Most teams are going to ask you to pay for them to take Zaitsev.

They will now!

Leafs better hope that cap is higher than $83M.

Telling you right now, someone is Offer Sheeting Kapanen at 4M. Better hope you win the cup and he LOVES Toronto enough to turn town more than a million a year. $4M offer sheet gets the Leafs a 2nd if they can’t match.

Could just match before signing Marner and trade him after.

You think Leafs are going to wait to extend Marner?

Isn't Marner's agents on the record for not wanting to talk contracts during the season?

Regardless - lets say $4M offer sheet for Kapanen is presented and Kapanen is willing to sign it on 7/1. Leafs match that? Leafs have no shot at making this work unless they get rid of both Zaitsev and Brown.

This is why i think Kapenen ends up having offersheets thrown at him. Will he sign one? I don't know but if a team offersheets him for the maximum allowable with only a 2nd round pick as compensation and Toronto matches every team now knows Toronto is in a bad spot capwise and will have to make moves. So they all try to take advantage of Toronto.

"Most" maybe. But the fact of the matter is that teams need right handed defencemen, and around 4 million is market value for one in free agency. From a Leafs perspective, its easy to see how his contract is in the way, but not all teams are under the same crunch as Toronto. Look at a team like Dallas for example - their right side goes from Klingberg to Roman Polak. Some comparable RHD in around Zaitsev's price range are guys like: Justin Braun, Brendan Smith, Davad Savard, Connor Murphy and Damon Severson.

Point being; it shouldn't prove impossible to trade away Zaitsev for nothing, like he does here in this example.

If you sign him before Marner...you're 2nd round going to TOR...turns into 2nd rounder leaving TOR....or risk losing Marner. This would be a terrible mistake if they extend Kap right now. EVERYONE will not only smell blood in the water...they'll see dubas with no arms and 1 leg trying to swim. Dubas will probably trade Kap away with Zaitsev between the playoffs and draft.

You can not trade a player after matching an offersheet for one year.

Hopefully they have kappy and Johnsson locked up by July 1st. Will most likely be 1-2 year deals.

So what's the advantage if you're the team making the offer sheet exactly? Toronto isn't going to give him away for a 2nd round pick, so they match those offers and have to trade away another player to makefit everybody in. But that's what Toronto would do anyway. The other option of course, is to match and flip Kapanen for a lot more than a 2nd round pick. Leafs get a better return if Kap's Cap is lower than a 1st round pick threshold anyway. And then what will you really have done to harm the Maple Leafs?

you never know til you try. They don't know if they'll agree to it or not

‘Giving him away for a 2nd’ isn’t exactly correct. In addition, it’s not trying to harm the leafs...it’s trying to get Kapanen. If the leafs make it work then that is great for them. Connor Brown and Zaitsev are the two contract that need to move.

Again.... you can not match an offer sheet and then trade the next layer. You have to wait one year from first refusal to trade.

So then they match the offer and trade away somebody else. No harm done to Toronto.

If a team signs Kapanen to an offer sheet for around $4 million or whatever the magic number is, and the Leafs don't match that offer, then the Leafs will have given Kapanen away for a 2nd round pick. The Leafs aren't going to let that happen, and that's my point. These cheap dollar offer sheets are not a threat to Toronto.

Bless your heart...good luck

Bumping this back up @barongoalie - Kapanen offer sheet ideas are making their way to the mainstream media/insiders. It’s coming, there will be multiple teams submitting them, and Kapanen is going to be able to make his own choice - Toronto with less money, or one of many other choices at 4M.

So....a couple things

a) RFA compensation rates are based on the average salary of the league. One has to imagine this number is going up and, as such, a $4.5m-$5m offer may end up only being a 2nd round pick in compensation (but teams will almost certainly be able to go a bit higher than the $4.059 to put more pressure on Toronto..while keeping compensation to a 2nd rounder)

b) At the cost of, say 5yrs @ $4.1m....how many teams would get in on Kapanen if they are only sacrificing a 2nd round pick? 5 teams? 10? 15+? After July 1st, Kapanen's agent will be able to start talking with other GM's. If that starts happening...and say the Hurricanes really want to be the team to get him....you don't think they call the leafs and offer them a better trade package? You don't think there will be 5 GM's willing to make fair trades with Toronto for Kapanen instead of hoping he signs an offersheet with them?

Leafs might not be able to afford Kapanen...but the concept that he'll get lost via offer sheet and a 2nd round pick seems absurd to me

A = correct and only going to put more pressure on Leafs. Agreed.

B = you’re making my point...there’s going to be a sub market for secondary players like Kapanen and Johnsson. These offer sheets are coming and it’s going to change things. Your point is good, but my point is the pressure is on!

Adding to the above...offer sheets are to the player and agent and occur prior to July 1 (think about a week before). As of July 1st, player can accept the offer sheet. 7 days for team to match.

The issue with the trade after offer sheet signing - you’re trading the players rights. Doubt the other team is going to do that...that team would be inheriting the same issue.

Oh for sure. Pressure will be on Kyle to make some room. I just think we’ll see 1 or more rfa’s go via trade instead of offer sheet because it usually makes more sense for both sides.

I’m saying the offer sheet never gets signed. My understanding from when they’ve come up in the past...is that they don’t come out of the blue as a surprise to the GM with the player. A lot of times I’ve heard that the GM that wants the player will call and see if a trade can get worked out first. Even if that call doesn’t take place...teams will check in on Kapanen leading up to July 1st to see if there’s a deal to be made