This is a simple list of players in the Habs' system (whether on one-way or two-way contracts) and the years they will next become an UNRESTRICTED free agent. Unless otherwise noted, their league age will be 27 at that time.
Age is relevant because the Cap Hit for players who are 35 years old or older at the time they start a new contract remains on the books when the player is either retired or is assigned to the minors. The only relief possible is the Long-Term Injury Reserve exception.
Based on the actual expiry dates of their current contracts, all players reaching UFA age in 2014 or later at ages 25, 26 or 27 will still be able to sign at least one more contract as a RESTRICTED free agent before that time.
* = not currently signed to a contract, but Montreal owns his rights ** = RFA qualified *** = arbitration has been requested
(there are 53 players on the list but only 49 under pro contract in North America for 2012-13 or 2013-14)
** Note: The above does NOT take into account the date a player could (but is not sure yet to) become a GROUP 6 Free Agent, due to not getting enough NHL games by age 25 . This potentially applied to Mike Blunden for the summer of 2012, but he did eventually play in enough NHL games to remain RFA eligible. Only time can tell, but once a player is SURE to be Group VI, I place his UFA status in the correct year.
2013
Petteri Nokelainen
Frédérick St. Denis
Jason de Santis
*Kyle Klubertanz
Davis Drewiske (28)
Colby Armstrong (30)
Michael Ryder (33)
Jeff Halpern (37)
2014
Mike Blunden
Alexei Yemelin (28)
Rafael Diaz (28)
Brian Gionta (35)
Andrei Markov (35)
Tomas Kaberle(36)
Francis Bouillon (38)
2015
Ryan White
Blake Geoffrion
*Andreas Engqvist
Joe Stejskal
Peter Budaj (32)
2016
Yannick Weber
Lars Eller
PK Subban
Brandon Prust (32)
Tomas Plekanec (33)
René Bourque (34)
Travis Moen (34)
2017
Danny Kristo
Dustin Tokarski
Robert Mayer
Mike Condon
Steve Quailer
Ian Schultz
Peter Delmas
Greg Pateryn
Magnus Nygren
David Desharnais (30)
2018
Gabriel Dumont
Louis Leblanc
Philippe Lefebvre
Joonas Nattinen
Carey Price (30)
Josh Gorges (33)
2019
Alex Galchenyuk (25)
Michael Bournival
Morgan Ellis
Brendan Gallagher
Patrick Holland
Jarred Tinordi
Max Pacioretty (30)
To respond to several requests for this information, here is the latest compensation info's for RFA's.
The numbers for 2012-2013 are based on the Average League Salary figure from 2011-2012. The numbers will be changed up or down by the SAME PERCENTAGE that the average goes up or down. For example, if the average went up 2% then every number in the table goes up by 2%.
Once the average for 2013-2014 is announced, I will update this table accordingly.
Cap Hit of player being offer sheeted:
$1,110,249 or below - None
Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 - Third-round choice
Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 - Second-round choice
Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 - First-round and third-round choice
Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 - First-round, second-round and third-round choice
Over $6,728,781 to $8,410,976 - Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
Over $8,410,976 - Four first-round choices
Also, there is a provision in the rule that discourages offer sheets longer than 5 years. For any contract offered that is longer than 5 years, the compensation is adjusted upwards. The club is to take the total amount paid over the life of the contract, say 8 years at $4.5M each, which is $36M, but divide it by the maximum FIVE years, yielding a cap calculation for the purpose of compensation of $7.2M and not $4.5M. This changes the compensation from a first and a third TO two first, one second and a third. Huge difference, so effectively no one makes any offer sheets for longer than five years.
Other information regarding Offer Sheets
-- Teams must use their own draft picks for the purpose of compensation, including picks that were traded and later reacquired. They cannot use draft picks acquired from other teams (which were not originally theirs) to offer as compensation.
-- A team can have multiple offer sheets active, provided it has the necessary draft picks available to offer as compensation.
-- From Article 10.4,
-- Clubs owing one (1) draft selection must have it available in the next draft.
-- Clubs owing two (2) draft selections in different rounds must have them available in the next draft.
-- Clubs owing three (3) draft selections in different rounds must have them available in the next draft.
-- Clubs owing two (2) draft selections in the same round, must have them available in the next three (3) drafts.
-- Clubs owing three (3) draft selections in the same round must have them available in the next four (4) drafts, and so on.
When a Club owes two (2) or more draft selections in the same round, the signing Club does not elect the years in which such selections shall be awarded to the Prior Club; rather, the selections next available will be transferred to the Prior Club (i.e., a Club that owes two (2) selections has them available in the next two (2) drafts – that is when they are transferred).
Last edited by BaseballCoach: 07-06-2012 at 02:23 AM.
Of all the players under 27 years of age, only Alex Galchenyuk is currently projected to reach Group III UFA age younger than 27 (in his case 25), due to the rule that UFA status is reached at age 27 or seven accrued NHL seasons, whichever comes first (Carey Price is already signed until age 30).
Last edited by BaseballCoach: 05-14-2013 at 11:06 AM.