The Sharks’ hostile offer to Alexis Lafrenière: a San Jose journalist’s illogical idea

As the month of July draws to a close, contractual situations across the NHL for next season are mostly settled. Yesterday, for example, the CH took care of its last remaining file in Jesse Ylönen.

However, there are still a number of restricted free agents across the NHL. Of the lot? Alexis Lafrenière.

With $2.2 million currently under the cap, this is the only deal the Rangers need to close to end their off-season. Will it happen soon? Good question.

After all, establishing your value isn’t easy. Establishing the number of years for which that value applies is even less so.

But while he’s out of contract, that technically means that other teams can be interested in him and talk to him. So, if need be, he can receive a hostile offer.

And a journalist who covers the Sharks’ activities, Max Miller, believes that the California outfit should make a hostile offer to the Quebec player, whose early career has not lived up to expectations.

Note that the field hockey bosses of both teams have already worked together.

The journalist believes that with the expected departure of Erik Karlsson, the Sharks would have the means to spend the money elsewhere. This would make Laffy a possible target.

What you need to know is that to make a hostile offer (which doesn’t normally happen in August) to a player, you need to have the right draft picks for next year.

When I say the right picks, I mean his picks. And next year, the Sharks don’t have their third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks. The result? It’s impossible for them to make a hostile bid anywhere between $2.1 million and $4.2 million.

They can make one for more than $10.7 million a year, but that doesn’t apply to Lafrenière, we agree.

Which explains why the idea doesn’t make sense. After all, at $4.2 million, the Rangers would probably agree to retain the services of the first overall pick in 2020.

They’d be over the cap, but in the summer, you can do it by 10%. So they’d have time to find a solution for the start of the season… without losing an important young player.

But this isn’t the first time Lafrenière’s name has been bandied about elsewhere. I can’t wait to see what happens next (contractually and on the ice) in his case.

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