New York Islanders show how to protect against predatory NHL offer sheets
For two off-seasons Lou Lamoriello has protected up and coming Islanders from predatory offer sheets by simply not officially filing contracts until he has to.
The Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet is precisely the scenario Lou Lamoriello is trying to protect the New York Islanders from by not announcing player signings.
I detailed this, among other things, in my last post but since the scenario is actually playing out, I thought it worth exploring the 100% predatory nature of the offer sheet submitted by the Carolina Hurricanes.
The fact of the matter is that the Montreal Canadiens exposed themselves to this situation, and as Lou Lamoriello has shown during this off-season and the previous one it was easily preventable.
Hurricanes offer sheet Jesperi Kotkaniemi
For those who missed it, the Hurricanes announced they had offer sheeted offer sheeted Canadiens forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
The deal is a 1-year, $6.1M contract - which Kotkaniemi has signed and at time of writing is actually a member of the Hurricanes’ organisation. Montreal can try to match it, but as we’ll see below has some cap problems to overcome first.
There is offer sheet history between the two teams. Montreal tried to offer sheet the other Sebastian Aho a few seasons ago.
Carolina had the cap space and obviously wanted to keep Aho so signed him. Seemingly, Don Waddell has not forgotten and bided his time waiting for an opportunity to strike. If the Canes’ twitter account is anything to go by, Carolina has been harbouring a grudge.
Canadiens left vulnerable
Here’s how the Canadiens have been caught out. (Of course, the Islanders glorious general manager Lou has actively protected against this very scenario by not officially announcing deals.)
At time of writing, the Canadiens are over the cap by about $2M. While they will get LTIR relief from Shea Weber and potentially Paul Byron, that won’t come until the eve of the season.
The issue for Montreal is that Carolina has priced Kotkaniemi’s contract at $6.1M, which would put Montreal at about $90M - in the off-season you can go 10% above the cap limit, or $89.65M.
Whether this is actually Kotkaniemi’s value, or Don Waddell just wanted to ruin Marc Bergevin’s off-season I could not say, but either way the effect is the same. The Canadiens currently cannot match the offer sheet, even if they wanted to, because they don’t have enough cap space.
The Canadiens, as Lou Lamoriello has shown, could have protected themselves against this situation too. They officially announced the signings of Mike Hoffman ($4.5M AAV), David Savaard ($3.5M AAV), Joel Armia ($3.4M AAV), and Arturi Lehkonen ($2.3M AAV) among a number of other signings. Even one of those staying unofficial until the eve of the season would have given enough breathing room to keep Kotkaniemi (assuming both Shea Weber and Paul Byron end up on LTIR).
Bergevin, as Lou has done, could have simply reached agreement with the players and put the contract in his desk until the end of the season.
Of course, there is a chance that the Canes just like Kotkaniemi. Perhaps this situation would have occurred regardless of the Canadiens’ cap situation. To me, the fact his contract comes in just above the number that becomes problematic for Montreal makes me think this was a calculated revenge move by Waddell.
While Marc Bergevin’s off-season holiday has been ruined, Lou is likely taking a long walk and giving zero fucks about his players getting offer sheeted (and Don Waddell is at the rodeo).
For all the flak Lou catches for his cap management, the fact is he remains one of the best in the business and continues to demonstrate this.
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