NHL GM speaks on Oilers possible retaliation after St. Louis Blues offer sheets
Photo credit: Postkedia
The Edmonton Oilers lost two players last offseason to extremely rare successful offer sheets to the St. Louis Blues, which has raised the question of possible retaliation.
NHL teams have long looked at offer sheets as against the norm, and as actually hostile to another team - which has prompted retaliation in the past.
NHL GMs believe Edmonton will not retaliate to offer sheets last offseason
In the past General Managers have retaliated for offer sheets, like the ordeals with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Dustin Penner back in the day. However, current NHL GM John Fitzgerald with the New Jersey Devils said retaliation isn't likely in a new interview with the Athletic.
«Is Edmonton really now going to offer sheet a St. Louis player? I doubt it.»
- John Fitzgerald, New Jersey Devils
- John Fitzgerald, New Jersey Devils
The St. Louis Blues have only one RFA this season who the Oilers could offer sheet, and it is an interesting case with 24 year old goalie Joel Hofer. In 29 games, he has a .905 save percentage this year.
While Fitzgerald is skeptical about retaliation from the Oilers, other figures in the NHL like player agent Allan Walsh do believe that offer sheets may become more prevalent this offseason - and the Athletic has named Evan Bouchard as a prime candidate as one of the best RFAs.
So who could be next? According to PuckPedia, 88 of 95 potential restricted free agents this offseason are offer sheet-eligible, prominently including the Minnesota Wild's Marco Rossi, Toronto Maple Leafs' Matthew Knies, Edmonton Oilers' Evan Bouchard
ALLAN WALSH: This coming offseason will be known as 'the summer of offer sheets.' It will be.
ALLAN WALSH: This coming offseason will be known as 'the summer of offer sheets.' It will be.
Outside of a few top free agents, the UFA class isn't that strong this season while teams will see a major boost in salary cap space. There could be more room for teams to levy offer sheets, but there will also be more space to match them.
In addition, other teams may have learned their lesson about not matching on their own young players seeing Holloway and Broberg thrive with more ice time on another team.
The least Oilers fans can hope for is that management has learned from their mistakes of last offseason, and will be able to better protect themselves from an offer sheet in the future - and perhaps weaponize one of their own.
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