Logs in after a long holiday weekend and sees nearly 900 comments on the old thread:
Obviously the most relevant hockey news is that Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks signed an offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers in for 5 years at $18M average annual value. Whether or not Pat Verbeek matches or not, this has sent the message that GMs are more eager to use this tool than they have in the past, in large part due to the rapidly rising the cap.
This leads us, naturally, to Adam Fantilli. Selected immediately after Carlsson in 2023, it’s reasonable to expect teams that pursued Carlsson to turn to Fantilli next. Don Waddell has said he would match any offer sheets, but given the recent Zach Werenski hubbub, it would be much better for the organization to nip this Fantilli situation in the bud before it gets to that point. Don’t give any reason to WANT to sign an offer sheet elsewhere.
In positive news, the other main CBJ RFAs, Cole Sillinger and Jet Greaves, both elected to go to arbitration. This means that they are no longer eligible to sign an offer sheet. Whew.