A first rd pick 4 years away isn't gonna get Dougie.

2 things,

1) Islanders can't offer 8 years of term.
2) TO is likely to offer that exact contract to Marner and actually be able to include the 8th year

Offer sheets are stupid and just won't ever work.

Why? Good Question.

So lets say Dubas is sitting in his office and its the last week of June. Marner will be signed by then for sure, but lets say that Kapanen is still without a contract and he's wanting 4+ or something the Leafs just can't afford. What do you think Dubas would do?

Option A

Nothing, he just sits there for a week and then watches as someone gives Kapanen the contract he wants and he is gone for a 2nd rounder or something. (There is entirely a strong possibility that Kap's agent creates a bidding war for his client and gets a contract in the 5+ range and the Leafs get a 1st and 3rd but that is unlikely)

Option B

Dubas sees the writing on the wall and instead of doing nothing, he tells all the other GM's that Kapanen is available and starts fielding offers. There would be a dozen teams or so who would have interest and the best offer would win. Which would exceed anything that would come from an accepted offer sheet.

Option C

Those interested GM's lowball Dubas making it impossible for him to accept. Then offer sheet Kapanen July 1st

thats fine it can be a first next year.

the 8 years is just a place holder, meaning max term i guess would be 7 toronto isnt giving him 10.5 it cant be done without sacrificing alot of other talent you cant afford to give him that much without getting rid of zaitzev.

At 10.5M Leafs match, no questions IMO

Or you trade Brown, and one of Kapanen and Johnsson. All these fans on here who want to see the Leafs burn, are looking for ways how the Leafs can't make their cap work. A clever man looks at it and finds ways to make things work. Its not hard to make their cap work if you look beyond the old school thinking that all players are essentially equal. Are Kapanen and Johnsson good players? Yes they are, are they replaceable by cheaper options from within the system? Probably. Especially in the case of Kapanen. Is Marner easy to replace? Well considering there were 14 players to score over 90 points in the entire NHL, it looks like replacing Marner would be very difficult.

What about a 20 goal 40 point winger?

Johnsson was 149th in league scoring, Kapanen 142nd. Seems like that would be much easier to replace with a Marlie than the guy who finished 11th. So if Marner wants 10.5 at a minimum, what makes more sense for the Leafs to do? Let him leave? Or sign him and trade the other two commodities that would bring back a decent return?