A brief history of offer sheets in the NHL’s salary cap era

Credit: Oct 21, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi (82) reacts with teammates including forward Sebastian Aho (20) after scoring a goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

How’s that for a bucket of ice-cold water to the face?

Mid-August is supposed to be the deadest moment of the annual hockey calendar. St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong changed that Tuesday when chucked a haymaker at the Edmonton Oilers, hitting them with not one but two offer sheets simultaneously.

The offer sheet signed by RFA defenseman Philip Broberg: two years at $4,580,917, the maximum offer that would require a second-round draft pick as compensation.

The offer sheet signed by RFA left winger Dylan Holloway: a two-year contract at $2,290,457, bumping up against the maximum price that would require a third-rounder as compensation.

The Oilers have seven days from Tuesday to match, a tall order for a team already maxed out against the cap, albeit the news of Evander Kane’s surgery and probable LTIR stint could help matters.

The two offer sheets are the NHL’s first since the Carolina Hurricanes poached Jesperi Kotkaniemi from the Montreal Canadiens in August 2021. Broberg and Holloway represent the 43^rd and 44^th offer sheeted players in NHL history and the 11^th and 12^th of the salary-cap era.

How did the processes play out in the recent past? Let’s take a trip through the timeline of offer sheets signed in the salary-cap era.

Sept. 12, 2006: Ryan Kesler

Offering team: Philadelphia Flyers
Offer: 1 x $1.9 million
Result: Vancouver Canucks match

Do the Philadelphia Flyers end up winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 if the Canucks don’t match this one? Dare to dream. The Flyers took a swing with Kesler, then an up-and-coming NHLer entering his third season, still unsigned a few days before the start of training camp. The Canucks were wise enough to match. Believe it or not, Kesler bought a boat with the money netted in the deal and named it ‘Offer Sheet.’ He won the Selke Trophy in 2010-11 and helped Vancouver reach Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final that season.

July 6, 2007: Thomas Vanek

Offering team: Edmonton Oilers
Offer: 7 x $7.14 million
Result: Buffalo Sabres match

Kevin Lowe’s Crazy Summer, Part 1: The Oilers swooped in and infuriated the Sabres with an offer that would make their top goal-scorer Vanek one of the highest-paid players in the NHL. The Sabres had just lost key cogs Danny Briere and Chris Drury in free agency days earlier, so GM Darcy Regier was not going to let his 43-goal scorer go. Lowe defended the attempt and insisted it was not a publicity stunt. It turns out he was just warming up…

July 26, 2007: Dustin Penner

Offering team: Edmonton Oilers
Offer: 5 x $4.3 million
Result: Anaheim Ducks receive 2008 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd round picks

Let’s play a word association game.

“Offer Sheet.”

“Barn Fight.”

This is the one we all think of, right? In throwing down a five-year offer for budding power forward Penner, Lowe and the Oilers so enraged Ducks GM Brian Burke that Burke demanded he and Lowe throw hands in a Lake Placid barn. I spoke with Lowe and Penner a few years back about the infamous contract, which the Ducks opted not to match. Lowe admitted the situation was awkward because he and Burke were close enough to have gone fishing together. But he explained that, as the Oilers GM, he was beholden to that team and its fans before his friends in the business. Penner summarized the drama by explaining he felt like a child of divorce watching his parents fight at the dinner table.

July 1, 2008: David Backes

Offering team: Vancouver Canucks
Offer: 3 x $2.5 million
Result: St. Louis Blues match

David Backes wasn’t yet David Backes at this point. The Canucks saw a late-blooming bruiser with leadership ability and tried to snatch him away, but the Blues weren’t having it. The very next season, he broke out for a career-best 31 goals. Only two players in franchise history wore the captain’s C longer than Backes, whose five seasons equalled Chris Pronger for the third-longest tenure.

