Hostile offer sheets: teams afraid to make them because of Gavin McKenna

Dose
Crédit: Gavin McKenna skates against Winnipeg ICE in WHL playoffs.

Last year, the St. Louis Blues took everyone by surprise when they made two hostile offers on two Edmonton Oilers players, forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg. Hostile offers are a rare phenomenon in the National Hockey League, but the Blues didn’t hesitate to do it, and it was extremely beneficial to them in the end, as both players performed very well.

We thought that, with the Blues’ two blatant successes, offer sheets would be more popular this summer, but in the end, there was radio silence. It’s an option that several teams considered this summer, according to Elliotte Friedman, but in the end, nothing materialized.

Moreover, in the case of Mason McTavish, whom I mentioned earlier this morning, we learned that he and his clan would have liked to receive a hostile offer and were waiting for such a scenario to put pressure on the Ducks, but it never happened in the end. Hostile offers are therefore very unpopular this summer, but why? Well, according to Elliotte Friedman, it’s because of Gavin McKenna.

[content-ads] Indeed, as he explained in the most recent episode of his “32 Thoughts” podcast, Friedman sincerely believes that teams are afraid to make hostile offers, because they don’t want to risk losing their chance of getting Gavin McKenna.

NHL teams are terrified of giving up a first-round pick via a hostile bid, because it won’t be protected, and it could very well allow a team to get their hands on Gavin McKenna, a generational player who is seen as the consensus top pick in the 2026 draft. So it’s understandable that teams (at least those who still have their own draft picks) would rather keep their first-round pick, and trade it protected, than use it for a hostile offer.

This makes sense, as no team would want to lose the chance to get their hands on a player like Gavin McKenna, and winning a hostile offer sheet would be worthless if the compensatory pick were the first overall pick in the next draft.

In short, this is a big part of the reason why we haven’t seen any offer sheets this summer, despite the fact that several compensated free agents have remained uncontracted for quite some time. There are still a few left, including Mason McTavish and Luke Hughes. [spacer title=’Overtime’] – With good reason.

– Incredible.

– Bravo.