Offer sheets are about as common as a unicorn.
But last summer, The Carolina Hurricanes successfully poached Jesperi Kotkaniemi from the Montreal Canadiens, the first offer sheet to even be attempted - much less successfully completed - since 2019. Here's hoping we make it two years in a row.
Some quick background on the offer sheet, from our friends at CapFriendly.
An Offer Sheet is a signed and binding contract offer presented to a restricted free agent player whose rights are currently held by another club. Any team (other than the team that currently owns the players rights) can submit an Offer Sheet, with the goal of signing that player.
In order to successfully complete an offer sheet, a new team must come in, sign the player to a new contract, then, if not matched by the current team, pay the applicable compensation, which is determined by the average annual salary (AAV) of that player's new contract.
The Blue Jackets are one of the handful of teams that could theoretically qualify for, well, any player. That is to say that they have sufficient draft picks, at different points in the draft, to actually acquire a player at any price point. Now comes the hard part: finding the right player to help the team, convincing him to sign, and hoping the current team doesn't match the deal.
Here are three players that may fit the bill:
Noah Dobson
Dobson, a right-shot defenseman on the New York Islanders, checks a lot of boxes. At just 22, he's not yet hit his prime, but is trending towards becoming a top-pairing defender in the NHL. The Islanders are a tricky team to deal with, as President of Hockey Operations Lou Lamoriello is as prickly as a porcupine. They have salary cap issues, a common theme among potential targets. As it stands today, the Islanders are sitting at ~$12M in projected cap space, per Capfriendly, with 18/23 players signed. Can they afford Dobson?
Here's where the offer sheet comes into play. If the Blue Jackets (or another team) were to offer, for example, $7M (as The Athletic suggests in their similar thought exercise), the Islanders would find themselves in a real pickle. Is it an overpay? Perhaps, though giving up a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick for a 22-year old high-end defenseman who can quarterback a power play, slot in next to Zach Werenski on the top pairing, and play big minutes, certainly eases the pain.
A player like Dobson would likely mean the Blue Jackets would need to move on from someone like Adam Boqvist. But while Boqvist is probably more offensively gifted than Dobson, he's certainly not the 'prototypical' defender that the 6'3", 195 lb. Islanders defenseman is.
Artturi Lehkonen
Let me be clear, I have no expectation that Lehkonen is available, but a man can wish. The Colorado Avalanche went all-in at the NHL Trade Deadline, acquiring a hodgepodge of pending UFA/RFA players. Lehkonen may have stolen the show, playing his two-way role to perfection.
It's unlikely that the Avalanche will be able to keep the entire band together, with players like Nazem Kadri, Val Nichushkin, Andre Burakovsky, Darcy Kuemper, and Josh Manson hitting UFA. Lehkonen, who scored the OT goal that sent Colorado to the Stanley Cup Final, as well as the Cup-winning goal, is an RFA, meaning he's under Colorado's control. But damn if he isn't an enticing player.
Lehkonen is the ultimate utility knife, in that he can play up and down the lineup, slot in on the power play, is an elite penalty killer, and can play against other team's top lines in a shutdown role. What's not to like?
The Avalanche have some difficult decisions to make, but keeping Lehkonen isn't one of them. But perhaps a team, like Columbus, could muddy the waters by offering a higher contract than Colorado would be willing and able to match. The Athletic's piece suggests $4.2M x 4 years, which would only cost the acquiring team one second-round pick (!).
Colorado is surely aware that his value is higher than a second-round pick, and would be wise to lock him up before he's tempted to go elsewhere.
Kappo Kakko
I find the New York Rangers to be a frustrating team. They lucked into players like Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox, and Artemi Panarin, who all desperately wanted to play in the world's largest media market. Then they won back-to-back draft lotteries, selecting Kappo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere. We get it.
But while the team has been on a steep upward trajectory, the same cannot be said about Kakko, 21, who was made a healthy scratch in the team's final game of the season, a Game 6 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers would be foolish to give up so quickly on the former second-overall pick, but expectations are a hell of a drug, and he's not met them.
The second Finnish player on the list, Kakko is more of a bet on future success than Lehkonen or Dobson. But for a team like Columbus, who is stockpiling young players with bright futures, taking a swing on a player like Kakko may make a lot of sense. The Athletic's suggestion, a $4.2M deal for the next five seasons, would keep the cost of acquisition to only a second-round pick. Remember, it was just three years ago that he was taken second overall.
Has he only shown glimpses at the NHL level? Yeah, that's fair. But I wonder if there's not a team (or more) out there that would make the bet that the risk is worth the potential reward.
