Will be interesting to see the direction both parties go. Based on his play last year, I personally would like to see an 8year contract. This isn't the type of contract that gets teams in trouble if they overpay by a few million over 6 - 8 years.
I think we can use Andersson as a similar flavor comparison. He signed a $4.55M x 6 year contract worth about 5.5% of the cap at the time and ended up with 22pts in 70games that year. That's a win win situation for both the team and player at that time and a homerun for the team given how he's developed. However, if the team had taken the risk and given him a ~$6M x 8 year deal, it would of paid off even more. I don't think anyone would complain having him for another 3 seasons at $6M AAV.
Bahl doesn't have nor will he ever have the same level of offense Andersson does, but as others have stated, probably projects to be a bigger Tanev #3 type defensemen - and that's perfectly ok.
~$4M on a 6 year team or ~$5M on an 8 year term seems reasonable. He's already averaged 21mins a game last year, meaning he's definitely capable of being a top4 guy, how good of a player he develops into is the question. I don't think there's a massive risk by giving him an 8 year deal, in no world do I see him as a bottom pairing defenseman as some others have pointed out.
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