NHL Offer Sheet Tiers & JJP

[Porous Five Hole]

The 2025-26 thresholds are as follows:

≥ $11,700,193

4x 1st Round Picks

$9,360,154 - $11,700,192

2x 1st Round Picks, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$7,020,114 - $9,360,153

1x 1st Round Pick, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$4,680,077 - $7,020,113

1x 1st Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$2,340,038 - $4,680,076

1x 2nd Round Pick

$1,544,425 - $2,340,037

1x 3rd Round Pick

≤ $1,544,424

No Compensation

BUT HERE’S THE THING. You must keep in mind that if the length of the offer sheet is longer than 5 years, they divide the total contract value by 5 for AAV tier & not the actual length. If the term is less than 5, they divide by actual length for AAV.

I think this rule probably keeps Peterka here. Say he goes for an 8MM offer sheet for 6 years , that is 48MM in total value.  48MM / 5 years =9.6MM/year AAV.  The compensation for not matching would then be 2x 1st Round Picks, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick. And that’s a ton of compensation for a team to give up for a guy like JJ Peterka. I think he’s here on a bridge deal next year.  

Related, it also makes the Leafs Matthew Knies very expensive to acquire via offer sheet.  

[dudacek]

Basically, it’s only the 3rd tier you’re worried about. You match the 4th and you take the picks with the 2nd.

And that goes for both Byram and JJ.

The danger spot is anything that translates to over $8M AAV from a team in the upper half of the league. That’s where you’re paying more than you want in contract, but getting less in compensation than you probably could have in trade.

Remember, it’s not just the draft picks you’re getting in compensation, there is also the cap space you get to backfill.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Basically, it’s only the 3rd tier you’re worried about. You match the 4th and you take the picks with the 2nd.

And that goes for both Byram and JJ.

The danger spot is anything that translates to over $8M AAV from a team in the upper half of the league. That’s where you’re paying more than you want in contract, but getting less in compensation than you probably could have in trade.

Remember, it’s not just the draft picks you’re getting in compensation, there is also the cap space you get to backfill.

To the bolded: you a veddy funny man Mr. Dudacek!

[Mr. Allen]

All depends what team it is and where we think their 1st is going to be.  
But still, let’s say we get a lower tier team to offer sheet Peterka.  And let’s say that pick becomes the 10th overall selection.  Not only are we basically hoping that pick becomes a player close to as good as Peterka, but also waiting 3 plus years for him to get to Petrekas level.  

[bob_sauve28]

He has such crazy good chemistry with Quinn that he is probably worth more to us than to another team. 

[LGR4GM]

We could also offer sheet other players.

[Mr. Allen]

22 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

We could also offer sheet other players.

I feel like we are the team that other teams would JUMP on our pick and let us have the player.  
We could be the McKenna lottery ticket. 

[Archie Lee]

36 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

We could also offer sheet other players.

We could, but it is nearly impossible to imagine Adams doing so. Also, we don’t have our 2nd in 2026 (included in the Norris trade), which limits the options. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

We could offer sheet other players, and I could also become an Olympic gold medalist 😂

Adams is an Ameoba, just kinda exists, has no backbone and is slimy. 

[Mr. Allen]

There’s some good options this year.  Bouchard, Dobson Knies, Rossi, McTavish and a couple other good players. 

[Taro T]

53 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

We could also offer sheet other players.

While technically true, the same GM from the past 5 years is still on the job.  So ...

[klos1963]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

We could also offer sheet other players.

But the player would have to sign it,  right? I doubt that happens.

[SABRES 0311]

5 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

The 2025-26 thresholds are as follows:

≥ $11,700,193

4x 1st Round Picks

$9,360,154 - $11,700,192

2x 1st Round Picks, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$7,020,114 - $9,360,153

1x 1st Round Pick, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$4,680,077 - $7,020,113

1x 1st Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick

$2,340,038 - $4,680,076

1x 2nd Round Pick

$1,544,425 - $2,340,037

1x 3rd Round Pick

≤ $1,544,424

No Compensation

BUT HERE’S THE THING. You must keep in mind that if the length of the offer sheet is longer than 5 years, they divide the total contract value by 5 for AAV tier & not the actual length. If the term is less than 5, they divide by actual length for AAV.

I think this rule probably keeps Peterka here. Say he goes for an 8MM offer sheet for 6 years , that is 48MM in total value.  48MM / 5 years =9.6MM/year AAV.  The compensation for not matching would then be 2x 1st Round Picks, 1x 2nd Round Pick, 1x 3rd Round Pick. And that’s a ton of compensation for a team to give up for a guy like JJ Peterka. I think he’s here on a bridge deal next year.  

Related, it also makes the Leafs Matthew Knies very expensive to acquire via offer sheet.  

Good job on this.

[DarthEbriate]

Capwages has updated, too. You can now see which teams have the draft capital required for the 2026 picks and beyond:

https://capwages.com/tools/offer-sheet  

 

Side note: the Mammoth logo is very muddled when viewed as a small icon. It's too busy for its height.

[LGR4GM]

11 hours ago, klos1963 said:

But the player would have to sign it,  right? I doubt that happens.

Yes. I think there are players undervalued by their current teams who would sign for a chance.

Noah Dobson for example might not get the contract offer he wants from his current team. 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Yes. I think there are players undervalued by their current teams who would sign for a chance.

Noah Dobson for example might not get the contract offer he wants from his current team. 

What would you offer him to be a Sabre? 

19 hours ago, Mr. Allen said:

There’s some good options this year.  Bouchard, Dobson Knies, Rossi, McTavish and a couple other good players. 

Everybody on every team is talking about Knies. 

I suspect if Leafs do let Marner walk then Knies will be paid to stay. 

[Carmel Corn]

20 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

We could offer sheet other players, and I could also become an Olympic gold medalist 😂

Adams is an Ameoba, just kinda exists, has no backbone and is slimy. 

Does an Ameoba have a brain?  

[Wyldnwoody44]

1 hour ago, Carmel Corn said:

Does an Ameoba have a brain?  

They do not, single celled organisms... So the analogy fits even more 😂

[steveoath]

Am I right in thinking we don’t have our 2026 2nd rounder making talks of offer sheet pretty pointless.