Although on occasion teams have tabled offers to restricted free agents (RFAs), it doesn’t make sense to do so. When the collective agreement was being negotiated, the owners made sure that the price would be very steep for those who tried to grab another team’s RFA. The chart below sets out the compensation for signing RFAs and its based on the salary offered to the player.
| Amount | Compensation Due |
| $863,156 or less | None |
| $863,156 - $1,307,811 | 3rd round pick |
| $1,307,811 - $2,615,623 | 2nd round pick |
| $2,615,623 - $3,923,434 | 1st and 3rd round pick |
| $3,923,434 - $5,231,246 | 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick |
| $5,231,246 - $6,539,061 | Two 1st's, one 2nd, one 3rd round pick |
| $6,539,061 or more | Four 1st round picks |
I can’t think of any RFAs for which I would be willing to give up 3 or 4 draft picks. If you take a player like Anaheim’s Corey Perry or Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter, it would take a huge offer to convince their existing team to not match the offer. That would have to be well over their market value so it would be in excess of $7 million per year. They just aren’t worth giving up 4 first round draft picks in particular if you rely on those picks to rebuild.
Which leads to the question why did the Leafs waive Kyle Wellwood and not let another team sign him as a RFA? In order to retain his rights, the Leafs would have to make a qualifying offer which I believe might have to be no less than 10% what he was being paid this year ($855,000?). The risk is that he might actually accept it. And the type of contract that Wellwood might attract even if he were to reject the Leafs offer would not bring much compensation if any.
