NHL restricted free agents carry high price tag

Some of the NHL’S best young players — Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski among them — are available in free agency. Technically. Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jacob Trouba of the New York Rangers and Werenski are among the top restricted free agents in a bumper crop. Any team in the NHL would be happy to add them this summer, but it would be a big surprise if any of them even attempts to sign them away.

The Montreal Canadiens became the first team in six years to extend an offer sheet to a restricted free agent of another team, hoping Carolina would pass on matching the five-year deal, $42 million deal for Sebastian Aho. Less than 24 hours later, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell announced that the franchise was going to keep its star forward.

“The way the system is set up with offer sheets, it’s too punitive because of the draft picks you have to give up,” said sports agent Kurt Overhardt, who represents Trouba.

“The record has shown it doesn’t make sense for a lot of teams.”

If Carolina chose not to match the offer for Aho, the Canadiens would have given up a draft pick in the first, second and third rounds. If Montreal offered a little more money on the offer sheet, it risked losing an additional first-round selection.

And if any franchise offered Aho an average of at least $10,568,590 over the course of the contract, it would have lost four first-round picks if the Hurricanes refused to pay Aho that much.

Marner, Point and Trouba likely will end up being re-signed rather than extended an offer sheet.

The salary capsqueezed Maple Leafs recently made moves to free up money to re-sign the 22-year-old Marner, who ranked fourth in the NHL with 68 assists last season.

Tampa Bay does not appear to have a lot of money to spend, with stars Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos counting $18 million per year against the salary cap, but it wants to find a way to keep Point, a 23-year-old center who had 92 points last season.

The Rangers acquired Trouba in a trade with Winnipeg even though they would have to sign the offensiveminded defenseman as a restricted free agent. The Rangers invested a lot in free agent Artemi Panarin but don’t seem worried about an offer sheet making negotiations more challenging with Trouba.

“Restricted is the emphasized word in restricted free agency,” agent Brian Bartlett said. “The teams know it's unlikely, and yet with Aho, it probably helped move negotiations along because you would assume Carolina didn’t offer the same structure in its contract offer.

“There’s always the opportunity for an offer sheet, but it has happened once every six years, and the odds are against it happening more when you consider the thousands of players who have been restricted free agents.”

Bruins’ Johansson signs with Sabres

Marcus Johansson has signed a two-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres.

Johansson played for New Jersey and Boston last season, finishing with 13 goals and 17 assists in 58 games. The 28-year-old forward also had four goals and seven assists in 22 playoff games, helping the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup finals.

The average annual value of Johansson's new contract is $4.5 million.