Ehm.. a little reminder.. offersheets would never work in NHL. EVER..

Player who you sign offer sheet to can either accept or decline offer sheet which Im sure either Matthews and Marner would do. And now it stops for you. Nothing more..

Umm, little reminder for you, offer sheets have worked in the NHL in the past (see Shea Weber), it's just that most teams won't do them. And you're telling me Matthews and Marner will turn down 13m and 10m a year, respectively, to stay in TOR for significantly less money due to their impending CAP issues??

Yes they will turn down that offers. The thing is that they would get more money in Toronto.. why? Commercials and sponsors would be willing to get them so much more money without taxation in their contracts. Yes, Matthews would have 10mil dollar cap hit and Marner 7-8.. but they would double that on commercials and they already did commercials and other stuff. Also they are willing to take paycuts to win in toronto with JT.. if it was that easy to offer sheet players why havent some team offersheeted McDavid who is better than any player in the league? Why not offersheet Draisaitl? Offersheeting players just for stupid revenge is, from Islanders'standpoint, the stupidiest idea ever. And those 4 1st rounders could end up being suuch a good player.. so even if that scenario happens, Toronto likely wins by far.

Okay, #1 - McDavid and Draisaitl have never been in a situation where they COULD be given offer sheets - They were both signed to long term deals before reaching RFA status - so that argument is just plain stupid and has no merit. However, I guarantee you, if either of them had made it to where they could receive offer sheets, teams would have been lining up to submit offer sheets on both.

#2 - The offer sheet from the Isles perspective isn't a "revenge" scenario as you put forth... it's a simple matter of TOR has potentially handcuffed themselves in terms of CAP by signing JT in being able to sign BOTH Matthews and Marner in the SAME offseason, PLUS TOR needs to upgrade at D with Gardiner leaving soon as well.

As it has been speculated by MANY people and insiders throughout the NHL TOR is going to have a real problem with CAP trying to resign both, especially if the CAP doesn't continue to increase at the rate it did this year (which it likely won't). EVERY team in the NHL is salivating at the thought of submitting offer sheets on both Matthews and Marner next year because of the CAP situation in TOR.. hell, just look at some of the posts on this board to see that.

Obviously we won't know until next off season and this is purely speculation, but your dismissal of the idea simply because you think offer sheets "don't work in the NHL" and that both Matthews and Marner would leave significant money on the table to stay in TOR just because you brought in JT is quite simply ridiculous.

And WHEN teams do submit offer sheets on Matthews and/or Marner next year, whether it's the Isles or not, TOR isn't going to be able to keep both of them, sorry to break it to you bud.

AND on your last point, yes giving up 4 1st rounders would hurt, but with the amount of young talent the Isles have in their system AND drafted in this years draft, we may be bottom feeders for one year, two tops so 3 of those 4 picks are guarantees to NOT be top 10 picks, or even top 15 picks.

First of all.. Draisaitl was eligible for being offer sheeted since he signed his longterm deal in the summer he was RFA. McDavid was the other case and I realized that after. Sorry for that. But Draisaitl couldve been offer sheeted, so my argument wasnt stupid. I didnt saw any team lining up to offer sheet Draisaitl

Offer sheet from exactly Isles is clearly a not-so-well though revenge that would possibly destroy Islanders future. Not only you would get rid of 4 1st rounders that would be great 1st team players but you are also commiting yourself to massively overpaid contract which would not be worthy thats why it would be a revenge.. Well.. good luck with that.. that would be massive mistake and Lou doesnt make them..

Toronto hasnt handcuffed themselves. They would not have cap problems whatsoever trust me. They would get all 3 signed before the start of this season.

And even if they hit RFA status they would need to sign to an offer sheet and they would never do that. They must accept it first and that would not happen. If offer sheets worked perfectly what are you trying to say, wouldnt Mark Stone, Leon Draisaitl (who again was able to get offer sheeted), William Karlsson and other notable RFAs offersheeted by now? And its not ridiculous that they would leave money on table. They would leave money on table. You know who were the happiest people in Toronto when JT signed? Them.. Matthews is still so excited right now almost 3 weeks from signing JT. They would leave significant money on table to have chance of winning not only one SC in Toronto.

All-in-all.. it is ridiculous idea to offer sheet one of the Leafs stars because at the end.. Leafs would still win but try it, you can of course. But you will regret that

Dude, you really need to do some quick fact checking before making claims. A quick Google Search shows several teams were prepared to offer sheet Draisaitl, but EDM made it known publicly they would match ANY offer sheet made, so other then driving up EDM CAP there was no point in teams making offers. As for the others you mentioned, you may have a case for Mark Stone, but again, OTT has the CAP space to match ANY offer made for Stone and with already potentially losing Erik Karlsson, Matt Duchene and the contract of Bobby Ryan they would need to match any offer to stay above the CAP floor. William Karlsson is not an offer sheet candidate simply because you would need to overpay and no one is overpaying for a guy who has had 1 good year. Prior to putting up 70+ pts for VGK this past year, the guy was a 30-40 pt guy... I can understand teams not wanting to take the risk of an offer sheet on someone like that.

