A restricted free agent with no arbitration rights, Ramus Sandin doesn't have a lot of leverage in negotiations with the Maple Leafs. But the defenseman can find some with patience.
Rasmus Sandin remains a restricted free agent and it's looking like it will stay that way for a little while after Sportsnet's Luke Fox got in touch with the defenseman's agent, Lewis Gross last week and said "talks are going nowhere."
Coming off his entry-level contract, the 22-year-old did not have the option to file salary arbitration, which could have forced the Toronto Maple Leafs to decide on his fate sooner. It's a common issue many rookies find themselves in.
So what can he do?
The situation
Sandin scored five goals and had 16 points in 51 regular season games, but hasn't played in a game since Mar. 19, 2022. The defenseman suffered a knee injury that effectively put an end to his season. Although healthy enough to return for the playoffs, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe elected not to use the puck-mover.
With an influx of players on the left side of the defense with veterans Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, TJ Brodie (who plays right, but played left side for stretches this season) and Mark Giordano, it squeezes out room for someone like Sandin, who spent most of his playing time skating on Toronto's third D-pair.
Where the Leafs see Sandin
It's clear the Maple Leafs do still see upside in Sandin's game. Selected by the Maple Leafs in the first round (29th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, the club had recently bundled him into the same category as another first-round defenseman, Timothy Liljegren.
"They're massive parts of our future," Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said when answering a question in early July about Sandin's contract negotiations but also addressing Liljegren. "They're significantly younger than the other full-time members of our defense corps. And we need them to continue to take steps."
Two weeks before making those comments, Dubas signed Liljegren to a two-year, $2.8 million contract and it's widely believed that Toronto's offer to Sandin was identical.
The offer sheet route
If another team was willing, Sandin has the option to sign an offer sheet with another club and force Toronto's hand. The problem with this scenario is offer sheets are very rare and when enacted are usually done for more established high-end talent.
Even when a target has been identified, teams don't like to do it because:
A) the compensation that is owed to the club that previously held the rights to the player.
B) the potential animus between the two teams over extending an offer sheet.
Just look no further than the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes and the antics that went back and forth, first with the Canadiens signing Sebastian Aho. Two years later, the Hurricanes countered by signing Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet.
In Carolina' presumably retaliatory offer sheet, they waited deep into the summer, August 28, 2021, to be exact. The Canadiens declined to match.
“If there’s going to be an offer sheet, the sooner the better, so we can make our decision and move on," Dubas said in July when asked about the possibility of Sandin going a similar route.
Depending on the range, A team looking to add a young defenseman like Sandin could potentially get him for somewhere in the second-to-third-round pick range of compensation. But with limited cap space across the NHL and some of the other reasons listed above, it doesn't seem as though it's a likely scenario at this point.
Don't report to training camp
This one is a given. It's very rare for a player to report to a team's training camp as a restricted free agent without a contract in hand, or at very minimum, very close to terms on a deal.
Although salary doesn't kick in until the day before the regular season (unless there is a signing bonus) there's no benefit to a player putting themselves at risk by taking part in team activities without a deal in place. This leaves us to the next point.
Wait for an injury
If training camp moves a long and a player or two were to get hurt, that could easily speed up the process and bridge the gap in contract negotiations. That is especially true if said injury comes on defense. A long-term ailment would only help both sides in this instance as it could potentially free up some short-term cap space while also filling a need.
Wait until the regular season starts as cap hit starts to grow
In 2018, the Maple Leafs were involved in a contentious battle with restricted free agent William Nylander. It took until Dec. 1 — the final day the forward was eligible to play in the NHL that season — for both sides to reach a deal.
Although Nylander's contract called for a $6.96 AAV, his actual salary cap hit in 2018-19 increased to $10.277 million. This happened because the season was well underway and the cap hit was adjusted to reflect how many days had passed in the NHL regular season calendar.
With each day that passes after the regular season, the salary cap hit increases. For example. In a 200-day calendar, a $1.4 million AAV becomes a $1.407 million salary cap hit on Day 2. Then it becomes $1.414 million on Day 3, and so on.
In 2018, the Leafs had their remaining core players on entry-level contracts and had more than enough salary cap space to accommodate an inflated first-year cap hit from Nylander, but that's not the case this season. Every dollar counts and getting Sandin's situation locked up before the regular season not only benefits the player but helps the team get things under control.
And if anyone knows that, it's Gross, who negotiated the Nylander contract.
Further Reading