Quote:
Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing
I am going from the dark recesses of my memory, but I thought him signing the year early while brought him closer to free agency by burning a year, also kept him RFA a year longer.
I.e. By burning the year, he stayed RFA, but by not burning it, he would have been UFA a year sooner.
Edit: My memory was close. It kept him away from being eligible for Arbitration and/or an offer sheet, so might have saved the Flames money...?
https://www.si.com/hockey/news/when-...ohnny-gaudreau |
So, by burning the year off his ELC didn't give him arbitration or offer sheet rights any faster, but did allow his ELC to end and brought him one year closer to UFA. Since he signed a contract worth $.675M, he got that in his third year instead of his ELC amount.
By signing the contract when he did, he got arbitration rights and offer sheet rights in three years, the same as if he had waited and became a UFA. So, nothing really got delayed.