Flyers sign Kesler to offer sheet

[westbeach55]

TSN.ca Staff

9/12/2006 4:48:58 PM

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Vancouver Canucks restricted free agent forward Ryan Kesler to an offer sheet. Sources tell TSN the deal is worth $1.9 million for one season.

The Vancouver Canucks have seven days to match this offer, but if they choose to walk away for financial reasons, they will receive a second round draft pick.

The Canucks only have about $2.3 million to spend under the salary cap, making Kesler's offer sheet difficult to match unless they make a trade.

The Flyers, however, are not in much better shape. If the Canucks don't match the offer sheet, Kesler's contract would push them nearly to the top of the salary ceiling.

The last NHL offer sheet came in 1998, when the Carolina Hurricanes offered Sergei Fedorov a six-year contract worth $28 million. The Detroit Red Wings matched it.



In 82 games with the Canucks last season, the 22-year-old forward tallied ten goals, 13 assists and 79 penalty minutes. Kessler was drafted by the Canucks in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

[Jimmypop316]

Let the games begin, I hope this spites some other teams to start doing this.

[westbeach55]

TSN.ca Staff

9/12/2006 4:55:03 PM

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Vancouver Canucks restricted free agent forward Ryan Kesler to an offer sheet. Sources tell TSN the deal is worth $1.9 million for one season.

The Vancouver Canucks have seven days to match this offer, but sources have told TSN it is absolutely certain the Vancouver Canucks will match the offer sheet.

Canuck GM Dave Nonis is refusing comment today, but the Canucks say there's likely to be a news conference on Wednesday, at which time Nonis will address the Kesler issue.

The Canucks have seven days to decide whether to match but a source close to the Canucks said the decision to match Philadelphia's offer sheet has already been made and Kesler will remain a Canuck, earning $1.9 million, which is more than twice what he was being offered by Vancouver.

As soon as Vancouver matches, NHL rules prohibit Kesler from being traded by Vancouver for a period of one year.



The last NHL offer sheet came in 1998, when the Carolina Hurricanes offered Sergei Fedorov a six-year contract worth $28 million. The Detroit Red Wings matched it.

In 82 games with the Canucks last season, the 22-year-old forward tallied ten goals, 13 assists and 79 penalty minutes. Kessler was drafted by the Canucks in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

[dondo]

Canucks got burned trying to under cut a player that deserved more than a 200K raise... I think Kesler might be worth that in the end, but right now m'eh .. they should have been offering him 1.2M to start, but now they pay the price for nickel and diming.

remember the uproar when TO offered Ohlund 2M? .. and he's turned out to be worth that and much much more. Maybe this will wake the club up and get them to realize a player's market worth. I would hazard to guess that Kesler would have signed for 1.3M but the Canucks offering him 800 - 900K after he proved his worth is a bit of an insult.

Oddly enough Kesler strikes me as the type of player that would be embarrassed to be over-paid so i think we'll see him spending this season trying to prove he's worth that amount.

[SectionNDeserter]

2nd round pick > Ryan Kesler

[scamperdog]

Maybe a million, 1.9 he is not worth it, let him go, what the flyers see in him who knows.

[nivek_wahs]

My question is: How close are the Canucks to the cap? With an extra $1.9 million towards the cap and with only $2.3 million to spend... that leaves only $400k left. If they match the offer they will be pretty much stuck with what they have... unless they trade someone to relieve the pressure (which is pretty much guaranteed to happen now).

I think Clarke did a smart thing (even though I am really not a Clarke supporter) due to the fact of the iminent retirement of Keith Primeau. Kesler's a decent up and coming player who is only 22 years old. Hey a 2nd round pick is nothing to sneeze at but a 22 year old that has played in the NHL is just as/or more valuable. Draft picks can easily be hit or miss. But still a very interesting move by Clarke. This might open up the doors for other teams/GM's to make bold moves with more prominent guys in the future.

But really with the new CBA anything is possible.

[LifelongChiefsFan]

What a stupid move. I was glad that they put in a salary cap in hockey, but I was also hoping that it provided a lesson those stupid GM's whose careless spending raised payrolls to the heights they were at in the first place. Apparently, the GM's have learned nothing. This is not the only ridiculously high contract offered this offseason, but I mean come on. Paying an extra 500K for every player on your team would result (roughly) in an extra $15 million in payroll. Now I know the contracts aren't that out of control (yet) but the GM's are only hurting themselves with these out of control contracts that are seriously going to hurt their teams in the future because they will have little cap room to work with.

[nivek_wahs]

Now I know the contracts aren't that out of control (yet) but the GM's are only hurting themselves with these out of control contracts that are seriously going to hurt their teams in the future because they will have little cap room to work with.I agree. What happens if the league profits start to go down and the cap were to decrease instead of increase? Could that happen? If the cap were to decrease there could be a lot of teams in big trouble when it comes to their spending.

[dondo]

2nd round pick > Ryan Kesler

I agree not .... if you watched him play game and game out you'd realize the up-side this guy has.. a second rounder would not compensate losing this player.

[SectionNDeserter]

I agree not .... if you watched him play game and game out you'd realize the up-side this guy has.. a second rounder would not compensate losing this player.Yeah, I suppose you can't have too many 10 goal scorers... ;)

[Dwight Schrute]

Yeah, I suppose you can't have too many 10 goal scorers... ;)
lets not forget about bobby clarke raising the market value of young 10 goal scorers.hmm with a cap it sux.
it was a dirty move. bad for the nhl. cant wait to see pitkanen, richards, umberger,carter, picard, downie, potulny, etc... get their offer sheets. also i wonder if bobby clark will have to give up some more in trades now that he pissed off 29 GM's aroung the league.

[rinkrat]

Can someone tell me how Kesler became a RFA at such a young age?

[SectionNDeserter]

lets not forget about bobby clarke raising the market value of young 10 goal scorers.hmm with a cap it sux.It only raises the market value of 10 goal scorers if the other GMs in the league are stupid enough to pay it.

[SectionNDeserter]

Can someone tell me how Kesler became a RFA at such a young age?As far as I know, you can ONLY become a RFA at a young age, when they get older, they become UFAs when their contract runs out.

[nivek_wahs]

Bobby Clarke's response...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=177368&hubname=

[dondo]

ah Bobby still an a-hole aren't you - my heart bleeds that you offered a player twice what they're worth

[SectionNDeserter]

ah Bobby still an a-hole aren't you - my heart bleeds that you offered a player twice what they're worthI still remember him giving Luke Richardson 3.5 million/season a few years back as well. His scouting staff seem to have a difficult time determining player's value.

[nivek_wahs]

Canucks matched the Flyers offer...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=177497&hubname=

[Jimmypop316]

I wonder what kind of moves Vancouver will be making (if) they have to free up some cap space because they are cutting it mighty close.