Oh im keeping up:
General managers understand that the salary cap will rise each year and agents know this too. That’s why players like Matthews and Marner are opting for short-term contracts, because it allows them to benefit from future cap increases.
Look at the situation with Draisaitl and Marner. Though their contracts end at the same time, Draisaitl signed his deal before the season started while Marner waited for the anticipated cap rise. Even if they receive the same annual salary, Marner’s timing means his deal effectively costs more cap space next year when both his and Draisaitls contracts begin
Colorado’s decision to walk away from Rantanen, reportedly because they dont believe they can win with 3 highly paid players, shows a reluctance to absorb that increased cap hit (even though Rantanen appears to have earned with the amount based on cap%). Though, it becimes increasingly harder to compete with other teams, when other top players similar in age and skill such as Kucherov, M.Tkatchuk, Barkov, and Reinhart have long-term contracts averaging between $8.6 million and 10 million per year.
The question then becomes, is Marner, who is around the same age as these players, really worth 47% to 67% more in cap hit? With these players signed through the prime of Marner’s career, we’d be paying Marner significantly more. Up to 47% more than M.Tkatchuk and 67% more than Reinhart until our cup window is long past.
IMO, agreeing to an average annual contract over $11.6 million for Marner would be cup suicide, especially with Matthews scheduled for another raise in a couple of years. One of these two overpaid players needs to be moved if we are serious about winning a cup and it isn’t going to be Matthews.
