The good news is that the Rangers, and with apparently very good reason, aren’t worried about Kaapo Kakko being presented with an offer sheet, as negotiations on a bridge extension with the restricted free agent move ahead. a disconcertingly slow pace.
Ah, but here is the problem.
Is it really good news that no team in the league believes it’s worth roughly $4 million a year to steal Finn, 21, from a salary-cap-restricted Blueshirts organization that would have essentially no way to match that offer sheet? ?
Surely the compensation of a second-round draft pick going the other way on an offer sheet with an average annual value of up to $4,201,488 wouldn’t seem like an impediment in exchange for the player just three years away from being selected second overall in the draft. .
Or does the absence of an offer sheet, or even the threat of one at the moment, reflect Kakko’s singular desire to stay in New York and make it in New York? There is no indication that his right wing or his agent, Mike Liut, has solicited the interest of any other team.
And/or maybe it’s simply NHL GMs doing business as usual, eschewing the offer sheet as a tool to acquire players. There is one rare exception, but GMs generally feel that offer sheets will be matched and their own team will become vulnerable to retaliation.
Again, though, in this case, Rangers GM Chris Drury would be almost unable to match a $4 million (for) offer on Kakko. Additionally, the cap restrictions looming over the franchise would prevent the Rangers from making a retaliatory strike for at least another three years.
Kakko is out there, but he’s not.
That’s good news for the Rangers.
It is not like this?
The Panthers appear to have become a destination team, finally taking advantage of their location in a tax-free state in this lopsided capitalization landscape that the NHL and NHLPA have not addressed, and indeed enacted, in a series of collective negotiations. agreements.
Maybe, with the acquisition of Matthew Tkachukfans in Florida will finally take notice, the Puddy Tats ranked 24th in both the NHL attendance (14,811) and capacity percentage (76.9) last year while winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Is it too soon to score Jonathan Huberdeau and Pierre-Luc Dubois in the Canadiens’ front row in 2024-25?
Calgary GM Brad Treliving was nimble coming out of the corner Tkachuk put him in, the acquisitions of Huberdeau (30-85-115) and top-four defenseman MacKenzie Weegar likely allowed the Flames to remain a top-tier team. even taking into account the defection of Johnny Gaudreau.
But if the Flames can’t sign Huberdeau and/or Weegar, each of whom is a pending unrestricted free agent, the franchise will be obligated to move one or both as top-tier rentals at the deadline and not repeat the Gaudreau of 2022 “Last hour”. mistake.
Yes, of course, the Panthers make themselves a more difficult team to play against by trading Huberdeau for Tkachuk and becoming a more unique threat to the Lightning in their Alligator alley matchup.
By the way, it seems we’ve missed just how ruthless Tampa Bay GM Julien BriseBois (and, by extension, Jeff Vinik’s estate) was in forcing Ryan McDonagh to waive his no-trade clause for a team of his election under threat of being placed on waivers and being claimed by a ne’er-do-well.
There’s no need to shed tears for the No. 27, who chose to go to a growing Nashville club, but the situation is representative of why no-move clauses are so valuable.
But when the Oren Koules-Len Barrie estate pulled the same stunt in 2008 with column friend Dan Boyle, the executives were shattered.
(Even by me!)
If Lou Lamoriello’s insistence on keeping Semyon Varlamov as a $5 million backup for Ilya Sorokin is evidence that the Islanders GM thinks his team will have to play a 3-2 game season, well, I’m pretty skeptical. . succeed.
I wonder. Is it a cap space issue, a contract request, or an assessment of talent and roster requirements (or a combination of all of the above) that prevents the Rangers from re-signing Tyler Motte at the expense of keeping Dryden Hunt ($762,500? ) in the squad?
Again, though, if it’s another $500,000, that equates to a $2.325 million gap in deadline space that Drury must do everything in his power to preserve.
If Tkachuk was able to seamlessly switch to the right wing last season after five years in the NHL playing his natural left, why do the Rangers seem to have an existential crisis with all their natural lefties?
David Quinn is one of the most compassionate and caring people I have ever met in this industry, and I am thrilled that he has been given a second chance in San Jose by recently hired General Manager Mike Grier, with whom he shares a BU lineage.
There’s every reason to believe that Quinn, who wasn’t helped at all by a management that refused to address the 2020 bubble debacle in his final season in New York, has acknowledged that his up-close-and-personal style doesn’t necessarily translate across of the board in the NHL and that he must allow his veterans more breathing room … on the ice, on the bench, in the room.
However, one thing is for sure. The youngsters on this Sharks team who find themselves in a similar reboot situation to the Rangers when Quinn was signed (talk about typecasting) will be given an education and a foundation to play 200-foot hockey.