NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 3, 2025
A theory behind the lack of offer sheets this summer, Lane Hutson reportedly passed over for Team USA’s Olympic orientation camp, the Maple Leafs avoid arbitration with Nick Robertson, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RG.ORG: James Murphy examined the lack of offer sheets thus far for this summer’s restricted free agents.
The rise in the salary cap to $95.5 million for 2025-26 left several clubs flush with cap space. Factor in the St. Louis Blues signing away Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers last summer, and there was anticipation of more offer sheet signings this year.
However, one NHL player agent theorized that some team owners may be reluctant to drive up the market value by overpaying players with expensive offer sheets. Another factor is that there are clubs with plenty of cap room that can easily match any offer for one of their restricted free agents.
Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish? (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: PuckPedia indicates 10 teams have over $10 million in cap space for 2025-26. Some of those teams, like the Carolina Hurricanes, could target another team’s RFAs to bolster their roster for a future Stanley Cup run.
However, there are also teams with the cap room to match an offer sheet. For example, Mason McTavish of the Anaheim Ducks is frequently mentioned as a possible target, but the Ducks have over $21 million in cap space. It’s a waste of time to target McTavish when his club can quickly and easily match it.
It’s been suggested that teams should test that theory by offering McTavish a contract with a cap hit of $9 million or more. However, all that accomplishes is driving up the value of comparable players, which is great for them, but not for the teams that have to pay them.
The compensation for signing a player like McTavish to a grossly inflated cap hit is also costly to the team making that signing. Anything between $9.36 million and $11.7 million costs two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick. Anything over $11.7 million is four first-rounders.
McTavish, 22, is a very good player with considerable upside, but he’s not worth over $9.3 million annually, nor is he worth the cost in futures a club would have to pay for a successful signing.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: cited a report by Tony Marinaro of “The Sick Podcast” claiming Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson will not be invited to attend Team USA’s Olympic orientation camp.
Hutson, 21, won the Calder Memorial Trophy last season as NHL Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Canadien to do so since Ken Dryden in 1971-72. However, the Americans already have a defenseman of comparable size and skills in Vancouver Canuck captain Quinn Hughes, who also has more NHL experience than Hutson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hutson will get more opportunities to represent his country on the international stage in future tournaments, including the 2030 Winter Olympics. The Americans already have a deep, experienced defense core with Hughes, Zach Werenski, Brock Faber, Adam Fox, Jaccob Slavin, Charlie McAvoy, Noah Hanifin, and Jake Sanderson. Most of those blueliners were part of Team USA in February’s 4 Nations’ Face-Off.
TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs avoided salary arbitration with winger Nick Robertson. Both sides agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.85 million on Saturday.
The Robertson camp sought $2.25 million while the Leafs offered $1.25 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That concludes this summer’s arbitration period. The 11 players who filed and the two who were to be taken to arbitration ultimately agreed to new contracts before their scheduled hearings.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Center James Hagens looks forward to starting his NHL career with the Bruins as soon as possible. However, it appears he’s committed to returning to Boston College this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Bruins selected Hagens with the seventh-overall pick in this year’s draft. It’ll do the 18-year-old center good to spend at least one more season in the NCAA to develop his skills before making the jump to the pro ranks.
RDS.CA: Anaheim Ducks prospect Roger McQueen is reportedly leaving Canadian junior hockey to join the NCAA’s ranks this season. Rather than return to the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, the 18-year-old center is expected to join Providence College.
McQueen was chosen 10th overall by the Ducks in this year’s draft. He’ll join Chicago Blackhawks prospect center Julius Sumpf, who has also joined Providence after spending the last two seasons with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats.
Let Boston figure out the mess they are in with their forwards before they bring in Hagens next spring.I wonder if they are looking for a high draft pick for Zacha to add to the number of picks they have for the 25-26 drafts. They have so many young forwards to evaluate at the NHL level this year to see where they stand.
These 10 NHL-roster RFAs – spread over 9 teams (Anaheim has 2) – remain unsigned, which I list – and only in my opinion – in order of the expected highest to lowest settlements. Each shows their expired cap hit and last season stats, and after the team name is their available cap as of this morning, followed by the number of players so far committed to for next season – by position – according to Puckpedia.
