Friedman: Leafs and Knies talking extension

HockeyVirus

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Nov 15, 2020
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During an episode of 32 Thoughts the Podcast released Monday, co-host Kyle Bukauskas touched on the fact that Knies wore an ‘A’ during Saturday night’s preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens and asked Friedman why he felt that was significant.

“I’m wondering if they’re going to sign him. I think Knies is on the precipice of being a really long-term, important piece of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Friedman said. “He’s heading into the last year of his ELC and I think there have been some conversations about it. I don’t know how much or in depth they’ve really talked about it, but there’s been some rumors that there have been some conversations.”

Would be nice to finally be smart and lock up someone before they completely break out. If they can get Knies signed 8 years at 4-5M right now they should do it.
 

hamzarocks

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Hoepfully under 5M

He hasnt shown yet to be worth more than 4.5M or so with the deal likely being potential based

Other teams were able to get stud guys locked for undervalue deals due to them not having broken out so hopefully leafs can as well

6 years 4.5M is what I want
 

HockeyVirus

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Hoepfully under 5M

He hasnt shown yet to be worth more than 4.5M or so with the deal likely being potential based

Other teams were able to get stud guys locked for undervalue deals due to them not having broken out so hopefully leafs can as well

6 years 4.5M is what I want

Power forwards always take time to get going. He will probably break out around 24/25. If we can lock him up at 4.5 we are overpaying for 1/2 years unless he takes a big step this year and most likely having insane value the rest.

And if Matthews leaves and we rebuild in 5 years, well Knies would be worth quite a bit. Prime aged power forward with term.

... Why would Knies sign an 8 x $4M deal.

Why wouldn't a guy with 1 NHL season sign a 32M deal? What do you think is fair for him?
 

eojsmada

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5 years of RFA left before he can get to UFA. Should be easy to get him on a 4 year deal around 3M and still have a year of RFA to bridge.
 
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BKarchitect

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Good player. I’ve always liked his game and he’s important for the Leafs moving forward in terms of his playing style and growth.

I suspect this may come in significantly over what people will want…like a scaled down version of the Guenther contract, if the thought is he is going to sign for 7-8 years…and people are gonna complain. But Knies is worth investing in.
 

HockeyVirus

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Golly I dunno, maybe because players don't peak at 21 and he'd be stupid to lock himself into an 8 year deal for peanuts when he plays for a highly offensive team where his stats will likely inflate at least slightly?

Again, what do you think he is worth then? Easy to say all of this, tell me how much more than 4-5M he is worth on an 8 year deal if he signs it sometime in the next few weeks.
 

eojsmada

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4x4.35 ... cant imagine him going full term unless its a silly offer
Yeah...team/player would be dumb to try and lock him up to a stupid $. If Dubas was still with the Leafs, I could see it. And Shanahan still scares me in his $ valuation of players...but this should be a slam dunk 3-4 year deal around 3.5-4.0 AAV
 
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BKarchitect

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Again, what do you think he is worth then? Easy to say all of this, tell me how much more than 4-5M he is worth on an 8 year deal if he signs it sometime in the next few weeks.
I think for him to sign for a full 8, it'll take something that really makes you blink twice. Guenther has one year of track record and got $7+ million. If I'm Knies' agent, and TML want my guy to be locked up for 8 years and they are really courting my guy as a core player moving forward, I'm asking for at least $6 AAV, if not a bit more.
 

eojsmada

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I think for him to sign for a full 8, it'll take something that really makes you blink twice. Guenther has one year of track record and got $7+ million. If I'm Knies' agent, and TML want my guy to be locked up for 8 years and they are really courting my guy as a core player moving forward, I'm asking for at least $6 AAV, if not a bit more.
Yeah...but Guenther's not surrounded by 4 guys making 11M+.
 
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FriendlyGhost92

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Again, what do you think he is worth then? Easy to say all of this, tell me how much more than 4-5M he is worth on an 8 year deal if he signs it sometime in the next few weeks.

What part of this aren't you getting?

He's not worth $5M+ right now. He'd also be stupid to lock himself into an 8 year deal because he might be worth more than $5M in 2-3 years.
 

HockeyVirus

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I think for him to sign for a full 8, it'll take something that really makes you blink twice. Guenther has one year of track record and got $7+ million. If I'm Knies' agent, and TML want my guy to be locked up for 8 years and they are really courting my guy as a core player moving forward, I'm asking for at least $6 AAV, if not a bit more.

That's rough. Eats up half of the savings we get from JT expiring. But also I expected the team to replace the 11M player with 2/3 lesser players so it still could work. The problem here is that he will not be worth 6M next year when that is the middle of our window.

I'd still do 6M for 8 years. He can be bought out if he doesn't improve the first few years in which seems unlikely. He's already one of our best forwards.
 

Gizmo Tkachuk

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That's rough. Eats up half of the savings we get from JT expiring. But also I expected the team to replace the 11M player with 2/3 lesser players so it still could work. The problem here is that he will not be worth 6M next year when that is the middle of our window.

I'd still do 6M for 8 years. He can be bought out if he doesn't improve the first few years in which seems unlikely. He's already one of our best forwards.

Which is why he shouldn't settle for an 8 year deal now when he could be worth more in 3-4 years, especially with the cap continuing to grow.
 
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Puckstuff

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Given his size and playoff success, I think he's already worth $3ish million and that's with no growth.

If he develops into a 45-50 point player, he's worth 4-5 million.

If he develops into a 60+ point power forward, he's worth 6-7 million, given his size.

I'd try and get him around 4.5 million and take the gamble because he's most likely at least a 40 point player with size moving forward as his floor but you still get the upside potential.
 

Golden_Jet

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Don’t think he goes 6-8 years yet, he will want to see if he can have a big year, and make more coin.
 

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