Tough call...big decision..I dont know b'y...
- Fruitcakenipple

Get off the fence b'y! Lard tunder'in Geezus! Fuk sakes!

There's so many people talking offer sheets, I wouldn't be surprised if someone offer sheeted Jake Muzzin with 1 year remaining on his deal when he's 30 years old at this point...

What GM --- guy at the local GM dealership (Bob) or maybe Chia. Lol

Who is worth 4 first rounders? Nobody..including Matthews or Marner.
How does a team avoid paying 4 first rounders? Offer sheet the RFA to a lesser value contract....that the other team can match in their sleep. MOVE ALONG FOLKS. NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

This article was pretty good, speculative, sure, but I wouldn't crap on Ek for discussing what is becoming a distinct possibility for teams who are too covetous of their roster players when entering serious salary crunches. See: Toronto, Winnipeg among others. It's not the Laines or Marners they need to worry about. It's the Kapanens, Johnssons, Roslovics, Copps and Lemieuxs, all of whom would probably sign a 4*4 or 4*3 deal (and for some much less, IE 3RD rounder cost ~2M) at his stage of their careers, and 2-4 for players that have been basically playing buried on third and fourth lines on deep teams. It's not that they aren't worth the pick value - it's that the team can't absorb an extra hit on the books, especially if they are trying to negotiate big star contracts. This is why any offer sheets that do emerge should be issued day 1 of FA before dotted lines have been signed.

But the one thing I am surprised nobody has mentioned in 70+ comments (unless buried in one of those ridiculous essays) is this: offer sheets never happen, because GMs consider it a Richard move. Unless you want to be persona non grata in the GM club (or already are, like Pierre Dorion), you don't make them. And history shows despite speculation, they're exceedingly rare, especially recently.

The only offer sheet strategy that is effective is to offer sheet a good-not-great player on a team that's up agsinst the cap & has multiple RFAs to pay. Look for teams with large bonus payouts after the season. One of two things will happen:
A) the team declines to match, & you get a solid player locked up.
B) the team matches, but is forced to make other players available cuz they can't afford them.

Case in point:

In 2010 San Jose liked Niklas Hjalmarsson & Antti Niemi, so they signed Hjalmarsson to a 4yr $14mil offer sheet. Chicago matched, but they also had $4mil in roster bonuses to pay out which ate cap space. Niemi was awarded $2.75 mil in arbitration, & Chicago couldn't afford it, so they walked away, making him a UFA . San Jose pounced on him.

Its hard to say if any teams might be in a similar situation this year, but for instance, Calgary has 8 RFA/UFA players comin up this offseason & only $13 mil currently in cap space next year:

Tkachuk (925k)
Bennett ($1.95m)
Rittich (800k)

Those 3 are gonna be due a pay bump. Matthew Tkachuk is gonna get his from CGY ($5-7mil long term). Rittich is gonna get a helluva raise, based on how he's played for them ($3-4mil). That leaves Sam Bennett. He's no superstar, but he's a good young player.

With Tkachuk & Rittich eating $8-10 mil of that $13 mil space, plus 4-5 more spots on the roster to fill, plus any roster bonuses, then Bennett gets pricy.
If a team signs him to, say, a 4yr $14mil offer sheet, Calgary either matches & has to sacrifice a different player, weakening their team.....
Or they don't match & your team gains a good young player for only a 2nd round pick in compensation.

Either way, it's a negative for the Flames.

Too bad all these GMs are buddy-buddy & dont wanna hurt each other's feelings.

The player needs to make it to July 1... Possible.
The team needs all four of the 1st round picks... A few teams eliminated.
The team needs to have the cap space... Many teams eliminated.
The offer sheeting team won’t want their youth sheeted... Every team.
The sheeting team better not be a bottom tier team... More teams eliminated.
The player needs to want to play for “X team”... More teams eliminated.
The player needs to have the guts to sign the sheet... Some player won’t.

There’s a reason why only have handful of offer sheets have taken place. It makes it even less appealing to offer and sign sheets now that only seven years can be offered.

lmfaooooo

FIRST!!!








any habs rumors?!?






nuff said

Where's all the hot, greasy roomers today! Who cares about the Stupidbowl! We need ROOMERS!!!!

Where's all the hot, greasy roomers today! Who cares about the Stupidbowl! We need ROOMERS!!!!
- NewfieStud

Paul Byron to Preds for 2 high end defense prospects. E4

The Leafs CANT match an offer-sheet of 11 million for Marner if they want to keep Matthews - the Leafs don't have the cap space, and they won't have the time to create cap space via trade (and get equal value back) to make it work before July 1st FA season begins.

Toronto has 13 players signed through next season and $19,224,301 in cap space to sign at least 10 players.. I mean Matthews and Marner will be at least $25,000,000 combined.. Yea I know the cap may rise - but not even remotely close to help the Leafs predicament.

Sure, Shanahan can sign Matthews to a 15M per deal, however if he does - he won't have the space to sign Marner so cap dumps will have to be made before the July 1st FA season... If Shanahan is smart (and I question that given the fact he put the Leafs in cap hell in just one season) he would be working on deals to make this summer right now...

