List of NHL players who have signed offer sheets

This is a list of National Hockey League players who have signed offer sheets.

In the NHL, players who are restricted free agents can be, after being qualified by their current team, signed by another team to an offer sheet with salary greater than the qualifying offer. Teams have seven days to match the offer, and if the offer is not matched, the team making the offer sheet must give up compensation (see here for details). To be tendered an offer sheet, a player must:

1. Have at least one NHL contract expire.
2. Have played at least 80 NHL games if a forward or defenseman, or 28 NHL games if a goalie (applies only for players who have 3 years of NHL service).
3. Be younger than 27 on July 1 of that year.
4. Be without a contract for the upcoming season.
5. Be tendered a qualifying offer by the current team by June 25 or the Monday after that year's NHL Entry Draft (whichever is later)

If any of those conditions has not been met, the player becomes an "unrestricted free agent" and cannot receive an offer sheet.

Signed offer sheets

Player	Date	Offer Amount	Original Team	Offer Team	Result	Notes
Gary Nylund	August 1986 [1]	3 years plus option, ~$620 000 [2]	Toronto Maple Leafs	Chicago Blackhawks	Accepted	Ken Yaremchuk, Jerome Dupont, 4th round draft in 1987
Geoff Courtnall	August 1988 [3]	unknown	Edmonton Oilers	New York Rangers	Matched	The Washington Capitals matched the New York Rangers's offer after the Oilers traded their right to match to Washington for Greg Adams.
Scott Stevens	July 16, 1990 [4]	4 years, $5.1 million[5]	Washington Capitals	St. Louis Blues	Accepted	Five 1st round draft picks
Dave Christian	July 21, 1991 [6]	3 years, $1.775 million	Boston Bruins	St. Louis Blues	Dropped	-
Glen Featherstone	July 25, 1991 [6]	2 years, ~$500 000	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins	Accepted	Dave Christian, a 3rd round pick in 1992, and seventh in 1992 or sixth in 1993 (plus Tomlinson)
Dave Thomlinson	July 25, 1991 [6]	$200 000	St. Louis Blues	Boston Bruins	Accepted	Part of Featherstone accepted compensation.
Brendan Shanahan	July 25, 1991 [4]	3 years, $3.015 million	New Jersey Devils	St. Louis Blues	Accepted	Scott Stevens (The Blues still owed first round picks to the Capitals as per the original Stevens offer sheet in 1990, and the Blues and Devils were unable to agree on proper compensation. The Blues offered G Curtis Joseph, C Rod Brind'Amour and two draft picks, but the Devils declined, asking instead for Stevens. The case was referred to arbitration, and arbitrator Edward Houston awarded Stevens to the Devils.)
Michel Goulet	July 1991 [5]	4 years, $2.9 million (three years plus option year)	Chicago Blackhawks	St. Louis Blues	Matched	-
Adam Graves	Sept 3, 1991 [7]	5 years, $2.44 million	Edmonton Oilers	New York Rangers	Accepted	Troy Mallette
Kevin Stevens	Sept 25, 1991 [8]	5 years, $5.375 million	Pittsburgh Penguins	Boston Bruins	Matched	-
Dave Manson	June 26, 1992 [9]	3 years, $3.4 million, third year optional at $1.2 million	Edmonton Oilers	Washington Capitals	Matched	-
Teemu Selanne	1992 [10]	$2.7 million	Winnipeg Jets	Calgary Flames	Matched	-
Craig Simpson	July 16, 1993 [11][12]	3 years, $3.09 million	Edmonton Oilers	San Jose Sharks	Invalidated	The San Jose Sharks had structured Simpson's offer sheet so that most of the money was a signing bonus; Simpson's first year salary would have been less than $200,000 as a result. Earlier in the offseason, Simpson had rejected an offer from Edmonton of $690,000 because it was below the 15 percent raise required to keep him restricted. After the Sharks deal was rejected, Simpson then sought to sign an offer sheet from the Buffalo Sabres, but Edmonton would trade him there before he could do so.[12]
