There's been ample wingers in recent years who've negotiated with minimal time left as RFA status, and negotiated the primary duration of their contract paid relative to UFA years. Tkachuk, Kaprizov, Pastrnak, Kucherov, etc... None of these guys are signing above 15%, not even close. If you wanna split hairs on actually being UFA vs practically being one, it just says to me your argument is that weak. Rantanen at 11.75 would have been 12.72% of the projected cap next year, that is easily in line with recent winger signing. Heck Gaudreau (RIP) came off leading the league in ES scoring with 115 points as a full UFA and got 11.8%.
And you referencing centers and what they signed for just tells me how woefully misinformed you are about how much differently wingers are perceived value wise than centers.
I mean... If you need to pick out a completely different type of contract to argue your position, shouldn't that say to you that
your argument is weak? RFA vs. UFA does matter. Heck, for Kaprizov, it's not even his 3rd contract. You're pointing at his post-ELC contract that was signed after 55 NHL games.
They also wouldn't have gotten 15% at the time anyway, because they weren't top tier players. You love pointing at one dimensional players and their peak points, while ignoring the context, underlying sustainability, and preceding performance. Tkachuk had a great year... after playing at a 68 point pace through the previous two years. Gaudreau had a great year (leading the league in empty net scoring)... after playing at a 70 point pace through the previous two years. Pastrnak had a great 2/3 of a year... after playing at an 85 point pace through the previous two years. You may ignore stuff like this, but GMs don't. It's one thing to fluctuate and have everything fall into place one year. It's another to be consistently dominant. When you're paying top money for almost a decade, you want confidence in what they're going to bring each year.
12.7% is in line with signings... in the 3rd tier of forwards. Some people liked pretending that Rantanen was in the 1st tier of forwards, but the evidence doesn't support that, and Colorado's reported offer and subsequent trade doesn't support that. Maybe it's time for you to actually read all the information I've explained to you for years, and reflect on why that is.
As for centres vs. wingers, the only one misinformed is you. The highest cap hit percentage ever given on a post-ELC contract? A winger. Outside of the absurd max contract given to Richards, the highest cap hit percentage ever given on a UFA contract? A winger. The best players are more likely to be centers, but when there's a top tier winger, they get paid, just like Kane did.
And for the record, I didn't just name centers. I showed you a recent top tier player on the same team. They got paid. I showed you a recent top tier player on another team. They got paid. I showed you a recent top tier center/winger hybrid. They got paid. I showed you a top tier winger. They got paid. And then I showed you 9 more wingers that Colorado reportedly valued Rantanen less than. There are even more. Because while Rantanen is a good player, he's not actually as good as you've pretended he is.
