Pittsburgh Penguins History With Offer Sheets

The St. Louis Blues turned a relatively quiet month of August into a media circus when they acquired Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers via an offer sheet.

It was the first offer sheet in the NHL since Jesperi Kotkaniemi's deal in 2021. 

Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins haven't been involved in the offer sheet business for 33 years, this latest newsworthy moment got us thinking back to the club's only two times dealing with the fallout of an offer sheet.

Sept. 25, 1991: Boston Bruins Offer Sheet Kevin Stevens

Kevin Stevens is from Brockton, MA, and attended Boston College. A sixth-round pick in 1983, he was traded to the Penguins just a few months after the draft.

He didn't debut until 1987-88 and, within two seasons, was a 29-goal scorer. In 1990-91, the year Pittsburgh would win its first of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, Stevens scored 40 goals and had 86 points in 80 games.

His hometown, Boston Bruins, called on Sept. 25, 1991, and signed Stevens to an offer sheet valued at $5.375 million for five seasons.

Pittsburgh wisely matched the offer and watched Steven win another title in 1992, scoring 54 goals, and finish the season with 123 points. He wasn't even done yet, netting a career-high 55 goals in 1992-93 and collecting 111 points.

However, that was peak Stevens. After a scary incident in the 1993 Eastern Conference Final, he was never the same, and his point totals declined from 88 in 1994 to 27 in 1995.

By then, the Penguins dealt him home to the Bruins in August 1995. Stevens would go on to play with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers before returning to Pittsburgh in 2001 to finish his career in 2002.

Ultimately, the Penguins were wise to match the Bruins' offer, as Stevens was an important player in both the 1992 and 1993 seasons. Even though he never recouped the magic of those campaigns later in his career, he'll always be remembered for contributing to the franchise's first Stanley Cup wins.

August 1993: Marty McSorley Becames a Penguin for Second Time

Marty McSorley began his career with the Penguins in 1983. He became a Stanley Cup champion with the Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and 1988. In August 1988, he was part of the Wayne Gretzky deal, relocating to the Kings with The Great One.

After five seasons in Hollywood, including leading the NHL in penalty minutes in 1993 with 399, the Blues got McSorley to sign an offer sheet worth $10 million over five seasons.

The Kings matched the offer but immediately traded McSorley to the Penguins in exchange for Shawn McEachern. During his initial run with the club, he scored nine points in 87 games before collecting 21 in 47 contests in 1993-94.

His second stint with the club was short-lived as Pittsburgh dealt him back to Los Angeles for McEachern again in February 1994. 

Although fans would love to see the Penguins offer Nicholas Robertson of the Toronto Maple Leafs, history shows that the club doesn't like to get into the offer sheet business. It has only been part of the process once while dealing with the fallout of another.