From Matthew Tkachuk and Jason Robertson, to Rasmus Sandin and Noah Dobson, to playoff standout Jake Oettinger, the 2022 RFA market is flush with top-end talent. SachdevaSonny examines which of the game's best RFAs could be prime offer-sheet targets:
Starting Tuesday, RFAs can be contacted regarding potential offer-sheets. Let’s take a look at who might be receiving a call:Drafted 26th overall by Dallas back in 2017, the 23-year-old netminder has been working his way up over the past half-decade, splitting time between the AHL and the big club. He logged seven regular-season games in Dallas this past season, and 10 for the AHL’s Texas Stars.
But if someone inks the RFA to an offer sheet with a major salary — say, something over $6.3 million per year — do they match and gamble on the young netminder continuing at the level he showed this past post-season, or do they take the haul of picks and look for another option in free agency?The situation surrounding a potential Sandin offer sheet has as much to do with the young defenceman’s potential as the cap crunch felt by his current club.
Asked about the potential of that happening GM Kyle Dubas had this to say recently: “If there’s going to be an offer sheet, the sooner the better, so we can make our decision and move on.” The club recently signed fellow young defenceman Timothy Liljegren to a two-year deal at $1.4 million per year.
Calgary is already hoping to bring Gaudreau back somewhere around the $10-million-per-year mark. If they’re pushed to sign Tkachuk at a similar salary, would they — and could they — do it? The first issue is whether they view Tkachuk as a $10-million player. The second is the fact that inking both he and Gaudreau to $10-million deals would eat nearly all of their cap space for next season , with a whole host of other key roster questions still in need of answering.
Of course, given the rest of the team’s cap picture, there’s still a chance an offer sheet could push Dallas into a tough decision. Acquired by the Avalanche in March , Lehkonen put up eight goals and 14 points through 20 post-season games for Colorado — that goal sum tied with Conn Smythe winner Cale Makar for fourth among all Avs.
The club has just $11 million to work with at the moment with some other blue-line free agents to address. More importantly, they have to re-sign Mathew Barzal to what figures to be a hefty extension after next season, along with Semyon Varlamov, without much other money coming off the books. Meaning a sizable extension for Dobson complicates things.
If someone’s willing to take a shot on Dobson’s potential, does Lamoriello match and make the young defender the highest-paid player on the team? It doesn’t exactly have the ring of a sure thing.Like Sandin, Kakko’s situation is as much about where’s at — and where the Rangershe’s at — as what his club's cap situation looks like. The 2019 second-overall pick arrived in New York with high hopes as the Rangers looked to retool following some disappointing campaigns outside of the post-season.
Yamamoto’s coming off a career-best campaign that saw him hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time, and post 41 points in all through 81 games. But he’s shown glimpses of potential since he debuted with the Oilers, putting up 26 points through 27 games in his first extended stay in Edmonton. It’s clear the young winger still has more to give, as he has some dynamic skill that’s only just beginning to show with more regularity.
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