Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Totally agree.
GMs have to make a call both ways. Trade before they decline, trade for a player before he pops, and the same in contracts ... go one year if you think he'll decline, lock him down if you think he's going to pop.
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Managing the timing of your contracts and selling high or buying low on players is just as important as drafting and developing. Some of it is luck too as you never really know long term how things will work out. A little more predictable with young RFAs but things can swing fast. Take Monahan and Gaudreau who signed the same off season. If you took both deals and flipped the term what is the impact on this team moving forward? What if Johnny signed 7 years and Monahan 6 years. Monahan might have come in at about $6 mil or a bit less for 1 less year and Johnny probably comes in just over $7 mil probably around $7.25 mil.
Moving forward if Monahan was the pending UFA and Johnny had 2 years left at $7.25 or even 3 years at $7.5 mil we would be looking at a team that could sell on Monahan as a rental knowing we had Johnny for 2 or 3 more years this team over the next couple years is looking so much better even though the contract doesn't change anything about the players.