Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon becomes a restricted free agent on July 1, at which time other teams can make an offer sheet for him.
The Colorado Avalanche have plenty of cap space for signing their restricted free agents — $18,749,407. However, the team has some big-name RFAs coming up — specifically Tyson Barrie and Nathan MacKinnon.
Per Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, the Avalanche and Barrie’s agents are scheduled to meet during the 2016 NHL draft to negotiate. If they don’t agree to a deal, GM Joe Sakic states that he expects the two sides to enter salary arbitration. This means Barrie would be ineligible to entertain offer sheets from other teams.
That said, Sakic also said Colorado and MacKinnon’s agent had only had “initial talks” and “not much lately.” He predicted the two sides would have a deal signed by training camp.
However, that means Nathan MacKinnon will enter restricted free agency come July 1. Now both Sakic and Patrick Roy have called MacKinnon the team’s only untouchable. That doesn’t mean teams won’t make an offer sheet for him once they have the right.
In order to even tempt Nathan MacKinnon into signing an offer sheet, they’d have to break open the Matt Duchene structure and its ceiling of $6 million. I can’t imagine MacKinnon signing said sheet unless it was for at least $7 million and/or five to seven years.
There might just be four teams willing to make that move — all of them in the Wild West, or Western Conference. All the teams have the first and third round draft picks they’d have to give over in compensation as well as the salary space to sign MacKinnon if the Avalanche let him go.
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Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are the team that got the Colorado Avalanche into the Ryan O’Reilly pickle. Granted that was under a different management team, but they still showed willing.
Calgary doesn’t have a great offensive lineup — their best player is right wing Michael Folik, and their best center is Matt Stajan. The Flames tend to spend a lot more money on defensemen, such as captain Mark Giordano and last season’s acquisition of Dougie Hamilton.
In other words, they should certainly desire an upgrade at the forward position. And with $20 million in cap space, they’d have the money to pay.
Nashville Predators
Nashville is similar to the Flames in that they like to throw money at their talented defensive corps. Some of their offensive core — namely Mike Fisher and Mike Ribeiro — are getting up there in years. While they have some young talent in Ryan Johansen and Colin Wilson, MacKinnon could still be a welcome addition.
The Predators have less cap space to play with, though — $11 million. If they ended up having to actually pay him $7+ million, that would hurt. The only reason they might offer is to screw the Colorado Avalanche into having to pay a painful contract.
Minnesota Wild
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Speaking of teams who would want to screw the Colorado Avalanche with a costly contract, enter the Minnesota Wild. The team really needs the upgrade on center that Nathan MacKinnon would represent.
However, the Wild are kings of screwing their own selves over with contracts, so they have very little wiggle room — just over $7 million, to be exact. It would almost be worth it to lose Nathan MacKinnon just to see Minnesota squirm.
Ok, not really — but admit it, you could see that team trying to force Colorado’s hand.
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are another Central Division rival who would love to turn the screws into the Colorado Avalanche. What’s more, they have the cap space to make it happen — almost $20 million.
Winnipeg is even more of a bind when it comes to forwards, specifically centers. Bryan Little is their best center — MacKinnon would instantly become the team’s number-one. Otherwise, the team has Blake Wheeler and… yeah. They’d die to have Nathan.
To be honest, it’s fairly rare that teams make an offer sheet that gets signed. However, the last time it happened was 2013 — when the Calgary Flames signed Ryan O’Reilly to an offer sheet. GM Joe Sakic signed an offer sheet himself when he was a player.
Let’s hope we don’t see that scenario getting played out this season with our star youngster Nathan MacKinnon.