The landscape of the NHL is changing. With a rising cap, teams appear more willing to hand out offer sheets to restricted free agents.
On Wednesday, the Utah Mammoth matched a one-year, $4.775-million offer made to forward Barrett Hayton by the New Jersey Devils. Now, the Anaheim Ducks have decided to match a five-year, $90-million overture tendered to Leo Carlsson by the Philadelphia Flyers.
The dust has settled on those situations, but other restricted free agents remain available this summer. Let's take a look at the rest of the RFAs who are eligible to receive an offer sheet.
Forwards
Bedard and Fantilli headline the group of forwards, though the former will be sidelined for roughly four months due to an offseason shoulder injury. The Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson and Flyers' Trevor Zegras, among others, would also be listed here if they hadn't filed for arbitration, making them ineligible to receive an offer sheet.
Defensemen
Flyers D-man Jamie Drysdale would've been the most interesting name here, but he filed for arbitration as well. Edvinsson and Xhekaj, in particular, could draw interest as the most intriguing players among this group.
Below is the league-mandated compensation for offer sheets, based on the average annual value of the salary offered to the restricted free agent.
