There is a flaw in this OS thinking with Fans, the player has to be willing to sign one. A team can be willing to prepare an offersheet all the want but you have to assuem the market of players in the remaining RFAs who is actually interested in signing one and jumping to a new team is very slim.

There wont be any OS, there will be trades of players then singing with new teams if the RFAs dont agree to terms with their teams before season starts. Probably 75% of them will have new deals before camp starts.

Thanks for your opinion !

There is hardly a team that has the cap to overpay a RFA this season. Next season the same team(s) would have to juggle their lineup to be cap compliant. So while there are about 10 unsigned RFAs, I betcha any offer sheet (contracts) they would receive aren't much different than what their current teams have already presented.

This x1000 and a major reason they don't sign is the ridiculous NHL culture. Just look at how fans already freak out when a guy holds out or whatever. The league has created a culture where players are supposed to stay in line and be loyal to their teams no matter what. Every other sport sees way more player movement.

exactly, no team or player really wants to deal with the fan base backlash by doing these type of moves. Only if you are desperate like montreal was do you really resort to such a move. Now Montreal has that scarlet letter on them, do you think other GMs are happy they pulled that stunt, its still an old boys club league and fan base, how dare you try to win in other way besides the "Right Way"

Yeah if I was the NHLPA I would be pushing for players to reach UFA at a younger age since the OS tool is basically of no use to the players.

MLB has freer movement once a player stays in the Majors. But a team can option a player to the minors for six years An NFL team can retain a player rights if they want for five once they are drafted which is kinda similar to the NHL. NHL is seven years but usually players are younger when they sign their first contract.

I really don't know if the majority of the NHLPA really want that. What we are seeing is the top players getting a bigger piece of the cap. Take the Leafs (like so many other teams) they are going to be spend to the cap. So if the top six players get 60% , it doesn't affect ownership bottom line, it will be the the 17 to 23 on roster that will get 40%. So these money battles aren't really about the players getting more....it's about certain players getting more. What players say publicly just might be different what they real feel or how they truly want to share the revenue pie.
Even the Dubas has said the Leafs might be force to go to 22 man roster for cap reasons. If Marner/Mathews/Nylander had settled for 300,000 less per player there would be another player making 900,000 in the NHL as opposed to 70,000 in the AHL.

Players might be getting UFA sooner as you suggest. But the trade off would probably be longer ELCs or more cost controlled RFA contracts. Again do the majority of the players want that? I would say no.