Leonard was the first to commit, then Smith flipped a commitment from Northeastern to BC, and then Smith has said he sold Perreault hard on joining them at BC. I believe Smith and Perreault are roommates. Clearly they're close in a way that affects their individual decisions. If for no other reasons, it would be surprising if Smith chooses to leave when Perreault is presumably staying and Leonard has already set the precedent of getting the band back together.
C Will Smith - San Jose Sharks , NHL(2023, 4th, SJS)
- Thread starter GermanSpitfire
- Start date
Securing 1 million dollars early, especially when you play a dangerous sport like hockey or football, is also fun.
CheckingLineCenter
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Not saying anyone in college hockey is making bank off NIL but these kids have money now too. Definitely getting enough to have a blast at school.
Not like old days where they had to scrap it together to buy some pitchers.
Wallet Inspector
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Call me crazy but I think if it came down to
A. Paying to have to attend classes, do exams etc
B. Being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to play a sport
Most young athletes are gonna choose the latter.
What you're describing is responsibility, which is often the literal opposite of fun.
College hockey players are not paying anything to attend classes and now with NIL they're actually getting paid to do so while playing a sport.
Will Smith pays to go to college? Doubt it. Also, San Jose area is not a cheap place to live so, idk why all these people think 1 million is so great to play in the nhl.
I don't know one sane person that would turn down 1 million dollars per year to play in front of NHL crowds in NHL arenas while burning off a year of your ELC to stay in college. Its crazy.
Bowie22
blow it up
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
Going back to college next season basically means forfeiting a year of prime-aged earning over the course of his career—his ELC will still be three years and he’ll become a UFA/have arb rights/etc. a year later than he would if he signed and played next season. Basically, millions of dollars in career earnings could be lost if he chooses to go back, unless the developmental year in the NCAA causes him to be so much better that he makes up the loss by improving that much.
But if another year in the NCAA is important to him, then I respect it. There isn’t another time in a young adult’s life that they basically get to f*** around with no responsibilities to hang out with their best friends. If I knew I had a multi-milllion dollar contract waiting for me even if I did another year of college and I was in a financially-stable situation already, I might do another year of college. In that case, he might only be risking injury.
Suffice to say, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this decision drag into the summer. It’s a big one.
But if another year in the NCAA is important to him, then I respect it. There isn’t another time in a young adult’s life that they basically get to f*** around with no responsibilities to hang out with their best friends. If I knew I had a multi-milllion dollar contract waiting for me even if I did another year of college and I was in a financially-stable situation already, I might do another year of college. In that case, he might only be risking injury.
Suffice to say, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this decision drag into the summer. It’s a big one.
He can just sign at the end of the year and burn the year. So he'll lose out on like $850K but get to enjoy the year with his buddies and be just as close to his big contract.
He can burn the year with one game at the end of the season.
GAGLine
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There are a lot of sane people you don't know then, I guess, because Leonard did just that.
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
And McGroarty. And Gauthier last year. And Owen Power. And Matt Beniers. And so on...
Gaylord Q Tinkledink
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You get further along in your studies, so even though you're a high profile prospect that doesn't mean your career will be successful, so having a back up is worth it.
He/they can still burn a year at the end of the season anyways
He/they will still get a significant amount just for signing and will likely still get a game, or two (or more) at the end of the season.
He/they also get to take another run at the NCAA championship and likely their last time playing together until retirement.
Seems like a lot of wins for that line
Don't need to be 20. Owen Power's contract age was 19 and he burned the year. Celebrini will do the same if he comes back and leaves at age 18 (but his contract age will be 19).
GAGLine
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Power burned a year because he turned 20 prior to December 31st of the year in which he signed his contract.
His ELC signing age is 20 due to the above rule.
Smith doesn't turn 20 until March 17, 2025, so if he were to sign now, his ELC would slide, so there's no way for him to burn a year. He can sign after next season and burn a year, which is probably what he will do.
- Jul 25, 2007
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$1MM salary, taxes in CA leave you with $570K. Probably gets ~50% of the 12.5% california tax back because you're working in other states half the time, but then some of those states also have taxes, so maybe he gets back roughly $30-40K, make it an even $600K.
Escrow payment is what, 17%? I don't know, but that's another $170K that you don't even see, and you may get back, maybe not. $400K in take home pay is a lot of money for a normal person, but it's not so much that you would be insane to turn it down, because his rent in SJ could be $100K and then...
At college, he's living for free and he's a Chipotle athlete and probably makes $100K in NIL (BC is a rich school, rich donors -> NIL payments... Rumor has it that even depth players in college D1 football make nearly $100K/year, I can't believe BC Hockey stars don't make that much).
So that's $300K in takehome pay after rent, vs. $100K in takehome pay with no other living expenses and living the time of your life.
Plus, it's not like his development is going to get hurt. He may play better in year 1 of his ELC, and that may knock on to his first big contract.
Plus, as others have said, he could burn the ELC year anyway at the end of next year.
I agree with the rest of your post, lots of reasons to stay, but Smith is a Communication Studies major and it sounds like the school work is... not significant (podcast appearance talked about basically him, Leonard, and Perreault being stage hands for some performance for credit). And therefore the studies are ... not meaningful.
Interesting... So Celebrini can't really burn a year at the end of next college season...Power burned a year because he turned 20 prior to December 31st of the year in which he signed his contract.
His ELC signing age is 20 due to the above rule.
Smith doesn't turn 20 until March 17, 2025, so if he were to sign now, his ELC would slide, so there's no way for him to burn a year. He can sign after next season and burn a year, which is probably what he will do.
What about the numerous examples of NHL draft picks choosing to stay in school an extra year? I understand what some of you are saying but we’re not debating something that has never happened before. We literally see it happen all of the time.
True, US / Canadian kids making it this far in hockey probably come from upper class families to start with.
CheckingLineCenter
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Yeah for sure but I more mean it’s a different ballgame now when these bigger name kids can throw up an instagram story for some product and get paid $3K.
No longer finding money under the couch for beer, Chipotle, and tee times lmao.
Not going to get into the whole thing, and I'm not positive, but I would imagine escrow payments are made with pre tax not post tax income.
So his actual taxable salary after escrow would be 830k. Put you at $480ish after taxes and before rent. You think NHL players are paying $20k/month for accommodations? Most if not all young guys have roomates. Most stay with older/established players.
Rob
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Maybe rent is $25-50k... Bay Area is expensive.
You're probably right on the escrow. Point remains that if you believe you're going to earn $20-30MM over your career, a couple hundred thousand difference may very well be worth it to run it back with your bros, go to your family's college with your sister, etc.
