In recent years, we have seen that the Carolina Hurricanes management is willing to consider any option to get the players that they want. We have seen them use the offer sheet even last summer when they were able to pry a young Finn out of Montreal. Now, we’re approaching another summer where there are a lot of restricted free agents on the market this summer.
Having shown off their prowess with a perfectly used offer sheet last summer, you have to wonder if Don Waddell, Tom Dundon, and the front office are willing to go back to that well after how well it worked. They got the player they wanted by cleverly manipulating the return, cap hit, and opponent’s position to leverage the player away from their current team. It was used perfectly last year.
So, if the Hurricanes decide to use that string of their bow again, who could they target. As I mentioned, a team that is going to be susceptible to an offer sheet has to be strapped for salary cap space, must have a player that isn’t of extreme value but is a good depth piece that could hopefully develop into something more, and have reasons to let the player walk away. Very few teams meet all of these scenarios.
Just because there are very few teams that are susceptible to an offer sheet doesn’t mean that we cannot go through the possibilities of what might happen this summer and embrace the chaos. We know that the Hurricanes have the guts to pull this off and if there is a team or more likely a player that the Hurricanes like for the value they can get them at, we could see them go out and attempt to do it again. Why not? It worked last year and if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
It is important to note how rare successful offer sheets are. I’ve referenced the one last year like five times at this point, I’m aware. But that doesn’t mean that it is certain to have it work again. It was the first successful offer sheet since 2007 for a reason and there’s a lot that needs to fall into place for the offer sheet to work. So let us start with the first potential target.