The Anaheim Ducks could benefit from a young talent like Brayden Point. If the opportunity arises, it is definitely something Bob Murray should consider.
In hockey, there’s an unwritten set of rules, and the Anaheim Ducks are no exception. You don’t celebrate a goal when leading in a blowout. You don’t mention the word “shutout” during the third period of a game when a goalie hasn’t allowed a goal. Nor do you do not skip the handshake line, and once someone goes down in a fight, you stop punching.
Those are all on the ice. Off the ice, however, few things are as controversial as offer-sheets. They’re the equivalent of going to the bar, finding someone who is having problems with their significant other, and slime-balling your way into taking them home… Or that’s what GMs and media would expect you to believe.
It’s become an unwritten rule over the years that you don’t offer-sheet. Whether that’s out of respect for the other team or fear of retaliation is hotly debated, but you simply don’t see offer-sheets often. In fact, it’s become an even more taboo thing in recent years. Since 2010 there has only been 3 offer sheets signed. There were 5 from 2000-2010, and a whopping 24 from 1990-1999.
So you may be asking at this point, “What exactly is an offer sheet?” I’m going to do a simplified explanation. A team owns a players rights for a certain amount of time, this is to protect teams, it’d pretty much make the draft pointless if you could sign a 1-year deal after being drafted, and then be free to go wherever you want.
The ability for a team to own a players rights allows them to get a return on their investment. Once you’re drafted you sign an “Entry Level Contract” which is usually a 3-year deal at a very low cap hit. After that deal, there are generally 4-5 years before a player is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent (meaning they can sign anywhere without restrictions).
Before they’re eligible to become an unrestricted free agent, they’re a “restricted free agent”, which means that they are free to negotiate with whoever they want. The difference being that if a restricted free agent agrees to terms with a team, they have to sign an offer sheet, which is to oversimplify it, an unofficial contract offer.
Once a player signs an offer sheet the team who owns their rights has two options. Match the other teams offer, retaining the player for the term and price dictated by the offer sheet, or accept the offer sheet. Which means the player is now a member of the team sending the offer-sheet, and the team who initially owned the players right is awarded compensation.
This link will provide you context to what that compensation entails. It’s dependent on the dollar figure of the contract as to what the compensation is. “But Jon, this article says a case to acquire Brayden Point, what does all this talk about offer-sheets have to do with that?” Let me break it down.