Sandinista

Team: 2022-23 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 30, 2022

Published: Aug. 30, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

So, this is obviously a fantasy exercise since offer sheets are just something we've all collectively imagined and never get used in real life, there's your caveat.

Sandin's value probably should be in the $1.5-1.8M range, so this is a slight overpay, but that's what an offer sheet should be. It's basically the ceiling of the 3rd round range, which normally would be an instant match, but it's tough to see how Toronto could get there.

CF has the Leafs at $83.993M of cap hit right now with 14 F, 6 D, and 2 G. No one currently eligible for LTIR. They can easily drop two forwards (Kyle Clifford/Joey Anderson) to save $1.512M and get their cap hit down to $82.481M and be under the cap with a bare-minimum 20-man roster. I legitimately do not know what they could do to find any other money - if they match Sandin at $2.1M, they need to ship out the same amount in exact dollars. Moving Justin Holl wouldn't do it; the only guy who has no trade protections and enough cap would be Pierre Engvall - who you'd then have to find a way to replace.

At the very least, OSing Rasmus Sandin is going to make Kyle Dubas' September super annoying. And if he decides he doesn't want that headache, I think Sandin is a clear upgrade over the Salo/Aho/Cholowski trio at LD3 and more than worth a 3rd rounder.

TRADE
-With the assumption that Sandin is in house, Salo becomes expendable to me. He's going to be a good player, sure! But with Pelech/Romanov/Sandin on the depth chart, he's a man without a home. I think finding a lottery team with a hole at LD will be a good way to offload Josh Bailey's 2x$5M as well; I picked Chicago because their LD depth chart so far is Jake McCabe/Jack Johson/Caleb Jones right now. Yikes! I could see this being a framework for a Bailey move elsewhere though, depending on what team would have an interest in Salo.

SIGNINGS
-Had a friend who saw Scotty Mayfield chatting up Sonny Milano at a charity game a couple weeks ago. SCOOPZ!!! HE'S COMING HOME!!!!!!

I like this team! Toronto fans hate this team! It's August 30th and we've got at least 2-3 weeks until real hockey news starts happening again so let's have fun!!!