Bruins came close to pulling off major offer sheet signing!

We have been talking more and more about offer sheets this season, seeing that some big name pending restricted free agents have yet to sign contract extensions, notably Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner, Winnipeg Jets' Patrik Laine and Tampa Bay Lightning's Brayden Point. However, we all know they don't take place that often. Since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, only eight players have signed an offer sheet. Ryan O'Reilly is the last player to be summited to an offer sheet back in 2013: the Calgary Flames signed him to a two-year, $10-million deal, only to have it matched by O'Reilly's team at the time, the Colorado Avalanche.

However, it got NHL insider Elliotte Friedman talking during his 31 Thoughts podcast on Sportsnet with Jeff Marek and he spilled some beans about one major offer sheet signing that almost occurred a couple of years ago. 

The Boston Bruins almost managed to pull off a major signing with none other than Jacob Trouba. 

“A couple of years ago, there was a rumor that Boston was going to offer-sheet Jacob Trouba,” recalled Friedman. “And Boston didn’t have a second-rounder. Or someone will tell me - I’m doing this off the top of my head - Boston didn’t have a certain pick to be able to get it done, and they were trying to re-acquire that pick. I didn’t realize until later that it was because people were wondering if they were going to try to offer-sheet Trouba.”

Back in July of last summer, an arbitrator awarded Trouba a one-year, $5.5-million deal with the Jets, but after contract negotiations became tough with the blue liner for a second time in three seasons, it sure seemed like his life in Winnipeg has been questioned more than once. It is probably why the Bruins looked to investigate on acquiring him back then. 

Trouba is expected to become once again a key storyline this summer, given that he can become a restricted free agent July 1 and does not seem interested in signing longer than for one year. He can become an unrestricted free agent in 2020.

If ever another contract holdout takes place this summer, the Jets could choose to trade him as many teams would be interested in landing his services.  Could Boston get in the mix again? 

After all, the Bruins were enough to make an offer sheet signing...