Fourier
Registered User
Leon's original deal had him at 11.6% of the cap. Given the likely cap next year a comparable deal would put him at about $10.7M. Unlike the last time where his deal was based on promise, his current status is much higher. Moreover, even with fairly modest cap increase over the contract it quickly became a bargain. The NHL is on the verge of a potential huge increase in the cap over the next 5 years. Every player in the league knows this. So even at $13M one might argue that it is fair value right now. In that case the value in such a signing will be realized a few years afterwards. If Leon signed an 8 year deal at say $13M, by the mid point of his deal lesser players will be making comparable money. While I would love for it to happen much less than that number is probably unrealistic for Leon.Darnell Nurse is a 9.25 million dollar player. Let's try and not compare our salaries to the most horrendous outliers please -- recipe for disaster.
McDrai are not fools. They have a decision coming up to leave some money on the table like RNH did in order to build a regular Cup contender. If Draisaitl signs the biggest ticket in the NHL at some point this season we'll know where his priorities lay and we will have to re-evaluate our expectations of this club. We can only be so invested in the club winning as its best players are.
If McDavid and Drai both choose to leave nothing on the table for the club to go out and balance the roster -- if Bouchard chooses the same, we will simply not have enough space to make it work. That's on them.
It certainly looks like we are on the cusp of a significant reset in player values for players in demand. 31 year old Dylan Demelo just signed a 4 year deal at $4.9M. While I like the player a lot he is really a journeyman #4 defenseman. This deal represents a 63% raise over his previous contract and for the most part I suspect people will feel it is a fair deal because competent RHD's are in demand.