For example, if a restricted free agent accepts a contract with a yearly salary of at least $10,148,303 or more, the team can only offer to other restricted free agents contracts less than $4,059,323 per year, since those would not require any first round pick as compensation.
Prior to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, teams could spend as much or as little as they wanted, therefore most offer sheets were matched.
[4] This also leads to teams signing their own players to long-term contracts before they are eligible for restricted free agency, possibly locking them in at a lower rate than they will have to pay later, depending on each player's future performance; contracts cannot be renegotiated under the current CBA.
[7] Penner, Kotkaniemi, Holloway, and Broberg are also the only players since 1997 (Chris Gratton) to change teams via an offer sheet.
If an offer sheet is not executed, the player's rights revert to his old club the day after negotiations must end.