An excerpt from TSN:

One week after the Vancouver Canucks signed restricted free agent forward David Backes to an offer sheet, the St. Louis Blues have struck back.

The Blues signed Group II free agent forward Steve Bernier to an offer sheet worth $2.5 million for next season, which the Canucks have seven days to match. If they don’t, Vancouver receives St. Louis’ second round draft choice in 2009.

Gillis added that he bore no ill will towards the Blues for the signing.

“We have a great deal of respect for the St. Louis Blues, John Davidson, Larry Pleau and their management team, said Gillis. “The offer sheet to Bernier is a clear indication of how highly Steve is thought of in our league.”

Habster:

Payback is a bitch and now the Canucks/Mike Gillis have to deal with it. Steve Bernier and his agent are laughing all the way to the bank as Bernier made $850,000 last season which is a far cry from $2.5 million.

The St. Louis Blues have nothing substantial to lose with a 2009 2nd round pick going to the Canucks if they decide not to sign Bernier which is highly improbable.

The Vancouver Canucks have tons of cap space ($16,569,167 to be exact) and money shouldn’t be an issue but you got to love the mind games and revenge factor involved here.

I can’t imagine what Brian Burke is thinking about this situation, too bad there’s a gag order on him……though I’m sure he has a similar plan in place when one of Kevin Lowe’s talented young players becomes a RFA, maybe a Sam Gagner or a Andrew Cogliano.

In the end, the “RFA revenge game” will become common place until the 30 NHL GMs can sit down and play nice. When they finally come to the realization that signing RFAs to offer sheets benefits nobody except the players and agents.