Quote:
Originally Posted by delayedreflex
Isn't the pressure in the other direction? The longer Tkachuk sits out (once the season starts), the lower his cap hit will have to be in order to still be signed and play this season. Otherwise, it'll get to the point where he has no choice but to sit out the whole season, in which case he'll lose out on the $7M+ he would have earned from playing that season - so unless he thinks that for sure he'll be able to get that $7M+ back and more in a contract starting the following year, the pressure will be on him to give a little. Skipping a year in the NHL also probably won't help from a player development perspective and could impact his long term earning potential as well, if it causes his skills to stagnate.
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It's pressure both ways, but that's the change. The player used to hold all the cards until December 1st but now both have trouble fitting in what they want to get done if the season starts and time starts to tick.
A $8.5M cap hit for Tkachuk becomes $9.1M if he misses two weeks of the regular season. He misses a month and it's basically $10M