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The landscape of the NHL’s offseason appears to be changing.
The league has generally operated the same way in summer roster retooling for years, but a new wave of executives and a skyrocketing salary cap has made this offseason vastly more interesting for fans and more stressful for general managers.
That includes Don Waddell, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations and general manager. After dealing with uncertainty about stars Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko wanting to stick around, Waddell now has three unsigned youngsters to think about.
The urgency to get those deals hammered out usually isn’t pressing with two months left before training camp, but now it appears to be thanks to two GMs who have already attempted to pick off restricted free agents by signing them to NHL offer sheets.
More: Zach Werenski stays put but future with Columbus Blue Jackets foggy
First, the New Jersey Devils signed Utah Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton to a one-year offer sheet worth $4.775 million on July 1, only hours after NHL free agency began. Two days later, the Philadelphia Flyers stunned the league by signing Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, 21, to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to become the NHL’s highest-paid player.
The Ducks selected Carlsson second overall in 2023, one spot ahead of Adam Fantilli going to the Blue Jackets, and both have developed into legitimate No. 1 centers.
Anaheim has until July 10 to either keep Carlsson by matching it or let him join the Flyers while accepting four No. 1 picks as compensation. It’s a sticky situation, but Ducks GM Pat Verbeek is expected to match.
If so, will the Flyers turn their attention toward Fantilli? Will a different GM flush with cap space get his signature?
While those answers get worked out, here’s a closer look at NHL offer sheets, salary arbitration and how they affect with the NHL’s restricted free agent market:
Players with enough professional experience to qualify as Group 2 restricted free agents in the NHL are eligible to sign offer sheets with other teams. These don’t become contracts until the team that owns their signing rights matches the offer or allows them to join the offering team in exchange for compensation in the form of a draft pick or picks.
The compensation is a tiered system in which higher salary amounts trigger more compensatory picks. Teams must have their own picks to send as compensation, so picks gained in trades aren’t eligible.
Once a player agrees to an offer sheet, that will become his new contract once his team is determined.
In a word, yes.
Carlsson’s offer sheet with the Flyers is the largest in NHL history, and Philadelphia isn’t the only team with more than enough cap space to go hunting for a top young center. Fantilli is the same age as Carlsson, and their point totals are almost identical after three seasons.
Carlsson has 61 goals, 80 assists and 141 points in 201 games for the Ducks, while Fantilli has given the Blue Jackets 67 goals, 73 assists and 140 points in 213 games.
These are elite young centers. They’re near the top of the NHL’s next wave of star pivots, which is one of the reasons the Flyers made an offer to massively overpay Carlsson. The other reason might be tied to Cutter Gauthier, whom the Flyers drafted fifth overall in 2024 and wound up trading to the Ducks a year later due to the young winger saying he didn’t want to play for Philadelphia.
Luckily for the Blue Jackets, no such gripe exists with another team regarding one of their top young players. Waddell also has firsthand experience in vindictive offer sheet signings stemming from his time running the Carolina Hurricanes.
Two years after matching the Montreal Canadiens’ offer sheet in 2019 for top center Sebastian Aho, a front-loaded pact worth $42.27 million over five years, Waddell landed Canadiens center Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a one-year, $6 million offer sheet that gave Montreal picks in the first and third round of the 2022 draft.
The Blue Jackets have just under $21.5 million in cap space to work with for next season, and they have to figure out how to fit all three of their unsigned RFAs into it. Without a massive offer sheet similar to Carlsson’s, it wouldn’t be a problem.
They would immediately be placed in a tight spot, though, if Fantilli signs an offer sheet that has a cap hit (average annual value) of $16 million or higher. The highest cap hit the NHL allows for 2026-27 is $20.8 million, so he could even match that to keep Fantilli, but no player in the league had even come close to that amount until Carlsson.
“Offer sheets … you never know when it’s going to come,” Waddell said. “I’ve been involved in them. I’ve been involved in receiving and giving them, so if an offer sheet comes along at some point, there’s no doubt that we’re in a situation with lots of cap space. So, if it did happen, we’re ready to match anything. I don’t expect it, but you never know in this business.”
He said that before Carlsson’s offer, so alarms should be going off in Waddell’s head now. According to PuckPedia, five GMs other than Philly’s Daniel Briere have cap space that ranges from $16.93 million (Pittsburgh Penguins) to $29.31 million (Chicago Blackhawks) burning holes in their pockets.
Fantilli doesn’t have arbitration rights and is the Blue Jackets’ only NHL player eligible for an offer sheet. Their other two RFAs, forward Cole Sillinger and goalie Jet Greaves, have filed for salary arbitration and thus are no longer eligible for offer sheets.
Considering the Jackets’ history of never going through an arbitration hearing in their quarter century of existence, the odds are extremely low that it’ll happen this summer.
That said, Waddell’s ability to work out deals with Sillinger and Greaves depends on whether Fantilli signs an offer sheet and how much it’ll cost to keep him.
Dispatch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Will Columbus Blue Jackets' Adam Fantilli sign an offer sheet?
Continue reading...
The league has generally operated the same way in summer roster retooling for years, but a new wave of executives and a skyrocketing salary cap has made this offseason vastly more interesting for fans and more stressful for general managers.
