When it comes to comparing the NBA and NHL offseasons, it’s not even a fair fight.
Sure, a year removed from John Tavares’ move back up north to Toronto, other NHL stars, like Artemi Panarin, P.K. Subban and Sergei Bobrovsky, are on the move.
But when compared to the bombast that has been the last two weeks alone in the NBA, it’s a bit telling when the most fireworks found in the NHL mostly came by way of an offer sheet signed on the first day of free agency.
The hoopla that followed when Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho agreed to a five-year, $42.27-million offer sheet — good for an AAV of $8.454 million — with the Montreal Canadiens was well warranted. After all, only nine offer sheets have been tendered in the NHL since the salary cap was instituted.
In a league in which player movement — especially among franchise players — is still a relatively rare occurrence, offer sheets stand as the offseason’s true white whale.
And while they’re not often utilized, Don Sweeney was quick to acknowledge that offer sheets stand as a looming threat that NHL clubs — especially organizations up against the cap — must brace themselves for every summer.
“I don’t think it’s catching anybody off guard because it’s a mechanism that exists that, you know, will continue I think to play a factor as teams go forward,” Sweeney said. “You know, player supply is what it is. You know, when teams get situations for – you know, the cap I think dictates that some teams will be aggressive in that way.”
Dealing with an offer sheet often stands as a nuisance for the unlucky club that gets the bad news from said player and the competing organization, but for all the fanfare that comes when offer sheets are signed — they are rarely successful.
Of those nine sheets that have been tendered since 2005, only one has led to the original club letting an RFA go, with the Oilers adding forward Dustin Penner after the Ducks opted to not match the five-year, $21.5-million deal that the two other parties agreed to.
And to be fair, the system put in place when it comes to offer sheets makes it hard for a club to really snag an RFA away without paying a heavy price. While the team presenting an offer sheet to a player will likely front-load a contract and overpay in order to force the hand of the original team — especially if they’re already dealing with a cap crunch — there’s also the draft compensation angle.
If the team holding the RFA’s rights opts to not match the contract during the seven days that the NHL gives them from the moment an offer sheet is signed, then that team is compensated with draft picks from the team that adds said RFA.
If an offer sheet features a deal with an average annual value of $1,395,053 million or below, then no draft compensation is awarded. But as the AAV rises, so too does the haul that the original club receives.
Here’s how the whole draft compensation scale pans out:
- $1,395,053 million or below -- No draft pick compensation
- More than $1,395,053 to $2,113,716 -- third-round pick
- More than $2,113,716 to $4,227,437 -- second-round pick
- More than $4,227,437 to $6,341,152 -- First- and third-round picks
- More than $6,341,152 to $8,454,871 -- First-, second- and third-round picks
- More than $8,454,871 to $10,568,589 -- two first-round picks, one second-round pick and one third-round pick
- More than $10,568,589 -- four first-round picks (can be spread over a five-year period)
So let’s say as a hypothetical, a team with plenty of cap space (let’s go with the Blue Jackets here) offered Maple Leafs RFA Mitch Marner a monster deal — with an AAV of $11 million. That’s a tough hit for Toronto, which already only has
So if
Kyle Dubas
folds and let’s Marner walk, then the Blue Jackets would have to relinquish four first-round picks to Toronto over the next five years. That’s a
STEEP
price to pay, even if it brings a dynamic winger like Marner aboard.
That draft compensation is one of the main factors that often works against an offer sheet actually being fruitful for the team that wants to present it — along with the lengths clubs will go to in order to retain a key RFA for the foreseeable future.
It doesn’t make it any easier that a team and GM willing to put out an offer sheet quickly finds themselves in the crosshairs of the opposing team and across the league.
News of Aho’s offer sheet from the Habs
while the Hurricanes’ social-media team
before Carolina eventually matched Montreal’s offer and re-signed Aho.
“I think everybody would say generally what goes around comes around,” Sweeney said of retribution for inking an RFA to an offer sheet. “I don’t know. You have to ask the individual guys. I can’t sit here and tell you I know how I’d react because you don’t know how things will play out, whether or not the situation presents itself.”
