Islanders prime Simon Edvinsson offer sheet candidates

The New York Islanders could shock the NHL by inking RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson to an offer sheet.

That’s not some woo-woo conspiracy theory. Ethan Sears first echoed the idea in the NY Post, and, well, it isn’t far-fetched at all.

The business case to land a high-end defensive defenseman like Edvinsson became abundantly clear when Alexander Romanov went down earlier this week. Since Romanov is pretty much done for the season, it’s almost certain that the Islanders will be looking for a replacement.

So, why not target Edvinsson?

According to the most recent chatter, the Red Wings have given Edvinsson’s camp permission to speak with other sides. However, Detroit interim GM Shawn Horcoff has said that the team would rather sign the 23-year-old.

The desire to re-sign Edvinsson does not preclude a trade. And it most certainly does not rule out an offer sheet.

With the latter possibility on the table, the only question would be: How much would Edvinsson be worth?

A recent piece in The Athletic looked at Edvinsson’s value, estimating it around $9 million AAV.

That’s a very interesting data point because of the potential compensation the Islanders would have to pay up for signing Edvinsson.

The current offer sheet thresholds state that any player signed to a contract between $7.16 million and $9.55 million would cost a first, second, and third-round pick. If the AAV exceeds $9.55 million but remains under $11.939 million, the compensation would include an additional first-round pick.

Either way, the Islanders have the requisite draft picks to make the deal work.

That’s why there’s a compelling case for the Islanders to go for it.

One obstacle might get in the way of Islanders offer-sheeting Simon Edvinsson

Now, there might be one thing that could get in the way of the Islanders landing Simon Edvinsson. The Isles currently have $2.9 million in cap space.

Evidently, that’s not enough to make this deal work.

The problem, however, only partially goes away by placing Romanov on LTIR. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement does not allow the Islanders to write off Romanov’s full cap hit. As such, New York only gets roughly $3.22 million in cap relief. If we added the $2.9 million in current space, that’s only $6.12 million.

Needless to say, that’s not enough to fit about $9 million in additional salary. And it would also force the Islanders to move out a contract in order to make the whole thing work.

Ultimately, landing Edvinsson via an offer sheet is certainly doable. It can work for the Islanders, as the club has the most important elements to make it work. But it’s the cap situation that just won’t make this whole thing glide. If Mathieu Darche is serious about doing this, he’ll have to dump a big contract to make it work.

All of a sudden, the flyer on Ondrej Palat is looking like a major stumbling block.

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