History of NHL Offer Sheets

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Ped

Why wouldn't they?

It was a different era, but the same rules applied when the Blues once signed Peter Stastny mid-season. Ron Caron gave him at the time a expensive contract, hoping it would deter other teams from claiming him - and it worked.

Different fact pattern in this case though, no question he'd be claimed. I don't believe the NHL wanted that kind of result based on a misinterpretation of the rules. Just my opinion, no way of knowing.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Different fact pattern in this case though, no question he'd be claimed. I don't believe the NHL wanted that kind of result based on a misinterpretation of the rules. Just my opinion, no way of knowing.

The only problem is what Daly said at the time. And you might get a bunch of teams claiming foul.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

The only problem is what Daly said at the time. And you might get a bunch of teams claiming foul.

I really don’t believe a bunch of teams would have had a reason to cry foul.

IIRC Daly’s comments were after it was matched, or am I wrong on that?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I really don’t believe a bunch of teams would have had a reason to cry foul.

IIRC Daly’s comments were after it was matched, or am I wrong on that?

A team early in the waiver list could complain they didn’t get their legit opportunity under the CBA.

Feaster said that they “disagreed with the league’s interpretation”. Daly said waivers would have been required. Not sure if it was before or after the match but what does that matter?

[getbak]

Daly's comments were well after it was matched.

No one had raised any concern about an offer sheet until it was already matched.

There was seemingly one blogger in the whole world who knew that O'Reilly had played 2 games in Russia after the cut-off date and he was obviously sitting on that knowledge waiting for his moment in the sun. Then, he got his wish and O'Reilly actually signed an offer sheet, but before he was able to post his revelation that O'Reilly would need to clear waivers, Colorado had already announced they were matching the offer and O'Reilly was getting ready to play in their next game.

Then, he posted his blog anyway, but it was all moot by that point.


Daly was eventually asked about it and he gave the easy answer at that point because it truly didn't matter.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

A team early in the waiver list could complain they didn’t get their legit opportunity under the CBA.

Feaster said that they “disagreed with the league’s interpretation”. Daly said waivers would have been required. Not sure if it was before or after the match but what does that matter?

Well one team that could have claimed him on waivers isn’t a bunch of teams. And I honestly don’t believe any team would have complained in that instance. Not much of a history of franchises complaining about league decisions. And if one team did complain, so what? Doubt they would complain louder than the Flames would have.

Public comments after the point became moot are less informative IMO. Daly didn’t mention if league would have considered alternative solutions.

Again just my view that the league wasn’t too keen on seeing a franchise lose multiple picks because of a poor rules interpretation.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by getbak

Daly's comments were well after it was matched.

No one had raised any concern about an offer sheet until it was already matched.

There was seemingly one blogger in the whole world who knew that O'Reilly had played 2 games in Russia after the cut-off date and he was obviously sitting on that knowledge waiting for his moment in the sun. Then, he got his wish and O'Reilly actually signed an offer sheet, but before he was able to post his revelation that O'Reilly would need to clear waivers, Colorado had already announced they were matching the offer and O'Reilly was getting ready to play in their next game.

Then, he posted his blog anyway, but it was all moot by that point.


Daly was eventually asked about it and he gave the easy answer at that point because it truly didn't matter.

No, that’s not how it went down. The report was from Chris Johnston from SN, not just a blogger, and he said he had spoken to the league. And the league told the Flames the same thing the day after the match, according to Feaster.

The offer was matched in one day, IIRC, so it wasn’t like the league was making pronouncements in the interim (nor would they anyway, for fear of interfering in the process).

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Ped

Why wouldn't they?

It was a different era, but the same rules applied when the Blues once signed Peter Stastny mid-season. Ron Caron gave him at the time a expensive contract, hoping it would deter other teams from claiming him - and it worked.

If it actually came to that the Flames could have held him out of the lineup and forced the league to be reasonable as posted earlier

[getbak]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

No, that’s not how it went down. The report was from Chris Johnston from SN, not just a blogger, and he said he had spoken to the league. And the league told the Flames the same thing the day after the match, according to Feaster.

The offer was matched in one day, IIRC, so it wasn’t like the league was making pronouncements in the interim (nor would they anyway, for fear of interfering in the process).

Okay, I forgot it was from Sportsnet, but my perception of Johnston is still that he was primarily a blogger trying to make a name for himself. According to this bio of him, he had only started at Sportsnet after the lockout ended, so he wouldn't have been there even two months at that point: http://todaysnorthumberland.ca/2019/...metown-hockey/

Johnston left The Canadian Press in 2013 when he took a job with Sportsnet as the most recent NHL lockout ended. He was hired to cover the NHL and write for the website and he started making some on-camera appearances during Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts.

Here's the original offer sheet thread: https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=125301


The news broke at 4:30pm that O'Reilly had signed. Less than 4 hours later, at 8:20pm (in the middle of the game), it was reported that the Avs had decided to match (post 997 in the thread).

The link to Johnston's story was posted at 10:35 the next morning (post 1156). The original is lost to the sands of time, but here's the archive version: https://web.archive.org/web/20130303..._ryan_oreilly/

According to that, the NHL was unaware of O'Reilly's KHL games at the time:

The most interesting part of O’Reilly’s case is that the NHL didn’t believe he had played in Russia after the start of its season, according to a source. That detail had apparently slipped through the cracks – understandable given all of the work being done to get the league up and running after the lockout.

In post 1257, SuperMatt18 is the first to bring up the fact that Pierre Lacroix was still the Avs' President at the time. Lacroix was Feaster's mentor and the one who brought him into the hockey world. That ties into the "Feaster helped out the Avs" conspiracy theory I posted earlier. I had forgotten that Lacroix was still in Colorado at that time (he left after that season).


TSN picked up the story at 11:55am (post 1312) with what appears to be the first official comment from Daly saying that waivers would have been required for O'Reilly to join the Flames if he had indeed played in the KHL after the start of the NHL season (still not confirmed that he had in fact played in the games).


At 12:51pm (post 1423), O'Reilly's agent gave an interview to TSN radio and said he was unaware about the waiver issue. He also mentioned that numerous teams had contacted him about the possibility of an offer sheet, and none had mentioned any concerns about waivers.


At 2:43pm (post 1434), the Flames issued their statement that they disagreed with the league's interpretation of the way the clause is written in the MOU.

[GordonBlue]

I actually don't remember the Flames offer sheeting Selanne before he came into the league.

Probably the smartest thing the Jets ever did, matching that one.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dino7c

If it actually came to that the Flames could have held him out of the lineup and forced the league to be reasonable as posted earlier

I went through the thread at the time as well as the stories and this possibility was dismissed by everyone. He would have been on waivers pretty much automatically without a match.

As for when the story broke, versus the league comments, I really don’t think it’s relevant. The league wouldn’t have nosed in before the match.

Anyway Feaster’s comments pretty much are an admission that he never checked with the league before making the offer, and they also contain the falsehood that the agent was well aware of the issue and they’d discussed it. The argument is so think and narrow that it’s clear to me that they only thought of it afterwards. No reasonable person would have rolled the dice that way.