Report: Carolina’s Edvinsson Offer Sheet Wasn’t Just About Carolina

Defenseman Simon Edvinsson is still an unsigned restricted free agent. The Detroit Red Wings have until Dec. 1 to sign him, or to trade him to a team that will. If he is still unsigned past that date, he cannot play in the NHL this season .

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet added a detail this week about how close Edvinsson came to leaving in the summer. In his latest 32 Thoughts column , Friedman wrote, "I mentioned on a previous pod that Carolina, which has a history of threatening offer sheets, did so with Edvinsson. My understanding is it was right around July 1, and may have contained an added twist: they were going to trade him to a third team. Obviously, that didn't happen, and I have no information this was re-visited any time after Detroit's GM change."

The Hurricanes Were Not Planning to Keep Simon Edvinsson

The wrinkle here is not that Carolina wanted Edvinsson. Plenty of teams do. It is that the Hurricanes, by Friedman's account, were lining up a second move before the first one was even made. An offer sheet is a contract a rival club hands directly to a restricted free agent; Detroit could match it and keep him, or decline and take draft-pick compensation. Carolina never filed one, and Friedman said he has no information the idea was revisited after Detroit changed general managers. Shawn Horcoff is now running the front office on an interim basis. The third team was never identified.

It would have been a bold piece of business on a player Detroit still counts on. Edvinsson played 72 games for Detroit last season, scoring nine goals with 16 assists and a plus-12 rating. He is 23 years old. Detroit and Carolina were already linked by the offer-sheet threat itself ; the plan to flip him is new.

The Sharks and Red Wings Have Talked Extensively

Carolina is not the only team in this. The Hockey News reported Oct. 27 that St. Louis, Philadelphia, Utah, Toronto and Boston have all shown interest , with Friedman saying there is "a lot of interest in Simon Edvinsson" and that "the talks there are really picking up." Detroit, he added, has been asking those teams about young centers.

San Jose belongs on that list too. Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast this week that the Sharks and Red Wings "have talked about Edvinsson pretty extensively," while adding that he is not sure what San Jose is willing to do. He did not get into what an offer would look like.

The complication is down the middle. Center Alexander Wennberg is week to week with an upper-body injury , which leaves San Jose thinner at the position right when Detroit is shopping for one. If the Red Wings want a young center such as Michael Misa, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, the Sharks may not want to part with him. Macklin Celebrini is off limits in any trade. San Jose does have the prospect depth to get something done if it wants to.

Carolina Still Has Reason to Make the Offer Sheet

At this point the Hurricanes should maybe just offer sheet Edvinsson anyway and see whether Detroit matches. What do they have to lose? They are the defending Stanley Cup champions and they sit first in the Metropolitan Division at 11-2-2 . If Edvinsson does not want to be with the Red Wings anymore, Carolina would be an ideal place for him to land.