Islanders fans shouldn’t worry about Mathew Barzal receiving offer sheets

Should New York Islanders fans worry about Mathew Barzal receiving an offer sheet from another team. No, they shouldn’t.

With the 2019-20 NHL season basically over, teams are starting to focus on gearing up for the 20-21 season. That means the rumor season is open. For the New York Islanders that means the rumor of a team giving Mathew Barzal an offer sheet has picked up again.

Just for some context, offer sheet rumors for Mathew Barzal began swirling when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was on Bartstool’s Spittin Chiclets podcast months ago. Freidman was asked about Barzal’s ELC ending and his next deal to which Friedman indicated that: “offer sheets will come”.

Should the Islanders worry about one?

Don’t Worry

On its surface, there’s something to worry about.

The Islanders have $8.905 million on the cap for 20-21 and have Barzal, Pulock, and Toews to re-sign as well as a depth player or two. That’s not enough cap space.

Arguably, a $9 million offer sheet would be too rich for the New York Islanders to match.

But when the Mathew Barzal offer sheet question was asked of Lou Lamoriello a few months ago, the Isles GM squashed it saying:

Question from Tyler McGivney: If Mat Barzal is presented with an offer sheet, will you match?It is our intention to not allow it to get to that point, but should that happen, the answer is yes.

The Islanders don’t want the Barzal situation to get to a position where an offer sheet is possible. As it stands now, players can sign an offer sheet on October 9 at noon. Ideally, Barzal is signed to a deal before that date according to Lou. That’s just eleven days from now.

If the Islanders want to close any offer sheet potential, we’ll see Barzal signed to an extension in the coming days.

And, if for some reason, that can’t happen Lou is prepared to match any offer that Barzal gets. The worry of an offer sheet should be low for Islanders fans right now.

So while some teams have ample cap space to make an offer sheet look like a possibility. The New York Islanders are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. So rest easy and expect a deal to be worked out shortly.