Offer sheets are entertaining when you’re watching from afar, but would you enjoy it if a player from the Maple Leafs received an offer sheet?
Well, that could be a possibility this off-season, according to DailyFaceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
On Wednesday, the NHL insider released a list of seven players who are offer sheet candidates this summer. Third on the list is Maple Leafs defenceman Rasmus Sandin.
From Seravalli:
“Sandin probably isn’t the first player you think of when you think about offer sheets, but an opportunity exists to get a quality player who can slide into your top six. Toronto’s cap crunch is obvious. Every $100,000 counts for the Leafs. With a new two-year, $1.4 million AAV deal for Timothy Liljegren, you can ballpark that Sandin is roughly in the same neighborhood for pay, though they play on opposite sides. An untimely regular season injury made him an easy candidate for healthy scratch in the playoffs, but the Leafs still view Sandin as having more upside than Liljegren. It probably wouldn’t take that much for the Leafs to walk away (by necessity). Would a one-year deal at $4.2 million be enough to get the job done? Compensation would be just a second-round pick. Even if it doesn’t work, for a division or conference rival, it would complicate life for the Leafs.”
Now the chances of this happening aren’t huge, but there’s always a possibility that the 22-year-old defenceman receives an offer. We’ve only seen it once in recent memory and that’s when the Carolina Hurricanes offered Jesperi Kotkaniemi a one-year, $6.1 million deal last summer.
The Canadiens didn’t match the offer and were awarded first and third round picks in return for the forward signing elsewhere.
This is what the compensation will look like this season if any team were to offer sheet an opposing team’s RFA (via CapFriendly.com):
| ANNUAL AVERAGE (AAV) VALUE | Compensation |
|---|---|
| $1 – $1,386,490 | No Compensation |
| $1,386,491 – $2,100,742 | 1 Third Round Pick |
| $2,100,743 – $4,201,488 | 1 Second Round Pick |
| $4,201,489 – $6,302,230 | 1 First Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick |
| $6,302,231 – $8,402,975 | 1 First Round Pick 1 Second Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick |
| $8,402,976 – $10,503,720 | 2 First Round Picks 1 Second Round Pick 1 Third Round Pick |
| $10,503,721+ | 4 First Round Picks |
Earlier this week, I wrote about Timothy Liljegren’s signing with the Maple Leafs and that Sandin should receive something similar. But as Seravalli notes above, there’s always a chance one team swoops in and tries to pry the 22-year-old away.
A few organizations already enjoy getting Toronto’s goalies off of waivers, so what would stop them from wanting to mess up the Maple Leafs’ plans even more with an offer sheet?
Sandin will likely have a much bigger role this coming season with Toronto, possibly even playing top-four minutes. If the Maple Leafs want to eliminate the possibility of another team coming in, they should sign the 22-year-old as soon as possible.
GM Kyle Dubas and the team have until July 12th before other teams can speak with Sandin (if he’s not signed already), and then offer sheets can be handed out once July 13th hits.
Other interesting players on Seravalli’s list include goaltender Jake Oettinger, defenceman Noah Dobson, and defenceman Sean Durzi.
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