Injury history, poor season, family tragedy, this deal seems like a better option than going to arbitration and taking his paycut, and very likely becoming a rental player and then UFA. That doesn't provide him with stability that he might be looking for right now.
The cap is also artificially low right now until they pay off the escrow due to COVID. With a better than expected revenue last season, the escrow balance may be paid off sooner than anticipated when the MOU was drafted, especially as new revenue sources like the ads on jerseys will be happening.
Fehr thinks that the escrow balance could be paid off by the end of the 2024/2025 season which is probably not so coincidentally when this contract ends.
So now you have the potential of a big cap jump with teams having a lot of extra cap space as a result, a 28 year old UFA ripe for the massive 7/8 year contract and as noted earlier the same year that Suter and Parise come off the books. It's also before the CBA expires.
I like this contract from Boesser's point of view. Sort of gives him everything. Increased stability for the next couple years, guaranteed income for an injury-prone player to set his family up for his great grand kids lives but the potential to cash in huge while it looks like the stars might be aligning for that UFA class (also Draisaitl, Marner and Rantanen in it).
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