Salary Cap: Mitch Marner Contract Discussion Part X | Will Mitch get an OS?

[Macallan18]

Heard a clip of Nylander interview on the radio this morning. He was asked about the Marner negotiations and he basically said (paraphrasing) "it's only June, they have all summer, no worries".

Way to put your foot in your mouth Willie, good stuff. Keep talking and Dubas might re-think his promise to never trade you as long as he's the GM.

Well, Willie clearly isn't the sharpest tool in the box, I'm sure he didn't understand the implications of what he was saying, and was actually trying to be positive.
He's thinking as long as the signing is before training camp, who cares?

 

[Cor]

 

[ShaneFalco]

Guess it has to be perfect for Mitch

 

[SprDaVE]

That's an absurd cap hit for a 2 year extension. Make it 3 years at least... it's slightly better but still pretty high for that kind of extension. Kucherov got under 5M on a 3 year bridge deal... come on. Even if you think Marner is better and deserves more factoring a higher salary cap and inflation, that doesn't make it 3M more.

Seems crazy. I guess we'd have a little more cap space to work with though... I dunno.

 

[MyBudJT]

Last two years of ELC:
NK: 59G 131P
MM: 48G 163P

U21 and U22 seasons:
NK: 38G 83P (134GP) <--- 124th in NHL in points
MM: 48G 163P (in 164GP) <--- 19th in NHL in points

 

[Gary Nylund]

Well, Willie clearly isn't the sharpest tool in the box, I'm sure he didn't understand the implications of what he was saying, and was actually trying to be positive.
He's thinking as long as the signing is before training camp, who cares?

Yup, makes sense to me anyway.

 

[DarkKnight]

Guess it has to be perfect for Mitch

Matthews goes to UFA at 26 on his sweetheart deal, it's just the way of things in TO...why would Marner be different.

 

[Cor]

That's an absurd cap hit for a 2 year extension. Make it 3 years at least... it's slightly better but still pretty high for that kind of extension. Kucherov got under 5M on a 3 year bridge deal... come on.

Seems crazy... but at least we'd have a lot more cap space to make additions.

At this point, I’d do it just to get it settled. We can work with 8M, and he’d be an RFA.

It also gives us two years to continue evaluating. If he puts up 90 point seasons then we know he’s worth the big deal. If he doesn’t, then he isn’t worth much more than the 8M he’s making anyway.

I agree I’d prefer 3 years for 8M, but I’d bite that bullet

 

[SprDaVE]

At this point, I’d do it just to get it settled. We can work with 8M, and he’d be an RFA.

It also gives us two years to continue evaluating. If he puts up 90 point seasons then we know he’s worth the big deal. If he doesn’t, then he isn’t worth much more than the 8M he’s making anyway.

I agree I’d prefer 3 years for 8M, but I’d bite that bullet

I mean I would do it if it meant that this doesn't go until training camp... it's better than nothing and moves the headache down a couple years. An extra ~2M of cap space we didn't think we had would be ok I guess.

Sigh...

 

[TheDoldrums]

Marner taking a bridge deal would be a big concession. It proves that either the offer sheet speculation has been nonsense or that he really doesn't want to play elsewhere.

 

[ACC1224]

That's a tough one.
Certainly make things easier for the Leafs.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Matthews goes to UFA at 26 on his sweetheart deal, it's just the way of things in TO...why would Marner be different.

Just seems he's been offered a lot of options - why does it HAVE to be 5 years? And surely he and his agent can see that the team can't have this kind of thing happen again - 3 major contracts around the same time. His camp chose not to negotiate during the year

 

[aingefan]

Guess it has to be perfect for Mitch

For some reason I pictured a ‘Mitch Perfect’ movie poster, with his face photoshopped in.

 

[Cor]

I mean I would do it if it meant that this doesn't go until training camp... it's better than nothing and moves the headache down a couple years. An extra ~2M of cap space we didn't think we had would be ok I guess.

Sigh...

I’d also consider it a “win” for Marner and his camp.

Which is what I think they want to smooth the bitterness of not getting full bonuses lmao

 

[aingefan]

I mean I would do it if it meant that this doesn't go until training camp... it's better than nothing and moves the headache down a couple years. An extra ~2M of cap space we didn't think we had would be ok I guess.

Sigh...

That extra 2-3 million could be a pretty big deal, lotsa breathing room.
I’m guessing there haven’t been many bridge deals anywhere near that ballpark?

 

[DarkKnight]

Just seems he's been offered a lot of options - why does it HAVE to be 5 years? And surely he and his agent can see that the team can't have this kind of thing happen again - 3 major contracts around the same time. His camp chose not to negotiate during the year

Maybe that's why a two year deal has some added attraction, avoids the contracts all lining up together?

 

[SprDaVE]

That extra 2-3 million could be a pretty big deal, lotsa breathing room.
I’m guessing there haven’t been many bridge deals anywhere near that ballpark?

It would easily be the biggest "bridge" contract since the NHL salary cap era, at least I'm pretty sure it would be.

Bridge deals are not meant to pay you close to what you should be making over a long-term deal.

 

[4thline]

What's the wording of the tweet? Coming up as unavailable and from a suspended account

 

[Cor]

What's the wording of the tweet? Coming up as unavailable and from a suspended account

“Friedman reiterating the potential 2 x 8M offer from the Leafs to Marner - doesn't know if he'll take it. Main reason behind it being that the US television deal will drive up the cap in 2 years and he can sign a record deal then.”

 

[SprDaVE]

What's the wording of the tweet? Coming up as unavailable and from a suspended account

He protected his tweets... not sure why.

It basically just summarized a part of the 31 Thoughts Podcast where Friedman stated that the Leafs may have offered a 2 year deal to Marner, likely around a 8m cap hit. He's not sure if Marners camp would accept a 2 year deal.

 

[4thline]

It would easily be the biggest "bridge" contract since the NHL salary cap era, at least I'm pretty sure it would be.

Bridge deals are not meant to pay you close to what you should be making over a long-term deal, but removing 1 or 2M.

When's the last time a true, already emerged star player took a bridge though? I don't think we can apply the general rules of lesser players to these upper echelon guys.

 

[aingefan]

Maybe that's why a two year deal has some added attraction, avoids the contracts all lining up together?

Plus, 8+8=16

 

[4thline]

He protected his tweets... not sure why.

It basically just summarized a part of the 31 Thoughts Podcast where Friedman stated that the Leafs may have offered a 2 year deal to Marner, likely around a 8m cap hit. He's not sure if Marners camp would accept a 2 year deal.

If he already prefers a 5 to an 8, and wants 10 for it an 8 x 3 could be a good compromise.

 

[thewave]

“Friedman reiterating the potential 2 x 8M offer from the Leafs to Marner - doesn't know if he'll take it. Main reason behind it being that the US television deal will drive up the cap in 2 years and he can sign a record deal then.”

I was under the understanding that ratings were down in US major markets until the refs, I mean Bruins went deep in the New England market. NY and Cali (LA is the big cheese) don't have a heck of a lot going on right now. I bet the deal comes in at 275m a season rather than the 200m it is now. It's not a big deal, and the Canadian deal is 400m+ a season, that ain't happening again. Pretty sure they are taking a bath on it.

 

[aingefan]

It would easily be the biggest "bridge" contract since the NHL salary cap era, at least I'm pretty sure it would be.

Bridge deals are not meant to pay you close to what you should be making over a long-term deal.

Yeah, I get the premise, just not really familiar with the comps.
You could see this being satisfying for both sides, and the landscape for RFA is changing.
It could be spun in a positive light too, I guess.