Kelly Miller	July 18, 1993 [13]	2 years, $2.65 million	Washington Capitals	San Jose Sharks	Matched	-
Marty McSorley	August, 1993 [14]	5 years, $10 million	Los Angeles Kings	St. Louis Blues	Matched	-
Petr Nedved	March 4, 1994	3 years, $12 million	Vancouver Canucks	St. Louis Blues	Accepted	Craig Janney + 2nd round draft pick
Scott Stevens	July 4, 1994	4 years, $17 million	New Jersey Devils	St. Louis Blues	Matched	$1.425 million + 1st round draft pick Stevens' second career offer sheet.
Mike Craig	July 29, 1994 [15]	4 years, $2.4 million	Dallas Stars	Toronto Maple Leafs	Accepted	Peter Zezel and Grant Marshall
Steven Rice	August 30, 1994 [16]	$1.7 million	Edmonton Oilers	Hartford Whalers	Accepted	Bryan Marchment; the Whalers originally offered the Oilers forward Robert Kron as compensation, but an arbitrator ruled in favour of the Oilers, who argued that Marchment represented fairer compensation for the loss of Rice.
Shayne Corson	July 28, 1995 [17]	5 year, $6.975 million	Edmonton Oilers	St. Louis Blues	Accepted	First round picks in 1996 and 1997 Traded back to St. Louis for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier
Stu Grimson	August 17, 1995 [18]	5 year, $2.5 million	Detroit Red Wings	New York Rangers	Matched	-
Keith Tkachuk	1995 [4]	5 years, $17.2 million	Winnipeg Jets	Chicago Blackhawks	Matched	-
Ron Tugnutt	July 10, 1996 [19]	< $400 000/year	Washington Capitals	Ottawa Senators	Accepted	No compensation due to contract value
Joe Sakic	1997 [4]	3 years, $21 million	Colorado Avalanche	New York Rangers	Matched	-
Chris Gratton	1997 [4]	5 years, $16.5 million	Tampa Bay Lightning	Philadelphia Flyers	Accepted	Four 1st round picks Traded back to the Flyers for Mikael Renberg and Karl Dykhuis with Flyers picking up part of Renberg's salary. [20]
Mattias Ohlund	1997 [21]	5 years, $10 million & $7.5 million signing bonus	Vancouver Canucks	Toronto Maple Leafs	Matched	-
Sergei Fedorov	Feb 1998 [4]	6 year, $38 million	Detroit Red Wings	Carolina Hurricanes	Matched	Carolina's offer included a bit of a jab at Red Wings' GM Ken Holland from Peter Karmonas Jr. The team that signed Fedorov would have to pay him $12 million if the team reached the conference final. Detroit was the reigning champion and Carolina was a last place team in their division. Since Carolina had little chance to make the third round, they hoped Detroit would refuse to match the offer. Detroit did match and Fedorov made $28 million for the remainder of that season, in which Detroit repeated as champions.
Ryan Kesler	Sept 12, 2006 [4]	1 year, $1.9 million	Vancouver Canucks	Philadelphia Flyers	Matched	-
Thomas Vanek	July 6, 2007 [22]	7 years, $50 million	Buffalo Sabres	Edmonton Oilers	Matched	-
Dustin Penner	July 26, 2007	5 years, $21.5 million	Anaheim Ducks	Edmonton Oilers	Accepted	1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks in 2008
David Backes	July 1, 2008	3 years, $7.5 million	St. Louis Blues	Vancouver Canucks	Matched	-
Steve Bernier	July 8, 2008	1 year, $2.5 million	Vancouver Canucks	St. Louis Blues	Matched	-
Niklas Hjalmarsson	July 9, 2010	4 years, $14 million	Chicago Blackhawks	San Jose Sharks	Matched	-
Shea Weber	July 18, 2012[23]	14 years, $110 million	Nashville Predators	Philadelphia Flyers	Matched[24]	-
Ryan O'Reilly	February 28, 2013[25]	2 years, $10 million	Colorado Avalanche	Calgary Flames	Matched	-

