Let me start with this little factoid: there has been only one player (Dustin Penner, pictured) in the past 15 years has been signed to an offer sheet and only eight offer sheets were ever offered to an RFA in the past 15 years. This year, the crop of players reaching restricted free agency was much stronger than the class of UFAs this year. By July 1, names like Vladimir Tarasenko and Derek Stepan were (theoretically) on the market as an RFA, while the strongest UFA player was widely considered to be . . . Justin Williams. No disrespect to Justin Williams, but he's not exactly a star player. My point is that the UFA market was pretty weak this year, while the RFA market looked promising, alluring even.
But nobody even attempted to sign any RFAs. Tarasenko was just signed to a $60 million dollar contract by the Blues, while Stepan is filing for arbitration with his team (as are all other notable RFAs, it seems).
And not only that, in an article for the Toronto Star, Ian Cooper and the Department of Hockey Analytics found that RFAs that are signed to a contract have a higher correlation between their cap hits and stats like goals, points, and time on ice than UFAs that are signed to contract. This means that GMs get better value out of RFAs! So why are GMs so reluctant to use offer sheets?
Some people speculate the lack of offer sheets is because NHL GMs hate offer sheets, and if you anger other GMs, they won't trade with you. In short, diplomacy. Some say things are changing, but I doubt it. GMs are playing nice, but it's not working.
Dustin Penner is greeted by a crowd of people at Rexall Place. Photo credit: Andy Devlin, NHLI via Getty Images
But nobody even attempted to sign any RFAs. Tarasenko was just signed to a $60 million dollar contract by the Blues, while Stepan is filing for arbitration with his team (as are all other notable RFAs, it seems).
And not only that, in an article for the Toronto Star, Ian Cooper and the Department of Hockey Analytics found that RFAs that are signed to a contract have a higher correlation between their cap hits and stats like goals, points, and time on ice than UFAs that are signed to contract. This means that GMs get better value out of RFAs! So why are GMs so reluctant to use offer sheets?
Some people speculate the lack of offer sheets is because NHL GMs hate offer sheets, and if you anger other GMs, they won't trade with you. In short, diplomacy. Some say things are changing, but I doubt it. GMs are playing nice, but it's not working.
Dustin Penner is greeted by a crowd of people at Rexall Place. Photo credit: Andy Devlin, NHLI via Getty Images