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Hostile offer sheet: keep an eye on Mavrik Bourque as a possible target this summer
Félix Forget
Hostile offer sheet: keep an eye on Mavrik Bourque as a possible target this summer
Credit: Getty Images
Right now, the Dallas Stars have their hands full with the Edmonton Oilers. Trailing 1-2 in the Western finals, the Texans must find a way to revive their 5-on-5 attack.

Because if the trend continues, they’ll lose to the Oilers in the Western Final for the second year running.

What’s special, though, is that the Stars are struggling despite all the talent in town. Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz (who’s been injured since Game #2, that said) and the list goes on: there are some big earners in town who just aren’t living up to expectations.

And next year, with guys like Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston and Jake Oettinger getting big pay raises, the Stars won’t have a ton of money to sign other players… just like they won’t have a ton of money to sign their own free agents.

And that makes the club susceptible to an offer sheet… and in a recent episode of The Chris Johnston Show, the tipster mentioned Mavrik Bourque as a logical target.

For the past few weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of the upcoming summer being “the summer of offer sheets” in the NHL. After all, it paid off handsomely for the Blues (twice over) last summer… and with the salary cap set to rise significantly over the next few years, there are some teams who might take a chance.

That said, the cap is also rising for the teams that hold the rights to these restricted free agents… and that means that, in order to make a successful offer sheet, you’ll have to target a team with little room to manoeuvre, and put them in a tricky position.

In the Stars’ case, the club will have just under $5M under the cap… and guys like Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene and Evgenii Dadonov still don’t have a deal in place for next season.

And that’s not counting Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci… but in their case, they’re expected to leave.

This means that the Stars will have little room to manoeuvre… and that a Jesperi Kotkaniemi-style offer for Bourque, who may want a change of scenery after spending the majority of the current playoffs in the stands, would put the Stars in an unenviable position.

Let’s see if it happens… because he’s a logical target.


Overtime

– I’m thinking the same thing. I don’t think it’s going to happen, though.

– That wouldn’t help the Stars’ case, would it.

– Scott Gomez could take the helm of the Chicago Steel in the USHL. This is Sean Farrell’s former team.

– Indeed.

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