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It's Been Six Years, but Don't Tell That to the NHL Media

May 4, 2019, 10:36 AM ET [21 Comments]
James Tanner
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How about you drum up some interest in the possibility of your market's top players being poached by another team via the dreaded offer sheet?

It happens all the time.

Living in a certain major NHL metropolis, I am imbued with constant, round-the-clock coverage of whether or not some other team is going to swoop in and sign away all the free agents.

The ____ have three free agents. Mr. M is the big one, followed by Mr. K and Mr. J.

I don't really see this happening to other teams - and I try and follow the entire league pretty closely - so it's interesting.



I hear about how everyone is just waiting to poach old Playoff Beard himself, but almost nothing about Raantanen, Tkachuk (probably because someone would have to try to spell those names) Point, Aho, Connor, Boeser, Laine or Trouba?

In the city in which I live, there is a constant, never ending, 24 hour scream-a-thon about how someone is going to sign one of these three dudes , two of whom have but one season of moderate NHL success.

But guess what? No one is signing an offer sheet because offer sheets are stupid.

If a player does sign one, it's likely to get matched, so he looks like a traitor when he goes back to his team.

The fact is, most group 2's don't have any leverage. especially the non-star ones. You're gonna sign a guy who scored like one f'n goal since January to a deal that pisses everyone off, and costs you draft picks you probably need worse than you need a third line winger?

No you're not.

Here is a prediction you can actually take to the bank: there will be zero offers sheets signed in the NHL this year. And even if there is one, it isn't going to be for anyone less than a star player.

The last time an offer sheet occurred, Ryan O'Reilly tried to go to Calgary back in 2013.

We know how rare blockbuster trades go down in the NHL, and Mr O'Reilly has been shipped out in two of them since anyone signed an offer sheet.

The last time someone actually switched teams because of an offer sheet was when the Oilers - who else?- mistakenly thought Dustin Penner was a hockey player and stole him from the Mighty Ducks.

It's not even clear that the Oilers did this on purpose, and that's the last time it happened.

There's been 11 lock-outs since the last offersheet.

So to sum up, there is a better chance that I'll read that J.K Rowling book with Zero Wizards (I think that might even be the title) than there actually being an offer sheet.
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