Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
So they cannot outbid anyone. He will look at possible opportunities, which should favour Calgary.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarongavey
Plays on the same team as the one and only Tobias Rieder. Assuming the Flames have the ability to outbid other teams for him, he does not have to be on an ELC?
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Because he is already 24 years old (turns 25 in a few months), he is subject to a 1 year ELC.
However this is where things get interesting.
A team could sign him to a 1 year ELC that starts
this season and burn the ELC. Meaning he will be RFA on July 1st and no longer subject to ELC rules.
This opens a lot of options to the player. For example he can now sign a one-way deal instead of being subject to a 2 way deal that all ELCs are. Another would be he is no longer limited by the max base salary of $975k, he can sign for more.
Has this happened before? Yes just look at last season with Jake Livingstone and Nashville Predators. Livingstone was widely considered the top NCAA free agent. Nashville signed him to a 1 year ELC, immediately burned it and signed him to a 2 year, one way, $775k AAV in the offseason. (edit: it actually is a 2 way contract but with guaranteed money much higher than what he would have gotten as an ELC)
The downside for the team is that there is a increased cap calculation for the ELC. As explained by cap friendly:
https://www.capfriendly.com/faq#increased-caphit . So the team needs to have the cap space to do this option. (BTW the Flames have a lot of cap space)
So while the ELC might limit the teams offers right now, the teams could start making promises on the 2nd contract