The St. Louis Blues’ ransacking of the Edmonton Oilers’ prospect cupboard has the NHL world buzzing this week.
The Blues successfully signed defenceman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway to offer sheets and only had to give up a second and third-round draft pick as compensation. The former first rounders both have some NHL experience, were AHL studs in Bakersfield last season, and now on the cusp of full-time duty.
Edmonton had until Tuesday to match the offers but chose not to. They’re already tight against the cap and also have to account for Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl needing new deals by next July and Connor McDavid the summer after.
The Blues’ success in attacking a team in cap trouble has left the league with food for thought, especially with half of the NHL over the salary cap right now or within $2 million of it (including the Senators). Have the Blues discovered the secret sauce? Have they opened the door to more offer sheet attacks around the league?
In hindsight, the Senators are fortunate a team like St. Louis didn’t come along last summer and try to pick off an RFA like Shane Pinto. The Sens were so tight against the cap – even with Pinto still unsigned – they couldn’t ice a full lineup on opening night, playing a man down.
Throughout their modern day history, the Senators haven’t been involved much in the offer sheet strategy. But they did use it once. In July of 1996, they signed goalie Ron Tugnutt and the Washington Capitals refused to match the offer.
Tugnutt was already a known commodity in the league. Five years earlier with the Quebec Nordiques, he famously made 70 saves in a 3-3 tie in Boston. That was the second most ever in an NHL regular season game (Sam LoPresti of the Chicago Blackhawks once made 80 saves in a game in 1941).
Afterward, according to NHL.com, Bruins star Cam Neely was so impressed, he suggested an exhausted Tugnutt take a bow.
“I’ve never been in a situation before where an opposing player told me to take a bow in his own building,” Tugnutt said.
In the years that followed, Tugnutt played second fiddle to goalies like Edmonton’s Bill Ranford, Anaheim’s Guy Hebert and Montreal’s Patrick Roy. But at least he was still in the show. In Washington, the Capitals left Tugnutt in the minors all year, favouring Jim Carey and Olaf Kolzig.
Meanwhile, new Senators’ GM Pierre Gauthier had been enduring an early prototype of the Ottawa goalie graveyard. Gauthier saw the potential for a solution and an undervalued asset in Tugnutt. He signed him to a one-year offer sheet at a reported $400K. The Capitals had no interest in paying their third string guy that much money so they refused to match.
It was an excellent signing that paid off immediately. The Senators improved by 36 points that season and made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their history.
Tugnutt worked a platoon situation with Damian Rhodes that season and was in goal on the final night of the regular season. The game was a scoreless tie, and featured a dandy goaltending duel between Tugnutt and the great Dominik Hasek. The Senators won it 1-0 on a late goal by Steve Duchesne and Tugnutt posted one of the biggest shutouts in Senators’ history.
Tugnutt played all seven games in the 1997 playoffs against the Sabres and there’s no need to elaborate on Derek Plante’s Game 7 overtime winner. No one in our readership wants to relive that.
Tugnutt played almost four seasons in Ottawa, three in a platoon with Rhodes and one with Patrick Lalime. As the Sens began to favour Lalime, they traded Tugnutt to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2000 deadline for the charmless Tom Barrasso.
That was Ottawa’s only foray into the offer sheet strategy. Given its success, with no compensation required, it’s somewhat surprising they’ve never had another go at it.
