depending on your offer NJ may not have the necessary picks to make that happen. Boston also has tons of cap space next season and would likely match the offer.

I'd make you offer sheet him so we could collect two 1sts, a 2nd, and a 3rd if we don't match. That seems much better than your proposed trade, and 7x7.5m would definitely make me think long and hard before matching. The main reason your trade is not great is that we already have over 13m in our top 2 RD, so another 4.4m for a guy that would be forced down to the 3rd pair AND has a M-NTC doesn't really make sense from a cap management perspective.

The CapFriendly offer-sheet calculator says that NJ has the picks to make that offer sheet, but I thought that they didn't have a 2024 2nd? Wouldn't that mean that they don't have the picks needed?

Free agency is after the draft

Vanacek has been proposed to Chicago quite often and I think Hawks fans have been consistent in saying that if a veteran goalie is needed then there might be an interest however, personally I believe there will be better goalies available or more affordable options or better deals available as far as draft capital attached going to Chicago. A fifth round pick for taking $3.4m off of the Devils hands isn’t that enticing.

Got it, so 2025/2026 1sts, 2025 2nd, 2025 3rd, which are all in-tact at the moment. Thanks!

Takes at least a 3rd to dump Vanacek to the Hawks.

No from Winnipeg. There's nothing there Winnipeg needs or wants.

I’d much rather do that. Marino>1st
Gritysuk>3rd

Funny thing is … after Boston signs Swayman, there is an RFA on NJ’s list that could be targeted using the same strategy. They probably will go after the UFA’s instead because retaliation is a thing (see Montreal and Carolina) same as Jersey.

Does the fear of an offer sheet make both Boston and Jersey lock up Swayman and Mercer long term?

Marino: if a third team could be brought in to take Marino and the Bruins could get the 1st rounder+ back directly, then sure. But he does not make sense on the Bruins given their RD situation and his cap hit. If they cannot flip him right away for what they want, his cap hit hurts them. No need to take on the risk.

Gritysuk: if you say so. Mid-tier prospects vs mid-round picks seem like a wash to me. Dobber makes him seem promising, but beyond that I know nothing about him. It is worth mentioning that organizationally the Bruins have not had many Russian prospects in recent years.

The Jets won't trade their captain.

Chevy should've traded for Marino when Pittsburgh dealt him.

The risk of Gritysuk is him coming over.

But he’s top 5 in the KHL in goals per game at 22 years old

Winnipeg doesn't want a former premier of Manitobas grandson on the Jets? lol 😆

Nice reference!

Yeah a subsequent offer sheet to Mercer would likely follow, both parties would probably be better off looking to make trades using the same pieces elsewhere

I think both parties would be better off signing their respective young players with high upside to long term contracts and looking to fill their voids using other pieces personally.

Agreed, I should've been more specific I meant retain their players and use the picks that would be sacrificed to offer sheet to go get a goalie (NJ with like Markstrom, Ullmark, Saros, Gibson) and a center (Boston with Lindholm, Hertl)

Offer sheets in general aren't realistic but

You don't own your 2nd round pick in 2025.

Which means your offer sheet would have to be less than 6.5 million.

You can't even offer sheet Mcleod either above 2 mill without that second (he'd be the real offer sheet target at the 4.3 range if you had your 2nd)

The guy you'd probably go after as retaliation would be Holtz

Boston is less of a threat to offer sheet because they don't currently own their own 2nd next year.

Which means a mercer offer sheet tops out at 6.5 mill.
a Mcleod/Schmid offer sheet tops out at 2.2 mill

Your real recourse would be to go after Holtz next year

Jets will just keep Lowry

It probably won’t matter. Swayman likely signs before next year and Boston likely matches / retaliates at some point. Don’t believe Holtz is good enough for it to be him, but it’s kind of a pointless discussion

I think you’re sleeping on Holtz.

(I want to preface this by acknowledging that Holtz is not near the player Pasta is)

Holtz scores points at the same rate 5v5 as Pastrnak does, playing mostly with bottom 6 linemates outside of Mercer

I could be. It isn’t uncommon for fans of other teams to sleep on younger players from another team. Don’t watch him as much as you

He has his struggles defensively (they are exaggerated tho and he looks better and better every day), and earlier in his career he needed to improve his skating.

But he’s an absolute sniper. Absolutely fantastic offensive skill set (he’s 2nd on the devils in even strength scoring)

Lindy Ruff hates him tho, won’t ever give him a chance to play in the top 6 (his 4 least played with teammates are Toffoli Bratt Jack and Nico)

Right now he’s playing with Lazar and Tierney.

He’s a big reason I’d be willing to move toffoli, because I’d want to force Lindy into playing holtz more.

Yeah I don't think Boston's cap situation is bad enough for it to work and they definitely could try to retaliate if they have the picks for it but the player has to want to sign the offer sheet for it to work. If Swayman has actually soured on Boston management though, he could be more inclined to sign NJ's offer sheet. And If I'm Mercer, Holtz, or any Devil right now, do I want to leave? No other team offers them as good a chance at winning 1 or several championships over the next 5-10 years with all the talent developed and still developing. Boston is way up there but I think losing Swayman would lower the odds and very much raise Jersey's, Chicago in 4-5 years maybe, Ottawa seems like another high draft pick or two away, Buffalo looks very promising, Toronto after they reshuffle their core 4 for cap space and balance, Carolina is tight on cap, etc.