Matthews and Marner have both put up multiple 60+ pt seasons and would be well worthy of offer sheets come next offseason. And, again, the biggest point you are missing is that as of right now, TOR is going to have a hard time signing both long term to normal contracts, if someone throws an offer sheet at 1 or both of them, there is NO WAY TOR can keep both. Lets take a look at TOR's CAP situation:

- Currently TOR has a little under 15m available in CAP and that's with not having signed Nylander yet.
- Lets say Nylander signs for a modest 5m per season, that leaves TOR with just under 9m in CAP space
- The ONLY big salaries coming off TOR books next year are Gardiner at about 4m and Hainsey at 3m, so that gives TOR about 16m in CAP space if neither is brought back.
- Lets say the CAP rises another 4m next year, that gives TOR 20mil total CAP space - Matthews and Marner are going to cost about 17-20m just to sign them both to long term deals next year, which puts TOR at the CAP limit and still needing to resign several RFA's AND bring in 2 D-men... where and how are you doing that?

As the Isles learned this past year, having a good offense (theirs was one of the TOP offenses in the league with Tavares) and crappy defense (Isles had the worst defense in the league) doesn't make you a playoff team. TOR will be in the same boat next year if they blow their CAP on Matthews/Marner while letting Gardiner go AND not replacing him.

So, the Matthews/Marner situation next year is a PERFECT time for teams to Offer Sheet a player because teams and the rest of the hockey world (except apparently for Leafs fans) know that TOR CAN'T sign both of them, without long term detriment to the success of the team. The Isles on the other hand would be a young and upcoming team AND have PLENTY of CAP space to overpay for Marner AND add another top scorer (Panarin) AND still have enough CAP to improve D and Goaltending if need be.

And, once again, losing 4 1st rounders to a team perennially in the bottom half of the league would be a hard pill to swallow, absolutely... but for a team like the Isles, who may be bad next year, like really bad, even #1 overall next year... with the young guys they already have PLUS the young guys they have coming in the next year or two (all touted to be NHL can't miss guys) they will not be bad for the 4 years of 1st's they will be giving to Toronto, so it's a much easier pill to swallow for a team in the top 15 teams of the league AND stocked with young talent.

So tell me again why at least one of them would want to stay on a team where 3 players make 30m+ of the CAP, has no defense and will probably be (after 18-19 season) a team that struggles to make the playoffs, let alone advance in the playoffs or even sniff a Cup??

I guarantee you, if the Leafs don't win the Cup next season AND resign both Matthews and Marner, while sacrificing Defense (because despite what you claim, they CAN NOT resign both AND fix the D) the Isles will come closer to (and maybe even win) a cup before TOR does.

Offer sheets NEVER happen. And chances are, none of us will even be alive when an offer sheet happens again lol. You're losing 4 1sts and 10M in cap space for Marner. Also, did you actually use a draft lottery simulator based on where you think the Islanders will finish in the standings or did you just decide to give them 1st overall? If you didn't use a simulator then this isn't really realistic.

Also, why would the caps want Lehner?

While I get offer sheets don't happen often, they have happened. Shea Weber was given an offer sheet back in 2012 (I think was the year) and it was matched by his current team. Also, over the past few seasons teams have been interested in offer sheeting certain players (Draisaitl from EDM is the most recent) but EDM was willing to match any offer sheet AND had the CAP space to do so. The point everyone is missing is that next offseason when Matthews AND Marner are RFAs TOR can NOT afford to keep both of them AND sign Nylander this year.

My point is that, while offer sheets to this point would not have worked because the players team might have submitted one for were on teams who could, and likely would have, matched the offer. TOR is not in a capacity to do that next year, especially if they lock up Nylander this year. So, it presents teams with a unique situation where an offer sheet MIGHT actually work AND be worth the compensation.

As for Lehner, I forgot to put in the description the CAPS go looking for a VET backup for Holtby down the stretch and for the playoff run. Right now they have 2 minor league goalies (Copley and a prospect) vying for the backup job. This deal would happen at the trade deadline to give them a Veteran backup to rest Holtby a bit down the stretch.

I'm thinking Samsonov for Washington ...

And Toronto does have the cap space for those guys. Or at least they'll find a way to get that cap space.

Samsonov is certainly an option, but he will also be a rookie with little to no AHL experience. If he struggles leaping straight to the NHL they could go shopping for a VET down the stretch and with Lehner only signed for the year it doesn't block anyone the following season.

And I'm not sure where everyone thinks TOR is going to magically have CAP space next year. They have 15m now and still need to resign Nylander for this year. So, lets say 6m for Nylander that leaves 9m plus whatever the CAP goes up by. Most people are speculating an 83m cap, so another 3.5m to give TOR 12m next year. IF they let Gardiner walk, that's another 4m, but leaves a glaring hole in the D and still only gives them 16m.

Matthews will cost 10-11m and Marner another 8m at least. AND that's assuming no team offers Matthews and offer sheet, which could drive his cost up. Plus they have a few other RFAs they will need to resign... One of the 3 (Matthews, Marner or Nylander) is gone next year... sorry.