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

Finding a team with the assets and cap space

Other than getting a player to agree to sign an offer sheet, the biggest hurdle any team has to overcome when it comes to getting an offer sheet done is compensation.

Sure if a team has a chance to steal a player like Matthews or Connor McDavid they would definitely consider it but it’s easier said than done. If a team signed a player to $10,148,302 deal, they would have to pay the maximum compensation of four first-round draft picks.

Now in the case of Nylander, any team who would want to sign him to an offer sheet would want to get him in the $6,088,980 to $8,118,641 because they would only have to give up a first, second and third round picks. Anything more than that would force a team into the next tier where the compensation is two first round picks as well as a second and third.

Josh Wegman of the Score wrote recently that the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes would be two ideal teams to sign Nylander to an offer sheet. There’s certainly an argument to made for both teams to consider it but there’s a reason why it wouldn’t be ideal for them.

Let’s start with Colorado, one benefit for them is owning the Ottawa Senator’s first round pick which is most likely going to be a lottery pick so they can give up their first rounder in a trade or in this case an offer sheet.  They also have $12 million in cap space this season which is enough to fit Nylander in this season but it starts to get tricky after that.

If Colorado signs Nylander to the reported deal he’s seeking, they still have to get Mikko Rantanen‘s contract sorted out (he’s an RFA after this season)  and after he put up an 84 point season last season he isn’t going to be a cheap contract. On top of that, they’ll probably want to upgrade their blueline down the road which could get difficult if they have a lot of money tied up to their forwards and let’s not forget that the player needs to agree to sign.

Luckily for them, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog are signed to team-friendly deals but eventually, they’ll be in for pay raises so Colorado can’t just be throwing money to an RFA like Nylander without thinking about the impact it has down the road.

Carolina is a team that doesn’t make as much sense given their new ownership and they just picked second overall, it might not be the right time to do an offer sheet. People think Nylander could work out for Carolina as a centre which would be a lot to ask considering how he hasn’t shown the ability to play as a top-six centre yet.

Let’s not forget their goaltending hasn’t been good enough to get them into the playoffs and if they can’t continue to score, they could be in some trouble. So is it worth the risk to give up a first round pick and pay Nylander that much money when your team isn’t exactly knocking on the door as a contender? Probably not but he does get you closer.

While Colorado looks like a team that’s capable of putting out an offer sheet for Nylander, the fact that they haven’t done it yet should be a more telling sign.