The St. Louis Blues shocked the NHL world last summer when they signed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to offer sheets. It’s not that those two players are stars by any stretch, but they played integral roles in helping the Blues clinch a playoff spot this season. Holloway was a 26-goal scorer while Broberg emerged as a steady top-four defender.
Holloway and Broberg were good gambles that paid off for the Blues, and as we know, the NHL is largely a copycat league. Montreal Canadiens president of hockey ops Jeff Gorton expects offer sheets to become more of a trend moving forward, as does New Jersey Devils president of hockey ops and general manager Tom Fitzgerald (From ‘The summer of offer sheets: NHL execs and agents on why a boom could be coming this offseason’ – The Athletic, 4/3/2025)
I wouldn’t expect a flood of offer sheets this summer, but there could be a few more than we’re used to seeing after the success the Blues had with Holloway and Broberg. Of course, a player has to want to sign an offer sheet, so there’s no guarantee we will see any. But if we do, here are a few candidates.
Evan Bouchard
One of the most obvious offer sheet candidates this summer is Evan Bouchard, who’s due a massive raise from his $3.9 million cap hit. Per AFP Analytics, he projects to land an eight-year deal at a cap hit just north of $10.8 million. That presents a problem for the Edmonton Oilers, who project to have about $9.125 million in cap space this offseason.
The Oilers will probably let UFAs like Jeff Skinner and Kasperi Kapanen walk, but they may want to keep Vasily Podkolzin and Connor Brown around beyond this season. Even keeping one of them would prove difficult if they sign Bouchard to an eight-year deal worth nearly $11 million annually.
The compensation for signing Bouchard to an offer sheet equivalent to his AFP projection would be two first-round picks, a second and a third. It’s a hefty price, but he’s worth it. Despite his flaws defensively, he’s one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. Giving up a couple of firsts and two other picks that are essentially dart throws wouldn’t be damaging.
JJ Peterka & Jack Quinn
As the Blues showed last summer, targeting middle-of-the-lineup players like Holloway and Broberg is the way to go with offer sheets. If there’s a player who fits the Holloway model for an offer sheet, it’s Jack Quinn. He’s struggled a bit with injuries early in his NHL career, but he was solid in 2024-25, finishing with 15 goals and 39 points in 74 games. His underlying metrics were not great, but that could be a product of playing on the Buffalo Sabres. He might be worth taking a gamble on if that’s the case.
His teammate, JJ Peterka, had a breakout season, finishing with 28 goals and 68 points in 77 games. His name was in the rumor mill around the trade deadline, with the New York Rangers reportedly one of the teams interested in him. Frank Seravalli mentioned around the trade deadline that he thinks Peterka finds a way out of Buffalo this summer, so take that as you will.
Perhaps the Sabres trade Peterka before a team even gets a chance to sign him to an offer sheet on July 1 or later, but he’s a prime offer sheet candidate if he’s looking for a path out of Buffalo.
Marco Rossi
Marco Rossi trade rumors date back to last summer, and it doesn’t appear they’re going away anytime soon. Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin had some interesting comments about Rossi, who’s due a new contract since he’ll be an RFA this summer, and whether he could see himself trading Rossi by the draft:
‘I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. There’s contract talks. There’s player movement — not just for Marco; for anybody. I’m not going to try to predict the future where I see this, I see that. I have to go through the process and see where it goes.”
(From ‘Shackles finally off, Wild GM Bill Guerin knows it’s time to deliver a contender’ – The Athletic, 5/6/2025)
There sure seems to be a disconnect between Rossi and the Wild. If they don’t trade him by the draft, he’ll be a prime offer sheet candidate come July 1. He finished with 24 goals and 60 points in his age-23 season and is a blossoming top-six center. He would help any team looking to improve its depth down the middle this offseason.
Matthew Knies
The Toronto Maple Leafs surely want to keep Matthew Knies after the season he’s had. He finished the regular season with 29 goals and 58 points and has made an impact during the playoffs. The problem is the Maple Leafs aren’t exactly flush with cap space since they have a couple of pricey pending UFAs to make decisions on.
Those two UFAs are Mitch Marner and John Tavares, who will not be cheap to re-sign. Marner projects to land a contract with a cap hit of nearly $13 million, while Tavares could end up around $8 million. Meanwhile, Knies projects to sign an eight-year deal at a cap hit of around $7.22 million.
It doesn’t appear there’ll be enough money for everyone in Toronto, so what will GM Brad Treliving do? I’d be surprised if Marner ends up elsewhere, but they may have trouble keeping Knies if they bring back Tavares, too. That could make Knies susceptible to an offer sheet when free agency opens up if the Maple Leafs can’t offer him the contract he wants.
Gabriel Vilardi
The Winnipeg Jets are in a similar situation to the Maple Leafs with Vilardi, though not to the same extent. The Jets have a couple of notable UFAs and RFAs to re-sign, most notably Nikolaj Ehlers and Dylan Samberg. They also may want to keep depth players Brandon Tanev and Mason Appleton, who have played well.
What the Jets decide to do with Ehlers will be key in determining if Vilardi is prone to being an offer sheet candidate. Ehlers projects to land a deal with a cap hit just north of $8 million, so money would begin to get tight between re-signing him and Samberg.
Vilardi projects to land a contract with a cap hit of around $6.8 million, leaving the Jets with little room to make external additions if they bring back Ehlers, Samberg and Vilardi. Perhaps that’s the path they take since it’s hard to get UFAs to sign in Winnipeg, but they should be on the lookout for a team poaching Vilardi via an offer sheet.
K’Andre Miller & Will Cuylle
The Rangers will probably trade K’Andre Miller before he can even sign an offer sheet, but he has the potential to be this year’s Broberg if he’s still with the Rangers past July 1. Miller struggled this past season, but it could have just been a down season since he’s been a reliable top-four defender in the past. Players sign offer sheets because they’re looking to play elsewhere, and it wouldn’t shock me if Miller wants a change of scenery.
Will Cuylle is an RFA and could also be susceptible to an offer sheet, especially since the Rangers only have around $10.2 million in cap space this offseason. I’d be surprised if that happens, and consider Miller the much more likely of the two to sign an offer sheet. But some team could try to poach both as the Blues did with Broberg and Holloway.
A Possible New Trend
Offer sheets are as exciting as can be since they’re such a rarity in the NHL. Rossi and Peterka seem like prime offer sheet candidates (if they aren’t traded beforehand). There could be a couple of other ones as well, and since this year’s UFA class looks relatively weak, NHL GMs may venture into the world of offer sheets to improve their rosters.
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