The Sharks were at a disadvantage.
Any other team could have offered him 7M and 7 years for free. Sharks had to give up a first as well.
We're in a world where (as a UFA) the best players will make 12M+ during prime years.
Second tier players will make 10M during their prime years (Kopitar, Benn, Eichel as an RFA)
And players who put up 60 points make 8M (Johansen, Kuznetsov, Perry, O'Reilly).
Teams try not to get players just during their prime UFA years now to keep the cap-hit down. Either RFA's signed long term like Monahan, or players going until they are 40 like Burns. But when a player enters UFA during that 25-27 range, they have huge cap-hits.
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