[Dan02]

Another thing to consider is how few teams have the cap space to sign players to large RFA offer sheets, it's not as easy as it seems, and typically the teams with enough space to just add a 8 mil player to their team aren't looking to add that much to their payroll for internal cap restraints.

Teams might have 10+ million dollars in cap space available but they typically need to spread that over like 10 players not 1.

The Flames have roughly 25 million in cap space but only 13 regulars from last season on the roster, so we need to add 10 guys for that 25 million including Gaudreau, Monahan and a starting goalie. Sign those guys and a number 1 goalie and suddenly there isn't much left to sign the last 7 players yet alone toss an offer sheet, most of the competitive teams around the cap are in similar situations.

My numbers are just rough estimates.