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NHL Trade Rumors: Top 5 offer sheet candidates this offseason

By Dave Stevenson

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 18: Brayden Point #21 of the Tampa Bay Lightning skates against the Arizona Coyotes in the first period at Amalie Arena on March 18, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - MARCH 18: Brayden Point #21 of the Tampa Bay Lightning skates against the Arizona Coyotes in the first period at Amalie Arena on March 18, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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This NHL offseason has already seen big moves. According to the latest NHL trade rumors, there could be some offer sheets signed. Which players could do it?

The NHL offseason is off to a roaring start. Even though Erik Karlsson will no longer be hitting free agency, there’s still a lot of NHL trade rumors going around. Most of them revolve around everyone’s favorite mythical hockey unicorn – offer sheets. Every year, people claim players will sign an offer sheet. Most years, their dreams are crushed by reality.

An offer sheet has not been signed since the 2013 season, when 2019 Stanley Cup champion center Ryan O’Reilly, then with the Colorado Avalanche, signed an offer sheet for two years worth $10 million with the Calgary Flames. The Avalanche matched it.

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In case you don’t know what an offer sheet is, CapFriendly has a great refresher here and you can check out the compensation tiers for 2019 here.

This article will only discuss reasonable offer sheet candidates. No, Mitch Marner is not signing an offer sheet. Most of the teams in a position to sign him to one can’t offer him what the Toronto Maple Leafs can – a Stanley Cup contender. The Leafs would match anything he signs anyway.

We’re not going to focus on the guys who fall in the top tier of compensation. No one’s giving up four first-round picks to sign anyone. There’s a reason nobody has signed an offer sheet of that magnitude since Shea Weber – it’s simply not a feasible price to pay for most players.

Rather, let’s look at the lower tiers. There could be some value in those tiers. If you could trade, say, a third-round pick for an NHL player, you’d probably do it, right? A third-round pick has a fairly low shot of making the NHL anyway.

Let’s take a look at the top five candidates who teams could target for an offer sheet starting on July 1.

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