Can the Montreal Canadiens take a swing at Mathew Barzal?
By Omar L
This proposal isn’t out of nowhere and is based on some banter from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the Spittin Chiclet’s podcast.
Friedman believes an offer sheet is coming for the New York Islanders via Mathew Barzal. Not only are star players difficult to come by in a regular trade, but apparently, Barzal isn’t a fan of the defence-first system that Barry Trotz has been implementing in Brooklyn.
Elliotte Friedman on Spittin' Chiclets said that he believes an offer sheet for Barzal is coming because it's so hard to come by good players nowadays. Further speculates that Barzal wants to play way more offensively than Trotz will allow him and that frustrates him [Barzal].
— Eric Islander CFC (@EricIslander) March 9, 2020
Barzal has been having a good season with the Islanders putting up 19 goals and 40 assists for 59 points in 67 games. The downside is the team has struggled to score collectively all season, and down the stretch, it’s costing them games.
The real kicker of Friedman’s banter was that he brought up a desire from Barzal’s parents. Friedman said his family wanted him to learn french in the hope of him playing for the Montreal Canadiens one day. In no way does that solidify interest for Barzal to play for the Habs in the future, but it is a warming tidbit to add to this discussion.
The main point here is that Mathew Barzal is looking like a real possibility. Why can’t it be the Montreal Canadiens?
Must Read. What's Next for Cole Caufield. light
The NHL set the range for the salary cap being anywhere between $84 million – $88.2 million. Even if it’s at the low point of the range, it’s still an increase from the $81.5 million it currently is. Jumping to the max would be incredible for a lot of teams, and the Habs could make use of it on the offer sheet front.
Additionally, Montreal has money coming off the books in Dale Weise, Keith Kinkaid, and Christian Folin. There are RFAs who will be in need of new deals, specifically Max Domi and Jake Evans, but this is an opportunity the Montreal Canadiens can’t pass up if it’s viable.
There’s the obvious penalty to worry about. The Habs can’t make the same mistake they made last year in sending an easy-to-match offer sheet. They have to take a serious run at Barzal, and that could entail a contract in the double digits. If that’s the case, it could have Montreal give up four first-round picks to the New York Islanders, which is very risky given they’ve only made the playoffs once in the last five seasons.
Barzal is 22-year-old and is on the brink of hitting his prime, and a solid five-year deal would be a great way to capitalize on it.