So the RFA trivk is

[billybaseball]

Let top prospects burn a year of elc at the end of a season so when they become an RFA they aren't offer sheet eligible. Like the Blues did with Snuggerud. Definitely feel better that he's not OS eligible next offseason.

[STL fan in MN]

Yep. They’re due that big raise one year sooner that way but they’re then not offer sheet eligible because they don’t have 3 accrued seasons in the league AND that next contract is based off of 1-2 years of experience instead of 2-3. If the kid really pops in that 3rd year, he’s going to be that much more expensive.

Sort of a double edged sword but this is why teams stopped caring too much when college kids want to burn that first year of their contracts - it ends up working in their favor a lot of the time.