Faceoff Factor

The History of the Offer Sheet

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Aug 4, 02:57 AM | Hype this story!

We all know that Oilers GM Kevin Lowe has seemingly re-invented the offer sheet, but few know of its beginnings and interesting evolution to where it is today. In this piece, we’ll take a look at the offer sheet and its hand in precedents, rivalries and even work stoppages.

The offer sheet, as it stands today, is a contract offer to any group II (restricted) free agent; the player must first accept the offer and then the original team has seven days to match that offer. If the original team matches the offer, the player remains with the original team. If they do not, the original team receives any number of draft picks as compensation for such a signing. The compensation amount is directly related to the annual salary of the contract.

Kevin Lowe’s desperate and shortsighted flaunting of money as drawn the ire of many league executives and fans. Offering Sabres forward Thomas Vanek a seven-year, $50 million deal drew very harsh and direct words from Sabres management. Followed by the excessive, and unmatched, amount of money given to un-drafted forward Dustin Penner and the tongue lashing that came with it.

We are spiraling into a new era in the business that is the National Hockey League. The salary cap and the inter-workings of our new collective bargaining agreement has left behind a series of very curious general managers feeling out the rewards and consequences of their never-yet-tried actions.

Kevin Lowe is not the first and he certainly will not be the last.

I’ll post a forewarning disclaimer for the rest of this article, the nature of offer sheets are very vague and the way they were handled before these past two CBA’s was, let’s say, “not done in a uniform fashion.” So, by no means should this be used as a undeniable and indisputable table of facts. It is accurate to the best of my ability.

The first recorded offer sheet that could be found was for Gary Nylund of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1986. It was a three year deal worth around $620,000, a deal that would that not even amount to half of today’s league minimum salary, much less “steal” a player from a team. The Blackhawks offered this and they gave up Ken Yaremchuk, Jarome Dupont and a 4th round pick in the 1987 entry draft (Joe Sacco). As it turned out, the salaries of Yaremchuk and Dupont ended up exceeding the contract of Nylund (taken 3rd overall in the 1982 draft).

However, it didn’t take long for offer sheets to create controversy. The next recorded offer sheet took place in 1988 and involved Geoff Courtnall. The Oilers owned Courtnall’s rights and the Rangers tendered him an offer sheet. The Oilers traded “the right to match” to Washington for Greg Adams (technically speaking, a player becomes property of the offering team until the offer is matched in today’s CBA, but not back then). The compensation would have been a third round pick, however, the Capitals ended up matching the offer and Courtnall would never play for the Rangers despite protest from Rangers management.

Two years later, an infamous offer sheet from St. Louis to Washington that saw Scott Stevens sign a four-year, $5.1 million contract. The Blues were initially required to give up $100,000 and two first round picks that were within the top seven spots of the draft, they were unable to do accommodate that request. So, the Blues forked over five first round picks to the Capitals (of which, the Capitals drafted Brendan Witt and Sergei Gonchar). However, Scott Stevens did not become a lifelong Blue as expected. The next summer (now 1991) the Blues tendered an offer sheet to New Jersey Devils forward Brendan Shanahan. The Devils and Blues could not work out an agreement on compensation however. The Blues offer consisted of goaltender Curtis Joseph, Rod Brind’Amour and two draft picks. The Devils wanted Scott Stevens. The decision went to arbitration and the Devils were awarded Stevens. As we’ll see later, the Scott Stevens affair is not over.

In 1992, before ever playing an NHL game, Teemu Selanne was given an offer sheet that exceeded $1 million by the Calgary Flames. The Jets eventually decided to match the offer for their first pick in the 1988 draft. That season, Selanne shatters the rookie record for goals by netting 76.

The St. Louis Blues, in 1993, would offer Marty McSorley a five-year, $10 million contract to leave Los Angeles. The Kings matched the offer, however, they quickly turned around and traded McSorley to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Shawn McEachern. Today, teams may not trade a “matched” player within one calendar year of agreeing to match an offer sheet.

In a pseudo-offer sheet situation, the Hartford Whalers wanted to acquire Glen Wesley from the Boston Bruins. The Whalers could not send out an offer sheet because they currently had an outstanding offer for Steven Rice. The Bruins hastily signed Wesley (reported to be $5.1 million over three years) and then traded him for three first round draft picks.

In one of many contract disputes in Petr Nedved’s career, the St. Louis Blues would “steal” Nedved away just before the trade deadline in 1994. Three years, $12 million for Nedved and the compensation package of Craig Janney and a second round pick. However, Janney would not play for his new team, the Vancouver Canucks. Janney would sit out a week before another deal was worked out between St. Louis and Vancouver. This time it was Janney for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican and Nathan LaFayette.

In the summer of 1994, Scott Stevens would be the center of controversy once again. The Blues tried to get Stevens back by offering a four-year, $17 million offer sheet to him. The Devils not only matched the offer, but also accused the St. Louis Blues of tampering. After a four year investigation by the NHL, the league ruled that the Blues had offered this contract before Stevens’ contract with New Jersey had expired. The Devils, of course, kept Stevens but were also awarded nearly $1.5 million and a first round pick as compensation for the Blues’ indiscretion. The Devils had the right to swap the first round pick over a given span of time, they finally used it in 2003 to select Zach Parise.

In 1995, the Blues would strike again, offering a then Edmonton Oiler Shayne Corson a five-year, $6.975 million contract. The Oilers were awarded two first round picks, which they traded back to St. Louis in exchange for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier.

In the same summer, the cash-strapped Winnipeg Jets became targets of an offer sheet again. Keith Tkachuk was the sought after player by the Blackhawks who sent a heavily front-loaded contract his way. It was a five-year deal, worth $17.2 million, with $6 million to be paid in the first season. The Jets matched and took Tkachuk with them to Phoenix.

In 1997, another infamous offer sheet was dropped on a league superstar. The New York Rangers offered Joe Sakic a three-year, $21 million contract. A deal that paid $17 million in the first year. The Avalanche matched.

Also in 1997, Chris Gratton was offered a five-year, $25.5 million offer sheet to join the Philadelphia Flyers. The Lightning couldn’t match the offer, but they also didn’t want the draft picks. Tampa, still a new team at the time, wanted to draw in fans immediately and draft picks did not do the job. Reportedly, Tampa Bay tried to claim the offer sheet was invalid because when it was faxed to them it was smudged. Assuming they had bought themselves some time, the Lightning tried to trade Gratton to Chicago for a package of players (two fans have said that Ethan Moreau was part of the deal, potentially Keith Carney and Steve Dubinsky as well). The NHL rejected the trade claiming the offer sheet was valid. Tampa Bay sends the four first round picks back to Philadelphia for Mikael Renberg and Karl Dyhuis.

And for good measure, the third offer sheet of 1997 was issued by Toronto for Canucks defenseman Mattias Ohlund. The deal was five-years, $10 million and matched by Vancouver.

The following summer saw the biggest offer sheet, to that point, in history. The Carolina Hurricanes offered a six-year, $38 million contract to Red Wings star Sergei Fedorov. A deal that is rumored to have included a $12 million bonus if his team made the conference finals. Neither Carolina nor Detroit would reach the conference finals that season.

Eight years would go by before the next offer sheet. September 12th, 2006, the Flyers offer $1.9 million for Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks. The move causes Flyers GM Bobby Clarke to be bad mouthed throughout the league. The Canucks would match the deal and after the one-year deal was up, Kesler would take a pay-cut for his next contract.

And finally, here we are today, with Thomas Vanek and Dustin Penner, but you guys know all about those already.