CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins extended a qualifying offer to Kasperi Kapanen ahead of Monday's 5 p.m. deadline, the Penguins announced.
Danton Heinen did not receive a qualifying offer and will be an unrestricted free agent on July 13. Heinen (like Kapanen) had arbitration rights had he been qualified.
This doesn't mean that Heinen is guaranteed to walk in free agency. It's not uncommon to see teams pass on extending qualifying offers to avoid potential arbitration, then later sign the player to a new contract. That seems to be the case with Heinen. His qualifying offer only would have been $1.1 million, but he likely could have been awarded a contract with a significantly higher cap hit in arbitration.
I'm told that Heinen is open to being flexible with salary for the right term on a potential contract.
Kapanen and Heinen were the Penguins' only two restricted free agents from the NHL roster.
Kapanen is not yet under contract, and he does not have to sign the qualifying offer. Extending the qualifying offer only ensures that the Penguins retain Kapanen's rights. He certainly could sign that qualifying offer and play on that contract, or he and the Penguins could continue to negotiate. Once the July 13 free agency window opens, other teams could extend Kapanen an offer sheet for any length or value of contract if he remains unsigned by that period. If another team does submit an offer sheet and Kapanen accepts it, the Penguins could either match that offer sheet and sign Kapanen to that same contract, or they could refuse, and Kapanen would sign with the other team, which would have to pay the Penguins draft pick compensation if the average annual value of the contract exceeds $1,386,490.
Kapanen does have salary arbitration rights this offseason, but if he would elect salary arbitration, he would be ineligible to receive any offer sheets.
In case you missed it, I wrote this story in May on why it would make sense for the Penguins to qualify Kapanen. The actual terms of the qualifying offer are not made public, but with the way Kapanen's previous contract was structured, we know it has to be between $840,000 and $1 million in value, for one year, one-way.
Of the Penguins' prospects who were restricted free agents only defenseman P.O Joseph and forward Kasper Bjorkqvist received qualifying offers. Bjorkqvist has already signed in Finland for next season, but extending him a qualifying offer allows the Penguin to retain his North American rights in the event he does choose to come back within the next three years.
Forward prospects Justin Almeida, Jordy Bellerive, and Jan Drozg, defensemen Niclas Almari, Cam Lee, and Will Reilly, and goaltender Alex D’Orio did not receive qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents. That doesn't preclude the Penguins from eventually signing them to a contract, but it's unlikely.
Alex Nylander was set to be a restricted free agent as well, but the Penguins re-signed him prior to the 5 p.m. deadline.
Qualifying offers are one year in length, and there are minimum requirements when it comes to what a qualifying offer must include. If a player's base salary in the prior season is at least $1 million, the qualifying offer must be worth at least 100% of what that prior base salary was. If the base salary the prior year was less than $1 million, then the qualifying offer must be worth 105% of that previous base salary, with the stipulation that the qualifying offer can't exceed $1 million. For players with at least 180 total NHL games over the last three seasons, or 60 games in the previous season, or a player who did not clear waivers the previous season, the qualifying offer also must be a one-way deal.
