet a team must own the required compensation picks. They have to be their own picks. The Oilers couldn’t use a 2nd round pick acquired from another team for instance.
- The Oilers have made two offer sheets in their history, but six teams have submitted an offer sheet to an Oilers player.
In 1988, the New York Rangers signed Geoff Courtnall to an offer sheet. During the time for the Oilers to match they got the Washington Capitals to match the Rangers offer and the Oilers traded Courtnall to the Caps for Greg Adams.In 1991, the Rangers offered Adam Graves $2.44 million (total) over five years. The Oilers didn’t match and received Troy Mallette as compensation.In 1992, the Capitals offered Dave Manson $1.13 million/year for three years. The Oilers matched.In 1993, the San Jose Sharks offered Craig Simpson just over $1 million/year for three years. The contract was void because the Sharks offer sheet had a base salary in the first season of $200,000, with the rest a signing bonus. Simpson had rejected an offer of $690,000 from the Oilers because it was below the 15% raise required, so the league voided San Jose’s offer. The Oilers then traded Simpson to Buffalo for Jozef Cierny and a 4th round pick.In 1994, the Hartford Whalers gave Steven Rice an offer sheet totaling $1.7 million. The Oilers didn’t match, and the Whalers offered Robert Kron as compensation. Edmonton said no and asked the arbitrator for Bryan Marchment. The arbitrator ruled in Edmonton’s favour.In 1995, the Blues offered Shayne Corson $6.975 million over five years. The Oilers accepted first round picks in 1996 and 1997. They then traded those picks back to St.Louis for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier, which turned out to be an excellent deal for the Oilers.
- I’d be surprised if Chiarelli made an offer sheet, but considering the shallow UFA pool for D-men, he might be inclined to make Lindholm or Jones a huge offer. Would you?
THE DRAFT PARTY
There are few certainties in life – we can always count on the sun coming up in the morning, Edmonton winters being dreadful, and the Oilers missing the playoffs. As such, we present the annual OilersNation Draft Party! It’s time to honour the the anniversary of drafting our beloved Connor, celebrate the rewards of another failed season, and raise some money for charity.
Here’s what you need to know…
The party is happening at the Pint Downtown on Friday, June 24th. The goal is to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross and their efforts to bring normalcy back to Fort McMurray, and have a little bit of fun while we’re at it. For $30 you get a Draft Party t-shirt, a $10 Pint GC, a $10 Oodle Noodle GC, a draft party collectors cup, and a chance for prizes and eternal glory.
All proceeds from tickets sold will be donated directly to the Red Cross so bring your friends, get involved, and help us support a community in need. Tickets are still available here.
One day, the Oilers will be a good hockey team and we’ll all be able to laugh about this. Until then, we party.
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