This isn't how many team in a rebuilding/non-playoff mix have been operating, least not recently. We've seen teams quick to lock up young cornerstone types to long term deals (completely avoiding bridge deals) that they are expected to grow into. Teams contending and firmly entrenched in the playoff mix have been the ones to bridge young players due to the cap implications. Usually to their future detriment. Oilers found themselves in this situation with Nurse (brutal) and now are going to repeat it with Bouchard. Least Bouchard will be expected to earn the contract as Raymond/Seider would. Everyone knows these are star players.
We hardly see any teams playing hardball with their franchise guys. Especially not teams without cap space issues which again are usually the teams in a win now mode.
If they sign long-term. None of this waiting till camp will matter. If they decide they won't commit long-term or one decides they want out this will be brutal player mis-management.
It's how the Wings have done it though. It's what Ken Holland did, it's what Jim Nill did a lot of in Dallas, and Yzerman is from that same tree. They see RFA as the one time that they'll ever have any leverage in negotiating a contract.
And the long extension deals are continuously on a yo-yo. When they were first offered and you could get Roman Josi on a 6x4, Nate MacKinnon 6x6, Oscar Klefbom I think 6x4.15.... they were huge values. Now, outside of a guy like Tim Stutzle who's already a 90 point C signing for the mid 8s, you're paying literal market value for these guys on 8 year deals. Like Brock Faber's deal? That's what he is reasonably going to be worth for the 8 years. We're yo-yoing back to where signing young players to these long term contracts is going back to having too much risk for the teams for them to feel comfortable.
I speak the way I do because I have zero doubts that the Wings and Seider + Raymond are going to come to an agreement and all of the handwringing is going to come to nothing.
Seider and Raymond know how important they are, which is why they're not just signing any old deal. But Yzerman knows how important they are, so I have zero doubts that there is an "oh, shit, this might be a problem" agreement in their back pocket. Like a number that both would agree to today if he offered it. And he's simply holding firm like he did dealing with Steven Stamkos.
