The offer sheet that was tabled for restricted free agent Thomas Vanek could be the beginning of a new trend. (Source: AP)

Remember the reaction last year when then Flyers GM Bobby Clarke signed Canucks RFA Ryan Kesler to an offer sheet? Canucks GM Dave Nonis matched the offer, retained Kesler and delivered one of the best quotes ever, “I was told a long time ago that Clarke would kick his grandmother down a flight of stairs if it would give him a better chance of winning. That’s what it comes down to.”

And now this year the Edmonton Oilers’ signing of Buffalo Sabres’ RFA Thomas Vanek has touched off a storm of anger and controversy. Buffalo ended up retaining Vanek but Sabres’ managing partner Larry Quinn was less than pleased with Kevin Lowe’s bold attempt to lure Vanek away by signing him to a 7-year $50 million offer sheet. “We always had an attitude here that we don’t do these things. When it comes to the Edmonton Oilers, if there’s an opportunity to put an offer sheet on a player as long as we’re alive, we’ll be comfortable doing that. They can expect it if it’s in our best interest.”

The list of players who have been signed as restricted free agents is an exclusive and small club. Vanek joings the aforementioned Kesler, Joe Sakic, Keith Tkachuk, Sergei Federov, Chris Gratton, Brendan Shanahan and Scott Stevens as the only RFAs that have been signed to offer sheets. All but Shanahan and Stevens were retained by their original clubs and interestingly enough both of those free agents were actually involved in two notable RFA cases.

In 1990 the St. Louis Blues signed Washington Capitals’ defenceman Stevens to an offer sheet. The Caps declined to match and instead opted for a compensation package of five first round draft picks, two of which ended up turning into Sergei Gonchar and Brendan Witt for the Caps.  One year later the Blues issued another offer sheet to a RFA, this time it was a young Shanahan who at the time was part of the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey opted to let Shanahan walk but because St. Louis had already surrendered all of their first round picks to the Caps the two teams were forced to determine a suitable compensation package. St. Louis actually offered a package that at one time included a young Curtis Joseph and Rod Brind’Amour before an arbitrator deemed fair compensation would be Scott Stevens, the very same RFA player the Blues acquired one year earlier.

With only two actual examples of RFAs leaving their clubs it seems about as useless as VCR repair stores still existing for much discussion to be put into the NHL compensation scale for restricted free agents. But now with Vanek’s offer sheet you know that it’s not a matter of if but rather when a team will have to let one of their RFAs walk away because the money being thrown at them is too exorbitant.  For example if Buffalo opted to not match the Oilers’ $50 million offer sheet they would have been compensated with four first round picks; quite the stiff compensation fee.  The NHL’s compensation scale for this upcoming season is as follows:

• $773,442 or below - no compensation;
• $773,442-$1,171,882 - third-round pick;
• $1,171,882-$2,343,765 - second-round pick;
• $2,343,765-$3,515,647 - first- and third-round picks;
• $3,515,647-$4,687,530 - first, second and third-round picks;
• $4,687,530-$5,859,412 - two first, one second and one third-round pick;
• $5,859,412-plus - four first round picks

From this year’s restricted free agents crop the only high profile players that remain include Zach Parise, Ray Emery and Dustin Penner. It wouldn’t be shocking if any of these players fetched an offer sheet, especially a player like Ray Emery whose team, the Ottawa Senators, is currently facing a tough predicament with the salary cap. The Sens are relatively tight against the cap this year and face a plethora of tough decisions next year when Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Wade Redden and Mike Fisher to name just a few become free agents. So the time certainly seems right for a team to stride in and force the Sens’ hand by offering a large offer sheet to Ray Emery.

There has seemingly been a lot of criticism leveled Emery’s way when the topic of where his annual salary should fall comes up. To me all discussions concerning his salary need to start with how much the Sens themselves have deemed what a No.1 goalie is worth to the organization. The Sens set their market evaluation for the team’s starter last year when former GM John Muckler tabled an absurd 3-year free agent contract to Martin Gerber for $3.7M per year. Emery quickly outplayed Gerber last year and became a legit No.1 goalie, leading the club to their first ever Stanley Cup appearance. Emery is clearly still a young and developing goaltender who is still several years from reaching his prime but he has unquestionably given the Sens franchise their best and most reliable goaltending in what was previously a tenuous position for years.

Aside from his play, any team that signs Ray Emery to an offer sheet would gain arguably their most engaging and flashy persona; an instant media star regardless of which market he goes to. In struggling hockey markets south of the border where teams are all too full of cliché-toting bland players Emery would bring a refreshing and entertaining point of view. I’ve had the fortune of interviewing Ray a couple of times and without question he’s my favourite interview. I interviewed him prior to his rookie season and the excitement of just being in the NHL on a permanent basis was so evident. He was appreciative of the little things like quality food, flights and interesting cities, which is such a refreshing thing to hear from a professional athlete. In my conversations with him we spoke about how his character in NHL video games always has such a high aggression rating, what type of music he would play if he could select custom music for a big save and why the immense amount of “talent” makes Tampa his favourite city on the road. He’s just a genuinely funny and entertaining guy who seemingly doesn’t have a cliché in his vocabulary. I’m sure he would become a fan favourite in any city that signs him.

Don’t the LA Kings need a goalie?