On Tuesday, the hockey world was abuzz – and folks in Edmonton were a bit panicked – after the St. Louis Blues signed a pair of Edmonton Oilers restricted free agents, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, to offer sheets.
While offer sheets are pretty rare in the NHL historically, and teams almost always match the offers, the circumstances of Edmonton’s dilemma made our thoughts drift to a really peculiar time in Calgary Flames history: when they signed Ryan O’Reilly to an offer sheet in early 2013.
Let’s take a look back at how it all went down.

A perfect storm of interests

Way back when, Ryan O’Reilly was among the top young players in the National Hockey League. He had an offensive breakout in 2011-12, posting 55 points over 81 games with the Colorado Avalanche. O’Reilly’s contract expired that off-season and he became a restricted free agent. Contract talks dragged out a bit, though, spilling into the fall, and then they were shuttered altogether when the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA expired on Sept. 15 and the league ceased operations for awhile.
During the league’s lockout period, O’Reilly joined his brother, Cal, with Metallurg Magnitigorsk in the Kontinental Hockey League. When the lockout ended, the Avalanche and O’Reilly were still unable to reach an agreement, so O’Reilly stayed in the KHL for awhile longer, continuing to play after the NHL started back up on Jan. 19. (That’ll be important later.)
While O’Reilly’s camp was trying to hash out a new deal, the Flames were having some trouble. At the time, franchise legend Jarome Iginla was in the final year of his contract, and general manager Jay Feaster was intent on trying to give his captain a chance to win in Calgary. Unfortunately, the Flames got off to a tough early start and then wobbled around the .500 mark, failing to get traction.
After engaging in talks with Colorado for his rights, Feaster decided to go bold and signed O’Reilly to an offer sheet instead. The deal was signed on Feb. 28… as the Avalanche were in town to visit the Flames. It made a ton of sense for the Flames’ interests and O’Reilly’s… if not for an odd quirk in the CBA.

A monumental match by the Avalanche

I’m aware that not everybody’s as big a CBA nerd as I am, so let’s talk through this together.
The Flames signed O’Reilly to a two year offer sheet with a $5 million AAV. Under the league’s rules that year, that would have entitled the Avalanche to Calgary’s first and third-round picks in the 2013 NHL Draft had they not matched. They did match the offer sheet, announcing such during their game against the Flames. (Colorado won 5-4, completely ruing the Flames’ night.)
But it turns out that Colorado matching was the good outcome for the Flames.
Here’s what then-Sportsnet reporter Chris Johnston wrote the following day:
In a bizarre twist to an already unusual story, Sportsnet.ca has discovered that the Flames were not only in danger of losing 2013 first- and third-round draft picks as compensation if the Avs hadn’t matched the O’Reilly contract, but they also would likely have had to surrender the player before ever getting him in uniform.
That’s because O’Reilly would have needed to clear waivers before joining the team’s roster.
So here’s the deal: within the 2005 CBA, there’s a provision in Section 13.23 regarding waivers:
“13.23: In the event a professional or former professional Player plays in a league outside North America after the start of the NHL Regular Season, other than on Loan from his Club, he may thereafter play in the NHL during that Playing Season (including Playoffs) only if he has first either cleared or been obtained via Waivers. For the balance of the Playing Season, any such Player who has been obtained via Waivers may be Traded or Loaned only after again clearing Waivers or through Waiver claim.”
In short: if a player had played in Europe after the NHL season began, they couldn’t join any NHL team before clearing waivers. During the 2012-13 lockout the rule was amended slightly, with the new CBA’s Summary of Terms (dated Jan. 10, 2013) stating the following amendment:
“All Players on a Club’s Reserve List and Restricted Free Agent List will be exempt from the application of CBA 13.23 Waivers in the case of a mid-season signing.
For further clarity, if Club A trades such a Player to Club B and Club B signs the Player to an SPC, such Player will be exempt from the application of CBA 13.23.”
In other words, under the terms of the new CBA – and reflected in the summary document circulated to teams – a player couldn’t join a new NHL team if they had played in Europe after the start of the NHL season, though they could sign with an NHL team that already owned their rights. Johnston noted that O’Reilly had played two games with Magnitigorsk after the NHL season had begun, and since he would be joining a new team (the Flames) had Colorado not matched the offer sheet, he would have been required to go through waivers to join the Flames.
For what it’s worth, in subsequent reporting – a lot of it by Johnston, who was all over this story – initially none of the Flames, Avalanche, the NHL or O’Reilly’s agent were aware that this obscure rule would have applied at the time of the signing. Based on the letter of the law it would have – rules don’t suddenly stop applying just because you forgot about them – but this goes to show you how obscure this rule was.
But, again, for what it’s worth, this rule, slightly modified, remains on the books in the most recent CBA.

Disaster averted

For the sake of discussion, let’s imagine an alternate reality where Colorado general manager Greg Sherman wasn’t keen on O’Reilly anymore after he signed the offer sheet. He waits the CBA-mandated seven days and declines to match the offer sheet. O’Reilly would have become property of the Flames on Mar. 7 and immediately been placed on waivers.
Colorado would have received the Flames’ first and third-round picks in the 2013 NHL Draft – the picks were sixth and 67th overall, respectively. Waiver priority at that point in the season was based on the inverse order of the overall standings, meaning that the last-place Florida Panthers would have had first crack at claiming O’Reilly – and probably claimed him.
Colorado was third in waiver priority and it’s unclear if they would have been eligible to claim O’Reilly if he had somehow gotten past Florida or Columbus ahead of then. (We can’t find anything in the CBA that would have forbidden it.) That certainly would have been the worst-case scenario for the Flames – offer-sheeting a player and somehow losing the player and two draft choices to the team they signed him away from due to an obscure CBA clause.
In this reality, the Flames didn’t get O’Reilly and, failing to get traction in the standings, began their teardown when they traded Jarome Iginla to the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the trade deadline. Perhaps this offer sheet saga will turn out differently for the Oilers.