On Tuesday, the NHL revealed the offer sheet compensation levels (based on the AAV of potential RFA poachings) for the 2025 offseason. With that in mind, here's a look at some potential options for the Detroit Red Wings to reel in some added depth this summer.
Offer sheet comp levels for 2025:
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) May 13, 2025
<$1.54M no comp
$1.54M - 2.34M: 3rd
$2.34M - 4.68M: 2nd
4.68M - 7.02M: 1st, 3rd
7.02M - 9.36M: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
9.36M - 11.7M: 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd
11.7M+: 1st x 4@FriedgeHNIC had these 1st
Check out requirements:https://t.co/Cac7a5LRpE
Before diving into some candidates, a disclaimer: NHL offer sheets are exceedingly rare, and at his end-of-year press conference, Detroit GM Steve Yzerman essentially suggested that such deals hardly enter his calculus as an executive because of the complications and cost of pulling them off. In September 2023, I wrote about the way that the modern NHL sees fewer offer sheets than MLB of the 1980s saw free agent movement in an era that eventually forced baseball's owners to pay out collusion settlements to the players association.
When Does a Lack of RFA Offer Sheets Become Collusion?By now, NHL fans know better than to expect any intrigue on the RFA market, but at what point does a lack of offer sheets become collusion and wage suppression?
Despite the scarcity of offer sheets, last summer did provide a model for adding talent via the RFA offer sheet, as the St. Louis Blues pilfered Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers. Holloway in particular was a smashing success. After scoring 18 points total in two seasons with the Oilers, he exploded for 26 goals and 63 points in 77 games in his first season as a Blue.
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The keys to pulling off those deals were two-fold: First targeting a contending team like Edmonton facing challenges with the salary cap and second offering a salary that pushes toward the upper limit of the relevant compensation tier while also representing an overpay (at least to some extent) on market expectations.
We probably won't see a budding superstar move in restricted free agency. Players like Edmonton's Evan Bouchard or Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils are likely valued too much by their teams to move under any circumstances. Still, St. Louis showed that offer sheets can be a tool to acquire quality depth.
With that in mind, let's consider a few candidates.
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Matthew Knies
Perhaps just by virtue of playing in Toronto, Knies seems to be the first name in any RFA poaching conversation. The 22-year-old out of the University of Minnesota is coming off an outstanding season: 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points in 78 games. From a Red Wings perspective, he's exactly the sort of profile Detroit wants to add to its top six: a fast and physical battle winner, who combines finishing touch with 200-foot responsibility.
The case for acquiring Knies is easy, the path to doing so is much more complex. Toronto certainly wouldn't want to let Knies walk, but it's possible that the summer's Mitch Marner sweepstakes could put the Maple Leafs in a position where there aren't enough dollars to go around for Knies. If (and it's a big if) that proves the case, he could be a highly appealing target for a bunch of teams around the league, and the Red Wings would certainly fit that description.
Will Cuylle
I don't think it's disrespectful to characterize Cuylle of the New York Rangers as something like a Knies-lite. He put up 20 goals and 25 assists for the Rangers this season, and like Knies, he brings size, speed, and physicality. It's hard to see why New York wouldn't want to keep Cuylle around in the long-term, but we know the Rangers are in for a long summer of upheaval, and they aren't a team with lots of flexibility with respect to the salary cap.
Within that context, perhaps Cuylle could shake loose. To make it happen, the Red Wings would likely have to follow the Blues' Holloway playbook: offering a bit more than his numbers would suggest he's really earned and hope that with an increased role, he could reward his hypothetical new team with an increase in production.
Nicolas Hague
Detroit could certainly use some more depth on defense (frankly, what team couldn't?), and Nic Hague of the Vegas Golden Knights could fit that description.
Hague won't provide a lot of offense, and he realistically isn't fit for a massive role, but he's shone in Vegas that he can play sound defensive minutes for a Cup contending team on a deep playoff run. He stands at six-foot-six, and no Red Wings fan needs to be told about Yzerman's predilection for big D-men.
Of the three players listed here, he's probably the likeliest to actually spring loose. That's not to say he could be had easily, but because of the Knights' big cap commitments on the blue line (an $8.8 million AAV for Alex Pietrangelo through 2026-27, $7.35 million per year for Noah Hanifin through '31-32, and $7.425 million a season through 2029-30 for Shea Theodore), it's not impossible to conceive of a world where he becomes too rich for Vegas to hold onto.
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