July 8, 2008: Steve Bernier

Offering team: St. Louis Blues
Offer: 1 x $2.5 million
Result: Vancouver Canucks match

Here is the first ‘Revenge Offer Sheet’ of the salary-cap era. Just one week after Vancouver’s run at Backes, Blues GM Larry Pleau clapped back, trying to pry Bernier away. But was it a real attempt to sign Bernier? The scuttlebutt at the time suggested St. Louis knew Vancouver GM Mike Gillis would match and simply wanted to squeeze more dollars out of him as a retaliation for Backes.

July 9, 2010: Niklas Hjalmarsson

Offering team: San Jose Sharks
Offer: 4 x $3.5 million
Result: Chicago Blackhawks match

Well, Oilers fans, if you’re worried about the offer sheets, you can at least take solace in the fact your new GM has experience fielding and matching one. Stan Bowman was Chicago GM when the Sharks took at run at the big, steady right-shooting Hjalmarsson just weeks after Chicago won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Forming a sturdy second pairing with Johnny Oduya, Hjalmarsson ended up playing a much bigger role on the 2013 and 2015 championship squads, justifying Bowman’s decision to match.

July 18, 2012: Shea Weber

Offering team: Philadelphia Flyers
Offer: 14 x $7.86 million
Result: Nashville Predators match

This one was messy. Weber’s partner, Ryan Suter, had bolted to sign a massive deal in Minnesota. Weber’s camp was poking around the league looking for a trade or loophole in the form of a seemingly unmatchable offer sheet. But the Preds and GM David Poile shocked the hockey world by meeting the price and keeping their captain. The move kept Nashville competitive and, with no trade protection on the deal, eventually netted them P.K. Subban in a 1-for-1 trade that helped them reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.

Feb. 28, 2013: Ryan O’Reilly

Offering team: Calgary Flames
Offer: 2 x $5 million
Result: Colorado Avalanche match

So many of these offer sheets have fascinating histories, eh? Here’s another one: the Flames and then-GM Jay Feaster made a horrible blunder with their attempt on O’Reilly. Because he had spent some of the lockout period that season playing in the KHL and had appeared in games after the NHL’s shortened season started, he would’ve had to clear waivers if Calgary landed him. He would’ve been snatched instantly by another team on top of the draft pick compensation the Flames would’ve given Colorado. By matching, the Avs saved the Flames from Hall-of-Fame-grade humiliation.

July 1, 2019: Sebastian Aho

Offering team: Montreal Canadiens
Offer: 5 x $8.45 million
Result: Carolina Hurricanes match

Marc Bergevin vs. Don Waddell, part 1: The Habs tried to inject star power into their franchise with a lucrative offer for rising star Aho, but the attempt was pretty futile from the start. There was simply no way the Canes wouldn’t match. Aho was their leading scorer and fresh off a top-10 finish in the Hart Trophy vote.

Aug. 28: 2021: Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Offering team: Carolina Hurricanes
Offer: 1 x $6.1 million
Result: Montreal Canadiens receive 2022 1^st and 3^rd picks

Marc Bergevin vs. Don Waddell, part 2: Waddell insisted at the time that signing Kotkaniemi was in no way revenge for the Aho offer sheet two years earlier. Sure, sure. The Canes winked at the hockey world by handing Kotkaniemi a signing bonus of $20 – Aho’s number. It was a fun flex, but Montreal got the last laugh. While they got some nice pick compensation, Kotkaniemi has struggled mightily to live up to the price Carolina paid for him, including the subsequent eight-year deal he signed at a $4.82 million AAV.

Aug 13, 2024: Philip Broberg

Offering team: St. Louis Blues
Offer: 2 x $4.58 million
Result: ???

Aug. 13, 2024: Dylan Holloway

Offering team: St. Louis Blues
Offer: 2 x $2.29 million
Result: ???

And now, we wait. Will Bowman match one of the offers? Both? Neither? Complicating matters further is the fact a player must remain with his team for a year if it matches an offer sheet for him.

The next chapter of Offer Sheet History will soon be written. Whatever happens, the result will give us some compelling theatre.

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