A Winning Habit
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Montreal Canadiens Should Offer Sheet A Division Rival

By Ken MacMillan

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - APRIL 19: Andreas Johnsson #18 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ron Hainsey #2 celebrate with Kasperi Kapanen #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs after he scored a goal as John Moore #27 of the Boston Bruins looks on during the third period of Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 19, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Maple Leafs defeat the Bruins 2-1. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - APRIL 19: Andreas Johnsson #18 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ron Hainsey #2 celebrate with Kasperi Kapanen #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs after he scored a goal as John Moore #27 of the Boston Bruins looks on during the third period of Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 19, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Maple Leafs defeat the Bruins 2-1. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
BOSTON, MA – APRIL 23: Montreal Canadiens Kasperi Kapanen #24  (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Player: Kasperi Kapanen

Current team: Toronto Maple Leafs

The Offer: Four years, $4.2 million cap hit

Compensation: 2020 2nd round pick

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in deep financial trouble this offseason. Top four defenders Ron Hainsey and Jake Gardiner are unrestricted free agents. Mitch Marner is also in need of a new contract as a restricted free agent. He could be a target for an offer sheet, but he will also likely command an $11 million cap hit.

Giving up four first round picks would be the compensation to get Marner. I wouldn’t expect any team to be willing to give up that much of their future for any player.

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Marner is going to eat up almost all of the Maple Leafs available cap space this summer. That means Hainsey and Gardiner are likely to walk, leaving them with holes to fill on the blue line. They also have two young, promising forwards in Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson who are RFA’s.

It will be difficult for the Maple Leafs to match a strategically placed offer sheet for Kapanen. The Canadiens could offer him a huge raise, that is about five times what he was making on his entry-level deal that just expired.

Also, with a cap hit of $4.2 million, the only compensation that would be offered to the Leafs would be a second-round pick in 2020. With the Leafs running low on cap space and needing to preserve every penny for help on defence, they may not be able to afford to match the offer sheet.

Kapanen is a 22-year-old right winger who is one of the fastest skaters in the league. He just completed his first full NHL season and scored 20 goals and 44 points in 78 games. Kapanen would be a perfect complement to Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin on a fast-paced, offensive-minded top line.

Plus, he is from Finland, and Marc Bergevin seems totally obsessed with players from there lately. Kotkaniemi, Lehkonen, Armia, Ylonen, Leskinen…Kapanen?

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