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Hostile offer sheets: four reasons for teams to go cold
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Hostile offer sheets: four reasons for teams to go cold
Credit: Ahh, hostile offer sheets… One wonders if there will be at least one this summer in the NHL. After all, last summer, there were two, and they were the talk of the town. It changed the way things were seen. And with the salary cap set to rise, more teams will be able to consider […]
Ahh, hostile offer sheets…

One wonders if there will be at least one this summer in the NHL. After all, last summer, there were two, and they were the talk of the town. It changed the way things were seen.

And with the salary cap set to rise, more teams will be able to consider dropping them.

But if we play devil’s advocate and look at the other side of the coin, there are still reasons to believe that, on the contrary, there won’t really be an offer sheet this summer in the Bettman circuit.

Here are some reasons why there might not be.

1. Yes, the cap will go up for teams that want to submit bids. But it will also go up for teams looking to match those offers, too.

That’s something to consider, since to pull off such a maneuver, you have to trick a team.

2. Speaking of trapping a team: the Oilers got caught in the trap last year. They signed unrestricted free agents before thinking about their restricted free agents.

NHL teams will learn from these mistakes.

3. Elliotte Friedman, on the heels of his 32 Thoughts podcast, made some good points. In particular, he reminded us that Gavin McKenna is up for grabs in 2026, and that a team might be afraid of having an ugly season and trading that pick.

Some clubs will therefore be more cautious.

Clubs can figure that if the Rangers have fallen this far in 2024-2025, anyone can fall victim. And you can’t protect a top-10 pick in a hostile offer sheet.

You have to give your picks away unconditionally.

It’s worth mentioning that the 2026 picks are in play for this summer’s offers, since that would take place after the 2025 draft. Is it a coincidence that the Blues made two the year there was no consensus for the first draft pick? I don’t know.

For what it’s worth, the Habs have all their picks. They can make one – and not have to worry about retaliation afterwards.

4. Aside from the fact that Gavin McKenna (who is having a superb season in the WHL) exists, the lottery can be a game-changer in general. An “ordinary” club can, without being completely rotten, go up in the draft.

Look at the Islanders and the Mammoth last week… and look at what happened in the NBA, too: there were surprises and it changed the whole game.

Still, I think it’s possible that the stars could align for a club and circumstances could mean that yes, a hostile offer sheet would be on the table.

But a club that isn’t sure of success due to the aforementioned assumptions won’t want to insult a colleague unnecessarily by tabling a hostile offer sheet that has little chance of success.


overtime

– Lou Lamoriello: the Sabres want him.

– Serious candidates in Vancouver for head coach.

– It starts again tonight.

– Lane Hutson is too strong.

– The questioning is interesting.

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