That includes Don Waddell, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations and general manager. After dealing with uncertainty about stars Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko wanting to stick around, Waddell now has three unsigned youngsters to think about.
The urgency to get those deals hammered out usually isn’t pressing with two months left before training camp, but now it appears to be thanks to two GMs who have already attempted to pick off restricted free agents by signing them to NHL offer sheets.
More: Zach Werenski stays put but future with Columbus Blue Jackets foggy
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First, the New Jersey Devils signed Utah Mammoth forward Barrett Hayton to a one-year offer sheet worth $4.775 million on July 1, only hours after NHL free agency began. Two days later, the Philadelphia Flyers stunned the league by signing Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, 21, to a five-year, $90 million offer sheet to become the NHL’s highest-paid player.
The Ducks selected Carlsson second overall in 2023, one spot ahead of Adam Fantilli going to the Blue Jackets, and both have developed into legitimate No. 1 centers.
Anaheim has until July 10 to either keep Carlsson by matching it or let him join the Flyers while accepting four No. 1 picks as compensation. It’s a sticky situation, but Ducks GM Pat Verbeek is expected to match.
If so, will the Flyers turn their attention toward Fantilli? Will a different GM flush with cap space get his signature?
While those answers get worked out, here’s a closer look at NHL offer sheets, salary arbitration and how they affect with the NHL’s restricted free agent market:
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How do NHL contract offer sheets work?
Players with enough professional experience to qualify as Group 2 restricted free agents in the NHL are eligible to sign offer sheets with other teams. These don’t become contracts until the team that owns their signing rights matches the offer or allows them to join the offering team in exchange for compensation in the form of a draft pick or picks.
The compensation is a tiered system in which higher salary amounts trigger more compensatory picks. Teams must have their own picks to send as compensation, so picks gained in trades aren’t eligible.
Once a player agrees to an offer sheet, that will become his new contract once his team is determined.
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Should the Columbus Blue Jackets be concerned about NHL offer sheets?
In a word, yes.
Carlsson’s offer sheet with the Flyers is the largest in NHL history, and Philadelphia isn’t the only team with more than enough cap space to go hunting for a top young center. Fantilli is the same age as Carlsson, and their point totals are almost identical after three seasons.
Carlsson has 61 goals, 80 assists and 141 points in 201 games for the Ducks, while Fantilli has given the Blue Jackets 67 goals, 73 assists and 140 points in 213 games.
These are elite young centers. They’re near the top of the NHL’s next wave of star pivots, which is one of the reasons the Flyers made an offer to massively overpay Carlsson. The other reason might be tied to Cutter Gauthier, whom the Flyers drafted fifth overall in 2024 and wound up trading to the Ducks a year later due to the young winger saying he didn’t want to play for Philadelphia.
Luckily for the Blue Jackets, no such gripe exists with another team regarding one of their top young players. Waddell also has firsthand experience in vindictive offer sheet signings stemming from his time running the Carolina Hurricanes.
You must be registered for see images attach
Two years after matching the Montreal Canadiens’ offer sheet in 2019 for top center Sebastian Aho, a front-loaded pact worth $42.27 million over five years, Waddell landed Canadiens center Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a one-year, $6 million offer sheet that gave Montreal picks in the first and third round of the 2022 draft.
The Blue Jackets have just under $21.5 million in cap space to work with for next season, and they have to figure out how to fit all three of their unsigned RFAs into it. Without a massive offer sheet similar to Carlsson’s, it wouldn’t be a problem.
They would immediately be placed in a tight spot, though, if Fantilli signs an offer sheet that has a cap hit (average annual value) of $16 million or higher. The highest cap hit the NHL allows for 2026-27 is $20.8 million, so he could even match that to keep Fantilli, but no player in the league had even come close to that amount until Carlsson.
“Offer sheets … you never know when it’s going to come,” Waddell said. “I’ve been involved in them. I’ve been involved in receiving and giving them, so if an offer sheet comes along at some point, there’s no doubt that we’re in a situation with lots of cap space. So, if it did happen, we’re ready to match anything. I don’t expect it, but you never know in this business.”
He said that before Carlsson’s offer, so alarms should be going off in Waddell’s head now. According to PuckPedia, five GMs other than Philly’s Daniel Briere have cap space that ranges from $16.93 million (Pittsburgh Penguins) to $29.31 million (Chicago Blackhawks) burning holes in their pockets.
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How many Columbus Blue Jackets are eligible for NHL offer sheets?
Fantilli doesn’t have arbitration rights and is the Blue Jackets’ only NHL player eligible for an offer sheet. Their other two RFAs, forward Cole Sillinger and goalie Jet Greaves, have filed for salary arbitration and thus are no longer eligible for offer sheets.
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Will the Columbus Blue Jackets go to arbitration with Cole Sillinger, Jet Greaves?
Considering the Jackets’ history of never going through an arbitration hearing in their quarter century of existence, the odds are extremely low that it’ll happen this summer.
That said, Waddell’s ability to work out deals with Sillinger and Greaves depends on whether Fantilli signs an offer sheet and how much it’ll cost to keep him.
Dispatch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Will Columbus Blue Jackets' Adam Fantilli sign an offer sheet?
Continue reading...