Of course, the main reason why the Habs’ pursuit of Aho failed was because Montreal did little to force the hand of a Hurricanes team that entered the summer with a boatload of cap space.
While the offer sheet presented a significant raise for Aho, the 'Canes were more than willing to match it at $8.454 million annually — given that said contract should be seen as a bargain as Aho continues to establish himself as a premier center in today’s game. And not kicking that AAV into a tier of draft compensation that could make the loss a bit more palatable to the Hurricanes was another swing and a miss for Montreal.
And yet, while Aho now remains in Carolina on a solid new deal and cap space around the league starts to wither away as more and more free agents are scooped up, the threat of offer sheets continue to loom large.
While the Bruins and their
present plenty of headaches in terms of retaining their two remaining RFAs in
Charlie McAvoy
and
Brandon Carlo,
Boston can breathe a bit when it comes to McAvoy’s future in Boston.
As a 10.2 (c) player — designated as a player with less than three full years of NHL experience — McAvoy is an RFA this summer, indeed. But he cannot sign an offer sheet while arbitration is not an option for him until after the 2021-22 season.
Carlo, on the other hand, is eligible for an offer sheet — and could be a potential target for a team looking to boost its blue line with a 22-year-old skater that thrived in his first foray in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
While such a scenario does seem unlikely, it’s an option that’s on the table for other teams to use — forcing an already cash-strapped B’s team to really reassess its current roster and cap obligations if Carlo was presented with a tantalizing deal.
“I think every general manager would be lying to you if they said they wouldn’t do it,” Sweeney said of offer sheets. “It just depends on the situation in terms of, back to the question earlier, how you’re going to forecast things coming back at you. It’s just, it’s a mechanism that exists, and I think everybody would be lying if they didn’t say they wouldn’t be using it in some point in time if it was the right thing to do."
Clifton looking to make strides
While
Danton Heinen
that a primary focus of his this summer will be to improve his shot and overall O-zone play,
Connor Clifton’s
offseason goal is a bit more sweeping.
, Clifton saw his stock soar as one of the regulars on a B’s blue line in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but compliments issued by
Bruce Cassidy,
Don Sweeney
and his teammates aren’t giving the defenseman much cause to rest on his laurels.
While he may not be the offensive dynamo that
Torey Krug
is, Clifton did note that he’s hoping to follow a similar trajectory as Boston’s veteran blue-liner.
“Yes, everyone talks about how offensively gifted – I think the defensive game goes overlooked because of that,” Clifton said of Krug. “You see the plays he makes on the offensive blue line. It’s like … it’s a fast game, and some of the plays he makes are unbelievable, but like I said, he plays against top lines or second-line whatever, and he’s shutting them down all. I think everything he does so well gets him out of the d-zone and lets him go make those plays in the offensive zone.
“But yeah, he’s definitely a player I would want to be like. I don’t think I’ll ever be as offensively gifted as him, but, you know, he’s a smaller defenseman. I’m a smaller defenseman. I think he’s great defensively. He makes the best breakout passes. He beats two or three guys just forechecking all the time just with these nice passes, and, you know, I wouldn’t even see. But yeah, he’s definitely a player I’d like to be like.”
The elder statesman
Set to return for his 22nd season in the NHL — and 14th with the Bruins —
Zdeno Chara
is set to add yet another accolade to his already impressive resume in 2019-20.
With the retirement of forward
Matt Cullen
after 21 seasons in the NHL, Chara now stands as the oldest active player in the NHL at 42 years, 3 months and 26 days.
Chara recognized the accomplishment by way of Instagram on Thursday evening, posting a photoshopped picture of himself donning B’s gear from way back when — leather helmet and all.
“It’s hard to believe I’m now the oldest active player in the NHL,” Chara’s post read. “It’s been a long time since my rookie season but this game always keeps me young. Having the opportunity to play in the league all these years with and against the best players in the world has taught me time and time again that it’s a humbling game and age is just a number!”
Signed through the 2019-20 season, Chara may not be the perennial Norris-Trophy candidate that he was back in the day, but the veteran will once again likely be tasked with handling top-pairing minutes on the blue line this year — while also providing guidance to a D corps that will feature four players aged 25 or under next year.
