Quote:
Originally Posted by Burke Salad
Montreal completely bothched these negotiations. Subban will get big money and probably term right up to his UFA year. Another star player that will exit Canada for a big US club.
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Hard to say whether or not Montreal botched negotiations without knowing what Subban's end game is. Though his agent is denying it, there has been a lot of speculation that Subban wants to be the highest paid defenceman in the league. Given he can't get the kind of cheat years that previous CBA contracts enjoy, that puts his long-term contract demand into the $10-11 million+ AAV range. Subban's ask in this arbitration hearing is in line with that, because what he gets would become the baseline for the negotiation on that long-term extension.
Is Subban worth $7-8 million? Yup, and I think Montreal would agree. If Subban's arbitration request was what he wanted long-term, he would have a shiny eight-year contract in his pocket right now.
Is he worth $11 million? That is a tougher call.