Offer sheets have been part of the NHL for a long time, but actually seeing them used as a method to acquire a player from another team is pretty rare.
General managers don’t like using offer sheets. For some reason, we almost never see players presented with an offer sheet from a rival team.
In fact, only 12 players have signed an offer sheet in the salary cap era (2005-06 to the present), and just four of those 12 actually changed teams as a result.
The last two players to be poached via an offer sheet were Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. The Blues signed both of them to offer sheets in 2024 and the Edmonton Oilers, who were in a tough salary cap situation, did not match either one.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was asked about offer sheets during his team’s end-of-season press conference earlier this month.
“I mean, they’re part of the CBA,” Sweeney said May 6. “St. Louis executed one, executed two, to tell you the truth. And the cap will be a little more difficult to navigate at that stage because there is room for the vast, vast majority of teams. So it takes a unique situation when a team has sort of boxed themselves in to some degree in terms of executing it. It’s at our disposal.
“I don’t think any general manager — I think (Blues GM) Doug (Armstrong) described it very well, that if his mom was running another team, he’d still do it. And I think we all have to look at it that way. It’s just, look, we’re friendly, but we’re not brotherly in terms of how we operate as general managers. You have to execute when it presents, and if you can, you can. I just think it’ll be a little more difficult with the cap going up and the space that most teams have.”
What exactly is an offer sheet?
It’s a contract offer to a restricted free agent (RFA) on another team. The only RFAs who can sign offer sheets are Group 2 RFAs who have received a qualifying offer. To be a Group 2 RFA, a player must meet certain conditions including NHL experience.
If the player signs the offer sheet, his team has up to seven days to match the offer and keep the player, or decline to match and receive draft pick compensation from the team that signed the player. The amount of draft pick compensation is based on the annual average value of the offer sheet contract.
Last week, the league announced the updated draft pick compensation for different tiers of offer sheet AAV. For example, if a team signs an RFA to an offer sheet that has an AAV above $11,939,167 and it’s not matched, that team must give the player’s old team four first-round picks as compensation.
One very important detail here is that for teams to present an offer sheet to an RFA, they must have their own draft picks available in case the other team doesn’t match.
For example, the $9,551,333 to $11,939,166 AAV tier requires compensation including two first-round draft picks, a 2027 second-rounder and a 2027 third-rounder. If a team doesn’t control its own 2027 first-, second- and third-round picks, it cannot make an offer sheet in that tier.
Here’s a Bruins example: The B’s no longer own their 2027 third-round pick. It was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Andrew Peeke in March of 2024. And without that pick, the Bruins cannot make an offer sheet in any tier that includes a third-rounder as compensation.
Therefore, the only tiers the Bruins can make an offer sheet for are the highest tier (above $11,939,167), the fifth tier ($2,387,833 to $4,775,666) and the lowest tier (below $1,575,969).
Potential targets
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Mavrik Bourque is an underrated player for the Stars.
Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson is the best RFA eligible for an offer sheet this offseason. His next contract could be north of $10 million per year. He scored 45 goals with 51 assists in 82 games this past season. He also tallied eight points (five goals, three assists) in six first-round playoff games. Robertson is an elite offensive player at just 26 years old.
But is he worth giving up four first-rounders to acquire via an offer sheet? Any team that wants Robertson probably would be better off just calling the Stars, working out a trade and then signing him to an extension.
This is why signing a player to the highest offer sheet tier doesn’t make much sense. Not many players in the league are worth four first-round picks.
A more realistic offer sheet target on the Stars might be middle-six center Mavrik Bourque. He just scored a career-high 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 82 games at 24 years old. He could be even more productive in a larger role on another team. He made $950,000K last season and is due for a nice raise.
Mackie Samoskevich tallied a career-high 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 77 games as a bottom-six forward for the Florida Panthers last season. He’s 23 years old.
Could Bourque or Samoskevich be acquired via an offer sheet in the $2,387,833 to $4,775,666 AAV tier that would include giving up a 2027 second-round pick as compensation? It’s at least worth considering if you’re the Bruins. Bourque, in particular, has a ton of offensive potential and could be a potential star.
Bottom line
The Bruins haven’t signed a player to an offer sheet since 1991.
Sweeney has never used it during his tenure as GM. It’s a tool available to him, but the best avenue for the Bruins to bring in an impact player this summer is the trade market. They have plenty of good assets to make deals.
The fact that the Bruins currently are only eligible to craft an offer sheet in three of the seven AAV tiers also limits some of their options.
