Team: 2020-21 Detroit Red Wings

Initial Creation Date: Oct. 29, 2020

Published: Oct. 30, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

I know that offer sheets are very rare, so this is not likely to happen, but I wanted to take a look at what result such offers could look like.

The intent of making trades for the RFA rights instead of just a plain offer sheet was to try to help the team trading with the Wings "swallow the pill" a little easier, but also to help protect the slot value of the Wings' selections.

In regards to the Blues trade, the intent was to try to sign Dunn to a price that would potentially make it difficult for the Blues to re-sign him, or at least make them 2nd guess it due to cost and how it plays out with their cap management. Yes, the Blues can place Tarasenko and Steen on LTIR, but that wouldn't necessarily solve the cap issue for this season.

From what I have read, Tarasenko is probably out until April, but then the Blues would , in fact, be required to activate him when he is cleared medically and would have to be cap compliant at that time. So yes, placing him on LTIR would be possible at the beginning, but it is not a full season solution.

Steen is allegedly trying to get healthy enough to play this season. If he is not able to return, then he could be on LTIR for the entire year with no concern over his cap impact. I think it is important to note that the team does not get to make a determination if a player is going to be activated off of LTIR, but that the league rules require the player to be activated if they are medically cleared to play. As such, for this hypothetical scenario, I am considering Steen a likely candidate for LTIR for the entire season, but not Tarasenko as I believe that he will be back by the end of the season and would have his cap hit in place for the end of the season and, unless St. Louis wants to try to make salary cap dumps during the middle of the season, not putting them in that scenario to begin with is what I went with. As such, in this scenario I believe that the Blues would have to make a decision between matching an offer to Dunn and then subsequently having to trade another piece or more from their team, or allow him to leave and potentially get an asset for him back. In this scenario I had the Blues loosing their 5th D man to keep the rest of the roster together. Also, the cap scenario may be a little issue this year, but could be a large issue next year with the amount of guys up for signifcant raises next year while only having Bozak's contract coming off that would have an impact, once again assuming that Steen is on LTIR and his expiring contract would have a net 0 impact on their cap space next year. Finally, the expansion draft would lead to issues for protecting Dunn as well, so might as well get something for him now compared to potentially losing him for free.

For Detroit's side of thing, this would add a top 4 LD for their rebuild and his age would fit their timeline all at the cost of a 2nd....which is a substantial asset, but Dunn is exactly the type of guy that they would hope a 2nd round selection would turn into. As such, the known result overweighs the unknown potential of that selection in this scenario.

In regards to the Islanders trade, they appear to have the need to free up cap space to sign both Barzal and Pulock. This trade should allow them to accomplish that, as well as add a bottom 6 forward for depth or a moveable asset at the trade deadline if their season doesn't go the way they were hoping. In this flat cap age, which is likely to last both this season and next, this large of a contract attached to a declining player with 2 years left will cost a 1st plus a 3rd....the 3rd becomes a 2nd because of Helm.

Detroit takes on draft picks for taking on a sunken cost.

Finally, the TB trade. Tampa is likely to lose multiple players this off-season from their roster and it is looking like that will also cost them picks/prospects or both. It appears to be a grim possibility that they may lose one of Cerelli or Sergachev. This trade would give them some a 1st and 3rd(or if it costs the NYR 2nd instead of the 3rd then so be it because it would still be worth it IMO) for Cirelli and some cheap forward depth to account for the forwards they are going to have to lose to field a team that comes in under the cap. Under this scenario, TB chooses to prioritize retaining Sergachev at the cost of Cirelli. The extra picks should help get flexibility to unload contracts if needed.

Detroit adds a 2C that fits their timeline and matches Yzermans requisite for a center to play a full sheet of ice, all at the cost of a bad contract and a bottom 6 forward.

I look forward to discussion on these ideas.

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