The cat's out of the bag in the NHL. Leo Carlsson's offer sheet has general managers throughout the league on high alert with their current (and pending) restricted free agents. For the Detroit Red Wings, this means signing defenseman Simon Edvinsson to a deal as quickly as possible.
If they don't, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman believes Edvinsson may be the target of an offer sheet sooner than we think.
Per Friedman, the Carolina Hurricanes are actively seeking to tender an offer sheet to a player. Friedman believes that, after the Hurricanes pivoted from their first target, they're contemplating approaching Simon Edvinsson.
"The other player I kind of heard in conjunction with the Carolina Hurricanes was Simon Edvinsson from the Red Wings," Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. "I kind of wondered if they were eyeing him up and down too."
Here's what a Simon Edvinsson offer sheet would look like
Per PuckPedia, the Carolina Hurricanes have around $9.88M in cap space at their disposal. If the Hurricanes do decide to send an offer sheet to Edvinsson, the compensation in return would land the Red Wings two first round picks, a second round pick and a third round pick.
If they find a way to somehow offer more than $11,939,116, however, that compensation becomes four first round picks.
The Red Wings, in this instance, have all the power at their disposal. With their current salary cap space of $18,697,084, they can easily match any offer tendered to Edvinsson. That said, the thought of four first round picks is enough to give even Steve Yzerman some hesitation.
If they allow the offer sheet to proceed, they'll lose their best left shot defenseman, but they'll gain enough assets for a blockbuster trade in return. If they decide to keep him, they'll likely be on the hook for hefty salary and potentially walk Edvinsson directly to unrestricted free agency.
Edvinsson's fate in Detroit will come down to the next few months.
Yzerman needs to act quickly to secure Edvinsson
Steve Yzerman has never been the kind of general manager to act quickly. He's taken his time with everything from Jonathan Drouin to the Dylan Larkin saga. But, if ever there was a time to get a deal done, it's now. As nice as it would be to acquire those draft picks, with Edvinsson on the roster, the reigning Stanley Cup champions only become better.
Sure, first round picks are nice, but when they're in the 30-32 range, they're essentially second round picks at that point.
Thus, the question becomes simple: is it worth it to let your top-pair shutdown defender go for potential futures?
Ultimately, if Carolina does proceed with an offer sheet, the decision will be left up to Yzerman, but it's much harder to replace a top-pairing defenseman than it is to keep one on a lucrative deal.
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