The Penguins have a number of tough decisions to make this offseason, particularly when it comes to unrestricted free agents Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Bryan Rust.
When it comes to one of the Penguins' pending restricted free agents, it's a no-brainer what should happen in the immediate future.
It's Kasperi Kapanen, and the Penguins should undoubtedly extend Kapanen a qualifying offer.
Kapanen didn't quite live up to his $3.2 million cap hit last season, and it might seem like letting Kapanen walk would be a simple way to shed salary this summer. Qualifying Kapanen actually makes a lot of sense, though.
Hear me out.
Qualifying offers are one-year in length, and there are minimum requirements when it comes to what a qualifying offer must include. If a player's base salary in the prior season is at least $1 million, the qualifying offer must be worth at least 100% of what that prior base salary was. If the base salary the prior year was less than $1 million, then the qualifying offer must be worth 105% of that previous base salary, with the stipulation that the qualifying offer can't exceed $1 million. For players with at least 180 total NHL games over the last three seasons, or 60 games in the previous season, or a player who did not clear waivers the previous season, the qualifying offer also must be for a one-way deal.
The key term in the above stipulations when it comes to money is "base salary." Not average annual value, or cap hit.
Kapanen's expiring contract was worth $9.6 million total over three years, and a large chunk of that -- $6.24 million, to be exact -- was paid out in signing bonuses. That is included when calculating a player's average annual value and cap hit, but is separate from a player's base salary.
Kapanen's base salary varied slightly over the three years of his contract. But his base salary in the final year of his contract? Just $800,000.
That means that if the Penguins were to extend Kapanen a qualifying offer, it would have to be between $840,000 and $1 million in value, for one year, one-way.
Kapanen at that value is suddenly pretty appealing.
Now, what happens if the Penguins do make that qualifying offer?
Kapanen doesn't have to sign the qualifying offer. Extending the qualifying offer only ensures that the Penguins retain Kapanen's rights. He certainly could sign that qualifying offer and play on that contract, or he and the Penguins could continue to negotiate. Once the July 13 free agency window opens, other teams could extend Kapanen an offer sheet for any length or value of contract. If another team does submit an offer sheet and Kapanen accepts it, the Penguins could either match that offer sheet and sign Kapanen to that same contract, or they could refuse, and Kapanen would sign with the other team, and the other team would have to pay the Penguins draft pick compensation if the average annual value of the contract exceeds $1,386,490.
The Penguins would also have the option of trading Kapanen's rights if they make that qualifying offer to retain the rights.
If the Penguins extend the qualifying offer and Kapanen doesn't receive any offer sheets, he would have until Dec. 1 of next season to sign a deal with the Penguins or be ruled ineligible to play for the remainder of the season.
Kapanen does have salary arbitration rights this offseason, but if he would elect salary arbitration, he would be ineligible to receive any offer sheets. And if he did take that gamble and elect arbitration anyway, it's hard to imagine that he'd command much in a hearing given his struggles last season.
With all of these factors in mind, extending an offer sheet to Kapanen is an appealing prospect. Either the Penguins keep Kapanen at an incredibly affordable rate for a year, or he becomes a piece that could bring the Penguins a small return in the form of a trade or potential draft pick compensation.
It would be a low-risk move, with the potential for reward if Kapanen manages to get his "swagger" back, as he said he hoped to do during the Penguins' locker room cleanout day.
