What Happens If Golden Knights Make an Offer on Oettinger

Jim Nill made a big priority for the Dallas Stars this offseason when the offseason started. That huge priority was getting Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson to sign new extensions to stay with the Dallas Stars. However, things might get super interesting right before training camp. The Las Vegas Golden Knights just lost Robin Lehner for the season and are in the market for a new goalie. Let me tell you more what i’m afraid of that could happen if the Stars don’t extend Oettinger soon.

Jake Oettinger: What is a Qualifying Offer?

I know a lot of Blackout Dallas readers already know what a Restricted Free Agent Offer Sheet is. For those who don’t know what it means, basically another team can offer Jake Oettinger a contract since he is a RFA this offseason.

Here is the scenario that I’m afraid of might happen as training camp comes closer. Vegas starts looking around the free agent goalies and aren’t impressed with who’s available. Then they start looking at RFA goalies and see Jake Oettinger available. They offer him an 8 year deal worth 11 million a year, which the Stars can’t match since they have 10.3 million left . The Stars would decline matching the offer since we don’t have the cap space and lose Jake Oettinger’s rights to the Knights.

If the Stars were to decline a qualifying offer from the Golden Knights, they would still walk away with a bunch of draft picks from the Golden Knights. The bad news is they would be stuck with Anton Khudobin and Scott Wedgewood going into the 2022-23 season.

I also brought this scenario up because if the Stars were to match the offer sheet for Otter, Jason Robertson would probably be swooped up by another team with a offer sheet. The Stars wouldn’t even be able to match it with the remaining cap space.

Jake Oettinger:  Why the Golden Knights might avoid Oettinger

The reason why I don’t see the Knights signing Jake Oettinger to a deal is they are already over the cap space. Right now according to CapFriendly, they are close to 6 million over the cap space after signing Nicolas Roy to an extension.

They still have two RFA’s that they need to sign and that will add a lot more cap space. So for right now, I think that the Golden Knights will see if they have another goaltender ready in training camp to be Logan Thompson’s backup.

Jake Oettinger:  Conclusion

Now I’m not trying to scare you that Vegas could come after Oettinger. I just want you to be ready in case if another team does give Oettinger an offer sheet and he accepts it. I still believe Jim Nill will get Robertson and Otter under new deals before camp starts. With the way it’s going between the Stars and Oettinger’s camp now, its not looking like things are moving in the right direction. Jim Nill will have to decide whether to keep Robertson or Oettinger if he can’t lock down either player.