$6.5m × 8 is as high as Montreal should go: Kreider got a similar contract.
$5.5m (escrow is still at 20% so you want a lower amount first year), $8m, $8m, $8m, $6.5, $6m, $5m & $5m.
Thinks that's more than fair. I'm sure it's all about the bonuses too.
I'm really ok with trading him but doubt MB will. Ditto with Danault & Tatar.
If we are doing 8 years I would want something more like 8,8,7,7,5,5,4,4=48= 6 million cap. Makes him more tradeable. Maybe even 9,8,7,6, 4,4,3,3=44=5.5 cap hit. If he is smart the extra earned on the front end in an investment will make up for the backend. Plus he can get endorsements in Montreal (low pro sports team #, very local market) more than a number of other cities. (Something we often forget when talking about players coming to the habs).
Don't really want him above 6 if its more than 5 years. He gets 3 years salary the first year and then it starts to slide a bit each year. At 5% dividend that 9 million alone is 450,000 a year to live on, while the team pays for your lodgings while away. And that is a single year. Year 2 if he hasn't touched his 9 he is at 17 million and almost 1 million a year to live off of. At the end of his 5.5 cap contract he would have 2.2 million a year in dividends (which are taxed less than working income).
And this is just from the new contract meaning the first half of his career was play money. If he is frugal, he could save a bit more each season and end his career with a cool 50 million in investments for 2.5 million a year. If you can't live on that amout you are doing something wrong.
I know it is relative to other players, but just goes to show how even a 5.5X8 if front loaded can easily make you have a comfortable living. By the end of that contract you make almost as much off of dividends as you do off actual salary.
