Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 reasons why there’s no need to worry about offer sheets

The player has to agree to sign the offer sheet

While people are can talk about Matthews being offered an eight-year offer sheet for $15-million from a team like the Arizona Coyotes, at the end of the day the player has to agree to sign it.

Would it be tempting? Absolutely, but one factor the player will need to consider if he were to sign it is if the team offering the deal is worth moving to? Considering the position the Leafs are in as contenders, the right team would have to step up and offer the player exactly what they want.

Looking at the recent history, the players who signed their deals clearly wanted to get their value and found this the best route to get a deal done. There are cases where a player benefits from signing an offer sheet like Shea Wever who got a 14-year $110 million offer from the Philadelphia Flyers but had it matched by the Nashville Predators and now he’s financially set for the remainder of his career.

So why wouldn’t more NHL players consider this? Well, for the most part, teams try to get their top players signed before that becomes a possibility and it’s rare that a player coming out of their entry level doesn’t get what they’re looking for.

If the player really wants to take the offer sheet, they have to weigh all the different outcomes especially the repercussions it can have down the road as some players have been traded not long after signing an offer sheet so they should be certain that’s the route they want to go down.