Tavares signed a 7 year, $11m AAV deal in 2018/19. The next year Marner signed a 6 year, $10.9m AAV deal and Matthews signed a 5 year, $11.6m AAV deal. The UFA contract for Tavares set the tone for the other guys.
True we don't have a cap problem or 3 major RFA's to sign after our big UFA contract but that doesn't mean we need to make things more difficult down the road. Imagine if Toronto had not gone out and chased that big free agent? Their RFA's would have lower AAV's and they would've had a lot more cap space going forward to balance out their roster. Instead they're always up against the cap solving major leaks in their team by putting duct tape on it with bargain bin players and guys like 42 year old Joe Thornton.
If Marner comes in wanting $14m as a UFA and we give it to him then Bedard could/would want that or more. That sets the tone for each and every one of our RFAs going forward and while none of them are at Bedard's level it could raise their contract asks and dwindle away our abundant cap space.