As pointed out in Lyle’s blurb above, MOST will not be offer-sheeted for the simple reason that the available team cap makes the gesture essentially futile. That and, in the case of the more attractive players, any offer would need to be in the 1st round cost categories and so, with perhaps the exceptions of Mason McTavish and Luke Hughes, not worth the effort.
However, I think someone might offer-sheet, in the 3rd round compensation category, former 1st round pick (by NJ) RW Alexander Holtz of Vegas, given that they are currently $7,638,571 over the cap, and an offer of $2,340,037 – if matched – would put them $9,978,608 over which could not be covered even with Pietrangelo’s $8,800,000 going on LTIR.
NEW JERSEY $6,131,667 – 23 (14F 7D 2G) LD Luke Hughes 6’ 2” 200lbs 71gp 7g 37a 44pts $925,000
ANAHEIM $21,388,812 – 21 (11F 7D 3G) (see also below) C Mason McTavish 6’ 1” 220-lbs 76gp 22g 30a 52pts $894,167
MINNESOTA $10,186,835 – 21 (13F 6D 2G) C Marco Rossi 5’ 9” 182lbs 82gp 24g 36a 60pts $863,334
CALGARY $15,412,500 – 22 (13F 7D 2G) C Connor Zary 6’ 178lbs 564gp 13g 14a 27pts $863,334
NASHVILLE $10,116,039 – 21 (11F 8D 2G) RW Luke Evangelista 6’ 183lbs 68gp 10g 22a 32pts $797,500
ANAHEIM (see also above) RW/C Sam Colangelo 6’ 2” 210lbs 32gp 10g 2a 12pts $925,000
SEATTLE $6,649,287 – 22 (14F 6D 2G) LD Ryker Evans 6’ 195lbs 73gp 5g 20a 25pts $897,500
VEGAS OVER BY $7,638,571 – 22 (13F 7D 2G)
RW Alexander Holtz 6’ 200lbs 53gp 4g 8a 12pts $894,167
CHICAGO $18,662,024 – 22 (12F 7D 3G) LD Wyatt Kaiser 6’ 175lbs 57gp 4g 4a 8pts $916,667
COLUMBUS $16,342,501 – 22 (13F 7D 2G) RW Mikael Pyyhtia 6’ 176lbs 47gp 4g 3a 7pts $897,500
Teams like San Jose ($20,682,499), Anaheim ($21,388,812 – even with 2 RFAs still to sign), Chicago ($18,662,024), Detroit ($12,086,628), Carolina ($10,644,291) and Calgary ($15,412,500 – even with Zary still to sign) have more than enough in cap reserve to tale a chance like that on Holtz
That is a lot to pay for Holtz! He is only projected to receive about a million dollars AAV!
George you’re right about Holtz being a worthwhile gamble for a team with cap space. But an offer sheet for 1.54 would still put Vegas in a bind and no compensation. Petro’s contract might be for 8.8 million, but Vegas won’t get that when he goes on LTIR. Looking at Vegas’s roster, it won’t be easy for them to manuver their roster to get close to the cap ceiling and then put Pet on LTIR. Love to see Tre do it
Yogi, referring to Alex Pietrangelo cap relief 8.8 million, so why ‘Vegas won’t get that when he goes on LTIR”?
To get the most out of Pietro’s 8.8 LTIR, Vegas has to get as tight as it can to the ceiling, before putting Pietro on LTIR. If you use Puckpedia’s numbers, Vegas still has 1.24 mill in cap space to spend. If Vegas were to sign Holtz to that exact amount,that would bring them to 100% and then they could put Pietro on LTIR and get the full 8.8 mill in relief. If Holtz signed an offersheet for 1.54 mill it would make it extremely hard for Vegas to match and be able to move contracts around to get to the cap ceiling. It would then require Vegas to put players on waivers to manouvre, which isn’t ideal
Yogi – thanks for the clarification on that Vegas LTIR ploy … $1.54 would encompass several more teams than the ones I list above, including Ottawa and Toronto. Why not indeed?