The Leafs are totally screwed and I could absolutely see one of Matthews or Marner receive offer-sheets.... Is $15,000,000 and 4 first round draft picks too much for Matthews? the salary is right and grabbing a talent like Matthews for 4 first round picks would be considered a steal.... Of course Matthews and Marner don't have to sign any contract - however come July 1st one of them or both will remain unsigned unless Shanahan has profound cost-cutting trades in place to get the Leafs the cap space they need to sign both before FA season opens July 1st.. And you better believe if both are unsigned, or either one of them is unsigned GM's will be targeting them with fat 7-year contracts.

And if it happens I will LMAO because Shanahan put himself in this position when he went out and signed Tavares knowing full well that Matthews, Marner and Nylander were owed significant contracts....... And even IF the Leafs are able to somehow retain Marner and Matthews, what kinda team are they going to have? they'll have a significant amount of cap space wrapped up in a handful of players. Sure the Leafs will have a few superstar players, but they'll have no one of quality to play with.

Look, there is no way to have Matthews, Marner, Nylander & Tavares all signed and still have quality depth..... The only way would be if both Matthews and Marner take a "discount" but that's not going to happen - this is their opportunity to cash in and be set for life, and have their children set for life - so they're not going to take 2-3 million less per year over 8+ years than what their market value is. That is 8-24 million right there...

So yes, I'm 100% certain that if either or both Marner and Matthews are unsigned July 1st they will absolutely get offer-sheets, weather or not they sign them can be debated however they will receive them.... I could see a team offering Matthews 15 + million per and Marner 11-12 million...And that kind of money is hard to turn down. Keep in mind that at the end of the day and regardless of what fans think - hockey is a business, and yes I understand hockey players take "sweetheart deals" aka "hometown discounts" however only AFTER they've made their money, after their prime they take those discounts.

I could care less if Toronto makes it work or if they don't, however simple math tells me they're in the worst "cap hell" of any team since the implementing of the salary cap..... Is it possible to keep both Marner and Matthews? absolutely but at the sacrifice of defense, depth and secondary scoring.

IMO, Shanahan should have traded Nylander for a young defenseman on an ELC with star/superstar potential that's NHL ready - and he still could - however guys like Marleau, Kadri, Zaitsev or even Rielly are as good as gone just to make room for Matthews and Marner not to mention Gardiner as well... And what does Shanahan do? he goes out and trades for Muzzin who will carry a cap hit of 4 million next year. It's abundantly clear that he doesn't care about the future, he's gone all in on this season. I assume the logic among Toronto brass is that if Toronto wins the Cup that it was all worth it....

If Toronto doesn't win the Cup this will be one of the biggest fails in NHL history.. Calling what Shanahan & corp did "reckless" would be an understatement. What Shanahan potentially did was throw a bright future away for ONE SHOT to win the Cup.. Had Shanahan not signed Tavares the Leafs would have had a shot at the Cup for the next decade - now it's one season before the band breaks up..

If it matters, even before the Leafs signed Tavares I suggested to Toronto fans that signing him would be a good idea if Nylander was traded for market value in return, and when I suggested that many Leafs fans said the logical thing "how will we be able to retain Marner and Matthews then?" and now it's "don't worry folks, everything will be fine - hometown discounts for everyone"..

And those whom are saying "don't worry folks, everything will be fine" are living in a delusion, lol..

So yes indeed I can see offer-sheets handed out like candy on Halloween, especially to Matthews and or Marner...
- Savard2Secord

Toronto has 30 million in capspace once the cap increases and you factor out the Horton Contract

Matthews @ 12 million, and Marner @ 11 million leaves 7 million

They would currently have 9 forwards, 5 Defenseman and 1 Goalie (including Matthews/Marner)

Gardiners gone
Kapanens gone unless they move Marleau (maybe back to San Jose with salary retained)
Sparks or Backup goalie will be cheap
They have a bunch of youth in the pipeline that will come up on ELCs, or Vets (Like Ennis) that will play for the league minimum

They'll be fine

Does your ass ever get jealous of your mouth when that much poop comes out of it?
- muffin_man

Toronto has 30 million in capspace once the cap increases and you factor out the Horton Contract

Matthews @ 12 million, and Marner @ 11 million leaves 7 million

They would currently have 9 forwards, 5 Defenseman and 1 Goalie (including Matthews/Marner)

Gardiners gone
Kapanens gone unless they move Marleau (maybe back to San Jose with salary retained)
Sparks or Backup goalie will be cheap
They have a bunch of youth in the pipeline that will come up on ELCs, or Vets (Like Ennis) that will play for the league minimum

They'll be fine
- RoloTahmasee

the dream of every leaf fan but not happening. you bought him for 3 yrs you get him for 3 yrs

the dream of every leaf fan but not happening. you bought him for 3 yrs you get him for 3 yrs
- vols94

you've been funding the Joe Thornton retirement tour for years now, You'll take Marleau back for one last lap at 3 million and you know it

what a terrible analogy for offer sheets lmfao

you've been funding the Joe Thornton retirement tour for years now, You'll take Marleau back for one last lap at 3 million and you know it
- RoloTahmasee

Don't think it is about money at this point fort Patty. He's had a long financially prosperous career. Seems to be a big family man, moving the wife and kids across the continent.

Patty will play out his final year then resign for 2.5-3 / one year