One way I see it, consider Steven Stamkos's new contract. 8.5x8, all UFA years. I would argue that Gaudreau and Stamkos are roughly similar players in how they impact the game (though Stamkos's best years are probably behind him, I can't see him (or anyone really) scoring 60 again)
If you think RFA years are worth 75% of UFA years, and we assume Gaudreau is worth roughly about as much as Stamkos as a UFA, we get .75*8.5*5+x*8.5 where x is 2 or 3.
For a 7 year deal, that would be 7 million per season, for 8, it would 7.2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
Francis: The Calgary Sun has learned the chasm between what the Flames are offering their franchise player and what Gaudreau’s camp is looking for is $1.5 million annually.
Sources say Gaudreau’s agent, Lewis Gross, is asking for a payday in the $8-million range while the Flames are pushing to pay between what Sean Monahan signed for ($6.375 million annual average value) and what captain Mark Giordano makes (a team-high $6.75 million AAV).
“He wants unrestricted money but he’s restricted,” said one source, who doesn’t blame Gross for the monstrous ask.
“He’s played two years in the league and is a great player, but is he that much better than (Nashville’s Filip) Forsberg ($6 million AAV) or Nathan MacKinnon ($6.3 million AAV) or Monahan? This is the one year the Flames have rights and they’re pushing hard to exercise them.
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An 8 million ask is fair for 8 years, if they're assuming that Gaudreau will be a 9.5 million dollar player in UFA, which he very well might be.
If the Flames are after a 6.75 million dollar hit, they must think he will only be an 8 million dollar player in UFA, which, again he could be if last year was a career year (hopefully it wasn't).
Since there seems to be such a broad disagreement over the valuation of the player, the easy solution would be to go for a short (1 or 2 years) bridge deal. However, Gaudreau's camp likely wants long term financial security, and the Flames want to hopefully pay Gaudreau less than what he's worth in order to have more cap room to flesh out the roster.