Well, it would be a gamble, sure …. but this kid – 6′ 200lbs – did go 7th overall in 2020 and in 2023-24, while still with NJ, he did score 16g 12a 28pts.
In June 2024 he was dealt to Vegas along with Akira Schmid for Paul Colter and a 2025 3rd round pick.
I don’t imagine he saw a whole lot of ice time with Vegas this past season, and was limited to 53 gp due mainly to being a frequent healthy scratch.
Not much of a financial gamble for those teams with buckets of cap reserve to come up an offer-sheet in that amount for a 1-year “show me” deal.
It would, however, put the squeeze on Vegas … which I would LOVE to see happen.
Paul Cotter – not Colter …
Lots of people blamed Ruff and the Devils for not giving Holtz a shot. But then his own national team left the no 7 OA draft pick off their roster. And he didnt light things up in Vegas. Probably a bust
Lyle,
While Hurricanes have around little over 10 million in cap space, impossible for Hurricanes make an offer for RFA this off-season now because Hurricanes traded their 2026 1st, 2026 2nd, and 2026 3rd round draft picks.
Whoa … well, that certainly leaves them out of the Holtz idea!
Good point!
This is only the Olympic orientation camp; NOT the final cut!!
Hutson should have been invited.
May or may not be top 7 or 8 for us but why not find out some more at camp?
Hutson has an extremely bright future.
And the fact Chabot wasn’t invited is an indication of how far he has fallen in other’s views in the 8 seasons since going 18th overall in 2015.
Disagree with theory by James Murphy say why main reason teams with sufficient cap space likes Blackhawks, Predators, or Penguins aren’t making offer for RFA like McTavish or Rossi because good chance each of these teams won’t make next season’s playoffs, and acquire RFA like McTavish or Rossi each of these teams will lose their own 2026 1st round lottery draft pick potentially draft Galvin McKenna or another star potential prospect like Keaton Verhoeff, Ryan Roobroeck, Ivan Stenberg, Ethan Belchetz.
Here is the whole quote of the other reason cited:
According to an anonymous NHL player agent, speaking with James Murphy of rg.org, team owners are to blame.
“Here’s my theory, if you will: I think in order to make an offer sheet, you have to overpay the player by definition because otherwise, why would you even get the player?…
What ends up happening is I think the management team has to explain themselves to ownership before they issue the offer sheet. I think the owners are competitive against each other for sure, but they’re more interested in keeping guidelines on salaries than they are on one-upping each other. So the owner then says to the general manager:
‘Look, if they match it, then all we did is drive up the market, and I don’t want to be that guy that’s accused of doing that because then my buddy who owns that other team will call me and give me (expletive) about it and say the same to other owners.’ “
Johnny Z, teams not making offer sheet for RFA lately here HOT 🔥 TOPIC!
Why isn’t James Murphy comparing overpaying RA to overpaying UFA to driving up the market ?Often higher cost UFA is overpaid. This off-season good example, Hurricanes signed UFA Nikolaj Ehlers (age 29) to 6 years 51 million contract, average 8.5 million per season. Ehlers career high 64 points and never scored at least 30 goals in regular season. IMO, Hurricanes overpaid for Ehlers and driving up the market.
McTavish – playing second line center his ceiling?
I couldn’t care less about Hutson not being invited, he has a long career ahead of him , ample opportunity in the future.
As for the Price LTIR and trading him, there is sense in doing it.
Take San Jose for example, they made a few questionable hires to reach the cap floor.
If the Habs trade Price after paying the signing bonus San Jose only has to pay him $2m for a $10m cap hit.
Everybody knows that but nobody mentions, San Jose can afford to dump $8m of contracts, meet the floor and keep cash in their pocket.
Same principle for any other team that wants to dump salary but has to consider the floor.
Bottom line is a team is buying $10m cap space for $2m, that is a pretty good value proposition even for a team close to the cap ceiling.
It’s an asset that can be used in a package to the benefit of both teams.
And some teams will need the Price cap hit at TDL to stay above the cap floor if they want to dump players for future assets.