It’s been three years since the last offer sheet in the NHL, when the Carolina Hurricanes clapped back at the Montreal Canadiens in their Sebastian Aho/Jesperi Kotkaniemi feud. It’s more than time for the next one, and famous chef GM Danny Briere should be cooking something up.
For the first time in a long time (maybe ever) the Flyers have met the requirements in all seven offer sheet compensation tiers. Theoretically, that means if the team so chooses, they could jump with both feet into the deep end of the restricted free agent pool during the 2024 offseason and attempt to steal away a top young player to join the cause.
Listed below is the 2024 NHL offer sheet compensation list.
| Average Annual Value | Compensation | Flyers Meet Requirements |
| $1 – $1,415,740 | No Compensation | Yes |
| $1,415,741 – $2,145,061 | 1 Third Round Pick | Yes |
| $2,145,062 – $4,290,125 | 1 Second Round Pick | Yes |
| $4,290,126 – $6,435,186 | 1 First Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick | Yes |
| $6,435,187 – $8,580,250 | 1 First Round Pick 1 Second Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick | Yes |
| $8,580,251 – $10,725,314 | 2 First Round Picks 1 Second Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick | Yes |
| $10,725,315 – ∞ | 4 First Round Picks | Yes |
The Long Shots
Matty Beniers
21-year-old, 2021 second overall pick Matty Beniers just concluded his second full NHL season, with some less than great results. He scored 15 goals and 37 points, both lower that his 24-goal, 57-point outing during the 2022-23 season. The good news for the Kraken is that his stalled production may save some money on his next cap hit, unless the Flyers were to come along and make them pay up for retaining his services.
Reality is, it’s just a matter of time before Beniers is getting paid the big bucks anyway, but he’s still a few years away from that happening naturally, probably signing a bridge deal this summer. Chucking a contract with a, say, $7 million AAV range, may not be out of the realm of possibility as both a feasible number Beniers may be worth in the near future and big enough immediate problem that Seattle may not match.
The Kraken did oust Dave Hakstol as coach after player backlash and appear to be ready to refocus again next season, so maybe there’s not a ton of overhaul coming their way this summer, and considering Beniers is more or less the face of their franchise, any offer sheet would likely be matched. But if you’re the Flyers that need as much young center depth as possible, Beniers is the creme of the crop during a very shallow pool during the 2024 offseason, and Ron Francis may be indecisive enough to sneak one past him.
Moritz Seider
It may be an overused turn of phrase these days, but some players are just prototypical Flyers, and Detroit Red Wings’ right-handed defenseman Mo Seider is a prototypical Flyer if ever there was. He’s big (6’3, 205lbs), he’s physical (569 hits in 246 NHL games) and he eats a ton of minutes (averaged 22:51 in three seasons). The right side of the Flyers’ defense is still a bit lacking and laced with unknown ceilings, so adding a young veteran who may still have untapped upside could be a smart move for the organization.
Clearly, Seider is someone the Red Wings would love to build around, but one has to wonder if the Flyers craft a crazy offer sheet for the guy that it’d disrupt the Yzer-plan to a level that they wouldn’t be willing to match.
The thing that makes a Seider offer sheet difficult is the fact that top defensemen are getting paid a ton of money these days anyway. Even if the Flyers offered the guy a contract with a $9 million cap hit, that may not be significantly more money than the Wings have carved out for him anyway.
The Doable
Anton Lundell
Lundell may be the most likely player on the list to move from their current team during the summer as the Panthers have to deal with Sam Reinhart’s extension first. He still hasn’t posted offensive stats that are overly interesting, with 35 points in 75 games this season and 112 in 216 NHL contests, but he’s widely considered one of the best under-the-radar young centers in the league.
Right now, the Panthers only have seven forwards under contract for the 2024-25 season, so there’s some flexibility on their end to potentially keep their 22-year-old, but for a team that is in the middle of their Stanley Cup window, collecting the assets of an offer sheet and saving a bit of cap space for a bigger fish may be the way they choose to go if their feet are held to the fire.
There’s a good chance his cap hit would fall in middle-to-high side of the fourth tier ($4.2 – $6.4) which is a first and third round pick as compensation, a value for the Flyers that is more or less the going rate to pry a young center with upside away from any team. It’s a deal that could ultimately work out for both sides.
Seth Jarvis
The Carolina Hurricanes are notoriously cheap and have more than their fair share of contracts to negotiate this summer, with arguably their most important being 22-year-old forward Seth Jarvis.
Jarvis had a breakout campaign during his third NHL season posting 33 goals and 67 points and has 146 points in 231 NHL games.
Don Waddell and the Hurricanes have never been afraid to move on from talent for money reasons, so sending them an offer sheet that could be just slightly rich for their blood could be enough to pry him out of Carolina. An offer sheet with a cap hit in the realm of $6.5 – $7 could be enough to make them think.
Recent history shows that they, in turn, may gear up for a revenge offer sheet in the near future (potentially someone like Tyson Foerster next summer), but it’s a risk they’re just going to have to take. The obvious question is whether or not someone like Jarvis could continue to grow on the Flyers considering their overall lack of talent and overabundance of right wingers for the money they’d pay him, but he’s younger and possesses a higher ceiling than every other winger currently on the roster.
The Under-the-Radar
Quinton Byfield
The second overall pick in 2020 has seemingly found his footing at the NHL level, posting 20 goals and 55 points (both career bests) during his first full, unhindered campaign (although it has come playing left wing rather than his natural center). He even expressed his interest in moving back to center during his end-of-season presser. For the Kings, who experienced another early playoff exit, Byfield could still represent their biggest chip to gain assets and continue to build their roster.
The Flyers need to be careful, as overspending on someone that may still not play center at a high level could backfire, but now that he’s shown he has upside at the NHL level (even if it comes at LW) hijacking a former second overall pick that has untapped potential is exactly the type of player the Flyers need to be scoping out.
Cole Perfetti
While Perfetti may not quite have the current name value as some of the others on this list, he may be the best value snag of the bunch. He posted 38 points in 71 games during the 2023-24 season, his first full NHL campaign, but he’s been playing on the wing since the Jets acquired Sean Monahan in February.
The Jets are not exactly rolling in money and have some in-house moves to make this summer, so even a $4 million offer sheet to the former 10th overall pick in 2020 could be enough to snag the forward away from Winnipeg. Losing a second round pick is worth the risk for a young player that could carve out a role as a top six NHL center, right?
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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