Montreal Canadiens: Who Could Marc Bergevin Offer Sheet This Year?

The Montreal Canadiens are the only team to have used the offer sheet option in recent years in the NHL.

Two years ago, on July 1, 2019, they signed Carolina Hurricanes centre Sebastian Aho to a five year contract with a cap hit just under $8.5 million. The Canes had seven days to either match the contract and keep their player, or let him go to Montreal and be compensated for losing the young star.

They elected to match, claiming it was one of the easiest decisions they ever had to make as hockey executives.

Aho was eligible to be signed to an offer sheet because he was a restricted free agent. Basically, any player less than 27 years old or having played less than seven NHL season is eligible for an offer sheet. If his contract runs out, other teams are free to try and negotiate a deal with him, but they don’t get the player for nothing. The amount of compensation depends on the average annual cap hit of the contract.

For the upcoming season, the compensation tiers are as follows:

Less than $1,356,540 – No compensation required

Between $1,356,541 and $2,055,364 – 1 third round pick

Between $2,055,365 and $4,110,732- 1 second round pick

Between $4,110,733 and $6,166,096 – 1 first round pick and 1 third round pick

Between $6,166,097 and $8,221,463 – 1 first round pick, 1 second round pick, 1 third round pick

Between $8,221,464 and $10,276,829 – 2 first round pick, 1 second round pick, 1 third round pick

More than $10,276,830 – 4 first round picks

The offer sheet is rarely successful in luring a player to another team. The last time it worked was in 2007 when the Anaheim Ducks were up against the salary cap after winning the Stanley Cup. The Edmonton Oilers signed Dustin Penner to an offer sheet and the Ducks were unable to match.

Since then, we have seen David Backes, Steve Bernier, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Shea Weber, Ryan O’Reilly and Aho sign offer sheets but all of them were matched by their original teams.

Though the Canadiens were unsuccessful last time, it doesn’t mean they won’t try again. There are many interesting players about to hit the market as RFAs that could greatly help the Canadiens lineup if they were acquired.

Let’s take a look at three players Bergevin could consider giving an offer sheet today.

Elias Pettersson

The Vancouver Canucks cleared out a lot of their bad contracts in one trade earlier this week. They sent Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussell to the Arizona Coyotes along with the 9th overall pick for Oliver Edman-Larsson and Conor Garland. They even got the Coyotes to retain nearly a million dollars per year on Edman-Larsson’s huge contract.

While the Canucks unloaded $12 million in bad contracts, once they signed Garland to a five year contract with a $4.95 million cap hit, they actually added $210,000 in salary in the deal.

They still have plenty of cap space, but they also have some very important business to take care of this offseason.

Star centre Elias Pettersson and stud defenceman Quinn Hughes are both restricted free agents and need new contracts. They also just bought out goaltender Braden Holtby and need a replacement in goal behind starter Thatcher Demko.

Capfriendly.com currently shows them with $26 million in cap space, thanks to a late night trade of Nate Schmidt last night. Still, that only includes nine forwards, three defencemen and one goaltender. They need three more forwards, three defenders and a goaltender just to get to a minimum roster.

If the Canadiens came in with a five year offer sheet at a cap hit of $10.2 million, would the Canucks match it?

Pettersson is a 22 year old stud centre ice man. Adding him would give the Canadiens a ridiculous 1-2-3 punch down the middle with Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. The Canucks centre was the 5th overall pick in 2017 and already has 65 goals and 153 points in 165 NHL games.

A monster $10.2 million contract would mean compensation of two first round picks, a second round pick and a third round pick heading to Vancouver, but an elite, young centre heading to Montreal.

Matching it would leave the Canucks with just under $16 million in cap space and two forwards, three defencemen (including Hughes) and a goalie to sign. The trade of Schmidt makes it easier, but it would be a tough call for Vancouver.

Brady Tkachuk

With all due respect to the owner of an NHL team, if anyone is too cheap to match an offer sheet it is 100% without a doubt Eugene Melnyk.

That is why the team that makes the most sense to attack with an offer sheet is the Ottawa Senators. They have two RFAs that are eligible for offer sheets in Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson who would both be interesting additions to the Montreal Canadiens lineup for next season.

Of the two, Tkachuk is definitely the more complete player and more worth the risk of an offer sheet. He was taken fourth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, one spot after Jesperi Kotkaniemi. There has been endless debate among Habs fans whether the Canadiens should have taken Tkachuk instead, so why not end the arguing by making them linemates next season?

Tkachuk scored 17 goals and 36 points in 54 games last season which put him on pace for 25 goals and 54 points over a full season. He also plays with a nasty, physical edge that would fit in well on a team with Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson up front.

At just 21 years of age, the left winger would fill a roster void left open by Tomas Tatar who played on a line with Gallagher for the past three seasons. Tkachuk is 6’4″ and 211 pounds and he hits, fights, battles and most importantly scores plenty.

As I already mentioned, the Senators aren’t the kind of team to give out huge bonuses and heavily front load contracts. If Bergevin puts together a contract very similar to the one he gave Aho two years ago, he would have a good chance of landing Tkachuk. It would be risky, as Tkachuk would need to continue to develop and turn into a 30 goal scorer who brings it every night in the postseason and wills his team into battle, but Tkachuk’s are already well known for that type of thing.

A five year contract with a cap hit of $8.2 million would be tough for the Senators to match. Especially if it came with an $11 million signing bonus in the middle of August and another $10 million bonus on July 1, 2022.

Would Melnyk match that offer sheet? Or would he have to take the Canadiens first, second and third round draft picks in 2022 instead? The Senators certainly have the cap space for now, but they will have a lot of young players needing new contracts soon and it’s not really about the cap space anyway.

It’s about owner Eugene Melnyk being willing to fork over $21 million to Tkachuk in bonus money by this time next year. Would he? I doubt it.