MLive’s Ansar Khan weighs in regarding the scuttlebutt surrounding Elliotte Friedman’s suggestion that the Carolina Hurricanes have considered submitting a restricted free agent offer sheet to Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson:
If they do, or any other team does, it will be an exercise in futility, accomplishing nothing but inflating the Red Wings’ payroll and possibly prompting general manager Steve Yzerman to tender a retaliatory offer sheet to one of that club’s future restricted free agents.
That’s because the Red Wings are sure to match any offer to Edvinsson, even if it exceeds $10 million a season. With more than $18 million in cap space, a number in flux given the uncertainty of what they’ll get back in the inevitable Dylan Larkin trade, they can easily afford to match any offer.
The compensation for an offer sheet with an AAV of between $9,551,333 and $11,939,166 is two first-round picks, one second-round pick and one third-round pick. Anything more than that would garner four first-round picks if the club declined to match.
Khan continues, estimating Edvinsson’s contractual worth as a restricted free agent:
Edvinsson’s new deal figured to be in the $8 million to $8.5 million AAV range for seven or eight years, perhaps just under Seider’s $8.55 million AAV.
That was before all these big-money contracts were doled out this offseason.
Now, it wouldn’t be surprising if Edvinsson becomes the Red Wings’ highest-paid player, passing Larkin’s $8.7 million AAV.
My gut’s take on this is that Edvinsson will end up taking around Seider’s $8.55 million, but the Leo Carlsson offer sheet submitted by the Philadelphia Flyers to Anaheim’s promising center definitely blew all the contractual “comparables” out of the water.
