Leafs sure hope Marner signs that offer sheet...Easily matched by Leafs. Now do you really think Marner would even sign that offer sheet? Really?

I hate the idea of not having a pick in 2020 (Alexis Lafreniere) in case the Habs lose Price and/or Weber again, but this is not the craziest of ideas. Don't trade Lehkonen. And use that spare $4M or $5M for another player or use the cap space to buy out someone else's cap mistakes.

He might if it's $1.5M more than the best offer he gets from Dubas. Then we'd see if Dubas would match. If so, the Habs win by screwing up the Leafs' cap. Either way, it works.

Considering most around here have him @$10.5 anyway, I don't see a way that they don't match that. It certainly doesn't leave them in a great situation, but they can still trade Nylander, or alternatively figure out a way to clear out some of the smaller but still not-so-great contracts like Brown/Zaitsev.

It's not ideal for them, but he's the second most valuable player on that team.

Yup. As I said, Habs win either way. If Dubas is forced to cap out and start trading off assets at firesale prices, that's almost as good.

I wouldn't say that the Habs win. I get that you guys are rivals and that you guys hate the Leafs, but at the end of the day, the NHL is still an old boys club. Teams don't do offer sheets right now because they immediately become the league pariah. Other GM's get their backs up and stop dealing with you.

I'm not saying that the offer sheet system is a bad thing, because I'm sure that it could be used as a valuable tool, but they don't, and I don't see it happening any time soon.

Look at the list of players that could have been given offer sheets but weren't. Most teams could have easily offered a guy like Nylander or Drouin a deal when they were sitting. Or Stamkos when he was an RFA. But they didn't, and they won't.

Agreed. It should be used without fear of reprisal. The NHLPA should make getting offer sheets moving a priority.

I wish the NHL's cap was similar to the NBA's, with a soft cap+hard cap that you pay luxury tax on. Then some sort of simple middle ground between the NBA and NHL system, continuing the compensation, but also allowing a team to match because of some leeway at the top.

Would also allow your Toronto's/Montreal's/big market teams to flew their pocket books a bit, while allowing the small market teams to stay competitive by getting luxury tax payments.

What is it with the fascination of Lehkonen? He's decent, but it seems like Habs fans think he's the second coming of Jesus or something.

Except that 10.5 mil is too expensive for the leafs, people forget that the salary for year is 76 mil.
Even if the cap jumps to 82mil, they have 6 mil left in cap space.
They need to sign Kapanen, Johnsonn and they are losing a bunch of defencemen too.

So any number north of 9.5 mil is undoable for the leafs unless they unload A LOT

The cap is expected to be 83m. But you seem to forget that the Leafs can sign all their RFAs. Then if they are over the cap....and yes it's projected to be 6.5m over as you suggest., then they can make trades.
They do not have to be at 83m in the summer. 6.5m is one Nylander, or about one retired Marleau traded. Then there is the discussion also, does Marner sign a 10.2m contract with Montreal (or some other team), instead of taking 9.5m with the Leafs which may be more financial beneficial long term.

You have to watch the Habs a lot to understand just how good Lehkonen is every game. He's unlikely to ever be a great scorer, but he is one of the most complete players on the Habs. He is smart, he hustles and he rarely puts the team in a bad position. He's the kid a coach never has to worry about.

I've not seen $83M anywhere. That would be a huge jump. $81.5M or $82 seems to be more the consensus number.

If Marner isn't happy with what the Leafs are offering, he will have to be willing to listen to better offers. If, at that point, the Leafs opt to keep him, I am sure he'd be happy to accept. That's just shrewd negotiating.

And here's a question: is being the #3 most important player on the Leafs (behind Tavares and Matthews) a better move than being the biggest signing in the Canadiens' history? Not sure you're right about that. If he learns to say "bonjour Montreal," the sky's the limit in that market.

That's great and all, but if you can improve greatly elsewhere than why not trade him? I get depth is important, but it seems like his type isn't terribly hars to find. But i haven't watched him so much

Think Guy Carbonneau and you have a decent read on what Lehkonen does. He's an amazing shut-down forward and a very responsible PK. That's not so much depth as foundational player. He's just not a scoring star.

Guy was solid player. I also had Cogliano on mind (to use a modern player).