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Islanders shouldn't use an offer sheet

July 7, 2019, 5:07 PM ET [209 Comments]
Ben Shelley
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Rumours of offer sheets around the NHL have been swirling for months now. It caught everyone’s attention at first– after all, you don’t see them come around very often. We got to see Montreal offer sheet Sebastian Aho, which got a reaction out of just about everyone right up until they read the numbers involved in the ill-fated attempt.

The New York Islanders have been linked to a Mitch Marner offer sheet for what seems like an eternity now. It’s the perfect story of revenge: Lou Lamoriello, replaced as general manager in Toronto moves to Long Island and within a month, loses his newly acquainted star player to the very man who replaced him in Toronto. Now, with that same general manager struggling to lock down his own star, it’s Lamoriello’s chance to strike back– except he shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t.

Look, there are times an offer sheet could make sense. Maybe a team feels they’re legitimately in win-now mode, couldn’t land a star in free agency and are willing to sacrifice future draft picks for the one piece they needed to make a run at the Cup now. The Islanders aren’t that team.



Not only is giving up four first-round picks pretty much signing away your future, it also destroys a team financially. Remember, New York would have to offer such a significant amount of money that a team is willing to let their star leave. Let’s say Mitch Marner is the target for a hypothetical Islander offer sheet. If New York isn’t willing to part with four first rounders, they can only offer up to about $10.5M per year. Though a bit steep, Toronto matches that and it’s moot. If the Islanders offer anything above that they may just get Marner but it’s a massive overpayment that would prevent them from adding any other future pieces. A couple days ago it was reported that a Marner offer sheet could come in at a $12.5M AAV. That’s absurd.

Ask yourself: Is this Islanders team, with the addition of Mitch Marner (or for that matter, Brayden Point, Mikko Rantanen, etc.) good enough to win a Stanley Cup without being able to load the cupboard with new prospects for the next four years? No, unfortunately it’s not. The lack of picks not only halt new prospects from entering the system, they prevent the team from being able to make any significant additions via trade without giving up roster players or current prospects. Essentially, being successful with an offer sheet means the Islanders are stuck with no financial room and few future assets for the foreseeable future, not to mention how difficult the task of re-signing Mathew Barzal (or even Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews) becomes.

There are scenarios where it could have worked– drive up a star’s price via offer sheet, forcing a team to match, then going after some smaller RFAs on the roster when the team is stuck with no cap space remaining. This isn’t really an option anymore though with any of the RFAs, as each team who could’ve been victim of an offer sheet essentially locked up the rest of their supporting cast of RFAs before it could ever come to that.

Though it would be an incredible act of revenge to offer sheet Mitch Marner, it’s nothing more than that- and neither an offer sheet to Marner nor anyone else would consider the Islanders' future.


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