3 most realistic targets for an offer sheet this summer.

Last summer the St. Louis Blues and their general manager, Doug Armstrong, may have laid the groundwork for a revolution when it comes to offer sheets in the National Hockey League. Armstrong and the Blues snatched away two talented young players from the Edmonton Oilers with a pair of offer sheets for forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg, both of whom would end up on the Blues roster once the dust had settled.

The belief is that we will now see teams around the NHL be much more aggressive with offer sheets with so many teams finding themselves loaded with cap space and with a relatively weak free agent class outside of a few big names at the top.

Keeping that in mind, today I'll be looking at 3 young restricted free agents that I believe teams around the NHL could realistically target with an offer sheet.

#1 Will Cuylle - New York Rangers.

The Toronto, Ontario native was originally selected in the 2nd round (60th overall) by the New York Rangers at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft but he took a huge step forward with the Rangers this season. Cuylle, who plays a physical and punished brand of hockey, put up 20 goals and 25 assists for the Rangers this season, a total of 45 points in 82 games.

Given the recent success of the Florida Panthers, now in their third straight Stanley Cup Final, Cuylle will be exactly the kind of player that NHL general managers around the league will be desperately looking to add to their roster this summer.

As I mentioned Cuylle plays a physical brand of hockey and he racked up 42 penalty minutes over the 2024-25 NHL season while also leading the Rangers in hits with an impressive 301 hits on the season.

While Cuylle will be an appealing target for rival general managers, I suspect that the Rangers are preparing for this very possibility. The Rangers recently unloaded the contract of longtime forward Chris Kreider in a trade to the Anaheim Ducks and now have just under $15 million in cap space to work with. That being said the Rangers also have a number of holes to fill in their lineup, including the one left by the departure of the aforementioned Chris Kreider, and have a number of restricted free agents to deal with this summer. On top of Cuylle the Rangers also have K'andre Miller, Matt Rempe, Arthur Kaliyev, Adam Edstrom Matthew Robertson and Zachary Jones who are all restricted free agents in need new contracts as well.

An offer sheet in the range of $2,340,038 - $4,680,076 would only cost a second round pick in terms of compensation but I feel the Rangers would quickly match such an offer, especially given the recent moves they made to significantly increase their available cap space this summer.

That would naturally necessitate teams making a bigger offer at the next tier of compensation which is in the $4,680,077 - $7,020,113 range. At that range teams would have to give up both a first and a third round draft pick, but teams looking for a punishing forward with some offensive upside could very well be justified in taking that kind of a gamble on Cuylle.

#2 Mavrik Bourque - Dallas Stars

Bourque lands here thanks in large part due to the fact that the Dallas Stars find themselves with extremely little cap space, under $5 million to be more precise, to work with this summer after acquiring star forward Mikko Rantanen and signing him to a lucrative new deal ahead of the trade deadline.

Not to mention the fact that the Stars have Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Evgeni Dadonov, Mikael Granlund, Colin Blackwell, Brendan Smith and Cody Ceci all walking to unrestricted free agency this summer with the team no doubt hoping to retain at least some of those players.

Much like the Edmonton Oilers last season it wouldn't take a massive number on an offer sheet for Bourque to leave the Dallas Stars in a very tough position. That combined with the fact that a relatively low number also means that the draft pick compensation would be such that a large number of teams could manage it, and you have a perfect storm for an offer sheet in Dallas.

Bourque also has the kind of upside that could have rival general managers very excited at the prospect of acquiring him. Bourque only put up 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 73 games this season but did so while playing limited minutes on a stacked Dallas Stars lineup.

Bourque has shown he can light the lamp at the pro level, having led the American Hockey League in scoring during the 2023-24 season when he put up 26 goals and 51 assists for 77 points in just 71 games with the Texas Stars.

An offer sheet in the range of $1,544,425 - $2,340,037 only costs a 3rd round pick when it comes to compensation and that could very well be enough to put the Dallas Stars in a very difficult position.

#3 Joel Hofer - St. Louis Blues.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The St. Louis Blues may learn all about the Golden Rule this summer after snatching away a pair of restricted free agents from the Edmonton Oilers roughly one year ago, with a restricted free agent of their own now a potential target.

Teams in need of help in goal may be hard pressed to find better options than St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer who will be a restricted free agent this summer. The 24 year old was drafted in the 4th round (107th overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft but has earned significant experience at the NHL level over the last two seasons. Hofer appeared in 30 games for the Blues during the 2023-24 regular season recording a 2.62 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. During the 2024-25 season he had a 2.64 goals against average and a .904 save percentage over 31 regular season games.

Part of what makes Hofer such an interesting target is the fact that the Blues already have an established number one goaltender in Jordan Binnington under contract for 2 more years at an average annual value and salary cap hit of $6 million per season.

An offer sheet with an average annual value of $2,340,038 - $4,680,076 would only cost a team a second round pick and anything above the $4 million mark would force the Blues to commit over $10 million between the pipes for at least the next 2 years.

Would you like to see your favorite team make a move on any of these potential offer sheet candidates? Let me know in the comments.