It is uncommon to see NHL teams extend offer sheets, especially in the salary-cap era, and the St. Louis Blues got the hockey world buzzing on Tuesday with an intriguing attempt to land two promising young players from the Edmonton Oilers.
What makes this offer sheet from Blues general manager Doug Armstrong unique is that he is going after two players.
Now it is up to the Edmonton Oilers to decide whether to match the offers for Philip Broberg (two years, $4,58M AAV) and Dylan Holloway (two years, $2.29M AAV) or let them join the Blues. If the Oilers choose to allow one or both players to go to St. Louis, they could receive a second-round pick for Broberg and a third-round pick for Holloway.
Since the salary cap was introduced in the 2005-06 season, there have only been nine players who have been tendered offer sheets. Here is a look at each player’s situation and how it ended.
Ryan Kesler (2006)
Team playing for: Vancouver Canucks
Team who made offer sheet: Philadelphia Flyers
At the time, the NHL had not seen an offer sheet in seven years and the Flyers were high on Kesler as a prospect after the Canucks selected him in the first round of the 2003 NHL Draft. Philadelphia was looking to put Vancouver in a tough spot with a one-year $1.9 million offer that would have gotten them close to the salary cap at $44 million.
The Canucks did end up matching, and it was a worthwhile investment as Kesler became an integral part of the team’s back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies seasons and run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011.
Thomas Vanek (2007)
Team playing for: Buffalo Sabres
Team who made offer sheet: Edmonton Oilers
After registering a career-best 43 goals and 84 points, the Oilers decided to make a big push for Vanek. It was a big-time deal of $50 million over season seasons, which would have cost them four first-round picks if the Sabres had not decided not to match it.
Buffalo felt it had no choice but to match with both Chris Drury and Daniel Brière departing in free agency and winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Unfortunately, Vanek’s production saw a drop-off in production and never really lived up to the sizeable deal, and Buffalo missed out on potentially getting a haul of first-rounders, two of which ended up being first-overall picks.
Dustin Penner (2007)
Team playing for: Anaheim Ducks
Team who made offer sheet: Edmonton Oilers
Two weeks after being denied Vanek, the Oilers were not done trying to improve their team. It wasn’t quite the same type of offer as the one made for Vanek but Edmonton offered a five-year, $21.5 million deal to Penner after helping the Ducks win the Stanley Cup.
Anaheim did end up letting Penner go and, for the longest time, it was the only unmatched offer sheet of the cap era. It also led to the infamous feud between Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe.
David Backes (2008)
Team playing for: St. Louis Blues
Team who made offer sheet: Vancouver Canucks
The Blues didn’t waste much time matching the three-year, $7.5 million deal the Canucks made to Backes. It was a worthwhile move for the Blues as Backes ended up scoring a career-high 31 goals in the first year of the deal and helped St. Louis return to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Steve Bernier (2008)
Team playing for: Vancouver Canucks
Team who made offer sheet: St. Louis Blues
After trying to get Backes from the Blues, Mike Gilles had to deal with some revenge from John Davidson, who went after Bernier with a one-year $2.6 million offer sheet. Vancouver had recently acquired the forward in a trade with Buffalo and was hoping to sign him to a long-term deal.
Bernier would play two seasons in Vancouver, at times on a line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin but mostly as a third-line checking forward. The Canucks then decided to trade Bernier to the Florida Panthers.
Niklas Hjalmarsson (2010)
Team playing for: Chicago Blackhawks
Team who made offer sheet: San Jose Sharks
The Sharks were looking to capitalize on the Blackhawks’ tough salary-cap situation after and poach a top player from their playoff rival by signing Hjalmarsson to a four-year, $14 million offer sheet.
At that time, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup but lost Brent Sopel, Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd in the off-season. Chicago ended up matching the deal and would go on to win two more Stanley Cups with Hjalmarsson as a mainstay on their blue line.
Shea Weber (2012)
Team playing for: Nashville Predators
Team who made offer sheet: Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers thought that by offering Weber the biggest offer sheet ever signed, the Predators would have no choice but to let the franchise defenceman walk. Weber would agree to a massive 14-year, $110-million deal that was packed with signing bonuses.
Nashville had already lost defenceman Ryan Suter in free agency, so having Weber leave, too, would have been disastrous for its blue line. Nashville would match the offer and eventually traded Weber to the Montreal Canadiens for P.K. Subban and, while he isn’t playing anymore, his contract remains on the books for two more years and has been traded twice, once to Vegas, then to Arizona (now Utah).
Ryan O’Reilly (2013)
Team playing for: Colorado Avalanche
Team who made offer sheet: Calgary Flames
At a time where he was at contract impasse with the Avalanche, the Flames signed the forward to a two-year, $10 million offer sheet. While Colorado would take no time to match the offer, Calgary dodged a potential mistake because O’Reilly had played in Europe during the season, he’d have had to clear waivers before signing with a new team. That would have meant the Flames would have given up two draft picks, then immediately lost O’Reilly for nothing.
Sebastian Aho (2019)
Team playing for: Carolina Hurricanes
Team who made offer sheet: Montreal Canadiens
Aho signed a five-year, $42.27-million offer sheet tendered by the Canadiens after he was looking to get his deal done well before training camp. It was the first offer sheet signed in six years and Montreal had the deal include an $11.3-million signing-bonus payment and more than $21 million to be paid out within the first year.
The Canadiens thought Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon would think twice before signing the deal, but Carolina eventually matched it and kept their top forward around.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi (2021)
Team playing for: Montreal Canadiens
Team who made offer sheet: Carolina Hurricanes
In a case of offer-sheet revenge, the Hurricanes decided to go after the Canadiens’ third-overall pick from the 2018 NHL Draft, signing him to a one-year $6.1 million offer. While it was a tough proposition to let a young player like Kotkaniemi walk, the Canadiens decided to take the first- and third-round picks and let him go to Carolina.
Kotkaniemi would score 12 goals and 29 points in that first year with Carolina and would eventually agree to an eight-year extension with an average annual value of $4.82 million. The Canadiens would use that first-round pick from Carolina to acquire Christan Dvorak from the Arizona Coyotes, while the third-rounder ended up being used to select defenceman Adam Engstrom.