Related transactions

In August 1994, the Hartford Whalers reportedly wished to sign Glen Wesley to an offer sheet, however they already had an outstanding offer for Steven Rice at the time. Instead, Wesley was signed by the Boston Bruins and immediately traded for three 1st round draft picks in the 1996, 1997, and 1998 drafts.^[26] The contract was reported to be $1.7 million per season for 3 seasons.^[27]

References

1. Matsumoto, R., "Leafs get Yaremchuk, Dupont for Nylund", The Toronto Star, September 8, 1986, pg B2.
2. Houston, W., "Hawk dollars lured Nylund across border", The Globe and Mail, August 29, 1986, pg D11.
3. Matsumoto, R., "Arbitrator ruling has Eagle screaming", The Toronto Star, August 23, 1988, Sports C.6.
4. Brehm, M., "The Vanek Offer in Context" USA Today, July 5, 2007 (sidebar). Accessed August 1, 2007
5. Gordon, J., "Blues are plunging into the free-agent pool", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 21, 1991, pg 1F.
6. Gordon, J. "Bruins Yield; Christian free to join Blues, Boston gives 2 draft picks for signing Featherstone", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 31, 1991, pg 1D
7. Fisher, R., "NHL free agency a risky business", The Gazette, September 8, 1991, pg C1.
8. Dupont, K., "Penguins hold onto Stevens; they match offer -- and cost Bruins", The Boston Globe, September 26, 1991, Sports pg 65.
9. Associated Press, "Capitals Make Offer for Manson", New York Times, June 27, 1992. Accessed August 1, 2007.
10. Gordon, J., "NHL Rookies Shooting for Big Numbers", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 21, 1992, pg 5D.
11. Kettman, S., "NHL Commissioner Kills Sharks' Simpson Deal", San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 1993, pg B2.
12. 1985 NHL Entry Draft -- Craig Simpson
13. Sell, D., "No way, San Jose: Capitals will keep Miller", The Washington Post, July 28, 1993, pg F.01.
14. Wigge, L., "Without McSorley, Penguins would be ailing", The Sporting News, November 8, 1993. Accessed August 1, 2007.
15. Cox, D., "Leafs sign Craig but must give up compensation", The Toronto Star, July 30, 1994, pg E.4.
16. Gordon, J., "Big Deal(s): NHL sizes up Vancouver's success", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 24, 1994, pg 3D.
17. Cox, D., "Whealing, dealing Blues get Corson, give up Joseph", The Toronto Star, August 5, 1995, pg E1.
18. Diamos, J., "Hockey", The New York Times, August 25, 1995, Section B, pg 9.
19. Casey, T., "Free agent Tugnutt signs Senators contract-offer", The Ottawa Citizen, July 11, 1996, C5.
20. Kaufman, I., "Bolts salvage deal for Gratton; Lightning acquire Renberg, Dykhuis", The Tampa Tribune, August 21, 1997, Sports p1.
21. Van Dienst, D., "Penner by the pound?", Edmonton Sun, July 27, 2007.
22. Allen, K., "Sabres keep Vanek by matching Oilers' $50M offer", USA Today, July 5, 2007. Accessed August 1, 2007
23. BLUELINER WEBER SIGNS 14-YEAR, $110M OFFER SHEET WITH FLYERS July 19, 2012. Accessed July 19, 2012
24. AP (2012-07-24). "Predators match Flyers' 14-year, $110M offer sheet for Weber". TSN. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
25. Calgary Flames sign Ryan O'Reilly to offer sheet, source says - ESPN February 28, 2013. Accessed February 28, 2013
26. Conroy, S., "B's deal Wesley, Whalers surrender 3 first-round picks", Boston Herald, August 27, 1994, pp 044.
27. Dupont, K., "Wesley Now A Whaler Bruins Land Three Picks In The Trade", Boston Globe, August 27, 1994, pg 33.