For years Vancouver fans lamented going after Messier instead of Sakic that off season, but I doubt they could have come up with a harder to match offer than the Rags.
One thing not mentioned is Forsberg was originally in the off season as well and there was speculation of separate teams off sheeting them or successive offer sheets. Forsberg signed a friendly extension in the off season for three years. Since it graduated from $2M to $4M to $6M the Avalanche had less money tied up short term and more to match on Sakic.
Anyway losing Messier and losing out on Sakic, set of the trend of the Rangers trying to unsuccessfully buy their way into the playoffs. It got pretty annoying in Colorado because near annually they signed UFAs from here. They signed Keane (before the Sakic offer sheet), Lefevre, Kamensky, Fluery, Devries and Kasparitus from the Avalanche and couldn't get so much as an 8th seed.