Five NHL restricted free agents are most at risk of an offer sheet
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With camp a month away, these five restricted free agents are still without a deal, and the fallout from one offer sheet has changed everything.
Training camp is barely a month away and eighteen restricted free agents are still sitting out there without a contract.
It was already shaping up to be a wild summer given the names involved, but then Philadelphia dropped an offer sheet on Leo Carlsson and blew the whole market wide open.
Price tags jumped overnight, and teams that thought they had their cap situation figured out are now scrambling.
So who are the names that matter most right now, either for the team trying to lock up their own guy or a rival thinking about swooping in with an offer sheet?
Here's the rundown.
The defensemen still waiting on their number
Carolina's Alexander Nikishin just won a Stanley Cup in barely a hundred games as a pro, which is the kind of thing most players never sniff in a full career.
He's reportedly asking eight million a year, and with some real questions about his decision making in tougher minutes, the Hurricanes have actually shopped him around instead of just paying up.
Detroit's Simon Edvinsson is in a stronger spot.
He took a real step forward this year and looked like a legit top four piece next to Moritz Seider.
Some people think he's the most likely candidate on the whole list to get hit with an offer sheet, though word is Detroit will match anything that comes in.
The forwards chasing Carlsson money
Columbus center Adam Fantilli has flashed elite potential for three years running but hasn't quite put it all together yet, and now Carlsson's new deal has pushed his asking price toward twelve million or more.
Then there's Cutter Gauthier in Anaheim, who just scored forty one goals and is chasing something in the fourteen to sixteen million range.
He doesn't have the service time to be offer sheet eligible himself, so the Ducks can afford to wait him out.
Montreal's Zachary Bolduc rounds out the group and feels like the one most likely to get done quietly and quickly.
It's shaping up to be a very interesting end to the offseason.
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