3 NHL teams in danger of an offer sheet.

It is that time of year again, the time of year where we discuss the much dreaded but very rarely used National Hockey League offer sheet. Teams have seemingly been less and less inclined to use the offer sheet as a tool in the NHL but, as teams continue to look to squeeze out every little competitive advantage that they can get, they remain a very real possibility.

This summer there are 3 teams that I view as teams that are at risk of being targeted by an offer sheet, with all 3 of these teams making the list for different reasons. Of course all of these teams currently have restricted free agents (RFAs) who are currently unsigned to a contract, making them vulnerable to an offer sheet in the first place.

#1 The Boston Bruins.

The team I believe is most likely to be targeted by an offer sheet this summer is none other than the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have an interesting combination of factors working against them including their limited cap space, the importance of RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman to their team, and the attractiveness of Swayman as a player you would target with an offer sheet.

Swayman has established himself as one of the premiere goaltenders in the NHL and the clear cut number one in Boston and the Bruins have just a little over $8.6 million in cap space to work with.

An offer sheet coming in the range of $6.87 million to $9.16 million, which could easily exceed the Bruins current available cap space, would only cost the team proposing the offer sheet a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round draft pick, a price I believe is not unreasonable for a goaltender of Swayman's calibur.

#2 The Edmonton Oilers.

The RFAs that the Oilers currently have unsigned might not be as outwardly desirable as some of the other players on this list, but it is the Oilers cap situation that leaves them particularly vulnerable.

The Oilers have practically no cap space to work with, although they can still make moves to add additional cap space such as trading forward Evander Kane as has been speculated or perhaps even placing him on long term injured reserve, but they are up against it thanks to some questionable contracts as well as the buyouts of goaltender Jack Campbell and forward James Neal counting against the cap next season.

That leaves them relatively little room to sign RFA forward Dylan Holloway and RFA defenseman Philip Broberg, both of whom could be very solid young additions to a roster on the upswing.

#3 The Detroit Red Wings.

Unlike the other teams on the list the Red Wings are loaded with cap space with over $19 million left for general manager Steve Yzerman to work with. That being said the Red Wings have not one but two RFAs that are headed for a significant raise next season, with 23 year old defenseman Moritz Seider and 22 year old forward Lucas Raymond both in need of a new deal.

Raymond established himself as a proven goal scorer this season, breaking the 30 goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career, and will be looking at a massive increase in pay coming off an entry level contract with an average annual value and salary cap hit of just $925,000.

Seider on the other hand has established himself as the Red Wings most valuable defenseman, playing all 82 games for the third consecutive season during the 2023-24 campaign. Seider finished the season with 9 goals and 33 assists and like Raymond he will be looking at a big raise coming off an entry level contract with an average annual value and cap hit of $863,00.

Although one offer sheet likely wouldn't phase the Red Wings too much, if a pair of teams decided to each target one of these players, which could very well be the case given the quality of player we are talking about here, that could cause some headaches for the aforementioned Steve Yzerman.